Tops knives

B

Bladechaser58

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Oct 24, 2013
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I am newbie in this forum and have questions about Tops Knives. Would anyone prefer Tops Knives (fixed knives) over ESEE or any other brand made in USA? :confused:
 
Depends on which knife. In general I pick what ever specific knife I'm interested in, most of the small companies like Tops, Esee and a few others are good makers and do quality work. Some of the Tops models suffer a bit from mall ninja syndrome while others are just flat out good users. I like Esee and Tops both better than most Kabar or Ontario offerings.
 
id like both an esee 3 and tops bob in my collection, both on the list.. I love my izula
 
I like both.
TOPS BOB is an excellent knife (for every kind of work/usage)!, TOPS Cochise is also an excellent 4,5'' blade knife! Very good impressions as far as the TOPS/BUCK CSAR-T folder!
I am waiting the CUB.....
The Tracker is another story - anyway I like that...
ESEE has its own (very strong) reputation. Fine tools are the ESEE-3, ESEE-4 (but I like more the ONTARIO TAK), RC-5 and RC-6. Of course I am fond of Izula.
And, I am waiting the Izula folder...
 
cricketdave said:
Depends on which knife. In general I pick what ever specific knife I'm interested in, most of the small companies like Tops, Esee and a few others are good makers and do quality work. Some of the Tops models suffer a bit from mall ninja syndrome while others are just flat out good users. I like Esee and Tops both better than most Kabar or Ontario offerings.
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That's just about exactly what I was gonna say! Tops makes great stuff. Some of them are over the top with the odd holes in them and such, and I avoid those. They do have quite a few very respectable offerings. Nothing wrong with them at all.
 
While I can't say TOPS knives as a group are as good as ESSEs, Some of them are; a few might be BETTER (thinking the B.O.B. here).

I waded through the TOPS knives for about a month studying nearly every one (there are a LOT of them). I bought the CSAR-T Liaison fixed blade (appx. 3.25" blade) and like it a lot. Takes a bit of time on the stone and strop at first to get it as sharp as I like, but maintenance of the edge has been easy once there. It's so light weight it might give the impression of being flimsy but IT'S NOT. New and naked it's almost like holding air.

I neck and boot carry it mostly but did put a minimal paracord rig on the sheath for horizontal carry--it's only slightly wider than a dress belt. IMO it has one of the best stock Kydex sheaths I've ever owned---didn't have to order another one after I bought the knife. I did paracord-over-leather-wrap on the handle and it feels great in hand.

I find myself carrying it quite a bit lately, it's such an "easy" knife. :thumbup:
 
Both TOPS and ESEE use quality materials and excellent heat treat, I like TOPS a bit better. The handles for the most part fit my hand better. Both are outstanding and both will serve you well.
 
Maybe they changed something, but I had several Tops knives that all came with grinds so steep they were terrible as a cutting tool.

ESEE is lightyears better, IMO. Their designs are better, and ROWEN makes great knives. Also, ESEE sheaths don't come with giant spring steel clothing shredders hanging off the side like Tops sheaths do.

Edited to Add:

The 0.170 and 0.230 Tops Machete's are great, especially the thinner smaller one. It also comes with the best machete sheath I've ever had the pleasure of using.
 
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I agree with matthewsb, the grinds are not the greatest. I also think they are usually higher priced than other makers for similar products in similar materials.
 
I really would like to pick up a Sea Wolfe or Air Wolfe just because the designs appeal to me a lot, definitely more than other Tops models. For some reason, when I finally had the funds available for one of them, something else always came along, so I'm back to wanting one sometime in the future. Until then, my only experience with Tops is their negligible contribution to the current Buck/Tops Nighthawk. There aren't many differences from the previous "Buck only" model, so that's not much of a factor.
 
I have found surprisingly many TOPS designs that i consider feasible recently:
The short stop
PRatt war bowie
Viper scout
Harpoon
Dart
I would assume their quality is on par with ESEE?
 
With some of their designs, yes that's true. They have a lot of knives that will actually cut now though. Give em a look.
 
I actually like a few of the Tops knives, I just hate the cheesy names and how they scribble them along with a bunch of other crap all over the blade.

Esee is also guilty of this to any extent with the obnoxiously large logo they put on the blade, but at least the name they give is just a model # not "River Hunter Badger Assassin"
 
Redmasta said:
I actually like a few of the Tops knives, I just hate the cheesy names and how they scribble them along with a bunch of other crap all over the blade.

Esee is also guilty of this to any extent with the obnoxiously large logo they put on the blade, but at least the name they give is just a model # not "River Hunter Badger Assassin"
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Besides the names and logos on the blades, I suppose that what is counting is "is the knife and the blade effective / functional or not ?".
I suppose that the TOPs knives that I have mentioned some days ago ARE....
As well as the ESEE knives are, of course.
In the field what counts is effectiveness. That is all!
 
I have "the 4 Tops" and just love them all, Mil Spie 3 and 5 (the 5 is a great chopper with a pile of paracord on the end), I just beat the hell out of them. The small 6 inch spear point great EDC and the 1/4 inch thick Mini Eagle (EDC 51/2 inches long) I just can't keep my hands off it. All with mega para-cord. I just love to use and abuse them...the more I do the better I like they like it. The smaller knives seem to get more use. Just easier to EDC and play with.
 
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