Why so little love for TOPS?

The owner's a stand up guy, but since we're both from the Bronx I'm a little biased. I do know that Ruana Knives over in Bonner, Montana thought long and hard and met with a lot of companies (A major requirement was that the knife be completely made in the USA.) before they went into their first "production" agreement and chose TOPS for their "Smokejumper" model. I've seen it and used it and it's a handy-dandy little knife that comes with some neat attachment arrangements. A couple Border Patrol agents up in this area have and use some of the "crazy" chopper knives and love the things...but they're a different breed. Like a lot of posters said here, you have many styles of knives to look through with TOPS but the quality is fine. And like somebody else alluded to, the owner goes his own way so somebody must be buying them or he wouldn't make them.
 
A couple of years back I got a TOPS Lil Bro on trade as part of a knife deal . It was very well made , but much too thick for a knife it's size . So I sold it off . This past December I received the knife below in the Christmas exchange .

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It's the TOPS UTE xl . The fit and finish is very good . The blade coating is also very good and the handle is very comfortable . The blade is 3/16 thick but has been sharpened so that it really cuts . I will be keeping it and it will most likely live in me Jeep .

I think TOPS doesn't get the recognition for it's build quality BECAUSE of the countless strange looking and nearly useless designs that they have . Most people equate those weird looking knives with the cheap imported "mall ninja" juke . And since MOST of TOPS knives are that way , they consider TOPS as low end and therefore WAY over priced . In reality I think they're knives are ahead of Ontario or Ka-Bar and right up there with ESEE . It's just too bad that they cheapen themselves with all the none knife knives that they make .


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HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS ! :emot-yarr:
 
Love that Prather war Bowie! Thats 3rd on my Tops want list after the BOB Bushcraft and the Dragonfly.
 
Just saw a vid of sly steel sharktooth knife. Manufactured by tops. As mall ninja it is.... i want it:D
[video=youtube;t6pZHL0OTXw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6pZHL0OTXw&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
 
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I've got plenty of TOPS love, so long as the blade doesn't have those goofy sawbacks.
Tex Creek XL and Desert Harpoon
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Key D
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.230 Machete
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How do you like the Tex Creek XL? I've not seen that, but looked at them last night after seeing this post. How does the hamon line show up through the coating? Or is it not coated? The one on the web looked coated but yours doesn't. Are the leather sheaths as nice as their kydex?
 
doke00 said:
How do you like the Tex Creek XL? I've not seen that, but looked at them last night after seeing this post. How does the hamon line show up through the coating? Or is it not coated? The one on the web looked coated but yours doesn't. Are the leather sheaths as nice as their kydex?
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Not sure how it shows through, but the HT line doesn't show up in this picture. Just a bad picture on my part. The leather sheath is nice, nothing special. Holds the knife well. The Tex Creek makes a great hunting knife.
 
I was reading a thread about small EDC fixed blade knives and it occurred to me that the ones I wanted most were made by TOPS so out of curiosity I looked through some of their small knives to come up with some examples. All of the ones that I looked at had innocent sounding names. TOPS makes a lot of different models- one of these days when I have lots of time on my hands I think I'll scan through their entire catalog and figure out the percentage of their models that I think have the "mall ninja" names. I don't think the percentage will be as high as people make it out to be.

If ever there was a brand that I was turned off of because of the names, it would be those fancy and expensive Ti framelocks that people here like so much. The names that TOPS uses don't bother me at all, and I'm a long way from a mall ninja.
 
Bert, I misspoke, my knives are 154 cm. They are holding uo very well. I am going hunting today so I pulled them out while thinking of this thread. Everything is as it should be. I had lightly oiled the edge when I put them away and they still shine. You asked about the handles and they are about 1/4"each side, which I would say is pretty standard, similar to Esse and Ontario but slimmer than Becker. They have course jimping in 2 spots on the back which give you a sure grip.
 
augostos said:
Another thing that puts me off: too much writing on blades.
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This aggravates me too, but TOPS is hardly the only knife manufacturer who puts too much writing on their blades. I don't need company name + logo + model in 1/4" high lettering on my blade. Spyderco at least does it with some subtlety.

One detail I love about my Brous Blades Silent Soldier is that all writing is on the spine. I wish other manufacturers would follow that example.
 
I'm not even close to an expert on outdoor survival knives (more of a tactical folder guy), but I do have some experience with the brand. I currently own two Tops knives- the ridiculous MX4 Punisher and the Tom Brown Tracker. The punisher was purchased on the misguided believed that it would do triple duty as a survival knife, pry tool and machete; the truth is that it's more of a battening tool that can be swung almost like a hatchet. It's also so heavy that its actually uncomfortable to carry. That said, once you get over the fact it's a "movie knife", its certainly well made and finished and does everything it claims to be able to do (despite some hot spotting). The Tom Brown is equally well finished and really a very ergonomic design.

Overall I can vouch for their fit and finish, as well as build quality and don't care if its mall ninja. Hell, it's 2014 - who goes to the mall nowadays???
 
BigBert said:
I'd love to hear more about the mini scandi; not many reviews out there on it.
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That one also has my interest :)

The only tops I have:

Bird & Trout

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Bush Ranger

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Funny thing is almost every retailer had the Bush Ranger listed as made of 1095 but they where made of 52100.
 
Been using a TB Tracker for a while now. It has become my go to bush blade. The TBT Mini is now my EDC fixed blade. The only other Tops knife I have is the Turley/Tops PSK knife. These 3 have proven to be very useful to me.
 
Got my Tops power Eagle 12 this week. Awesome knife, 1/4 thick but has a full flat grind down to good slender cutting edge. Hair shaving sharp! Excellent quality, as good as that found on my Esee 5. I will be buying more Tops knives in the future!
 
Neo said:
The only tops I have:

Bird & Trout

TPBTK01.jpg

.
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Can I hear more about the Bird and Trout
How is it as a four finger grip or fist grip?
See below why


Originally Posted by BigBert
I'd love to hear more about the mini scandi; not many reviews out there on it.
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I got the Mini Scandi

It is a patch knife with a smaller handle
The handle is small, just three fingers
So you have to hold it with the butt of the handle in your palm for a powerful grasp
So you are forced into a much more delicate pointed cut
You cannot use a power fist grip
So it is much more limited in use, because of the smaller handle, than I had hoped

I have it in a small BHK #4 dangler sheath
And I am carrying it and using it all the time as a small patch knife
So it works


Also
I wish TOPS had made it to carry the Mini Scandi piggy back with the BOB

Since the BOB and Min Scandi are very similar in style
Aligned the holes on the Mini kydex sheath to align to the BOB sheath
They could have copied the holes on the fire steel attachment that you can detach from the BOB
Then you could carry the Mini Scandi piggy back with the BOB
 
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