Tracker Knife

I saw this movie-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmUxlhjwVb8

And it featured a very interesting knife-

http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/tracker/TOPS%C2%AE+Tom+Brown+Tracker%26%23153%3B+with+Green+Canvas+Micarta+Handle/TPT010.html

So I went looking for it and found the Tom Brown Tracker. This is not a fighting knife but instead is designed as a multipurpose wilderness survival tool-

http://trackertrail.com/trackerknife/TrackerKnifeManual.pdf

Now, Tom Brown used to claim he was trained in primitive living skills by the last of the Apache medicine men in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Yeah. Although he’s established quite a name for himself as a survival instructor, I tend to take anything he says with a very large grain of salt. He claims to have designed this knife. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a very similar blade design in an old Soviet aircrew survival knife from clear back in the 1970s. A couple of custom knife makers have also said they were making this design before Brown got involved. A lot of other survival instructors say it can’t do anything a more conventional knife can do and it’s extra weight would be better used carrying other equipment. That said, and despite the hype, it looks to me like a very viable tool.

I can’t really make an assessment without handling the knife. I also don’t want to spend almost three hundred dollars (they were originally selling for more than $400.00) just to see if I like it. Fortunately, I ran across this-

http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/haunted/Haunted+Jungle+Survival+Knife+with+Black+Wood+Handle/TR0238A.html

(Mtech was also importing a similar knock-off that was even closer to the Tops- probably off the same Chinese assembly line- but they apparently got sued and stopped selling them.)

For less than $20.00 including shipping I can afford to buy and try. The design looks close enough to test the concept. If it turns out I don’t like it, I can just add it to my collection as a conversation piece.