One Stick Fire, TOPS Pathfinder Knife

What are you doin Mist?????????? :eek:

That blade is crap. Its coating, handles, choil.....Jeez. It will never work in the woods for anything. :jerkit:

Oh, wait......Your pics tell a differant story dont they? ;)

Good stuff. I dont get hung up on the looks and features of the blade, just the skills of the user. I appriciate the fact that you use what you like. Alot of guys ask waaay too many questions about their tools, and have waaay to many hang ups worryin about what everyone else thinks is a good field knife. I say use what you like, and what you can use. Even if its a United hollow handle Rambo knife, or a Skookum Bushtool. I mean, I understand people having questions and seeking advise about things, but I have went through a ton of steel in the past few years because I always thought something might be better. In the end, I just said screw it, and use what I like. For me, the BRKT Gunny is about perfect for my "survival/bushcraft" blade. I love the Bravo1, but I believe its just too thick. If it was thinned out just a little, it would be perfect IMO.

Nice post man. :)
 
I have done everything I needed to do in the woods with an Aitor Jungle King II. People will swear up and down that it will fail. People that have never used one. I tend to keep my prying chores with prying implements.

People that look down on knives that are not "pretty." That's really lame. Hahaha!
 
Really enjoy all your posts, bro. Thanks for this one in particular, I was looking at the pathfinder. Its interesting enough but decided I probably don't need one. My TOPS Mohawk hunter and ESEE 4 are hard to beat and are my go tos. Been thinking lately I have to many FBs anyway......not that would stop me from getting another tho. Lol. Anyway great stuff as usual
 
pitdog said:
A lot of people on this forum knock TOPS knives but in all my time on the forums I have never heard of TOPS knives suffering damage through hard use.
Compare that to say Bark River knives which I am constantly hearing about their edges chipping and rolling etc. If I was going car camping and wanted a pretty knife to slice my tomatoes see-through-thin and practice making traps etc then yeah I'd probably opt for a Barkie etc but if I was heading out on a multi day trip where there was a high possibility of getting into a survival situation where I had to rely on my knife then I'd take a TOPS knife over most others. JMO !
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Can't go wrong with alot of TOPS' stuff. Not all of it is the same either. Their Pasayten Light Traveller knife is one of my favorites, 1/8 and full flat ground. The Power Eagle was a thrill to use, and wasn't a heavy thick steel but light and nimble.

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Joezilla said:
Can't go wrong with alot of TOPS' stuff. Not all of it is the same either. Their Pasayten Light Traveller knife is one of my favorites, 1/8 and full flat ground. The Power Eagle was a thrill to use, and wasn't a heavy thick steel but light and nimble.

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That Pasayten Light is one that I've often toyed with getting !:thumbup:
 
Don Rearic said:
Whattaya mean no name calling? You old firebug! :D
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Ha! That's funny...true yes, but still funny.

You know me...just rather keep the negative opinions relative to the material at hand...and not about each other :) . We all KNOW that none of us are perfect :D


j williams said:
What are you doin Mist?????????? :eek:

That blade is crap. Its coating, handles, choil.....Jeez. It will never work in the woods for anything. :jerkit:

Oh, wait......Your pics tell a differant story dont they? ;)

Good stuff. I dont get hung up on the looks and features of the blade, just the skills of the user. I appriciate the fact that you use what you like. Alot of guys ask waaay too many questions about their tools, and have waaay to many hang ups worryin about what everyone else thinks is a good field knife. I say use what you like, and what you can use. Even if its a United hollow handle Rambo knife, or a Skookum Bushtool. I mean, I understand people having questions and seeking advise about things, but I have went through a ton of steel in the past few years because I always thought something might be better. In the end, I just said screw it, and use what I like. For me, the BRKT Gunny is about perfect for my "survival/bushcraft" blade. I love the Bravo1, but I believe its just too thick. If it was thinned out just a little, it would be perfect IMO.

Nice post man. :)
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Hahahahaha, I love that. Thanks man glad you enjoyed it.

I like to see just what can be done with pretty much any knife. I put my kitchen cutlery set through hell in some experiments for the urban survival thread I did last year. Just about any knife is going to be better at something than another knife may be...though I swear I have seen some exceptions :rolleyes:...I noted that with a simple sheath either of my pairing knives would make decent bushcraft blade, just not quite as thick as I'd prefer.

I "survived" for a while on the Chattahoochee river carrying a small hollow handled Explorer knife and a cut-off machete and never had any complaints. Stepped up to the lager hollow handled Explorer knife a few months later and broke it in two days.

I like the looks of both of those BRK&Ts though personally, while I like thinner blades in food prep, I would want the thicker knife as a "survival" knife.


Don Rearic said:
I have done everything I needed to do in the woods with an Aitor Jungle King II. People will swear up and down that it will fail. People that have never used one. I tend to keep my prying chores with prying implements.

People that look down on knives that are not "pretty." That's really lame. Hahaha!
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Though I've never carried one, on paper the Aitor looks like a fairly well thought out design. About 16 or 17 years ago I had an Explora that was made by Marto, also of Spain, that did really well. The handle was molded around the tang and then had a dwell pin for extra security on the blade. I think the Aitors are made the same way. If so I would mind having one in a semi-tropical or tropical area (for which both were designed), I just wouldn't want a metal handle in a cold environment. That's my only complaint about the CRKs and the new Schrades.


s7brad said:
Really enjoy all your posts, bro. Thanks for this one in particular, I was looking at the pathfinder. Its interesting enough but decided I probably don't need one. My TOPS Mohawk hunter and ESEE 4 are hard to beat and are my go tos. Been thinking lately I have to many FBs anyway......not that would stop me from getting another tho. Lol. Anyway great stuff as usual
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Thanks Brad, glad you enjoyed it. I've had too many fixed blades for some time now lol. But I use some of them for my own studies, some in instructionals and pass some of them on to students. I really liked watching Haley's face light up yesterday when I gave her one of my ESEE Izulas, pity I didn't have a blue one to match her hair :)


Joezilla said:
Can't go wrong with alot of TOPS' stuff. Not all of it is the same either. Their Pasayten Light Traveller knife is one of my favorites, 1/8 and full flat ground. The Power Eagle was a thrill to use, and wasn't a heavy thick steel but light and nimble.
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They definitely have a wide variety of styles and sizes.

That Light Traveler is on my to-get list.
 
Nice review. I have always been attracted to TOPS Knives, even though I don't seem to hear about them too much. May have to finally invest in one!
 
Good review. I don't think I can live with those tacti-groove handles though. I just tend to like simple handles....But that is just me.
 
Lawlor69 said:
Nice review. I have always been attracted to TOPS Knives, even though I don't seem to hear about them too much. May have to finally invest in one!
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TOPS great knives! Not all their designs are for everyone for sure, you just have to look through their wares. But all I've seen and used are VERY well made.


kgd said:
Good review. I don't think I can live with those tacti-groove handles though. I just tend to like simple handles....But that is just me.
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I like the RMT on the knives I set back for "survival" here in this urban environment. However, that said I was confused by Dave going with that style of scale considering the handles on the other knives he has collaborated on. I think this one is just more geared to the tactical side which suits me fine. I like the size and shape, and I love the blade geometry.

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Well, I started thinking hard about this thread yesterday when I ran across an aggressive unleashed dog on the trail (again!). Like last time, I was able to bluff the dog into backing off the trail enough for me to pass, but it would sure would make me feel better knowing I had something more than an Izula on me.

Of course, it's hard to tell whether I'm wanting that re-assurance or whether I just want to buy another knife... :D
 
This knife does have a good bit of fighter designed into and would work pretty well in a defensive role...however I think a good stout hickory stave walking stick or some mace would be good to have along too.
 
I'm a fan of TOPS knives, maybe not all of them because some are a little over the top for my taste. I have sold many TOPS knives and never ever had one returned for any reason or heard a single complaint. Would I compare them to an ESEE or something similar? hell no, but they are not bad and many buy them and like em with no issues. To each their own I guess.
 
Don Rearic said:
.I am a big fan of ESEE Knives and one of the reasons why is because all of them can be used for defensive purposes if need be. So, I really don't think it is a negative that this Pathfinder is sort of pointing in that direction, pardon the pun.
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even a butter knife can be used for defensive purpose if you ass is on the line -- when i was doing time - the head broke off a disposable razor with half the plastic took off under my pillow worked real good - kept four big idiots from beating me to death -- they jumped off me real quick - you would be surprised how fast somebody gets off you and how much flesh a half exposed disposable razor will let fly -- (when you need it to)

it seems there a lot off excessive talk in most places --- i think more than half the people who buy or collect knives never really had to use em -

HAVE A GREAT DAY
 
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