Tops Tracker Review

Some standard work is cutting small poles 1-2", pointing them, cutting to length and splitting. You can also advance to larger wood but it is rarely necessary, or even productive to actually work with wood of that size. It can be burned on occasion but then you are mainly burning deadfall and the easiest way to handle it would be just letting the fire burn it in half. However you could make an arguement for having to emergency chop through thick wood.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Some standard work is cutting small poles 1-2", pointing them, cutting to length and splitting. You can also advance to larger wood but it is rarely necessary, or even productive to actually work with wood of that size. It can be burned on occasion but then you are mainly burning deadfall and the easiest way to handle it would be just letting the fire burn it in half. However you could make an arguement for having to emergency chop through thick wood.

-Cliff
Click to expand...


Thanks Cliff, I might try this tonight with a hellrazor for comparison.
 
darkestthicket said:
No testing today :( its raining so hard water is coming out of my gutters waterfall style. lol.
Click to expand...

What??? That's one of the best times! Have a couple shots of Jack and you'll be good to go ;)
 
sorry guys, but to me this thing is just a piece of crap, a nice bowie by bagwell and a good hatchet at your side is what a real mountain man would carry not some funky thing that does everything, but does everything kind of crappy. The more you read about the guy too the more you realize he is a kook. If he's so damn good he would be working the sere working for the green berets, not writing crappy novels about how he takes out 30 special operations soldiers with a stick.
 
thanks for polluting my review with your opinion.


Edit:
this is a review of the knife itself, designed by Dave Beck originally, not a review of Tom Brown. :P
 
I personally like the Tracker/WSK design. I see it as a multi-tool, and not the end-all perfect knife for everything, or for everybody. Regardless if it is a TOPS, Beck, RS6, Linger, Terrell, or any other manufacturer, it is a tool that is designed to accomplish a broad range of tasks, and is probably intended for folks who want to carry one piece in place of a hatchet, and a large fixed blade, and a small fixed blade, and so on.

This is an open forum, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some folks have a tendency to state their opinions more eloquently than others.
 
Thanks for all your efforts and a very useful review, DK.

I would have enjoyed seeing the Cold Steel Trail Master and Chris Reeve Shadow I up against the Tracker as well. Perhaps someone who owns these knives could oblige? (I have the Shadow I but not the TM).
 
Ive been meaning to get a Chris Reeve fixed blade, sooner or later ill get around to it. im working on getting another comparable knife to test against it, possibly an original Beck. if/when i get another to test against im going to run it through everything again. thats the plan anyway ;)
 
note on a Tracker's finish...


Im removing the coating on the tracker i use for testing, with 600 grit wet or dry sand paper it took approximately 3 hours to remove the finish on the spine behind the teeth, ive been working on the right hand side for 4 hours and im no where close to finished, so i can say, that finish is definetly meant to stay on the blade. when you get the initial epoxy off there appears to be another layer that looks like gun bluing below the epoxy. just a tidbit!
 
At what angle did you sharpened the edge?
Is the handle fasteners holding up?

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I purchased a TOPS couple of years ago and have never used it, I was thinking of selling it in the exchange, but your review has me thinking.
 
I caried mine on a 50+km hike this summer,the second time for both me and the knife.
At camp we realized that no one had brought an axe for chopping and splitting firewood so it fell to me and my tracker.
I cut down a 8'' tree (softwood) and junked it up.Then I split some tinder.It wasn't the easiest method to make camp but it worked better than everybody at camp (except me) expected.
The blade needed some TLC afterwards.Fortunatly I cary a set of small stones and some oil.
 
savagesicslayer said:
I caried mine on a 50+km hike this summer,the second time for both me and the knife.
At camp we realized that no one had brought an axe for chopping and splitting firewood so it fell to me and my tracker.
I cut down a 8'' tree (softwood) and junked it up.Then I split some tinder.It wasn't the easiest method to make camp but it worked better than everybody at camp (except me) expected.
The blade needed some TLC afterwards.Fortunatly I cary a set of small stones and some oil.
Click to expand...

In the same line of above, did you left the factor edge or did you improve on it?

With what other blade can you compare chopping potential of the "axe" edge? (i.e. Trailmaster, small axe, Becker #7 or #7) better, same worse?

as above thanks for taking the time to post reviews.
 
My tracker is sharpened to a 25 degree angle. The handle fasteners worked fine until i took the handle off and wrapped the tang in paracord, now it works better (for me)
 
I use a ceramic hone to sharpen the tracker.It puts a very sharp edge on the chopping blade.I usually just sharpen 15-20 strokes a side and that usually does the trick.
 
Mine's been beat the fuck out of. My buddy said it had too shallow of a belly so he let me "borrow" it.

IRAQNIFS1.JPG

IRAQNIFS2.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top