"Tops"Steel Eagle vs Tracker

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kurodrago

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First of all I want to say that this FORUM is Fantastic:thumbup:


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I do not know about knives very well but I do love tops knife.
I have one simple question for all of you.
Between these two knives which it would be yours chosen?


Thank you
Rando
 
Flom a pure wilderness knife standpoint, I would have to say the tracker, it is really a great design, it has less serrations, but since you are probably only going to be using thise for small branches and trap triggers, the difference is negligable.

The trackers shape puts its weight forward for chopping, as well as as giving you other neat options. (go to tom browns web site for more info)

I really dont like saw back knives in general but the tracker is such a unique design that it really won me over.


If you want more of a fighting style knife The steel Eagle seems better.

just my .02
 
see, I like the look of the steel eagle more, the tracker desgin has allways been,... "gimmicky" to me, many like it, but it just asn't stuck with me.
 
I've never used either, but without actually trying out both, I'd go with the steel eagle.
It's a fairly conventional shape, similar to knives people have succesfully used for like a thousand years. It's basically a proven design. The tracker is.... weird. It may be that it's better, but I'd need it proven before I bought one, and certainly before I relied upon it.

Of course, I seem to a bit of a ludite.
 
Most people who have bought the Tracker are disappointed and end up selling it.

Does a lot of things--but none of them very well.
 
I got my wife one of the smaller trackers. She likes it and it is a well built knife but her comment was "Tom Brown obviously never tried a khukuri":D
 
Steel Eagle or Tracker? Well, what do you want to do with the knife? And what are you really going to do with the knife?

Years ago, I was so close to purchasing a Steel Easgle. At the last minute, frugality got the best of me and I bought a Becker TacTool, a Becker Companion, and another Spyderco SharpMaker instead. And I had a little money left over. I never revisited the notion of buying the Steel Eagle again.

However, I have considered buying the TOPS Tracker. If I could chose, I'd get the Tracker. I could make use of either design, but I like WSKs, so the Tracker for me.
 
I haven't used either but judging from the picture, I'm not a fan of either knife for a general woods knife.

The grinds on the blades are way too low for general cutting and chopping purposes. A saber grind in a woods knife is a just not a great choice IMO. The sawteeth will tear up your baton if you're splitting wood and probably won't work as well as an inexpensive fold up saw.

If you're looking for a quality woods knife you'd be better off with a 5"-7" blade from Ontario/Ranger. A Becker might still be a good choice if you can find one and are comfortable with the fact that Camillus will not be there to service you. For the same or a little more money (and a lot more patience ;)) you can get a Scrapyard/Swamprat/Busse knife. I would choose a 4" Howling Rat over either of those knives for woods use.

Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
The grinds are terrible on both those knives. . .

Thick stock plus tiny little cheapo saber grinds and awful edge geometry equals poor performance.
 
I have two questions:

1st - What is the real reason for the serrations on the Eagle?
Not what you "could" do with them, but rather what was the makers real design aim with them?

2nd - The Tracker,,,what in the world is it's design aimed at helping?


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I dont understand the reason for the Eagle's serrations, and I dont have a clue what in the world a guy would want the Tracker for?
 
i`ve beaten up my tom brown tracker , spent 15 minutes chopping through a 5" thick tree branch . the heat discoulored the edge!
 
Well... Most of TOPS knives are overpriced indeed, although some really feel nice in the hand, micarta handles are awesome. the knives are all handmade and finished very well, pretty much a custom knife and the black coating helps prevent patina and rust. the steel 1095 carbon is easy to sharpen and the blades {Easy on the steel eagle viceversa on the tracker}
Rat Finkenstein is alright the grinds is indeed terrible.
TOPS on the left, with a decent profile on the right!
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About the the serrations have place in survival but not on hunting knife...ecc
The are extremely tough just get a better grind and the will become perfect:thumbup:
 
the grinds, as far as i can tell from the photos, look to be hollow ground. personally, i prefer a convex ground blade...easy to maintain and from the standpoint of basic geometry, it is less likely to chip out if you are using it for chopping like these blades are likely to be used for.

it really all comes down to what you are doing...you don't want a fillet knife for chopping and you don't want to try to fillet a fish with an axe edge...if you need a combo edge like the tracker, then get it...i also suggest you read the manual available online and find someone that has one so you can get a feel for the blade.

if you want a more basic blade shape like the eagle, based solely on what i have read around the internet, there are better blades for that...as mentioned before, kukris are a good alternative. or another well reviewed company for woods blades is the bark river knife and tool compnany
 
Thanks for posting up... Honestly... I don't have the slightest idea at this point. Some day though, I'd like to learn. I'd rather it be there for me to learn on in the future how to use, than to miss an opportunity to learn, and not have the necessary characteristic in my chosen blade. If I can't find an advantage in it some time in the future, I'll disregard it. This knife needs to be able to take plenty of hard use. I am looking for a real user, not a pretty knife. I have really considered the BK9 untill I read about the blade breaking with little lateral stress. Lets talk big blades.I don't know but steel eagle it turns out to be useful so much the better vs tracker??!!
I am definitely keeping my eye on this post.

Thanks guys
Info is appreciated

Rando
 
Fonly said:
see, I like the look of the steel eagle more, the tracker desgin has allways been,... "gimmicky" to me, many like it, but it just asn't stuck with me.
Click to expand...


I am with you on this one Fonly...

The tracker design is eh. I would be just fine with the the other...But I would even finer with a BK9 or a Kuk.
 
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