wsk knives

[LSkylizard]

...The top of the TOPS Tracker has proved great in thatching wood for traps it creates a uniform cut that has perfect angles.

I've had my TOPS knife for over 3 years now....every other knife I've seen out there that has a similar design is just a copy cat.

Too bad Tom Brown isn't as internet savy as most of us, or he would be pretty upset about all the copies out there.

It is always nice to see ignorant excitement...about one's TOPS blade

I often wondered how long it would take someone to find this drawing & I'm happy to see someone finally brought it up.
For those who are curious about this design I certainly can bring some light to the matter as I know more about the "Tracker" knife than anyone.
I can't speak for the smaller knife pictured below as I've only ever seen a drawing myself but the Tom Brown Tracker survival knife shown was actually produced except that it never went by the name "Tracker" back then.
The drawing you see is the pattern Tom Brown drew. This was his origonal design & went by the name the "Medicine Blade" which was etched into the side of the knife. This was the origonal pattern that took Tom Brown seven years (as he claimed back then) to have designed. It was produced for him by a fellow named Ed Lombi, a machinist who stopped making this pattern in the early '90's after the demand for my knives skyrocketed & Ed went on to other interests.
His knife was made from 01 tool steel (1/4" thick from point to butt). It had a flat ground hatchet edge & a hollow ground draw knife. The top edge of the blade was tapered like the hatchet & had a single row of saw teeth which would only cut a "V" as deep as the teeth.
I handled one of these knives during my standard survival class while at Tom Browns' school back in 1987. Although very crude, I saw potential in the design which gave me the inspiration to take it to the drawing board & re-design the knife with my own improvements. From that point on, all of the changes & modifications made from this "Medicine Blade" pattern to the TRACKER knife as we know it from the "The Hunted" film were developed by myself & not Tom Brown. This new pattern was such am improvement that I was asked by Tom Brown himself to produce them for his students.His students began calling my knife the "Tracker" knife once it became associated with Tom Browns' TRACKER School & I became the first to trademark the name.
Of course there's more to the story but I'll leave it at that, now that I filled everyones' curiosity with some interesting historical facts about the knife that most folks never new.


David R. Beck

The current production model of the TRACKER was re-designed by Tom Brown and produced for him by the TOPS knife company. This was their version that varied a bit from the knife I made for "The Hunted". .I have never handled one but I am told it's a decent knife. Any shortcommings could probably be corrected by some fine tuning (OK, maybe alot of) but any knife of that complexity would be difficult to manufacture properly I'm sure on a production level while trying to keep it within a reasonable price range for the market their targeting.
Sometimes corners need to be cut to keep manufacturing profitable. On the other hand, the hand-crafted TRACKER knives are a different animal. More attention can be directed into its detail & construction so feel & performance is noticably enhanced, unfortunately that also means more labor time is involved to do the job right which often puts the pricing of custom knives higher than what we would like them to be. This is true of any knife so one must weigh the factors of necessity to get what's right for them. There is nothing bad about lesser quality & cost for one who uses their knives only on occassional outings but for those who are professionals or use their knives on a daily basis, higher quality & the prices that go with it can be justified. Of course collectables are another matter.

I began producing my TRACKER (also known as the WSK) again after the release of "The Hunted" and was running pretty well but I had some health issues which had caught up to me & I had to stop until things could be corrected. I know there are many who are wondering what's up? Well I had a neck fusion done last year for two herniated disks. Probably caused from my insane workouts & lunatic wilderness escapades in my younger years. That healed up just fine but now I need to have corrective surgery for a bad case of carpel tunnel in both wrists from years of knifemaking. It's gotten to the point where I can only make simpler knives as a hobby but I hope to raise the finances needed for surgery after the new years. Depending how that goes, we'll take it from there.
So there you go. I know there have been alot of rumors running around out there. Where did I go? I have even heard I had caught illness & died.
Na! Still here and ornery as ever & going nuts not making many knives but hopefully that'll change soon. Thanks for inquiring.

David R. Beck

 

[bartman2]

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=404745

Guys can you help me with this discussion? Who has legal ownership and the right to produce the WSK design. Rumor has it the RS6 Blades is in battle with Tom Brown over the right to produce this knife.
Tom Brown is on the war path and is supposed to coming after all makers of the WSK's. The Discussion is on does he own the design or not and does he have the right to keep others from making it?