Have you seen the announcement? I saw it on Facebook first and haven’t seen it anywhere else. But I’ve seen its effect.
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| TOPS Cockpit Commander |
It appears TOPS and Fred Perrin have had a disagreement. A disagreement that has lasted 20 years. Not being a deep insider, I can only
wonder. I’ll let you make up your own
mind.
TOPS has announced that this disagreement has lasted 20
years and they have decided to put an end to it. TOPS Cockpit Commander is retired, effective
immediately.
As of my typing, you can still find it on Amazon, but the
major retailers, Smoky Mountain, Blade HQ, Knife Center and others, no longer
have the Cockpit Commander for sale. I
found two sold on ebay as recently as July 15, prior to the announcement. Many internet commandos have declared it an
instant collectible. It is a rhetorical
question, but can any mass-produced factory knife be an instant collectible?
Fred Perrin is an interesting fellow. Fred has been a world-vetted Tae Kwon Do and
stick-fighting champion, a French Army Commando, professional writer, martial
arts instructor and one of France’s most recognized professional knifemakers. I have two of his knives, a LaGriffe neck
knife from Emerson and a Fred Perrin PPT from Spyderco. Both are excellent knives.
Fred posted on Facebook, and I take that as a small window
into the ‘misunderstanding.’
“I want to say how much I appreciated this move, it is very
rare that a brand recognizes its mistake…
I will gladly design something for TOPS that is really my idea and not
an "interpretation" of my work, as it’s often put to work around this
design.”
I carefully edited Fred’s statement with replacement of
what I assume were accidental capitalizations and missing punctuation.
I like TOPS Knives and I hope this problem is truly
resolved.
Speaking of TOP knives, I saw signs at the Blade Show asking people to essentially ask about their custom shop. The story I got was Leo Espinoza, TOPS’ President/Owner, while a great businessman, is more interested in the creative process of making knives than running a business. After several years of talk and consideration, he walked in one morning and decided to pull the trigger. A nearby structure, a pole barn, was bought, a floor poured, electrical and HVAC run, and equipment moved in. Different steels were ordered, as were other materials and Leo started making unique, yes, let’s say it, custom TOPS Knives. Eventually, maybe if things work right, a customer could order special steel or handle material, specify the finish or perhaps the sheath.
Experience tells me
it isn’t going to be cheap.
Right now, I was told, a limited number of unique steels,
or handle material or grind lines might become available. TOPS website has a tab marked Specials (https://www.topsknives.com/), but I
don’t see anything like custom knives.
Instead, go to https://www.topscustomshop.com/shop. I found four knives, all sold.
Keep your eye on the custom website and your credit card
fully charged; you might be able to get a true collectible, a one-of-a-kind
knife if you’re sharp.
