By Roy Huntington

A couple of years ago I found myself gutting two deer, in the snow, on the ground, in the dark. It was a bit unexpected (a long story), but Suzi was kind enough to hold a decent flashlight on things as I worked. But even with an expert light holder like Suzi (years of writing citations with a light under one arm gets you lots of practice …), I still found myself saying, “Move it over a bit, more, a bit more, there, okay, now see if you can get some light inside …” and she tried gamely. The bottom line was I needed light inside the chest cavity, and I was blocking the way most of the time. A headlamp would have helped, but I didn’t have one.

When I saw this at a knife show attended by SOG, I immediately saw how valuable the idea was. This is a 3.9″-bladed folder, stainless, anti-slip handles, liner-lock, etc. but with a twist. It comes with a built in lighting system of six LED’s installed so they shine down the blade. It offers shadowless light right where the blade is working. So if you’re gutting and skinning, cutting rope in the dark, slicing the morning bacon in camp or just need to light the way (the lights work with blade open or closed) the Bladelight from SOG might be just the ticket.

Common AAA batteries (2) run it, and the 34-37 lumens of light burn for about 260 minutes. It has no clip, but comes with a sturdy nylon pouch with a rugged belt clip I really like. The concept of the Bladelight is featured in a bunch of models from SOG, from fillet knives to hunters and camp knives and even a fixed blade model right at home on a SWAT officers vest (how useful would that be, eh?). From about $85 for our test model to around $115 for a pretty brawny fixed bladed model, none of these will break your bank. This one goes in my hunting backpack for sure. For more info: https://americanhandgunner.com/company/sog-specialty-knives-tools-llc/.

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