Fixed blades

shinyedges said:
I've always been interested in the TB tracker, I understand the philosophy behind it but I've never put one to the test. How is it in your opinion? Does it pass muster? Or more of a gimmick?
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For me, personally, the Tracker isn't a gimmick.

I always have a SAK "Hiker" in my back pocket. That little folder, and the "Tracker #1" (*or my little TOPS 107E), have proven to be a formidable combo, for "camp" fires and food prep, out at "remote" Farms and Ranches here in South Texas. For me, the full-size Tracker (*TBT-1) is a lot like a Swiss Army Knife...a "multi-tool" of sorts. The Tracker serves as a small hatchet, "wood planer", and froe/splitter...to say the least.


That being stated, the knife that I posted is a TOPS SXB "Skullcrusher", and the very knife that E.J. Snyder designed for his time on "Naked and Afraid".

For those of you who don't know, E.J. Snyder is U.S. Army Ranger who served in the Gulf War, and the G.W.O.T., in Iraq. He's a decorated U.S. Army Veteran, with two Bronze Stars and a Legion of Merit award.


The reason that I post the above is that quite a lot of folks mistake the TOPS "SXB" for just a larger "Tracker" knife, but it isn't. E.J. has always said that the inspiration for his "SXB" was Todd Hunt's "M18"...



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For the "1095 isn't tough" crowd, it amazes me that E.J. chose TOPS to build his particular "survival" knife.


Actually, I lie. I've been beating the sh!t outta' my TOPS knives for so long that I'm not really amazed that E.J. chose a TOPS.
 
Alone said:
For me, personally, the Tracker isn't a gimmick.

I always have a SAK "Hiker" in my back pocket. That little folder, and the "Tracker #1" (*or my little TOPS 107E), have proven to be a formidable combo, for "camp" fires and food prep, out at "remote" Farms and Ranches here in South Texas. For me, the full-size Tracker (*TBT-1) is a lot like a Swiss Army Knife...a "multi-tool" of sorts. The Tracker serves as a small hatchet, "wood planer", and froe/splitter...to say the least.


That being stated, the knife that I posted is a TOPS SXB "Skullcrusher", and the very knife that E.J. Snyder designed for his time on "Naked and Afraid".

For those of you who don't know, E.J. Snyder is U.S. Army Ranger who served in the Gulf War, and the G.W.O.T., in Iraq. He's a decorated U.S. Army Veteran, with two Bronze Stars and a Legion of Merit award.


The reason that I post the above is that quite a lot of folks mistake the TOPS "SXB" for just a larger "Tracker" knife, but it isn't. E.J. has always said that the inspiration for his "SXB" was Todd Hunt's "M18"...



View attachment 2675091



For the "1095 isn't tough" crowd, it amazes me that E.J. chose TOPS to build his particular "survival" knife.


Actually, I lie. I've been beating the sh!t outta' my TOPS knives for so long that I'm not really amazed that E.J. chose a TOPS.
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👍👍👍
 
Alone said:
For me, personally, the Tracker isn't a gimmick.

I always have a SAK "Hiker" in my back pocket. That little folder, and the "Tracker #1" (*or my little TOPS 107E), have proven to be a formidable combo, for "camp" fires and food prep, out at "remote" Farms and Ranches here in South Texas. For me, the full-size Tracker (*TBT-1) is a lot like a Swiss Army Knife...a "multi-tool" of sorts. The Tracker serves as a small hatchet, "wood planer", and froe/splitter...to say the least.


That being stated, the knife that I posted is a TOPS SXB "Skullcrusher", and the very knife that E.J. Snyder designed for his time on "Naked and Afraid".

For those of you who don't know, E.J. Snyder is U.S. Army Ranger who served in the Gulf War, and the G.W.O.T., in Iraq. He's a decorated U.S. Army Veteran, with two Bronze Stars and a Legion of Merit award.


The reason that I post the above is that quite a lot of folks mistake the TOPS "SXB" for just a larger "Tracker" knife, but it isn't. E.J. has always said that the inspiration for his "SXB" was Todd Hunt's "M18"...



View attachment 2675091



For the "1095 isn't tough" crowd, it amazes me that E.J. chose TOPS to build his particular "survival" knife.


Actually, I lie. I've been beating the sh!t outta' my TOPS knives for so long that I'm not really amazed that E.J. chose a TOPS.
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Interesting, thanks for the perspective. I'm familiar with ej as I watched naked and afraid. As much as I like him, and as a soldier myself, let me say being a ranger doesn't qualify him to know much about knives or steel. Lots of soldiers aren't knife guys and use some cheap crap they got at the px. Rangers included.

But, I do think he chose a functional design and I'm glad it works for him. Hell, I've snapped an inch off a knife in 52100, I bent a busse sob to where it took a set, I still have a becker bk2 that is stamped that has a big chunk of the edge missing and the spine was mushroomed so I rounded them. That's just the tip of the iceberg. I've broken more knives than most, some being overly harsh to push limits, others just using them on my farm in a situation where I didn't want to walk half a mile back to my house in 3 feet of snow through the woods. Needless to say, I've pushed more knives to failure in more steels than most enthusiasts. If you get bored and want to know how many hits to the side of an s30v blade it takes with an rmj shrike, let me know 🤣


1095 is tough enough for general use, especially when ran at lower hrc like tops does. Most 1095 is ran soft for that same purpose and it works. At that lower hardness you get more edge deformation, much easier. So the "toughness" which in this case is a function of strength in actuality, is much easier to detect. Run it side by side against a 3v knife and see which takes more damage. I've done it, and much more, being a knuckle head knife nut with almost 70 acres in bfe lol


I know it may seem like I'm ragging on 1095, but I'm not. But I'd be remiss if I didn't share what my actual experience has been with 1095 vs what amounts to be probably 50? other steels. Many of which can be found over the last 12 years, I think I posted several good ones of failures from multiple manufacturers. I also used them processing animals from the farm and that were hunted. It's how I developed exactly what I want out of a knife design wise, fingers slipping on to blades because it's -17 degrees and your hands are cold and it's dark and you're dropping the guts from an animal, unfortunately I had that happen.


Sorry for the rant, and somewhere in all that what was lost was 1095 is perfectly serviceable, I still have knives in it. But there's much much more performance to be had in other steels and no down side to them in comparison. Not even price in many cases.

This is an older becker with 0176c steel (1095crovan) and for what it's been through it hasn't broken completely which is impressive. Being soft saved this knife from breaking in 2. We had like a foot literally of ice on my roof and I hammered this to break chunks off, so the pommel mushroomed, then I used it to cut through something (I can't remember😅) and I ended up pounding it through it and the spine mushroomed. It's edge stability isn't great when it comes to taking abuse, but in wood it won't have any issues at all. Behind the semi large chip, the edge is disaligned.
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I carried this thing EVERYWHERE. I had many knives before it, but this one for some reason launched my interest in knives to the next level. If not for it I wouldn't have found bladeforums. Not sure where the screw went, lol lost years ago.
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Man, pics don't do this justice. For a blade this thick, the hollow grind really let's it cut better than it should. Sr101 sweetness. I fell in love with 52100 because of busse sr101. Somewhere around 2013 or 2014 I got my first rmd, it was like cupid hit me with an arrow. 20241002_173303.jpg20241002_173317.jpg
 
shinyedges said:
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I just can’t with the RMD anymore. For a long time it was my favorite blade. I’ve had a bunch of em - at least 6.

It’s just that when I bring it to fill a midrange to large role it seems lacking. When I bring it for smaller stuff it’s overkill. It’s stuck right in my grey area where I just can’t mess with em anymore.

The M6 (and I’m betting the P&L) have just enough “umph” to eclipse the RMD. For me it’s the M6 for midrange and the AMS for small. Big whompers for when neither will git r dun.

Can’t wait to try out my new Hellrazor II, just waiting on the sheath I ordered.

LOVE that you have a backup of the P&L. Exactly what I did with the M6 and AMS.
 
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AntDog said:
I just can’t with the RMD anymore. For a long time it was my favorite blade. I’ve had a bunch of em - at least 6.

It’s just that when I bring it to fill a midrange to large role it seems lacking. When I bring it for smaller stuff it’s overkill. It’s stuck right in my grey area where I just can’t mess with em anymore.

The M6 (and I’m betting the P&L) have just enough “umph” to eclipse the RMD. For me it’s the M6 for midrange and the AMS for small. Big whompers for when neither will git r dun.

Can’t wait to try out my new Hellrazor II, just waiting on the sheath I ordered.
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100% agree. I originally fell in love with the ergos of the rmd and how easy it was to sharpen to shaving sharp and the awesome patina it took and how tough it was. But... but.. lol .. it's not heavy enough to chop well and it's ergos are not as good as other handles, it's to big for tasks or to small. Like it's in limbo. Lots of knives feel like that to me. The p&l has just enough umpf to be worth chopping with and its handle is more comfortable hands down. I tried the park ranger and it's tip was a tad thin for me, I think I actually bent it. Idk, I'm a weird one I guess, there's a certain size that I find useless unless it's your 1 and only knife. If you owned 1 knife and it was a rmd, you'd be ok because it can do most things albeit not as well as other blades. It's an evolution of knife carry and use that I think pushes us into these realizations.
 
shinyedges said:
100% agree. I originally fell in love with the ergos of the rmd and how easy it was to sharpen to shaving sharp and the awesome patina it took and how tough it was. But... but.. lol .. it's not heavy enough to chop well and it's ergos are not as good as other handles, it's to big for tasks or to small. Like it's in limbo. Lots of knives feel like that to me. The p&l has just enough umpf to be worth chopping with and its handle is more comfortable hands down. I tried the park ranger and it's tip was a tad thin for me, I think I actually bent it. Idk, I'm a weird one I guess, there's a certain size that I find useless unless it's your 1 and only knife. If you owned 1 knife and it was a rmd, you'd be ok because it can do most things albeit not as well as other blades. It's an evolution of knife carry and use that I think pushes us into these realizations.
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Absolutely, and well said my friend.
 
shinyedges said:
Oh and when I fall for a knife.. I need a back up. God forbid I lose it or break it and have to send it to the mothership, or worse... they discontinue it! I NEED to have a replacement on hand.
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I feel you on this. The moment I find something I love (which is rare), I dont feel safe until I have a backup lol. Then it's peaceful goings.
 
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