Are Bark River and Tops going to crush everyone?

Monofletch said:
I have always wanted a Tops Tex Creek XL. Never ordered one.
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I had one. It was one of my shortest lived fixed blades. The blade design is great. The handle design is dumb. It's a nicely shaped handle, but it's the same handle from the regular Tops Creek, which is already about as slim as you'd want on a 4" blade. So they take a handle that was already slim on a 4" blade, but slap a 6" blade onto it, with all the corresponding forces involved in a larger heavier knife that you want to put more power into.
I compared it to my Falkniven F1, which also has a slim handle, and the Tops Creek XL was either the same, or thinner (dont remember which) which is comical on a knife that size that you want to wail on.


It lived up the usual excellent TOPS standard for fit and finish. If I felt like buying some G10 liners, slapping them into the handle and then sanding/filing to fit, to beef up that handle, it would have been fine. And heck, some guys like skinny handles. But as it came out of the box, I found it impractical.
 
I have one TOPS.. the MSK 2.5. I got a really good deal on it at massdrop when that was a thing. It's nice for what it is, but the handle doesn't fit my hand the greatest (big hands, tiny handle) compared to my other knives and it's never seen much carry time or use. TOPS designs in general usually manage to not appeal to me for one reason or another.. usually some combination of thick blade, obtuse grind, and/or excessive finger grooves. I've seen a few TOPS knives that I like well enough. I think some of the BRK designs look great, but I've heard too much questionable stuff about the company over the years for me to consider them all that seriously.

Generally, I'm not a huge fixed blade guy anyway.. I have a handful that work for me and adding more to my accumulation is never a priority over folders. If TOPS or BRK crush anyone, it won't be on account of having me as a customer haha..
 
I've had a lot of Tops, and only one BRK.

The BRK (Aurora in A2) came from the factory with a warped blade, and I decided to try to live with it because I was about to go on vacation. Tried some basic bushcraft skills with it in the back yard before taking it to the woods. I split a few sticks for kindling, and aside from some small blade chips it seemed okay, but the second I stuck it in a rotten stump to take a break about a 1/4" of the tip decided to leave itself in the stump.
I've stuck plenty of other thinner knives into stumps with no issue, and I wasn't trying to pry. Prior to buying it, I read about some other weird steel consistency issues they were having around that time but wanted to give them a chance because of all the glowing reviews everywhere. Lesson learned, decided to get rid of it for a huge loss and wrote them off.

I've had 5 Tops knives (Operator 7, Tex Creek XL, LH Bowie, Viking Tac, Hazen Legion), and never had any issues other than their clear blade coating allowing moisture to build up underneath, which introduces rust pitting. Stripping the coating and forcing a patina took care of that issue on the ones I use the most. I can also say firsthand that they are being honest about their differential tempering, my 55 HRC file will bite the spine and skate the blade the closer to the edge you get on my LH Bowie.

Between the two I'd take a Tops. My BRK may have been a lemon, but I like what Tops is doing with their 1095, and I've beaten the crap outta my LH Bowie, Tex Creek, and Hazen with no issues. Other people like their BRKs, but they're not for me.
 
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For me, it’s like this. Bark River has very attractive materials, designs, and steel choices. Their past makes it so I cannot trust them fully as a company. The Bark River knife I have owned have been a bit disappointing in the edge being unfinished and the grind being uneven on both sides. I would take a Chris Reeve or a Creely Blades fixed blade order and just wait until it was fulfilled. Similar prices in the end, retail anyway. Vastly superior fit and finish.
 
The El pionero is a very thin and nimble knife, it really wants to be a weapon, and thats how it was designed, with a tapered swedge a good deal there is actually some slight flex in the blade. Good fruit cutter, pretty darn small. Did I mention thin? I think if it was used as an every day razor it will ran through like a weak transmission, I sold mine. If you need a weapon it's a great one
 
Bark River will crush me with 300+€ crapshoot of uneven grinds, wrong steel, faulty HT (assuming I'm lucky enough to get heat treated blade at a first place) and bullying me when I try to get warranty for whatever botched p.o.s. they sent me. Then if I am lucky again, they'll just grind out half of my blade and send me back what's left of it.

TOPS will crush me with 300€+ price for 1095 or 1075 and mall ninja style blades! I know that TOPS has awesome HT but I'm not paying that much for it.
Terava sells differentially heat treated 80CrV2 for fraction of the price, and it's basically unbreakable. True, TOPS might have better fit and finish and handle materials... but at that price difference - I'd go for Terava without second thoughts.

So, they might crush their customer's hopes and dreams, but they ain't crushing their competitors anytime soon.
 
I don't think anyone is gonna crush anyone per se, it's a big market and anyone still in business today has a demand for their product or they wouldn't be making it for long.

The nice thing about Tops is they have offerings from mall ninja to highly practical and all sorts in between for a reasonable price considering how vast their catalog is. Also like how they work with people to get idea's into production. The Tanimbocca Puukko is one of my favorite and most used knives, love it so much I plan to buy a backup. Steel choices may be very limited but I love 1095, can carve for an hour or two, hone and strop and have a wood razor again in a few minutes.

I've never owned a Bark River but they look nice, LT Wright knives/designs resonate with me more and I like how they'll make models in multiple different steels and variations at different price points so there's something for everyone. I'd really like to get a Pronghorn in AEB-L and a Frontier Trapper.
 
Do Tops come sharp now? Last one I bought some years ago, was absolutely dull. I have avoided purchasing another because I feel a knife should come with a useable edge.
 
Frosted flakes said:
One I have had coating over the edge, I ended up reprofiling and it's sharp now. I would still prefer a decent edge to start. Glad to hear Tops is coming sharp now, as I do like their designs.
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Had 10+ Tops over the past year, all came razor sharp. Their 1095 is as tough as it gets and very easy to maintain. A little care goes a long way. Their grinds are overly thick from the factory on their survival knives, that’s ok because I pretty much use them as woods demo tools.
 
coolbreezy37 said:
Had 10+ Tops over the past year, all came razor sharp. Their 1095 is as tough as it gets and very easy to maintain. A little care goes a long way. Their grinds are overly thick from the factory on their survival knives, that’s ok because I pretty much use them as woods demo tools.
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Dawn dish soap and warm water and cloth drying was really all I did and the uncoated 1095 didn't suffer a tick of rust. Tops is premium, I wouldn't ask them to "upgrade" their steel
 
Got a few more Tops incoming for rest of 2023. The Dart, Silent Hero, Steel Eagle 107E (non serrated hunter’s point) and the Apache Dawn. I regret getting rid of the Outpost Command and the Longhorn Bowie. Might replace them with the same models sometime in the future. The best one I’ve ever used is the longhorn Bowie. I absolutely love the Alaskan Harpoon as well. The Alaskan Harpoon and Steel Eagle are quite impractical and somewhat strange looking, but they just plain work. I think I’ll add the Longhorn Bowie back to the 2023 list. I just hate their sheaths. Esee has them beat on that one big time.
 
coolbreezy37 said:
Had 10+ Tops over the past year, all came razor sharp. Their 1095 is as tough as it gets and very easy to maintain. A little care goes a long way. Their grinds are overly thick from the factory on their survival knives, that’s ok because I pretty much use them as woods demo tools.
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That's great news for me as I have been very tempted by a few models lately. I guess I just got a slip up.
 
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