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- Oct 4, 2000
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- 59
I posted this before but no replies. I am interested in one but i do not know anyone who has one. any input???
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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Anyone seen a Hoods Woods/TOPS ATAX???????
- Thread starter hopethisisnttaken
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 6, 1999
- Messages
- 667
I carry the TOPs line but the ATAX is an exclusive product. You can get it through Ron Hoods site. It is made by TOPS for him.
GO to TOPs site. In the links section you will find his site.
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S4Supply.com
[This message has been edited by Frank Castle (edited 03-15-2001).]
GO to TOPs site. In the links section you will find his site.
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S4Supply.com
[This message has been edited by Frank Castle (edited 03-15-2001).]
- Joined
- Feb 23, 1999
- Messages
- 4,855
I have one. It is a solid and well crafted blade.
The design allows considerable downward pressure when cutting, as the hand is directly over the cutting surface. The curved portion of the blade should serve well for skinning, although I have not had a chance to try it out for that yet.
When a handle is affixed and the ATAX is put into its axe configuration it chops surprisingly well. You can get a lot of momentum by attaching a large handle. It does take a few minutes to find and attach a handle though, and that makes it somewhat inconvenient for impromptu chopping jobs. You can chop without affixing a handle, but you run the risk of skinned knuckles. Unless you position your hand well back on the small handle, after the blade passes through the object to be chopped the next thing to hit it is knuckles.
I think this is a good blade to take when hiking in to a camp. Once a permanent location is achieved a handle can be affixed and it can be used for hatchet/tomahawk type chores. I find it less convenient on hikes due to the fuss associated with preparing it for chopping. For those types of adventures I prefer a lightweight khukuri or the Uluchet, as they can chop without the prep work.
The design allows considerable downward pressure when cutting, as the hand is directly over the cutting surface. The curved portion of the blade should serve well for skinning, although I have not had a chance to try it out for that yet.
When a handle is affixed and the ATAX is put into its axe configuration it chops surprisingly well. You can get a lot of momentum by attaching a large handle. It does take a few minutes to find and attach a handle though, and that makes it somewhat inconvenient for impromptu chopping jobs. You can chop without affixing a handle, but you run the risk of skinned knuckles. Unless you position your hand well back on the small handle, after the blade passes through the object to be chopped the next thing to hit it is knuckles.
I think this is a good blade to take when hiking in to a camp. Once a permanent location is achieved a handle can be affixed and it can be used for hatchet/tomahawk type chores. I find it less convenient on hikes due to the fuss associated with preparing it for chopping. For those types of adventures I prefer a lightweight khukuri or the Uluchet, as they can chop without the prep work.
Cliff Stamp
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- Oct 5, 1998
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What I find ironic is that Ron Hood has commented several times about how dangerous hatchets/axes are becauase of the chance of a very serious injury if there is a glance. Now this is true, but I disagree that the chance is significantly greater than with a large knife assuming the user is experienced and if he is not, then you don't start off power chopping anyway.
Anyway, keep Hoods perspective in mind and then look at the ATAX. Is the chance of a glance or otherwise a faulty blow greater or worse with a strapped on handle or with the quality hickory handle found on a quality axe/ hatchet? The handles that Hood has attached to the ATAX in the pictures on his site look far from stable to me, one of them appears to be a piece of green wood. Let alone issues of security, ergonomics etc., again as compared to a well shaped hardwood handle.
Take your favorite hatchet and not imagine a branch instead of the currenty handle - how does that effect your opinion of it in terms of functionality? If you try this with an axe, well then, better you than me. Spend quite some time selecting the stick as the impact energy scales with the length of handle and thus you need a stronger and more stable piece of wood as you increase the length. The nature of the resulting injury from a fault in the handle or misplaced blow also increases as well.
Why not simply alter the design so that you could bolt on a hardwood handle with two wingnuts (or a hex bolt and put a key in the survival kit space). You could then store the handle with bolts and nuts in it at the bottom of your pack and when needed put it on easily in under a minute. You now have a design that is only slightly less stable than a wedged axe handle. If you used a synthetic handle material if you easily be better. Or talk to P.J. Turner and work out a deal to use his folding/extending handle design.
Or course you can always fall back on the tied on handle if you lose the hex key or the handle breaks etc. .
The primary grind looks excessively thick as well even for a TOPS blade. I can't see that coming near the chopping performance of a decent hatchet.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 03-18-2001).]
Anyway, keep Hoods perspective in mind and then look at the ATAX. Is the chance of a glance or otherwise a faulty blow greater or worse with a strapped on handle or with the quality hickory handle found on a quality axe/ hatchet? The handles that Hood has attached to the ATAX in the pictures on his site look far from stable to me, one of them appears to be a piece of green wood. Let alone issues of security, ergonomics etc., again as compared to a well shaped hardwood handle.
Take your favorite hatchet and not imagine a branch instead of the currenty handle - how does that effect your opinion of it in terms of functionality? If you try this with an axe, well then, better you than me. Spend quite some time selecting the stick as the impact energy scales with the length of handle and thus you need a stronger and more stable piece of wood as you increase the length. The nature of the resulting injury from a fault in the handle or misplaced blow also increases as well.
Why not simply alter the design so that you could bolt on a hardwood handle with two wingnuts (or a hex bolt and put a key in the survival kit space). You could then store the handle with bolts and nuts in it at the bottom of your pack and when needed put it on easily in under a minute. You now have a design that is only slightly less stable than a wedged axe handle. If you used a synthetic handle material if you easily be better. Or talk to P.J. Turner and work out a deal to use his folding/extending handle design.
Or course you can always fall back on the tied on handle if you lose the hex key or the handle breaks etc. .
The primary grind looks excessively thick as well even for a TOPS blade. I can't see that coming near the chopping performance of a decent hatchet.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 03-18-2001).]
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1999
- Messages
- 73
it's not a hatchet; much more. I don't mind paying for a design w/25yrs of R&D. Meaning that I don't need state of the art steel to be effective; good enough, strong enough,etc.
Has anyone seen the vid that compliments the tool? I think Ron Hood plans to offer a custom handle feature,later. If I had to press the ATAX into use it's nice to know that just about any expedient handle will function; then serve another purpose (ie. tinder, cordage, etc. Try that with a solid handle..Cliff does have some good points; I hope he expands on them? Jason
Has anyone seen the vid that compliments the tool? I think Ron Hood plans to offer a custom handle feature,later. If I had to press the ATAX into use it's nice to know that just about any expedient handle will function; then serve another purpose (ie. tinder, cordage, etc. Try that with a solid handle..Cliff does have some good points; I hope he expands on them? Jason
- Joined
- Dec 6, 1999
- Messages
- 667
Sure would not mind having a that with me on Survivor.
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2000
- Messages
- 698
Aren't TOPS knives handmade? That might explain the price.
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
Survivital:
You don't have to stop carrying the cord because you have a bolted on handle. And generally the type of wood that you would want for a handle would make for very poor tinder. It would be suitable for construction for traps and the like, but then again if I have a bolted on handle and you have a tied on one, as you are removing the tied on one I can simply pick up a stick and now we have equal resources but I have a more functional and secure handle on my ATAX.
The design is much more complicated that a large bowie for example. But it is not like Hood designed the tools, nor the methods for their use. Range finders, nail pullers etc., are all well known pieces of equipment. You could simply make many of them yourself out of a piece of wood (range finder, clock, inclinometer). If you don't know the details there are places where they are well described on the web.
Value is subjective though, I am sure there are a lot of people who think it is easily worth the price tag and more. Go to Hoods forum to hear a lot of positive comments about it.
-Cliff
You don't have to stop carrying the cord because you have a bolted on handle. And generally the type of wood that you would want for a handle would make for very poor tinder. It would be suitable for construction for traps and the like, but then again if I have a bolted on handle and you have a tied on one, as you are removing the tied on one I can simply pick up a stick and now we have equal resources but I have a more functional and secure handle on my ATAX.
The design is much more complicated that a large bowie for example. But it is not like Hood designed the tools, nor the methods for their use. Range finders, nail pullers etc., are all well known pieces of equipment. You could simply make many of them yourself out of a piece of wood (range finder, clock, inclinometer). If you don't know the details there are places where they are well described on the web.
Value is subjective though, I am sure there are a lot of people who think it is easily worth the price tag and more. Go to Hoods forum to hear a lot of positive comments about it.
-Cliff
Hi Folks,
Just spotted this so I figured I drop in.
The ATAX has been an ongoing project. I made my first one back in 1974 out of an auto spring with some arc welded components.
Over the years I've toyed with the design quite a bit. Then about four years ago a buddy of mine up here in Idaho saw it and asked if he could borrow it. As a packer guide he thought it might be good for taking apart Elk. When he came back at the end of his season he was all over it. I gave it to him and it is still in service.
What he liked was the small size and the fact that it could be carried on the belt while on horseback and it never interfered with a dismount even when the dismount wasn't planned. It also did the tough work of the little axe he used to carry plus it skinned like the ULU.
We fretted over the design and the following year I had a few new designs being tested by outfitters/guides. I also used in in my own trips. We made many improvements and as Cliff said, added features others had found useful. At some point last year I realized that there was no way anyone could figure out all of the stuff it could do without a video... so we made one.
I too wish we could sell it for less, I believe that in the end we will change a few of the expensive compound curves, handle materials and find a way to turn it out for less. This is the "model 1" and I only made 100 of them. They are almost gone now. The next one will have some very minor changes but when I get the time I'll be looking into a major change that should cut cost while keeping the function. These first ones will then be collectors editions.
Cliff, I still warn folks that axes are dangerous and in fact so are big blades, (even though I cut myself more in the kitchen on steak knives..) I guess that what you wrote about my concern with axes is based on my living in timber country where our community hospital sees foresters every week with axe injuries. We will see less of those now that the Criminal Klinton has locked up 6,000,000 acres of our forest. We will be buying lumber from Canada soon.... But I digress.
The tool, like any tool, has it's strengths and weaknesses. We hope to make improvements that will make it a very good tool indeed. We welcome suggestions.
One suggestion we have adopted is the customer premanufacture of a 6 inch handle for the blade made from an axe handle or similar stout wood. If the blade is taken in to a camp the handle is easy enough to pack. This of course makes one wonder why not just bring an axe? Mostly because of the other uses. I can chop, carve, tell time, distance, latitude, angle, heights, work nuts, cut wire and more. It is also a very dangerous tactical piece. and is currently being evaluated by several special teams. We are getting very positive feed back and a few suggestions at this point.
We have tried to emphasize the survival uses of the blade and avoid the tactical in order to mitigate the potential for over zealous lawmakers in places like Kalifornia to make it illegal.
Please try to consider the tool a work in progress. Further editions will address cost more than utility and there are a couple of after market accessories coming up. A carbon fiber handle with compartment is one of these.
I realize that this tool is not for everyone. It wasn't intended to be. It will do a lot of work very well and it has applications that we are just now exploring.
Nothing is perfect. We can only try our best to make it so.
Thanks for hearing me out.
Ron
------------------
Learn Life Extension at:
http://www.survival.com ]
[This message has been edited by Doc Ron (edited 03-19-2001).]
Just spotted this so I figured I drop in.
The ATAX has been an ongoing project. I made my first one back in 1974 out of an auto spring with some arc welded components.
Over the years I've toyed with the design quite a bit. Then about four years ago a buddy of mine up here in Idaho saw it and asked if he could borrow it. As a packer guide he thought it might be good for taking apart Elk. When he came back at the end of his season he was all over it. I gave it to him and it is still in service.
What he liked was the small size and the fact that it could be carried on the belt while on horseback and it never interfered with a dismount even when the dismount wasn't planned. It also did the tough work of the little axe he used to carry plus it skinned like the ULU.
We fretted over the design and the following year I had a few new designs being tested by outfitters/guides. I also used in in my own trips. We made many improvements and as Cliff said, added features others had found useful. At some point last year I realized that there was no way anyone could figure out all of the stuff it could do without a video... so we made one.
I too wish we could sell it for less, I believe that in the end we will change a few of the expensive compound curves, handle materials and find a way to turn it out for less. This is the "model 1" and I only made 100 of them. They are almost gone now. The next one will have some very minor changes but when I get the time I'll be looking into a major change that should cut cost while keeping the function. These first ones will then be collectors editions.
Cliff, I still warn folks that axes are dangerous and in fact so are big blades, (even though I cut myself more in the kitchen on steak knives..) I guess that what you wrote about my concern with axes is based on my living in timber country where our community hospital sees foresters every week with axe injuries. We will see less of those now that the Criminal Klinton has locked up 6,000,000 acres of our forest. We will be buying lumber from Canada soon.... But I digress.
The tool, like any tool, has it's strengths and weaknesses. We hope to make improvements that will make it a very good tool indeed. We welcome suggestions.
One suggestion we have adopted is the customer premanufacture of a 6 inch handle for the blade made from an axe handle or similar stout wood. If the blade is taken in to a camp the handle is easy enough to pack. This of course makes one wonder why not just bring an axe? Mostly because of the other uses. I can chop, carve, tell time, distance, latitude, angle, heights, work nuts, cut wire and more. It is also a very dangerous tactical piece. and is currently being evaluated by several special teams. We are getting very positive feed back and a few suggestions at this point.
We have tried to emphasize the survival uses of the blade and avoid the tactical in order to mitigate the potential for over zealous lawmakers in places like Kalifornia to make it illegal.
Please try to consider the tool a work in progress. Further editions will address cost more than utility and there are a couple of after market accessories coming up. A carbon fiber handle with compartment is one of these.
I realize that this tool is not for everyone. It wasn't intended to be. It will do a lot of work very well and it has applications that we are just now exploring.
Nothing is perfect. We can only try our best to make it so.
Thanks for hearing me out.
Ron
------------------
Learn Life Extension at:
http://www.survival.com ]
[This message has been edited by Doc Ron (edited 03-19-2001).]