Spotlighting the Features of the Tom Brown Tracker

For those of you that are fans of TOPS Knives, you’re likely already familiar with the TOPS Tom Brown Tracker.

If not, hopefully this post will introduce you. It is one of the more popular, and certainly one of the most versatile, patterns in the brand’s catalog.

One Knife, Many Uses

TOPS Knives produces many models, but the Tom Brown Tracker (in addition to being its most popular model) is certainly the most memorable. You just can’t look at the thing and forget it easily.

Let’s start with the handle. It’s huge, and has a downturned end (or pommel, if you will) and generous finger swells. Really, just as the blade is more than “one blade,” the handle is at least two handles in one.

Held at the rear, on the generously downturned end of the grip, the Tom Brown Tracker’s heavy blade can be swung like a pack hatchet or a small machete, to be used to dispatch chopping tasks.

Alternatively, choked up on the grip, you can use the Tom Brown Tracker much more deftly, for precise work like skinning, boning, or even pan-dressing a fish.

The generous micarta scales of this knife are another selling point. Like other modern knife handle scale materials, like G10, micarta will never need any maintenance, is chemically stable, and is non-absorbent. On top of that, the linen micarta offers a comfortable, tactile texture that is not slippery, even when wet or greasy.

Moving forward a little, we have generous jimping on the blade stock that translates through the scales, as well as a fairly generous thumb ramp. Both of these offer dexterity and fine control, especially when the knife is used in a saber grip, in spite of its size.

The blade is the real focal point of this knife, though. With a 6.38”, ¼”-thick, 1095 blade, the imposing profile of the Tom Brown Tracker is specialized to accommodate a wide range of uses.

In fact, it’s so unique, there really is hardly a blade profile that can honestly say it fits. At best,  it’s a hybrid, specialized to a wide range of applications.

The first thing you might notice about this TOPS Knife is that it has two grinds, that gives you the flexibility to maintain two different edges, if you like.

The short, straight edge near the grip is excellent for shaving, draw-cutting, and carving, and if kept very sharp, can be used for detail work.

The edge forward on the blade near the point is gracefully swept and makes the knife useful as a chopper or skinner or both, depending on how sharp you keep it.

Where the two edges meet, there is a prominence, not quite a point, but something that can be used for trimming leather, skinning, or cutting patterns in materials, among other uses.

There’s yet another thing to love about the Tom Brown Tracker, and that would be the serrations on the spine near the point. These are large, deep and aggressive, and can be used for sawing through tough materials, like plastic and bone in addition to the obvious wood.

There’s really only one thing the Tom Brown Tracker lacks, and that’s a sharp, fine point. But a knife can’t be all things to all people, and this knife offers a great deal of versatility. The blade also isn’t flexible, but that’s a benefit as much as a liability.

In fact, the quarter-inch stock of the blade makes it incredibly strong. While it’s not that great as a boning knife or filet knife, you can easily use it at a chisel or even a baton; these TOPS Knives won’t flinch if you do as much.

The 1095 steel is tough, relatively soft enough to be easy to sharpen in the field, and even though it is rust-prone, TOPS has traction coated the blade, which does a reasonable job of insulating the steel, except along the edge. A light coat of oil here should prevent problems, though.

The Tracker also comes with a molded Kydex sheath that not only offers a solid friction fit for this heavy knife, but which offers the versatility to be mounted in several different configurations. It’s as amenable to being lashed to a pack or scout carried as it is to being carried tip-down on a belt.

All in all, there are many things the TOPS Knives Tom Brown Tracker can do very well, and fairly few at which it flops. That might be why it’s the most popular model in the catalog, and it’s certainly a reason to add one to your collection, and use it, if you haven’t already.

One more thing: they’re made in the USA. Seriously, what’s not to love?

Pick Up a TOPS Tom Brown Tracker Here

Want to learn more about these or other TOPS Knives? Check out the Tom Brown Tracker on our website or pick one up for yourself today.