I bet the Kamis could make a pretty decent version of this

Rusty said:
I still have that pretty, shiny, nickeled, 39-2 S&W 9mm that's never failed to feed or eject and that somehow just hits everything I point it at. Did I mention I like pretty, shiny guns?

Why do I think of Glocks when I see a Tracker type knife? :barf: :barf: :barf:
Click to expand...

Rusty, you and I don't always agree on aesthetics, but I'm with you on this one bud. That is one UGLY knife! To me it's one of those designs that tries to do everything and compromises on each one so much that it's not good for any of them. Now I should say that I've never handled one, so I'm just talking about it's looks. But to those of you who like it, more power to you my friends! :)

Steve (5'-5" of strong opinions) :D
 
Steve?

I exchanged posts with a fellow who had a Tracker. I think it was on the Outdoors Forum, but...can't find it.

As you have evaluated, so did I...thinking it was a compromise that did nothing very well...from chop to saw to slice.

Nice man, he agreed completely. He collected and wanted it for a collection. THEN we got into how we both hated the HUNTED movie, because it could have been sooooo good, and instead became a hollywood flight of fancy.

We didn't get into "ugly." :)


Kis
 
Spectre said:
God, those are ugly! I'll take a 14" BDC over one of those, anyday!

Now, that little hunter in the second pic, though...:)

John
Click to expand...

Spectre and firkin, et al........thank the stars I'm not completely alone in the knife world. This "design" has not only NOT grown on me, but every time I see it my jaw drops and I think.....man, what an ugly useless piece of metal. If you look this up in the dictionary......Tries to be everything, so ends up doing nothing....there should be a picture of this knife. The most surprising thing about it is that is was not designed by a committee. :p
 
that knife was designed by Americas most famous tracking and wilderness survival expert.
I have never used it, but I'm not so sure I would assume it isnt effective at many tasks.
the funny recurve in the edge was intentional. Tom Brown wanted the knife to be useful for making a bow/arrows. the reverse curve is called the "rounder"
The Australian version seems to have lost that use.
You guys should read Tom's story of how he designed the knife.
It is his offering as the perfect, all-in-one survival knife.


Why not just get the Khuk-tracker?!?!?
this idea has already been addressed and with pretty good results...
khuk-tracker.jpg
 
I remember when they were filming The Hunted. They filmed the city and bridge scenes in portland OR (47mi. north of me). The director and crew got irritated because they were promissed rain (which we have plenty of) but they decided to film in the summer (we still get good rain, just not nearly as much). I think that some of it was well done, but that tommy lee jones and... that other guy werent given much to work with.
 
Danny,

You know a lot of X-kanners have trained with Tom, among that group are several close friends and at least one instructor of mine. I respect some things he's said (such as his comment about eating meat: "The plants scream just as loudly, if you could hear them," or something about like that).

It's still butt-ugly, and just because he does some things well, doesn't mean he does all things well. (You know, he came up with a "martial art", too... :rolleyes: )

Another of my friends went to a Tom Brown seminar recently. He saw at least one person using the Tracker...he wasn't impressed.

John
 
The first thing I thought when I saw the Tracker was that the saw teeth prohibited use of the blade as a draw-knife. A very important function to give up for me. Perhaps loading too many "features" on a knife isn't practical.
It is refreshing to read the word "ugly" here. It describes a lot of cutlery out there perfectly.
P.S. I prefer the Okie pronunciation, "Uhug-leee" (with a tip of the hat to Yvsa and any other speakers of that great American dialect.) ;)
 
DannyinJapan said:
that knife was designed by Americas most famous tracking and wilderness survival expert.
I have never used it, but I'm not so sure I would assume it isnt effective at many tasks.
the funny recurve in the edge was intentional. Tom Brown wanted the knife to be useful for making a bow/arrows. the reverse curve is called the "rounder"
The Australian version seems to have lost that use.
You guys should read Tom's story of how he designed the knife.
It is his offering as the perfect, all-in-one survival knife.


khuk-tracker.jpg
Click to expand...

My avid condemnation of his knife was not meant to be a condemnation of Tom Brown. Far from it! I was reading books by Tom Brown and using his advice LONG before he was famous and most others had even heard of him. As someone else mentioned, just because someone is good at some things (many things?) doesn't make him/her good at something else. Just look at all the model/actress pretties, who really should know the first time they open their mouths that they can't sing for crap (this also applies to pro athletes and their ilk). Even if you do related things don't guarantee diddly squat. I can do a fine Texas two-step, in circles around most people, but I doubt I'll get an invitation, this year at least, to dance the lead in Swan Lake with the S.F. Ballet Company. Tho' I have a relatively recent and intense interest in archery I don't think I'll be basing my choice of knives on whether they have a feature which makes it better at making bows and arrows. :D
 
The thing is what makes a nonbinding saw is the kerf.

That same thing prevents it from being encased in a sheath without destroying the sheath. Hence, folding saws.

A saw without kerf is a crap tool. You can somewhat make up for that by using an electric tool instead of a hand tool.

I'll agree that the SAK is a fine saw and a good crosscut saw, but if you look at the taper on the saw blade, it has kerf built in due to the fact that the blade is narrower at the spine, even though the teeth aren't bent outwards. The "tracker" is so wide that that won't matter.

The few folks that remain that can sharpen saws use a special tool to bend the teeth outwards to establish the kerf.

I still say no kerf, crap saw.

Crap saw better than no saw? Maybe.

There are a lot of crap saws and crap axes around now. That's because less people know what a real one is.

To call the deformations of the spine on the Tops knife a "saw" is ludicrous.
 
A convential saw with ample 'kerf' is fine if you are cutting a tree down or sawing a 2x4 in half, but when you are doing small jobs, the pyramid tooth style actually works better than a convential toothed saw. This is why the Gerber folding saw changed styles.

The SAK has kerf which is barely noticeable, if at all, and is probably more a product of the machining than anything else. My saw cut into the spine of my PK has proportionally more 'kerf' (HI blades, as we all know, are wide at the top and taper down).

Kerf is important in a traditional style saw so it cuts a path wide enough so the blade deosn't bind and the debris is removed. With a double row pyramid style such as on the SAK or the Beck, the blade itself has a form of 'built in kerf', hence why they cut extremely well.

The blade on the back of a saw is used for small sawing tasks and making notches, and for that it can be invaluable. Personally, I've found them handy many times. Yeah, I still pack a 'real saw' in my ruck.

I've seen first hand the teeth on the Tracker vs the pyramid teeth on the Beck. I prefer the Beck's style teeth by far. I think that the reason TOPS went with the tooth style they did was for simplicity of manufacture.
 
I own a Beck Tracker. It is a brute of a knife that does a lot of things well and excells at none of them. It doesn't chop as well as my 15" AK but it does chop very well. The saw teeth are the best I have used. They work both for notching and for sawing through an item. The handle is a dual grip design and is very comfortable. Once you become accustomed to the feel and the heft of the knife you can do some pretty delicate work with it also. Beck uses differentially tempered 0-1 tool steel whic is a joy to work with. Utilizing the draw knife feature does require a piece of leather over the teeth.

You should see one of the Beck knives before deciding whether or not they are ugly. They are a thing of beauty and Not to be confused witht the TOPS knife.

It's been a LONG time since I've posted here. Lots of new names. Yvsa and Rusty are the only ones I recognize!

I'd love to see the kamis rendition of this design. I think I brought that up years ago (pre "The Hunted" hoopla) but there wasn't any interest then.
 
My wife has read all the Tom Brown books and I thought about getting one for her. However when I searched Bladeforums and Knifeforums I found overwhelming negative feedback on that knife. Does anybody have one and really like it?
 
DannyinJapan said:
that knife was designed by Americas most famous tracking and wilderness survival expert.
I have never used it, but I'm not so sure I would assume it isnt effective at many tasks.
the funny recurve in the edge was intentional. Tom Brown wanted the knife to be useful for making a bow/arrows. the reverse curve is called the "rounder"
The Australian version seems to have lost that use.
You guys should read Tom's story of how he designed the knife.
It is his offering as the perfect, all-in-one survival knife.


Why not just get the Khuk-tracker?!?!?
this idea has already been addressed and with pretty good results...
khuk-tracker.jpg
Click to expand...

Danny,

I saw that one in person and it is AWESOME!!! To me that is a really good combo!!

I'm glad somebody finally posted a pic of it!! I don't remember ever seeing one posted before and I thought Dan/Pen did a killer job on it!!!
 
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