Bury the Hatchet

Have you seen the announcement?  I saw it on Facebook first and haven’t seen it anywhere else.  But I’ve seen its effect.

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.

 

TOPS - 3 Bros First Look

Have you noticed how things come in threes?  Three leaf clovers are common.  Winning card hands can be three of a kind, or perhaps menus give you three choices from three different selections each containing three different dishes.  Maybe you have three bourbons on the shelf?

Why not knives?  TOPS thought.

Don't forget TOPS trademark whistle!

Face it; most of our cutting chores are small.  We need a small utility knife, but considering the world we live in, we want max performance.  Why not put three different blade configurations, Hunter's Point (spear point), Tanto and Sheep's Foot blade in a small belt carry package.  Well, that’s what TOPS Knives has done.  They call it 3 Bros.

So who is TOPS?

In 1998, TOPS Knives was founded to create the highest-quality knives using the extensive knowledge and real life experiences of Military Operatives, Law Enforcement Officers, and outdoor professionals.  Perhaps the best part, all TOPS knives are manufactured and hand-finished at their facility in the Rocky Mountains, USA.

TOPS Knives have been requested and deployed in "Hot Spots" all over the world. Numerous individuals who are or were Field Operators have used these knives and report top performance and reliability when their lives depended on the tools they had with them.  That’s a pretty hard claim to top.

The 3 Bros are also very easy to carry everyday. Even in the sheath, one of these knives only weighs 2.8 ounces.

Specs:

Overall Length     4.27 inches

Blade Length       2.00 inches

Cutting Edge        2.00 inches

Blade Thickness  0.120 inches

Blade Steel          1095 steel hardened to RC 56-58

Handle Material    Black Canvas Micarta

Knife Weight        1.9oz

You can purchase one, two or all three.  For a little extra you can go with serrations and/or camo finish.  I’d hate to break up a family, so I got all three.

The small size was not found to be a limitation with daily chores.

Each knife has three deep depressions on the spine.  It’s a little aggressive for naked skin but fine for the glove hand.  Each knife has a deep bolster which acts as a finger guard to prevent hand injuries from sliding onto the blade.  The edge goes just about all the way to the bolster and there is no ricasso. 

The blades are a flat-sided saber grind ending at a shoulder about one third of the way on the blade.  This provides sufficient room to grip the blade by thumb and forefinger while the ring and social finger grip the Micarta disk on each side of the knife.  The disk provides a nice anchor point even if you are wearing gloves.

The small sized was not a factor wearing gloves.  The micarta disk provided sufficient grip as did the massive jimping.

TOPS blades are made of 1095 steel and they recommend an 18-20 degree sharpening edge.  These knives can be sharpened with ordinary stones but can also be sent to TOPS for a new factory edge.  The warranty card spells it out for you.

I’ve never owned a TOPS knife that didn’t perform.  The 1095 steel will hold an edge, but will need resharpening with use.  The steel needs to be taken care of with a protective coating of oil or corrosion inhibitor.  If you anticipate needing it for food preparation or consumption, make sure you use food safe oil.  Nobody likes the trots!

You can get yours at:  https://www.topsknives.com/3-bros

A single knife is $70, but they’ll deal you all three for $160.00.