What do you knifelovers think about my custom tracker knife?

I'll say Gene Ingram just to be different, but yes, Dozier is tough to beat.
 
Although, I know it would not be well suited for outdoor chores, I would love to own it. It looks cool! I usually use Graymans for field work though.

Sean
 
I have to agree with a couple of the fella's here. If you want to get your father in law a great hunter/skinner i'd go with a Dozier. Simple design, does what its built to do, and holds an edge all day long. There's a reason they say Built For Life. And if it's looks your into, they come in a wide variety of handle materials. I say leave the looks for a sheath or handle and let the blade do what its meant to do.

If you got him a Dozier I can almost promise he'd love it.

Just my humble two cents
 
I kind of get what you're after with this knife, but apart from the tanto point (which I dont think serves much use, even as a chisel), the main issue for me would be that almost everything is in the wrong place. The drawknife part means you're gripping the saw teeth, the gut hook would be very difficult to insert and when you're unzipping you're likely to cut the intestines with the rest of the blade. Get out there and test it to the max, but I think it's main useful purpose would be as the kind of knife policemen appear in the news holding up as an example of the sort of terrifying weapon "knife nuts" like to run around with.
 
If Zombies could fear, they would fear that! I bet you will have a lot of fun with it, and you will learn a lot from it too. Enjoy!
 
Cool looking knife, from a usability perspective I am confused but I would love to be proven wrong- go do some field tests!

In any case you seem happy with your purchase and thats what matters! Welcome to BF!
 
Just wanna tell ya'll I returned the knife to the maker. The quality was crappy! It was not even close to my original spesifications. So sorry to all but there will be no fieldtest of the knife.

So on the matter of my father in laws knife...I've desided to buy a blank from brusletto or hella and make the handle myself. More personal that way. :) thanks to all of you guys for the recomendations. I'll probably buy a new knife for myself soon so I'm gonna check them all out an see if any of them makes a knife that fits me and my needs.
 
pirajja said:
Just wanna tell ya'll I returned the knife to the maker. The quality was crappy! It was not even close to my original spesifications. So sorry to all but there will be no fieldtest of the knife.

So on the matter of my father in laws knife...I've desided to buy a blank from brusletto or hella and make the handle myself. More personal that way. :) thanks to all of you guys for the recomendations. I'll probably buy a new knife for myself soon so I'm gonna check them all out an see if any of them makes a knife that fits me and my needs.
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How much was he asking for it USD$?
 
Pirajja,
I have taken multiple private tracking classes as well as University Level Tracking Classes. My instructor in College is a Tom Brown tracking veteran and has gone at least once a year going on 17 years now. He swears on the usefulness of the Tops Tom Brown Tracker and taught us different techniques on the usefulness of the tool. What some may not realize "Tracker Knifes" is an all around tool.

I was brought up with my grandfather who was Iroquois and I spent countless hours in the wilderness learning tracking and snaring and how to survive in the wilderness not a wooded area or rather "woods" the wilderness. Men like Muir and Hayden describe the difference between Wilderness and wild and when I read that in college I knew my grandfather would bring me to the Wilderness (not as grand as Muirs wilderness) of the finger lakes and Adirondaks and now WISH I had a"Tracking Knife" as my sole tool and would not have to hump an Axe, saw, Draw Knife, and Skinning knife not to mention my personal knife. Its obvious and goes without saying I would choose a tracking knife if the shit hit the fan as my sole “knife” tool.

I always wondered if a higher grade steel Tops knife would be an advantage or too brittle for ..splitting and would it keep an edge longer without chipping? Also it looks like you made a more aggressive draw knife which I always thought would be an improvement to my Tops with smaller branches when stripping. I also see you extended the handle to get that extra momentum when chopping ...but how does your Tanto do when chopping? Where is the balance point on your tracker. Lastly your saw teeth are spaced further apart than the Tops ... because of the spacing does it skive of when notching.

pirajja said:
It would be nice to hear your opinion about it...very pleased with the design myself but don't know what everybody else thinks of it....just curious...

186Tqzf
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Well Somber,
I am new here so I don’t know if you are truly interest or are “calling out the new guy” LOL …but I will answer with what I can think of off “the top of my head”.
A “Tracking Knife” in my opinion is more that a knife it is an “essential wilderness survival Multitool “ yes a knife, but for at least the Tom Brown Tracker it is a chunky piece of hicarbon steel that is Coated in special black traction epoxy for rust proofing, it has been field tested by numerous individuals to include myself and has proven to be a reliable tool that is at least for me a necessity when entering the harshness of the wilderness.

I also carry a folding knife (My Strider SNG) for my personal use which mainly consists of using it for eating and cutting up food. But i do not wish to use my Strider SNG as an extreme tool and for the intended uses of the Tom Brown Tracker.

Here are the features of the Tracker and what I have use it for . I have placed them in “my order of importance”.
• Using it to shave magnesium or as the steel portion of flint and steel to start a fire asap
• If resorting to Bow and Drill its the perfect tip angle and blade girth to start the ideal hole for your drill to facilitate the burn in process …and it is wide enough to place under “the board” to catch my coal to set a fire to my fat wood ( pitch formed at “wounded areas of a pine tree), Birch bark, Feather sticks, fine wood shavings / scrapings, Punk wood (dry completely rotten wood, Dry grass, leaves, bracken (coarse Fern) ,bird and plant down, inner bark from sweet chestnut, Charred wood or cloth, Fungus, Cotton /wool.
• Splitting of large kindling
• A draw knife for uniform stripping of plants like Dogbane or milkweed and applying a reverse wrap to it to make rope.
• Effectively sawing small saplings to take the aforementioned Dogbane type plants and use for lean-to construction
• Hatchet action chopping with an extended handle to increase inertia of the chopping blade strike
• Lopping of pine branches to be used as a roof for my Lean-to
• Notching saplings for snares to hunt rodents – squirrel
• Skinning of harvested animals and scraping away of tissue from skin.

I hope this answers your question Somber??
 
combatmedic2 said:
Well Somber,
I am new here so I don’t know if you are truly interest or are “calling out the new guy” LOL …but I will answer with what I can think of off “the top of my head”.
A “Tracking Knife” in my opinion is more that a knife it is an “essential wilderness survival Multitool “ yes a knife, but for at least the Tom Brown Tracker it is a chunky piece of hicarbon steel that is Coated in special black traction epoxy for rust proofing, it has been field tested by numerous individuals to include myself and has proven to be a reliable tool that is at least for me a necessity when entering the harshness of the wilderness.

I also carry a folding knife (My Strider SNG) for my personal use which mainly consists of using it for eating and cutting up food. But i do not wish to use my Strider SNG as an extreme tool and for the intended uses of the Tom Brown Tracker.

Here are the features of the Tracker and what I have use it for . I have placed them in “my order of importance”.
• Using it to shave magnesium or as the steel portion of flint and steel to start a fire asap
• If resorting to Bow and Drill its the perfect tip angle and blade girth to start the ideal hole for your drill to facilitate the burn in process …and it is wide enough to place under “the board” to catch my coal to set a fire to my fat wood ( pitch formed at “wounded areas of a pine tree), Birch bark, Feather sticks, fine wood shavings / scrapings, Punk wood (dry completely rotten wood, Dry grass, leaves, bracken (coarse Fern) ,bird and plant down, inner bark from sweet chestnut, Charred wood or cloth, Fungus, Cotton /wool.
• Splitting of large kindling
• A draw knife for uniform stripping of plants like Dogbane or milkweed and applying a reverse wrap to it to make rope.
• Effectively sawing small saplings to take the aforementioned Dogbane type plants and use for lean-to construction
• Hatchet action chopping with an extended handle to increase inertia of the chopping blade strike
• Lopping of pine branches to be used as a roof for my Lean-to
• Notching saplings for snares to hunt rodents – squirrel
• Skinning of harvested animals and scraping away of tissue from skin.

I hope this answers your question Somber??
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Thanks for your answer. I appreciate you taking the time to write it out. The tasks that you've listed can be done with any fixed blade, and I feel as though Tom Brown is still trying to capitalize on his reputation and a movie design to sell his knives. I feel as though, too, that if you try and design a knife for everything you won't succeed at one thing.
 
Circle-A-Blades said:
This knife is now for sale on e-bay from maker! Looks like the maker is making lots of sales!
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There you go! This knife is not worth it. The quality is not very good. The blade is close to 9mm and it's almost impossible to sharpen. I was so excited about this knife before I got it but when I had it in my hand I realised it's not even a good shelf queen. My suggestion is: DON'T BID ON IT!!
 
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pirajja said:
It would be nice to hear your opinion about it...very pleased with the design myself but don't know what everybody else thinks of it....just curious...

186Tqzf
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The good news is, there's a very beautiful and functional knife hiding inside. A lot of regrinding and work will be required.

Altogether, not my cup of tea. The damascus finish and the color on handles look nice, but that's about it.
 
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