Tracker Knife Opinions

[Cliff Stamp]

I only ever used the TOPS version though.

You can't really judge the design fairly on that as TOPS runs way too thick grinds and their grips are problematic.

I have seen some awesome statements of performance on the customs, like they out chop Gransfors Bruks axes however the performance Rick described is more along what I would expect.

I agree in general this is a knife which sells heavily on its "speed hole" nature vs the actual performance as there is very little comparative data on how it performs compared to other knives of similar type.

The only real advantage I see is that when working on really large and thick woods which are wider than the chopping section in the front of the Tracker, it would have a contact area advantage over a simple spear point design as the Tracker would limit the contact length of the chop and thus gain relative penetration.

However this is only one aspect of performance, the upswept geometry as noted is a detraction to a lot of styles of chopping, plus you can also limit contact length with straight blades by changing the chopping angle and/or moving around the wood.

I would love to try one of these in o-1. (since other choices are D-2, ATS-34 and S30V[

He is a custom maker in the true sense of the word, there are lots of options besides what is listed, I asked about plain carbon steels and that wasn't a problem, he was also willing to radically change the length and/or thickness.

Every good choping hand axe I have has an angle of attack opposite that presented by the Tracker and its progeny.

If you use a partial grip and let the knife snap down well past the wrist, the edge can meet the wood with the same effective curvature as an axe. It could be that is the chopping style that Brown uses. I prefer the axe style profile personally.

-Cliff

 

[Peter La]

I too like the style of the WSK/Tracker. It is a very cool blade that looks to be very useful.

 

[Thomas Linton]

I have seen some awesome statements of performance on the customs, like they out chop Gransfors Bruks axes however the performance Rick described is more along what I would expect.

I agree in general this is a knife which sells heavily on its "speed hole" nature vs the actual performance as there is very little comparative data on how it performs compared to other knives of similar type.

Re outchoping GB's: I have read statements regarding alien abductions. Who knows?

Beyond Mr. Beck, seems like the makers are merely meeting the market demand created by the motion picture.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

There is always that, when that movie came out the demand for that knife, which had been around for a while, exploded. They are still selling well on Ebay. It is the same thing with new blade materials, once one builds a reputation it tears across every type of knife.

Talonite at its peak popularity was being used for everything from fillet blades to large choppers. Now you can easily conclude that there is no way all of these knives are best suited by the one material, but it is the same thing with S30V now, you can sell it no matter what you make out of it.

At the end of the day makers do have to sell their product and this obviously will influence how and what they make.

-Cliff