About ten years ago I had the privilege to attend an edged weapons class taught by a guy who specifically focused on relatively small folding knives for use by police officers on or off duty. "Small" was the key. A 2" blade was his recommendation. Such a knife certainly wouldn't look intimidating. Lately I've been asked to come up with a functional yet small knife with a slim profile that plain clothes officers and administrators could carry / wear that would be less obtrusive. Enter the SOG Access Card.
The first and most noteable thing about the Access Card is how slim it is. The overall thickness is only 3/16". The closed knife measures 3 3/16" long (which is also the handle length) with an open length of not quite 6 1/4". The blade is made from VG-10 steel and is 2.75" long. Closed, and if you took off the reversable pocket clip, this knife is no thicker than about four credit cards stacked together. It is available in Black TiNi finish or in the softer appearing satin steel. Total weight is less than a 1/4 pound at 3.2 ounces.
The handle is cut with three finger grooves, an oblong lanyard hole, and more cut outs wherever SOG could put them to reduce weight without negatively affecting strength or function. The locking mechanism is their Arc-Lock, totally housed between the handle panels. You CAN use the long cut in the blade to push open the knife with your thumb, OR you can pull back the Arc-Lock stud, swing the blade open and then release the stud to lock the blade out. With the knife open, held edge pointed down, if you pull the Arc-Lock stud back, gravity will half fold the blade in and a light push against anything finishes the job. Spring tension holds the blade closed until you need it again.
Because of the extremely thin profile of the knife, it is perfect for carrying in pants' pockets, jacket pockets, shirt pockets, clipped to a vest, I tried to push it through a MOLLE loop on one of my vests and it's just a tad to tall to fit. To work properly with the cut out design the pocket clip itself is a slim 1/4" width and offers about 1.5" of overhang on whatever you clip the knife to.
All of that is good, but would it cut? Obviously this knife wasn't designed for long term outdoor rigorous use. It's more of a civilized convenient utility knife. So rather than getting out all the junk I normally cut or chop up in my shed, I decided to try different tests for this knife. I still got out my assortment of string which ran the variety from 120lb test fishing line to string, twine, paracord and 1" nylon webbing. Everything I cut with the Access Card was cut with a single pass except the nylong webbing which required two. I probably could have forced it through on one, but the slim profile of the knife makes it slightly uncomfortable in your hand if you are putting too much pressure into the cut.
That done, I came inside and washed the blade and let the knife dry open. (I always enjoy the looks I get from my wife when she sees such things on the drying rack in our kitchen) Next I used the knife to cut up a few food items to include an apple, some cheese, a few carrots and some ham steak. BBQ chicken and grilled steak were also on that list. The little knife handled it all with ease and did the work cleanly. While cutting the carrots I realized that I was using my thumb to press down into the cuts by putting pressure along the spine of the blade. SOG Knives must have anticipated such use (not specifically with carrots) because they put about an inch of shallow ridges on the blade spine where it meets the handles when locked open.
All in all, given the design, slim profile, and overall size, I was quite pleased with the blade. It will serve well in those settings where you might not want the whole world to see your more aggressive appearing folding knife, but where you want a competent blade in your pocket none-the-less. I've taken to carrying my test Access Card on my strong side in my short pants while I do yard work or run errands. Heck, this thing is so slim you could carry it in your swimtrunks and no one would notice (unless you're a Speedo kind of guy).
On the SOG Knives' website the Access Card 2.0 has an MSRP of $100. A quick Google search of "SOG Access Card" found me one available new online for $54.88 plus shipping. As always, it pays to shop around.
Stay Safe!
