The Hunted

You didn't offend me Ichabod and I understand your issue about $300 for a 1095 knife. The $225 price is for the Tracker School students as I recall. The decision to use 1095 was not to save money, but rather to have a knife that could be resharpened in the field with just a river rock. This is a knife that is supposed to be used and abused in the field not hung on the wall like mine are.
Speaking of mine, I have a O1 original Beck model 'C', a TOPS 1095 and a TOPS Damascus in a display on the wall. I hope to get one of the larger Beck's sometime along with a couple of Peter Jensen's Knives from Australia. Does this mean I have a Tracker Fetish? Probably, but like I tell my wife, It's cheaper than racing snowmobiles!
As for what knives I carry in the field, a Simonich Neck Knife, a Rinaldi 'Enigma' fixed knife, a SAK folder and a TOPS OX-6 Hatchet. I have used the Tracker extensively in the field to test it out and keep one in my BOB just in case, but I'm a small knife/hatchet kind of guy. I hope this "lets you know where I'm coming from" better. Thanks for the input!
 
I'd have to say I'm with Ichabod on the TOPs Tracker price. I don't think TOPs is gouging pr say, I think they are a company like any other trying to make money by selling the products they produce for as much as the market will allow. Technically I guess TOPs are considered to be semi production knives but still, to be able to get the original custom from Dave for only $25.00 more, I'll go with the custom any day. And Peter Jenson is making a knife of like design for $375.00 shipped. A friend of mine has one of the original Trackers from Dave he bought back in the mid 90s, back then it was $400.00. I do understand what goes into the pricing of a knife and I don't really think the steel (1095 in this case) is that much of a factor. Due to the fact 1095 is good steel, as good as others being used today and many are in the same price range. I think the fact that TOPs was suppose to be the only company making this design had a lot to do with the pricing. Now that they are not the only ones making the knife I expect the price to drop in the future.

Ric
 
I also should explain that there are many other factors involved in pricing a knife of this kind that have nothing to do with the material or workmanship.
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Those are cost factors. The price will be whatever the market will bear. The warranty costs are also going to be high on this one. Throwing a fully sharpened hardened knife is generally a bad idea; and encouraging people to throw one with a weaken point will probably be costly. Notice how the front sawtooth cuts away much of the spine behind the point, so that little more then the edge is holding it in place.

n2s

trackeract1lg.jpg
 
My comments were not really a critique on the attributes of the knife. As I stated, there is nothing wrong with a design that incorporates all of the facets needed in a wilderness knife. In fact, wasn't that 'hollow handle' craze trying to do the same thing?

My beef is when a manufacturer cashes in on hype. Sure, I'm in finance, and I believe in the supply/demand theory. But gouging has never been tolerated; in fact, people were tried in court if this gouging affected goods during war-time.

As one knut commented, if you don't like it, don't buy it. Sound advice. But we all know what will happen. As the movie becomes less popular, the price of these knives will drop. Since this is an older design with a limited (but committed) following, the manufactured numbers will probably drop to the 'pre-movie' amount. The secondary market, however, will be flooded.

None of my reasoning detracts from the quality of the design or the materials used. If I was wilderness camping, I might try the knife to see if it was useful. That's a fair summation.
 
I'd just like to obtain a copy of the magazine.I tried but the store was out and a search for back issues was fruitless.tom.:(
 
Let me say first that I have met Tom Brown, and own both the Tops and Beck variants of the knife. They are both good knives. One thing that few people know about is that Dave Beck was actually the second maker of the "Tracker knife" Tom Brown originally collaborated with a guy named Ed Lombi(not sure about spelling). I don't own one of his blades, and I believe his production was even smaller than Dave Beck's, (like 10's I'm thinking) but I have seen them and I would have to give as much credit to him as Dave Beck. I know that Tom has basically designed the knife by sketch and let one designer make the blades throughout it's history. First it was Ed Lombi, then Dave Beck, and then Tops. It's my understanding that Tom actually made the first one from a leaf spring much like BDT in the Hunted, but it took him 3 mos of on and off work to accomplish it. Anyways, I thought I'd muddy the waters a little more with some more information. Dave may have stamped the Tracker on his knife first, but Ed Lombi's design has the same shape and grind lines and predates Dave Beck's. Just a little food for thought. I don't really care who makes them, anyway you look at them they're a great blade.
 
Adding another wrinkle:
Just saw the knockoff Fury version, with the obligitory 420 steel, in the Atlanta Cutlery catalog!
 
More on it's origin... I know very little about knives of that particular design, but I notice it looks strikingly like the Spetznaz survival machetes you can find at some surplus stores online.
 
Originally posted by AKA Knife Knut
Adding another wrinkle:
Just saw the knockoff Fury version, with the obligitory 420 steel, in the Atlanta Cutlery catalog!
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Got a pic, or a link? Any info?
 
Allen242 :

The decision to use 1095 was not to save money, but rather to have a knife that could be resharpened in the field with just a river rock.
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1095 holds no claim for advantages in that area. It is however one of the cheapest cutlery steels you can buy, among the easiest to machine and has a very simple heat treatment compared to the higher alloy steels.

I am not arguing that 1095 isn't a decent steel for large knives, however the prices that TOPS quites are *far* in excess of what is used by Livesay for example, who generally runs more functional designs, a differential temper and a *far* better grade of Kydex sheath.

-Cliff
 
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