Tops mil spie-3

A.L. said:
Mistwalker, always enjoying your threads!
Not my kind of knife to be honest, but great job nonetheless!!
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Thanks AL, glad you enjoy the threads!

No worries man, no one knife ever please everyone...hell... no one knife pleases me for everything :)
 
Dragging this outta the grave. :) I really like the look of the MilSpie3. Mistwalker, did you ever cord wrap the MilSpie3's handle and any new opinions on it?
 
Splat said:
Dragging this outta the grave. :) I really like the look of the MilSpie3. Mistwalker, did you ever cord wrap the MilSpie3's handle and any new opinions on it?
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Yeah, wrapped it then went back...sorry forgot to post, I'll do it again and take pics. I'm still liking it a lot, the 154CM definitely holds an edge.
 
Thanks. Looking forward to the pics. I had forgot about the Milspie3 until I picked up an old issue of Tactical Knives this morning. Now I'm deciding between it or the Izula2. You appear to be a big guy like myself. Do you think the MilSpie3 is too big for a necker?
 
Splat said:
Thanks. Looking forward to the pics. I had forgot about the Milspie3 until I picked up an old issue of Tactical Knives this morning. Now I'm deciding between it or the Izula2. You appear to be a big guy like myself. Do you think the MilSpie3 is too big for a necker?
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For every day carry? Yeah it's a little heavy with the scales. But I would just remove the scales and carry it that way in a situation where I wanted something heavier made than the Izula though. I believe the 3/16 offers strength over the 5/32 plus it is corrosion resistant so sweating on it or salt water won't rust even the edge. I guess it would be situation specific for me.
 
mistwalker said:
For every day carry? Yeah it's a little heavy with the scales. But I would just remove the scales and carry it that way in a situation where I wanted something heavier made than the Izula though. I believe the 3/16 offers strength over the 5/32 plus it is corrosion resistant so sweating on it or salt water won't rust even the edge. I guess it would be situation specific for me.
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I hear ya. Well, I've got a line on a used Milspie3 but haven't heard from the guy yet. I'd definitely like to check one out. Sounds like it's a little bigger than the Izula, which was too small for my meathooks. Where's those pics bro?! :D
 
Splat said:
I hear ya. Well, I've got a line on a used Milspie3 but haven't heard from the guy yet. I'd definitely like to check one out. Sounds like it's a little bigger than the Izula, which was too small for my meathooks. Where's those pics bro?! :D
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I'll post side by side pics tomorrow...patience man, patience :)
 
I have always had mixed feelings about TOPS knives. This one, has a great looking blade, decent steel........

....but then the upside down talon hole (upside down from a Busse), and that horrid looking handle just kill it for me.

Sounds like it performs well, and is priced about like the competition, say an ESSE RC-3.
 
Ah, a man after my own heart - "compact but sturdy survival knife.":thumbup:

First off, GREAT review and THANK YOU for going to all the trouble to record it and taking the time to post it.

I am not a "big knife" guy myself, prefering something that I CAN have with me ALL the time and am VERY LIKELY to. In my mind, I see the brutish (not a criticism) tactical-looking knives as something we will carry when we KNOW we could get into a pickle, and just how often is that, really, in our day to day business?

That is a great looking little knife but the only thing I would change is the handle, or more to the point, the scales. My prejudices have been proven incorrect occasionally in my assessment thereof when based strictly on how something looks, but I would want the scales flush with the tang's edges and maybe fuller, especially at the front, where the most pressure is exerted. I think that sometimes, the effort to "sell" the concept of "compact" such compromises are made when just a fraction of an ounce more material would have little impact on the "light" or "compact" objective and I have experimented with this quite a bit.

My point on this particular matter is not that you need to be able to exert that much more force comfortably for one fire in the back yard, but that in a survival situation, you will be using a knife extensively to build maybe a large fire in wet conditions and a shelter, which, with just a knife (and a small one to boot), you need to prolong the comfort factor to conserve energy and prevent fatigue and injury, whether it's a fatigue-induced injury or "just" blisters. Any injury in a suurvival situation is a big deal.

I may be wrong about that handle, because my own personal survival experience is not based on a REAL survival incident (because of a lot of luck and a lot of thinking and planning over the years). I have used knives for prolonged outdoor tasks on purpose just to see how long I could sustain use of a given knife and when I start to get a sore palm (even a little) from cutting half a dozen saplings (say for shelter building), then I wonder if I shouldn't give myself some more handle area across which to distribute the pressure. Now, this is the case fo ME and may be very different for others.

By the way, I don't go out into the woods and just cut a bunch of trees down. I have a long hedge row that has grown way out of control and I have more deciduous bushes and trees than than anyone could ever know what to do with to practice on.
 
Splat said:
I hear ya. Well, I've got a line on a used Milspie3 but haven't heard from the guy yet. I'd definitely like to check one out. Sounds like it's a little bigger than the Izula, which was too small for my meathooks. Where's those pics bro?! :D
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Ok, here are some side by side shots with my Izula. Not remembering what the changes were on the Izula 2...just a longer handle right? I put the scales back on the Mil SPIE when I loaned it to a friend for a while so the parts didn't get separated. I haven't re-wrapped it yet because it is not as uncomfortable as it may appear. Though in an actual survival situation where I was using it long term I might well break the scales off and wrap.

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Mannlicher said:
I have always had mixed feelings about TOPS knives. This one, has a great looking blade, decent steel........

....but then the upside down talon hole (upside down from a Busse), and that horrid looking handle just kill it for me.

Sounds like it performs well, and is priced about like the competition, say an ESSE RC-3.
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The handle really isn't as uncomfortable as it may appear. Yes it would be a bit more comfortable if the scales were flush...but cord wrapping it makes it more comfortable.

I like that this knife has a thicker blade and heavier spine than my RC-3... and still a flat grind and about the same size.

A few things could be modded to make the handle more comfortable if you like everything else.



Jeff H said:
Ah, a man after my own heart - "compact but sturdy survival knife.":thumbup:

First off, GREAT review and THANK YOU for going to all the trouble to record it and taking the time to post it.

I am not a "big knife" guy myself, prefering something that I CAN have with me ALL the time and am VERY LIKELY to. In my mind, I see the brutish (not a criticism) tactical-looking knives as something we will carry when we KNOW we could get into a pickle, and just how often is that, really, in our day to day business?

That is a great looking little knife but the only thing I would change is the handle, or more to the point, the scales. My prejudices have been proven incorrect occasionally in my assessment thereof when based strictly on how something looks, but I would want the scales flush with the tang's edges and maybe fuller, especially at the front, where the most pressure is exerted. I think that sometimes, the effort to "sell" the concept of "compact" such compromises are made when just a fraction of an ounce more material would have little impact on the "light" or "compact" objective and I have experimented with this quite a bit.

My point on this particular matter is not that you need to be able to exert that much more force comfortably for one fire in the back yard, but that in a survival situation, you will be using a knife extensively to build maybe a large fire in wet conditions and a shelter, which, with just a knife (and a small one to boot), you need to prolong the comfort factor to conserve energy and prevent fatigue and injury, whether it's a fatigue-induced injury or "just" blisters. Any injury in a suurvival situation is a big deal.

I may be wrong about that handle, because my own personal survival experience is not based on a REAL survival incident (because of a lot of luck and a lot of thinking and planning over the years). I have used knives for prolonged outdoor tasks on purpose just to see how long I could sustain use of a given knife and when I start to get a sore palm (even a little) from cutting half a dozen saplings (say for shelter building), then I wonder if I shouldn't give myself some more handle area across which to distribute the pressure. Now, this is the case fo ME and may be very different for others.

By the way, I don't go out into the woods and just cut a bunch of trees down. I have a long hedge row that has grown way out of control and I have more deciduous bushes and trees than than anyone could ever know what to do with to practice on.
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Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed the post.

I get where you are coming from, and yes I would love to see a mating of the Mil SPIE blade design and the XcEST handle. However I like this knife because of it's size, blade shape and thicker blade than most knives this size so for now I am happy with it for my purposes :)
 
Splat said:
Dragging this outta the grave. :) I really like the look of the MilSpie3. Mistwalker, did you ever cord wrap the MilSpie3's handle and any new opinions on it?
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Ok, sorry it took longer to get to than I meant for it to. This is the wrap I settled on. I actually find it more comfortable to use now, and it does snap securely into the sheath still.

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I have one of those trimmed off BDU shirts for a vest.
I had one of these, and all those complicated zippers and crap bugged the hell out of me, so I just converted back to the old faithful
This was one of the last nights in that other complicated vest
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Joezilla said:
I have one of those trimmed off BDU shirts for a vest.
I had one of these, and all those complicated zippers and crap bugged the hell out of me, so I just converted back to the old faithful
This was one of the last nights in that other complicated vest
IMG_1265.jpg
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Yep, nothing like the old BDU shirts for simplicity and pockets lol. I bought a vest too...then hung it up in the closet and went back to my old BDU shirts. I had a bunch of o.d. ones over the years but they don't make the heavt o.d. anymore only in the light rip-stop....which really does a crappy job at stopping rips...

BTW, those go down a lot easier minus the spikey heads and tails :)
 
It would be interesting to compare one of those with Justin's RTB in 440C.

”Well about 4 months ago I recieved a phone call from the Brigade Commander of the Ranger Training Brigade (he and I worked together when I was on active). He says to me "This year is the 60th Anniversay for the Ranger Training Brigade. We would like you to come up with a commemerative blade for the RTB's 60th Anniversary." Needless to say I was very honored to do so. So after sending many emails and pictures of blades back and forth and a few prototypes later.....here is the blade.

Look familiar? Thats right after all the pictures I sent they liked the look of the forum blade the best. So made the handle a bit bigger and dressed it up "Ranger style". It is done in stainless with a satin finish. The handles are black micarta with yellow liners (Black and Gold for the Ranger Tab) and it has two large lum ovals in the handle (cat eyes that we had on the back of our PC).

Needless to say I was very honored to not only be asked to do such a project but to also be part of history for the Ranger School! The knives will be available by Best Ranger Competition which is May 7th-9th!”

Justin Gingrich - Ranger Knives

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baldtaco-II said:
It would be interesting to compare one of those with Justin's RTB in 440C.
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That Ranger looks pretty good, but comparisons are not really my thing. If I did do them I think another knife might be a more fair comparison. The Mil-SPIE is close in size to (using knives most people know for size comparison) the RAT RC-3. Hard to tell for sure but that Ranger looks much closer in size and design to the Becker BK2. So I think the TOPS Cochise or Idaho Hunter would be more fair to make a comparison with.
 
mistwalker said:
That Ranger looks pretty good, but comparisons are not really my thing. If I did do them I think another knife might be a more fair comparison. The Mil-SPIE is close in size to (using knives most people know for size comparison) the RAT RC-3. Hard to tell for sure but that Ranger looks much closer in size and design to the Becker BK2. So I think the TOPS Cochise or Idaho Hunter would be more fair to make a comparison with.
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I find that notion of fair comparison quite bizarre. It would make sense to me not to compare say a Fällkniven A2 to a little Dozier hunter because they are meant for very different tasks. These strike me as pitched at a very similar market for an almost identical set of tasks. Surely if one wanted to know which is the most useful of two knives the appropriate starting place is to pick two that are meant to solve the same problems. Just comparing those that look similar[ish] to each other is arseways round? I would have thought that would be a useless approach because it wouldn't provide much in the way of useful information as to how and why one design is better than another. In this instance for example; my money would be on the one with the proper handle slaughtering the one in arguably better steel, but that's just speculation.
 
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