TOPS Pry-Knife

[Mistwalker]

pair it with your Hest!!!

Yep, I'm thinking in a "full-on" urban situation I might set it up like this...with another medium fixed blade on my belt.

 

[Raisedby wolves]

Handle wrapped with 550 cord. It is pretty darn sharp. I use it a lot.

That beast you have is like the "uptown" version!

 

[Mistwalker]

Handle wrapped with 550 cord. It is pretty darn sharp. I use it a lot.

That beast you have is like the "uptown" version!

Just saw one of those the other day while I was looking at some cordage smaller than paracord on their site. They had wrapped the handle of one with the cord, right handy looking tool.

 

[Mistwalker]

I'm hoping mother nature will get a little more cooperative today so I can get the knife out and work with it more...rain and storms for three days now, and spring is here...but I did want to through something in here.

The TOPS whistle is awesome! Even in the rain I got a heck of an echo of the large building about 70-80 meters away and quickly got the attention of some neighbors on past the building. I am scheduled to go on on hike with my daughters tomorrow, weather permitting, and I hope to get a little video (w/audio of course) of the whistle at some distance.

 

[kgd]

I guess I can see the uses of this in the urban environment. I think you set up that well in your review, although your tests were more of your standard wilderness types of tests. One question I have is why the specialized knife when you have that pry-punch set up?

Couldn't you do most of the urban type prying work with just that and then use a regular survival knife to augment it? I'm just having a hard time reconciling a dedicated prying function with a bunch of sharp edges. Seems like a dangerous combination to seriously consider prying with sharp things given slippage and traction issues that accompany true prying tasks. Are chisels really effective when they are that heavy?

Not trying to be too critical, just trying to get my head around this. The entry tool hatchets/hawks like the review you did earlier make a lot more sense to me than this tool does.

 

[Mistwalker]

I guess I can see the uses of this in the urban environment. I think you set up that well in your review, although your tests were more of your standard wilderness types of tests. One question I have is why the specialized knife when you have that pry-punch set up?

Couldn't you do most of the urban type prying work with just that and then use a regular survival knife to augment it? I'm just having a hard time reconciling a dedicated prying function with a bunch of sharp edges. Seems like a dangerous combination to seriously consider prying with sharp things given slippage and traction issues that accompany true prying tasks. Are chisels really effective when they are that heavy?

Not trying to be too critical, just trying to get my head around this. The entry tool hatchets/hawks like the review you did earlier make a lot more sense to me than this tool does.

I understand your questions. but actually with a lot of prying tasks two pry bars are necessary to acomplish the intended goal and this knife and accessories gives you that. I could make a hole in a hollow block wall or even a filled block wall quicker with the hawk, but I could take a heavy locked fire door off it's hinges or break the area around the bolt quicker using this knife like a wood chisel, faster than I could make a hole in a poured block wall especially if it had reinforcing rebar inside the poured cells. Also I could employ this knife and on-board tools to open steel steel doors in steel jambs.

There is a good bit more to do with this knife, I just need to be able to set up the pics and I'm not sure how long it will take me to find doors I can just tear into...I may just have to find some doors I can take pics with and explain the situation adding pictures and drawings drawings. I wanted this knife because of the particular urban area and some of the buildings I work in.

The wood working shots were just to see for myself and then demonstrate to others that if someone bought the knife for an urban environment that it would still function in a wilderness setting ok. I like the multiple edges personally...but then I have spent my whole life working with various sharpened objects... I probably should have bought stock in the bandaid companies and new skin lol. I can see where that could be an issue for someone from another career path.

 

[Bushman5]

i have that TOPS prybar/window punch, that tool is great.

 

[Mistwalker]

It looks awesome! I haven't had the chance to put it to the test yet but I love that it is a forged alloy.

 

[Mistwalker]

I hope you guys don't have anything against beer and bikinis, because of the type and style I chose this door at a friends store to try to explain how to use this tool for emergency entry and egress in a survival or rescue situation. I have yet to find any doors I can just chisel into but I am hoping that between the previous pics of using the knife as a chisel, these pics, and my explanation you will understand why I am trying to impart.


I want to say something here before I go further into this. I was a bit hesitant to post this for fear of the information being used the wrong way at some point. However I feel that the information is valuable enough to take that risk. So...I'll just say this. I am giving this information in hopes that it may prove valuable to someone in helping preserve life and well being in an emergency or rescue situation. Should anyone choose to use this information for common thievery I wish upon them to receive all that they deserve for doing so both judicially and kharmaticly (is that a word? You know what I mean though for there is little on the face of this planet that I detest more than a common thief.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system...onward.

Locked doors are for the most part, those not in jails or high security facilities, simply boundary markers that afford privacy, control the flow of traffic within a structure and in some cases serve as fire barriers. They are primarily designed to keep honest people honest and to make any would be thieves make more noise and take more time than they want in order to get through them so that the real security measures can come into play...security guards, police officers, guard dogs...whatever.

Being as the vast majority of people are honest citizens many people come to see all doors as intimidating barriers but the fact is that most doors can simply be broken in with determined force. It's not always as easy as Hollywood makes it look, nor is it always as safe. I have seen people where people have sustained severe injuries that required sutures by kicking in hollow core doors. The jagged edges of the broken plywood penetrated there legs like a spike trap when they pulled their leg back out.

When up against a thicker, heavier, commercial door another approach may be necessary. You might have to exploit the inherent weaknesses of the door. Some doors in commercial buildings have metal vents in them to allow for air flow for the central heat and air systems. Those vents can sometimes be kicked through, other times they have to be pried out.

Only a small potion of a locked door is secured to the metal jamb; at the hinges, and at the bolt(s) of the knob or deadbolt. When dealing with a heavy, in-swinging, wooden door with a dead bolt you just need to weaken the structural integrity of the door chiseling above and below where the bolt passes between the locking mechanism and the jamb, and kick the door in.

Until I get the chance to make the mock-up door out of a 2x10 you just have to apply what you see in the first three pics to the rest of pics below.

In these pics it's easier to understand what you are trying to break out.

For an out-swinging door it gets a little more complicated. You have to chisel the same places, pry out that piece of the door and then drive the chisel through above and below the bolt breaking out the same piece of wood on the other side of the door. Then you pry the door open now that the bolt has room to move.

 

[Mistwalker]

Should you find, or know in advance, that there is another type of lock on the other side such as a hasp and pad lock then you attack the door from the hinge side. Most hinges only have for screws in two off-set rows. On an in-swinging door you just have to weaken the structural integrity of the door a bit by chiseling out the first row of screws and down to the second row and then kick it in. As before on an out-swinging door it gets more complicated and you'll have to chisel deeper to completely degrade the structural integrity around the hing screws and then pry the door open.

Metal doors present different challenges but most of the time they can still be defeated. On an out-swinging metal door in a metal jam the quickest way to get it open would likely be to drive the chisel tip between the jamb and the strike plate and pop the heads off the screws holding the strike plate. The pull the strike plate forward allowing the ant-theft (anti-credit card) mechanism to extend all the way and then just pushing the bolt back into the door with the tip of a knife or if enough room the strike plate itself.

Some exterior doors have guards over the bolts. The ones like this that have been spot welded on are sometimes pretty easy to remove. I had one fall off once while I was installing a door knob. The ones with through bolts are a little harder but can still be pried back out of the way.

If installed using only cheap zinc bolts, hasps like this can usually be pried off fairly easily by driving a chisel under each corner and prying until the head of the bolt or screw pops off, but this will also likely damage the edge of the chisel in the process. I personally recommend using galvanized bolts on hasps.

Some garage doors are easier to get into than others. On hollow ones like this you can just move to the right of center to avoid the center support of the door.

Shear two horizontal cuts a little more than the width of your hand apart.

then connect the left ends of the cuts with a vertical shear forming what looks like a U laying on its right side

The uncut side of the "rectangle" acts like a hinge and you just push it in, reach to the left and unlock the door. Careful not to slice your wrist on the sharp metal in the process.

 

[GrinderMcgee]

Good stuff Mistwalker. I do like that you earlier showed some typical knife stuff and then later added a specialized task. This makes the chisel seem more purposeful at least. It would be interesting to know what the prying tolerance of this blade is since it is marketed as such. Of course I wouldn't expect you to test your knife in this manner.

Great review aside, multiple function tools like this make me scratch my head. I'll just keep the 1 ft pry in my trunk and sheath knife on my belt like always.

 

[Mistwalker]

Good stuff Mistwalker. I do like that you earlier showed some typical knife stuff and then later added a specialized task. This makes the chisel seem more purposeful at least. It would be interesting to know what the prying tolerance of this blade is since it is marketed as such. Of course I wouldn't expect you to test your knife in this manner.

Great review aside, multiple function tools like this make me scratch my head. I'll just keep the 1 ft pry in my trunk and sheath knife on my belt like always.

Thanks man, I understand it is a bit specialized and not for everyone. I think the knife is likely more useful in an urban combat zone than anywhere else...some place where multi-functional gear can be a good thing for lightening a load. As for me personally it will stay in my tool box in my truck or on my tool belt. Much easier to carry a prying tool up a ladder if it's in a sheath, and safer too. Being as I have been studying building structures for nearly 25 years (actually went to school for it) I end up getting a lot of the odd jobs that a lot of other people can't figure out how to deal with

 

[GrinderMcgee]

^^In that role it makes a good bit of sense.

 

[333rm]

Great work up on the uses of that TOPS Pry Knife! After the first part of your review I wasn't totally sold on it yet, but after seeing you go through the motions on how you could "actually" use it, I really came around and think that it would make a great urban pry tool. It's shape and form are also similar to the County Comm Pry Tool that they sell. It's MUCH cheaper and bare bones, but would really work just as this would. Nice review and I CAN'T WAIT to see your next write up on Part 2 of your survival series!!!

 

[Mistwalker]

Great work up on the uses of that TOPS Pry Knife! After the first part of your review I wasn't totally sold on it yet, but after seeing you go through the motions on how you could "actually" use it, I really came around and think that it would make a great urban pry tool. It's shape and form are also similar to the County Comm Pry Tool that they sell. It's MUCH cheaper and bare bones, but would really work just as this would. Nice review and I CAN'T WAIT to see your next write up on Part 2 of your survival series!!!

Thanks man, in a way you have to almost completely shut out bushcraft thoughts when studying the urban environment and study it from a "construction" perspective...at least that works for me....but then there are times that the two over lap a bit.

Thanks for reminding me I need to get off my @$$ and get outside!

 

[Mistwalker]

This knife even works alright in crafting some more tedious things. Laying the knife on a flat surface and turning the can made nice even score lines.

The lower point of the chisel tip works better for poking the holes than one might think.

That point also works well for scoring the top, however it is important to make sure you don't get distracted, like I did, and end up not scoring the top good all the way around before you try to tap it in.

And this is why... straightening that top out would be difficult to say the least... if not impossible.

It would have looked like this if I had just had another can....I gotta try this again this weekend plus I have some gouging and prying to do.

 

[A.L.]

Wanted to say it before, but I'll say it now: great review! The pictures are great and very presentative.

Looks like pretty much ideal urban survival knife. It was good idea to make the extended handle - or should I say pommel - that protects the scales if you need to hammer it like chisel. I think urban survival/escape situation is the most realistic to occur for average joe and that's when something like that would certainly come in handy.

 

[bearcut]

Great post Mistwalker!
Nice to see some other options to the Crowbar/Hallagan.
I have been mulling over the purchase of a Becker TacTool or a TOPS pry-probe-punch tool for some time. Now I have another option with the TOPS Pry knife.

What do you think would be a better option for most urban ingress/egress: a “sharpened prybar” blade and the PPP, or the TacTool/ TOPS Pry knife alone?

Have you used any of the Stiletto Titanium pry tools? What do you think of that matchup with a heavy fixed blade?

 

[Mistwalker]

Wanted to say it before, but I'll say it now: great review! The pictures are great and very presentative.

Looks like pretty much ideal urban survival knife. It was good idea to make the extended handle - or should I say pommel - that protects the scales if you need to hammer it like chisel. I think urban survival/escape situation is the most realistic to occur for average joe and that's when something like that would certainly come in handy.

Thanks man, glad you liked the pics. I really like the design of the pommel extension. The slight "T" shape sure makes it easy to strike. I'd definitely want to have it along in an urban "event".

Great post Mistwalker!
Nice to see some other options to the Crowbar/Hallagan.
I have been mulling over the purchase of a Becker TacTool or a TOPS pry-probe-punch tool for some time. Now I have another option with the TOPS Pry knife.

What do you think would be a better option for most urban ingress/egress: a “sharpened prybar” blade and the PPP, or the TacTool/ TOPS Pry knife alone?

Have you used any of the Stiletto Titanium pry tools? What do you think of that matchup with a heavy fixed blade?

Thanks, glad you liked the thread.

I like the TOPS better I think..I chose it over the becker because of the shorter length. I like that the P.P.& P. tool fits in the pry knife sheath. I think they will make a great team and that is something I want to try out soon.

I wanted to do some prying with the pry knife this weekend, but it was such a nice day out I just didn't want to stay in an urban area. So...I hit the woods for a little while and found something more organic to pry on. I decided to drive it into this old pine tree, that's now all fatwood, and pry off pieces and see how it did. It didn't have any problems with the driving in part...

or the prying part.

Prying into this spot I found something interesting...even some possible dinner!

Not the centipede, but the wood lice.

The knife suffered none at all.

 

[Mistwalker]

and the edge is plenty sharp enough to make fine shavings, you just have to adapt yourself to the edge geometry.

and the serrations throw great sparks from a firesteel

Definitely a very capable tool! I hope to find some plywood to pry on tomorrow and try it out in unison with the P.P.& P. tool.



.