Tops Ranger Short Stop

[jayharley]

I have wanted to get one of these neat, short, compact double edged fixed blades for a long while. They are in high demand, but Tops just finished a production run and I ordered one yesterday. Does anyone have any first hand experience with them?

Thanks.

 

[Gossman Knives]

I sold a couple of them when I was a Tops dealer. What in particular were you interested in knowing about them? It's been a couple of years , back then they were 1095 steel. Here lately they have been using alot more 154CM on their knives. I felt the handle was a bit short for that type of knife, but it was a nice compact concealable package. I do feel their knives are a bit over priced for the materials they use 1095 & micarta are not expensive materials especially when bought in large quanities. I had a bad experience dealing with them and find it hard to say anything nice about their products, but that's not to say that they make an inferior product. Just some hard feelings. :grumpy:

 

[jayharley]

Thanks for the input. I was just curious as to how the handle felt in the hand (since the overall length is so short), edge retention etc. Just the basic stuff.

Tops is still using 1095 for most of their fixed blades (I believe). The Short-Stop is 1095. I did not know that they once made it in 154CM. I own about 10 of their knives and find the heat treatment on their 1095 steel to be quite good. The edge seems to hold up better than some other 1095 blades (Ka-Bar etc). The only ones I own that are 154CM are a Sneaky Pete, Magnum Folder (#17), and a Street Scapel.