T.O.P.S. scorpion's tail (karambit)

Haze

Haze

Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Messages
18,850
Hello all,

I have just got a "scorpion's tail" and I have to say this is the first TOPS knife I own that Im not to impressed with.
The designe looked interesting and usefull but when I held it in my hand it became clear that it was full of errors, The handle with finger ring, is made for someone with 6 fingers ( it fits the hand much beter if you dont use the ring, which is the whole point of a karambit, right ?) the finger hole is nearly big enough to put my arm through ! even with gloves it is a horibly dislocated felling you get from the handle. The blade is a good shape but is to small in comparison to the rest of the knife so im not actually convinced of its usefull-nes.
The sheath designe is almost a good one, the deploy and re-sheathing method is interesting (similar to Hossom karambit) but dosant have a clip so over looks one giant thing ! the karambit is a knife most commonly held in the Sunang or reverse grip with your index finger through the hole, so im interested in how TOPS expect you to deploy this as a neck knife ???. It is far more sensible to be puling the knife up away from you, ie. belt mounted. This is a big problem because the karambit is infinatly more powerful and easy to use in a reverse grip so makes it a hiderance to you rather than a help if you have to deply it the other way !!!
In my view the handle should be half an inch shorter, the finger ring should have a smaller diameter, the blade size should be increased by a third and the sheath should have a clip so you can have the luxury of a choice of carry !!! like the street scalpel, a well thought out designe and a much safer and better investment for your cash, than a badly designed karambit.

Play safe

Haze :grumpy:
 
You know, some knives just don't fit some hands that well.
Maybe it's just that it's not for your tastes, or maybe the designer made it to fit his hands.
 
Hello,

Thats only my oppinion of the knife and I like the designe or I wouldnt have bought it, I will get use of it but these nigles are always worth airing i think. It will do what a karambit's ment to of course but I feel for me it could do it better, altho you do have to reach an equilibrium with form and function and all the rest, I still think some mistakes were made regarding deploy for common karambit techniques, a tech-lock may over come this if it fits the sheath, or a bit of dog-tag chain through one of your belt loops to retain the sheath after deploy.
As for designe Im the first to accept it will fit some people fine and others not, but it does seem to be a handle with a ring on the end rather than the ring being the end of the handle, if that makes sence ? (3 fingers round "handle" 4th one through loop) I presume the finger loop is oversized so you can use it easily with gloves (good foresite) but even with my thick tactical gloves it felt a bit loose for me, maby Im using less modern karambit styles or something but I just dont see it as a neck knife and I hardly ever use a karambit in front grip and this is its primary deploy position, there is a grip filed into the blade-end of the handle and nothing at the loop end ?
Its still a nice karambit but for me there is a "BUT" !

play safe

Haze
 
I Just recevied the Scorpion and was very satisfied with it. I have small hands and had no major problems with the dimensions of the handle. The sheath comes with a belt clip and is very easy to draw from. Loading the knife back into the sheath, takes a little practice.
On balance, for the money and quality of the knife i would say it is a good value. I do however agree with some of Haze suggestions. The ring ,could be made slightly smaller and the handle could be shortened a bit.

My 2 cents worth

B
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top