Tom Brown Tracker

[SpookyPistolero]

For what I do in the woods it would be next to worthless.

I have heard people mention the "Gut hook" I do not see a gut hook on this knife, can someone explain? Chris

It's meant to be the small bit/drop where the chopping edge meets the 'knife' edge. Just doesn't have a real inlet to speak of.

 

[August West]

It's meant to be the small bit/drop where the chopping edge meets the 'knife' edge. Just doesn't have a real inlet to speak of.

That's what I was afraid of.

If you actually sharpened the knife and tried to use that for a gut hook you would make one hell of a mess, and your meat would probably not taste too good. Chris

 

[Bolt-action bultema]

Pitt dog, I do not own, but used one on a backpacking trip. A fried of mine wanted to sell his, and I did not but it. For the weight, I could have a 6" blade, a small hatchet, and a folding saw. Those tools are just much more useful for me. I did not find the tracker to chop well, and the shortness of the straight edge made it difficult to get good purchase for batoning, although it did work well for that application. I do not mind heavy weight, but for me, a hatchet and a knife are just plain more useful.

 

[pitdog]

Pitt dog, I do not own, but used one on a backpacking trip. A fried of mine wanted to sell his, and I did not but it. For the weight, I could have a 6" blade, a small hatchet, and a folding saw. Those tools are just much more useful for me. I did not find the tracker to chop well, and the shortness of the straight edge made it difficult to get good purchase for batoning, although it did work well for that application. I do not mind heavy weight, but for me, a hatchet and a knife are just plain more useful.

Fair enough buddy, I agree with your last statement but I believe the Tracker is supposed to be a " If ya only gonna carry one tool " type of thing and to that end can get ya by on most tasks !

 

[Bolt-action bultema]

If you end up with the same weight, why not carry 2 or 3 tools to do the work. Athough I do see your point.

As an aside, I think your design makes more sense for an allaround camp tool, you get one long continuous edge, with the heft and geometry that the tracker has going for it, but in a more realistically useful package.

A thought: the knife has been pretty much the same for a couple thousand years, no one has been able to make any real improvements on the standard straight blade other than refining the fit and finish. It seems that many faddish tools appear, and disappear in favor of the good ol blade.

just a thought though

 

[Kismet]

Pit, yours seems to be the most modified I've seen, and perhaps closer to the tool initially advertised.

I'd go with HD's wife...much as I'd love the Tracker to fulfill its hype, a 12 in villager AK is about 1/4 the price and more functional for me.

(In the interest of truth in posting, I hold a long-abiding grudge against the producter/director/writers of THE HUNTED for ruining a great premise with their crappy little movie.)

 

[The Government]

From the stories that Tom Brown has written about, I cant help but to be humbled by the guy.

What I want to know, is what knife he carries in the wilderness and for EDC.

I doubt he actually carries the tracker knife.

 

[milani74]

I read a few of his books and when he writes about his year or so when he lived in the pine barrens I think he said he had a pocket knife? I dont know though, its been a long time since I read those books. I have a ton of respect for him though. I dont know about this knife. I havent heard too many good things about it, and what I hear is consistant with what the tool looks like. The man has a lot of skills, I bet if he could walk into the woods with a hammer and survive with that alone.

 

[Wabajack]

A much better do-it-all is a Fallkniven A1, or even a Roselli Axe. I really don't want to say much more about the Tracker than that.

 

[Kiah]

From the stories that Tom Brown has written about, I cant help but to be humbled by the guy.

What I want to know, is what knife he carries in the wilderness and for EDC.

I doubt he actually carries the tracker knife.

I read a story once about him teaching a military survival course. He carried a Mora for that if I recall correctly.

 

[The Government]

I read a story once about him teaching a military survival course. He carried a Mora for that if I recall correctly.

Now that sounds about right.

Thanks

 

[pitdog]

You know I really shouldn't fuel these threads but I get fed up of hearing people say that you would be better off with a knife and a hatchet/axe and then when we post a thread about what we edc in the woods hardly anyone carries a hatchet/axe !!!!!

This is exactly the point, we all know that a good axe and knife is better than any multi function survival tool but we don't all carry them because we think " Hey I'm only going on a small day hike, why should I lug around an axe ?"...Most survival scenarios happen through day hikes that go wrong, this is where a tool that functions reasonably well at a number of tasks comes in !


Rant over....deep breath.....another swig of beer !!!!

 

[koyote]

i applaud your wisdom and grace in the matter, brother.

well stated.

........

it's easy for one to become a pariah when a designer tries something completely new or simply innovative, ...and even if that design is full of utility and weapons prowess, a lot of times it has to be trained on, to fully appreciate.

vec

Vec- thanks- I really do value the ideas and ideal behind the Tracker. I think somewhere there was a temptation to add too much- a temptation I try so hard to resist every day. Simplicity, even for someone with ages of dirt time, is HARD. Much harder than people realize.

So does this mean you think the Tracker knife is a piece of Coyote Teaching?

Oh yeah. Oh, hell yeah. And every knifemaker should, at some point, make one. (Sorta like how every author has to do a Devil's Bargain story, or every jeweler make a chain by hand)

The one I handled, did a LOT of things ok-decent, but NOTHING good or better. I do not like it, with the edge it comes with, but if it is convexed, I suppose it would work a little better.

Probably my biggest single issue with the standard current desing is just this. A full convex grind would probably (given some passaround time) change the opinions of half or more of the people here. If you want mass and want cutting ability, it's the way to go. :thumbup:

 

[The Government]

You know I really shouldn't fuel these threads but I get fed up of hearing people say that you would be better off with a knife and a hatchet/axe and then when we post a thread about what we edc in the woods hardly anyone carries a hatchet/axe !!!!!

This is exactly the point, we all know that a good axe and knife is better than any multi function survival tool but we don't all carry them because we think " Hey I'm only going on a small day hike, why should I lug around an axe ?"...Most survival scenarios happen through day hikes that go wrong, this is where a tool that functions reasonably well at a number of tasks comes in !


Rant over....deep breath.....another swig of beer !!!!

Cheers to that! :thumbup: beer is .

I have to admit that I rarely carry an axe. I usually stick to a 110 or small knife (sub 5 inches) and a SAK on day hikes. I love small axes though! and carry them when I plan on needing them. If I was ever in a catastrophic situation -you would have the last laugh:foot:. (as long as you have your tracker, that is)

 

[pitdog]

Cheers to that! :thumbup: beer is .

I have to admit that I rarely carry an axe. I usually stick to a 110 or small knife (sub 5 inches) and a SAK on day hikes. I love small axes though! and carry them when I plan on needing them. If I was ever in a catastrophic situation -you would have the last laugh:foot:. (as long as you have your tracker, that is)

I wouldn't have my Tracker, I'd have my Knatchet !

 

[Bolt-action bultema]

I dig the knatchet, seems it would make a great chopper, skin and quarter a deer, and dig well if you asked it to.

your previous comment is fair enough, on my last day hike, i did not carry an axe, just a 9"chopper, a dadley, a riper, an Izula, and several folders. I just make a new sheath for my well used KABAR heavy bowie, and I left the GB because I wanted to try out the new leather.

 

[attej]

I still think the Tracker-concept is a solution to a problem that doesnt exist. New, innovative designs are important, even though the knife as a tool is one of the oldest inventions that mankind has made. The Tracker however is simply poorly designed. A survival tool should be able to do many things, and this knife seems to be able to chop decently, and whittle adequately. But for skinning small game, cleaning a fish or any of those dozens of small tasks that one should be able to do...? Yet there are knives that can do all this, not perfectly, but good enough.

So, for me, the Tracker remains a movie prop. Its not designed to be used, and it's main selling arguments are
a) that it appears in a hollywood -movie and in one crappy sci-fi series
b) its designed by a popular novelist

 

[dartanyon]

Hey pitdog, I found the tom brown version

... i got more beer and popcorn

 

[attej]

... i got more beer and popcorn

While I agree that especially threads concerning Tom Brown, Bear Grylls or the Tracker knife seem to take a certain course, I still think its important to remind people that survival-related fiction is only entertainment.

 

[Todd A]

You know I really shouldn't fuel these threads but I get fed up of hearing people say that you would be better off with a knife and a hatchet/axe and then when we post a thread about what we edc in the woods hardly anyone carries a hatchet/axe !!!!!

This is exactly the point, we all know that a good axe and knife is better than any multi function survival tool but we don't all carry them because we think " Hey I'm only going on a small day hike, why should I lug around an axe ?"..

I am one of those who prefers a axe/hatchet plus a 3"-4" fixed. Also I am guilty of leaving my hatchet behind in the warmer months. (that might change since I have my little Wetterlings now )

Most survival scenarios happen through day hikes that go wrong, this is where a tool that functions reasonably well at a number of tasks comes in !

I agree. However ,Pitdog, you must admit most W&SS posters could manage just fine with a SAK or Multitool of their choice.

Personally the inner teenager in me screams out "must have one" when I see a Tracker. If I had one I would lug it around every now and then just for fun.:thumbup: I am sure SAR won't find my body out on the trail because I chose it over a hatchet/axe/knife combo.