TOPS Silent Hero 4

TOPS in general has a good rep around here. Made in the USA/employs a lot of Vets (might not mean much if you aren't in the US of course). Good job on the heat treat of 1095. Again, not all 1095 is the same. The heat treat plays a big part in performance.

Biggest complaint(s). Some might consider the price on the high side but for US produced products, it is probably expected by most. Some folks don't like all the writing on the blade.
 
The SXB I got is very sharp out of the box, no complaints here. I like Tops and that Silent Hero looks like a nice blade; I wouldn't mind having also.
 
shane45-1911 said:
Hmmm....that is completely opposite to my experiences. I have a dozen TOPS knives, and there was only one that I recall having to re-sharpen out of the box. All the rest came with sharp edges that rivalled what I could do with stones.
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They've started sharpening then, as this one had to be completely reprofiled and it even had the blade coating over the edge.

https://imgur.com/a/2iIQFv7
 
shane45-1911 said:
TOPS has the best heat treatment of any current production offering in 1095, IMO.
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I’ve yet to pick up anything from TOPS but this makes me want to. All of my plain ol’ 1095 is from ESEE and I really like it. I also have the Becker’s in 1095 cro-van that I like even better. I’m curious why you like TOPS 1095 better, would you mind to expand on that a bit?
 
JWright214 said:
I’ve yet to pick up anything from TOPS but this makes me want to. All of my plain ol’ 1095 is from ESEE and I really like it. I also have the Becker’s in 1095 cro-van that I like even better. I’m curious why you like TOPS 1095 better, would you mind to expand on that a bit?
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I give the nod to TOPS, simply because of the consistency of edge retention and toughness I have seen with their steel when compared to Becker and ESEE.

I would rate Becker a close second however, followed by ESEE.

Certainly not scientific by any means, but I have used all my TOPS, Beckers and ESEEs under very similar circumstances and find that TOPS seems to maintain an edge just that much better when compared to the others.
 
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I own several Tops Knives, they make some good knives. Some of the models can be a little think behind the edge so they are not the best at slicing. I have a Fieldcraft BOB knife, which I re-profiled to be a true Scandi grind and now its a great bushcraft knife. I also have a Mohawk Hunter which is a good knife but not really good at cutting due to having a thicker edge profile.
The best one I have is a Tops Al-mar Mini SERE operator which is the best knife I think they have made. Its super slicy and has the best edge profile of the 3 I have.
I would say that their performance depends upon the edge thickness. The silent hero 4 looks like it might be pretty good.20220326_110125.jpg20220326_110159.jpg
 
My trusty TOPS 107E...my constant companion, and quite possibly my FAVORITE blade in the whole World...





Out of all my Beckers, Barkies, ESEEs, and Busses, I always seem to gravitate to this ^^^ knife.

Stupidly tough, easy to sharpen, and ready to get dirty...If you want to put a serious knife in your kit, you can't go wrong with a TOPS in my very humble opinion.
 
Alone said:
My trusty TOPS 107E...my constant companion, and quite possibly my FAVORITE blade in the whole World...
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Two of my favorites as well (ignore the misc. junk in the first pic - it was taken for the "A Game To Play" thread"):

ptTqfEk.jpg


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My Desert Nomad came with a good edge. It's my only Tops knife but I'm impressed. I wish they would branch out a little more and use 3v and Aeb-l.
 
shane45-1911 said:
I give the nod to TOPS, simply because of the consistency of edge retention and toughness I have seen with their steel when compared to Becker and ESEE.

I would rate Becker a close second however, followed by ESEE.

Certainly not scientific by any means, but I have used all my TOPS, Beckers and ESEEs under very similar circumstances and find that TOPS seems to maintain an edge just that much better when compared to the others.
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Thanks for the info, it’s exactly what I was wondering about. I’ll take real experiences over scientific any day.
 
coolbreezy37 said:
How does that handle on the PWB feel? I have huge palms and medium fingers. It looks a little thin to me.
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I have "normal" sized hands, but long fingers. I wasn't sure about the handle either before I bought it. It is actually very comfortable. There is a bit of girth (width) to the handle - not enough to make it roundish, but it offsets the thin height towards the ricasso nicely. I suspect a large hand would find it comfortable as well.

The handle scalloping provides further resistance to the blade rotating in the hand, as well.

Note that the entire knife is on the smallish side however, when compared to typical Bowie-type knives. It balances nicely and carries invisibly on the hip due to its smaller size and lighter weight.
 
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I have had 3 TOPS knives. A Ferret, a tanto Steel Eagle Delta Class, and I just picked up a US Combat Knife the other day. I lost the Ferret on vacation a year or so back, but the SE has been great. My only gripe has been that the grip is a little large for my hand.

The Combat Knife...man, that one is a winner. It's like a Kabar on steroids, sharp as all get out, and there is nothing to break on it or get loose and rattle as the guard is build in. The only thing that sucks about it is the double velcro sheath.

Luckily for me, the sheath I made for my Karbar Fighter model fits like a glove. While the fighter is a wider blade, the Combat is thicker at the spine. It evens out resulting in a awesome knife thst rides in a sheath I customized to fit my carry style.

Absolutely digging this one.
 
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