Beck TRACKER

I think the issue is really between Tom Brown's Tracker School and Beck, and we should leave them to solve it. The school has an excllent reputation.

Dave Beck has an excellent reputation in this business, as both a mkaer and a human being.

TOPS and their owners also have an excellent reputation on both counts as well.

That gives me a LOT of faith that this will be worked out fairly and maturely by the parties involved. Debate here is uselss for all of us, because only those three parties know what the whole story is.

~Brian.
 
"Due to the legal complications regarding the manufacturing of the Beck TRACKER(which I was previously unaware of when I first posted), I, David R Beck, have decided that, being in my best interest and out of respect to the interests of all other parties involved,I will immediately discontinue the idea of re-introducing the Beck TRACKER. I will not be taking orders for, selling, or manufacturing the TRACKER.

I deeply apologize to so many enthusiastic customers who had hoped to get their hands on an original Beck TRACKER.

This is a sorrowful day in the custom knife world, as we have lost a fine work of art." David R. Beck
 
I thought this may happen....:(

Dave, do not let this detract from other knives you make and especially from your 'new drive' to get your website and internet communications up and running (I am sure you wouldn't)...there are still plenty of people out here that like your principles, knife designs etc and I think that this lil' setback (if that is what it is) will go unnoticed.

Chin up mate!
 
I have promised to hold my tounge on this issue so I will.

Dave's web site continues to be updated every day. He has some brand new designs that he is very excited about. I would expect them to be on the site shortly.

I don't think this setback has deterred Dave from his goal of crafting the finest blades available.
 
So we cant get a tracker from the original maker of the knife we would have to get it from someone that used the idea and made a couple changes which are said to have been made to improve the knife?When it sounds like they were made to make this possible.And all of this happened before the movie and the movie changed nothing? THIS DOES SUCK. I wonder what would have become of this whole thing if at the last minute they changed it to a tomahawk and scraped the tracker?
 
SMALL BUSINESS LOSES AGAIN! I just wonder if the original "MEDICINE"/"TRACKER"/""TOM BROWN""TRACKER" would have made a good movie icon? BS! Looking for another knife Dave. Your designs are more PRACTICAL than the "MEDICINE KNIFE" OF YESTERDAY!
 
Originally posted by conrad994
SMALL BUSINESS LOSES AGAIN! I just wonder if the original "MEDICINE"/"TRACKER"/""TOM BROWN""TRACKER" would have made a good movie icon? BS!
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What are you talking about? The Original Dave Beck Tracker DID make a great movie icon. That’s the one in the movie, TOPs didn't make it. From all that I have read on this movie it was made with the Original Dave Beck Tracker. The character uses the knife in the first part of the movie then loses it some how and has to make a crude copy to replace the Original. It's the crude copy that finishes the movie. I guess the crude copy could have been made by TOPs. But wouldn't that be ironic?

Ric
 
Originally posted by RicBrannon
...... It's the crude copy that finishes the movie. I guess the crude copy could have been made by TOPs. But wouldn't that be ironic?

Ric
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steady there Ric...:D ;)

mwahahahahahahaha ...

In every still I have seen and created from the movie, I have not seen the TOPs version once. It all looks like the original Beck Tracker to me. Saw teeth and handle give it away. And before anybody else says it, I bet there will be a version of the flint type knife to be released...:D

This is getting political, I am outa here!;)
 
Guys,

The version shown in the movie is the Beck version, and props based on the Beck version. TOPS also contributed a bunch of aluminum versions (not sharp) for prop use at one point. I'm not sure if the TOPS line was being manufactured yet at the start of production of the movie or not.

The Tracker School simply asked TOPS if they were interested in making the knife for them. They agreed. TOPS is an excellent shop (not factory), with folks of the highest integrity running it. That's all there is to it. It was, they felt, a sound business decision to make the blade for the school. Evidently, at the time, Dave Beck was given first 'dibs' on it, but chose not to accept, for whatever reasons he had, and I am certain they were and are valid.

Dave, I'll certainly be ordering other knives from you. Through this dliemma, all of us here have had the great opportunity to rediscover you and your knives, and certainly your having a website will lead to many orders and lots of business. So, there was a greater purpose to this, I believe. You are one of the best in the business, and I wish you all good medicine in your knifemaking business and your life in general.

Best,

~Brian.
 
Jones, Do you work for TOPS? Sure seems like it. Please tell us what your relationship with them is, so we can put your comments in context. You're a big booster and seem to have inside info. Are you a knife tester for them?
 
Originally posted by gundy
steady there Ric...:D ;)

mwahahahahahahaha ...

In every still I have seen and created from the movie, I have not seen the TOPs version once. It all looks like the original Beck Tracker to me. Saw teeth and handle give it away. And before anybody else says it, I bet there will be a version of the flint type knife to be released...:D

This is getting political, I am outa here!;)
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Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying TOPs makes bad knives. In fact they make some knives I like very much, the Operation-Badger is a great knife. The TOPs Tracker just doesn't fit me. When I was in high school I almost cut three of the fingers off my right hand, cut one tendon completely and half way through a second. Now I can't close my hand into a fist and this makes some knives hard to hold onto, specially when chopping. The TOPs Tracker is one of those knives. I've been trying to get one from Dave sense about 98, after I got the play with an Original owned by a friend, way before the movie, but I couldn't find him, he had moved. Now I find him, he's going to make me an Original Tracker, I'm a happy man, I'm getting a knife that will do all the things I am learning and fits me comfortably. But now the Titans are fighting and I'm not getting my knife. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but the utmost respect for both Tom Brown and Dave Beck. They have both reached levels of skill in their perspective arts I could barely hope to achieve. But I still won't get my knife. So you can see why I might sound a bit upset.
I don't understand what the big deal is. So there are two artists making the same knife, so what. That just means more options for the customers. No body is going to lose business. I know a lot of knife people, users and collectors, and if the rest of the knife buying world is anything like me they got to have one, at least one, of each. So no one is losing business, everybody is making money at the business they love, the economy is growing and the customers are happy. What’s wrong with that?

Ric
 
Hey, Brownshoe --

No -- I do not work for TOPS in any way, shape, or form, nor am I a "tester." They are good friends of mine, and I am obviously a fan of their knives, and I respect the people who run the company immensely. I can understand why you have this question, and the reasons for it. You and I have had our differences in the past.

I guess this is way overdue, but I would like to apologize to you for my rudeness on that old thread. Whether I'm a longtime poster or not, I guess I was having a bad day that day, and got carried away in my replies to you, and it was out of line. I have the characteristic of being intensely loyal and protective of friends, occasionally to a fault, and sometimes that bites me in the butt.

Best,

~Brian.
 
Thanks. You're a class act. I also get my panties twisted sometimes.
 
Originally posted by FLWRONG
Check out P&T's site on the Tom Brown School. The show was a hoot.
http://www.sho.com/ptbs/topics.cfm?topic=eow;)
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OMG!!!! :confused:
DENIED!!! Showtime doesn't allow people outside the United States access to their web site! I'm just across the freakin' border here!

From their "Lockout" web site:

"We at Showtime Online express our apologies; however, these pages are intended for access only from within the United States."

nice.
 
:mad:
You mean to tell me that Dave's Tracker was used exclusively in the movie?! Now he is being barred from making it?!!!

Brian, since you are close to the guys at TOPS, I'd love to know what their take on all of this is. I already know Brown's position.
:mad:
 
Originally posted by Jaeger
:mad:
You mean to tell me that Dave's Tracker was used exclusively in the movie?! Now he is being barred from making it?!!!
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From what I've seen and read that is exactly it.

Ric
 
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