info on tom brown tracker

R

rustywood

Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
15
been looking at one of these for a while wife is buying. anybody got one? tbt-1

tbt010.jpg
 
Has she bought it yet?

If not, you may want to wait for the incoming answers. :p
 
It is a good solid knife but highly specialized. It's for someone who needs certain capabilities all in one knife: knife, hatchet, drawknife, notcher. The TOPS version is probably the cheapest of the serious Trackers/WSKs out there but it is also massive, probably too heavy.

What it can do can be done with one big blade, maybe 6", and a smaller utility blade like a Mora, around 3.5".

Unless you've taken the course or read the book on what arcane woodscraft uses it serves, get something a little more comfortable to carry and more generally useful. For less money overall.

Edit to add: check out this thread where another guy is asking about knives that I think would do the job.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=592377
 
One way to look at it is; all movies over dramatize the capabilities of a knife. Look what they have done to auto knives and balisongs. Please remember it's only make believe.
 
its a knife that does many things averagely (is that a word?), but does nothing great.
 
:-)
Rather unfortunate that Top's version of the "Tracker" wasn't the movie prop...
IMO, it's rather pale in comparison to the movie's custom-made Tracker.
Figures.
 
The movie highlighted the Tracker as a weapon, an exotic tomahawk. The actual design imperatives were strictly utilitarian. Not sexy enough, I guess.

Was the TOPS version really not available yet, or would it have been too heavy and too clumsy for the exotic tomahawk act? :)
 
The tops tracker will get you through most anything you'll come across in the woods.I thinned mine down to make it cut better.I'll tell you now that you'll never break it with regular use.It is heavy though so be ready for that.
 
The only thing I'll add is that she should move quickly. The Tracker is currently available. That won't be true in a couple of weeks. They are unavailable most of the time.
 
Hey,

I'd seriously consider the weight of the thing before dropping that kind of money. I owned one of the Beck versions (read: sexy movie prop) and had to let it go after leaving it at home for a dozen or more trips into the woods. The weight doesn't seem like much when you pose with it before a mirror, but after a few miles on the trail continuously tugging your pants back up it's another story.
Uses: as stated before this "knife" has many functions. However, it does none of them nearly as well as a tool dedicated to that purpose.
I did a couple of courses at TBJ's Tracker School. NONE of the instructors, interns, or volunteers used a Tracker knife once. Most of them carried $10 Frosts Moras. A couple had the TOPS Scout knife. I watched students buy up the Tracker knives only to struggle putting them to use making fire kits and other things. I saw a few people return them to the bookstore for refunds that week as well.
But, they do have their following. My two cents. Good luck.
D
 
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