Knife Review: TOPS Knives Trail Seeker Fixed Blade Knife

The TOPS Knives Trail Seeker Fixed Blade Knife

The TOPS knives trail seeker came to be when Luis Murillo won the 4^th annual design for the TOPS Employee contest. This knife has been made with 1095 high carbon steel, green canvas micarta, and a sheath that is made out of black kydex. All of the features of this blade work together to create a fantastic trail companion, perfect for when you are in the outdoors. This knife features a great utilitarian blade with a handle that is going to give you a soldi, comfortable grip. If you are looking for a new trail companion knife, look no further than the TOPS Knives Trail Seeker. Read on to understand how the design elements combine perfectly to give you the best companion possible.

The Blade:

To be the ideal trail companion for you, the Trail Seeker starts out with a great blade. The blade on this utilitarian knife has been made out of 1095 high carbon steel. This is a common carbon steel. For a carbon steel, it holds its edge incredibly well and is easy to sharpen. Holding its edge is important for your trail companion because you don’t want to be out on a long hike and realize that your knife has become too dull to truly work with. This quality of the 1095 high carbon steel helps to make the Trail Seeker a great companion for you. The composition of this steel also 

ensures that it has high levels of wear resistance. This is also an advantage, because you don’t if the Trail Seeker is going to be your tool, you need to be able to rely on it as much as possible. That being said, 1095 steel doesn’t have high levels of corrosion resistance, so to ensure that this knife is still a great option for you, TOPS has finished it with a black traction coating.

The black traction coating mainly works to increase the corrosion resistance that the TOPS Knives Trail Seeker will have. This is the perfect addition to the 1095 steel, because you can be sure that if you are really relying on this knife, then you are going to have it doing some messy work. It can cut through plants, prepare food if you need it to, and will probably come in contact with moisture. All of this means that for this to be the best option, you need it to have high corrosion resistance. The black traction coating is going to provide this protection for the blade. The black appearance of it also pairs well with the green micarta handle scales. The black traction coat also increases the wear resistance of the blade, because the coating is what comes in contact with the environment, not actually the blade.

While the 1095 steel and black traction coat all work to make the Trail Seeker a great option for your trail companion, the real star of the blade is the clip point blade shape. The clip point blade shape is a common blade shape; one that works really well. It has a large, elongated belly which ensures that you have plenty of space for slicing. In fact, out of most of the blade shapes, the clip point is among the best shapes for high ability to slice. The next key feature of the clip point blade shape is that the spine of it is relatively straight until about ¾ of the way up it, and then it angles sharply down toward the tip of the blade. This section looks as if it clipped out of the spine, which is where the blade shape gets its name from. The clip provides two different main features. First, it creates a lowered tip, which is going to give you more control when working with this knife. Second, it creates a narrower, and thus sharper, point, which is going to allow you to do some serious piecing with this knife. The clip point blade shape was an exceptional option for the Trail Seeker, because it allows you to do a broad array of activities. You know that when you are on the trail, you encounter a wide variety of tasks to perform. You may need to cut through thicker branches, slice through weeds, prepare food, or even defend yourself. The clip point blade shape allows the TOPS Knives Trail Seeker to have the capabilities of accomplishing these things. TOPS and Luis Murillo knew what they were doing when they designed this blade.

The Handle:

The blade on the Trail Seeker is exceptional and ensures that this knife is a great trail companion. But combine the blade features with the handle features and you get a perfect trail companion. The handle has been designed out of green canvas micarta. This is a popular handle material for good reason. The micarta is created out of layers of canvas that have been soaked in phenolic resin. This hardens the canvas and creates a sturdy, hard material. Micarta is known to be strong and lightweight. The strength is necessary in your trail companion, because you need to know that this knife can seriously take a hit. The trail can get wild and adventurous, so having a knife that can handle the adventure is crucial. The strength of the micarta is an important detail on the Trail Seeker. The other main advantage of micarta is how lightweight it is. This is a larger knife, measuring in at an overall length of 9.38 inches. This means that behind the length, there is going to be some serious heft. Of course, no good trail companion is one that is too clunky and heavy to have with you. This is where the micarta comes in—it keeps the weight of the overall knife down significantly than if the handle were made out of a heavier material.

The lightness of the micarta is especially important in the Trail Seeker, because this knife is a full tang. This just means that the metal of the blade extends down the entire length of the handle. Of course, the extra metal does mean that there is going to be extra weight behind this knife. Again, the micarta works to keep down the overall weight of the knife, so you end up with a trail companion that has some heft that can seriously back it up, but one that isn’t so heavy that it is a pain to take with you. This is a crucial Goldilocks zone.

There are some major benefits to the full-tang design. The biggest benefit is that if the micarta happens to break apart, which it should not do, but if it does, you end up with the entire shape of the knife still intact. The metal that is in the handle will work sufficiently to provide you with the general shape of the knife, which means that you won’t’ ever end up with just a blade. This can be especially important if the trails that you are typically on are a lot tougher or longer. The full tang also provides the knife with heft, which is important when you are taking on tougher or harder tasks. The full tang also increases the strength of the already strong micarta, because it provides a serious durability in the center of the handle scales.

The shape of the handle has also been thoroughly thought-out and designed. The spien is standard, with a slight slope to it. The belly has a large finger guard, which is exactly what it sounds like. The finger guard is there to protect you in case of accidental slippage. It keeps your fingers from sliding up onto the blade as well as providing you with a stronger grip. After the finger guard, there are two deep finger grooves with an obvious swell in the middle. This design is going to fit inside of your palm conveniently and comfortably. You will be able to use the Trail Seeker for long periods of time without your hands wearing out and filling the stress of the work. There is also plenty of texture carved into the micarta handle that ensures that your grip won’t slip while working with this knife.

The Sheath:

This TOPS knife comes with a black kydex sheath. This is one of the more modern sheath materials that you are going to come across. Kydex is a thermoplastic material that is commonly used for sheaths and holsters, which shows how durable and quality it is. In fact, the biggest advantage that Kydex has is its durability. It can be exposed to practically any environment that you can come up with and it is still going to hold up well and keep its integrity. To show how extreme of an environment kydex can deal with, it is one the most common sheath materials for diving knives, as the salt water doesn’t affect it.

Kydex is the perfect option for the Trail Seeker’s sheath. It is durable, which is exactly what the Trail Seeker is. The blade is durable, the handle is durable, it just makes sense that the sheath is also durable. Kydex will also ensure that your knife is safe during all of your activities. Not only can the Trail Seeker take a beating, but the sheath can also take a beating. This means that paired together, this is a very strong, very durable, very reliable knife.

The Pros:

The Trail Seeker has plenty of advantages to it. First off, the blade is a great utilitarian blade that has been designed to take on a wide variety of tasks, which means that you won’t feel stranded when you are on the trail. Practically anything that comes your way, the Trail Seeker is going to be able to manage. The blade is made out of 1095 high carbon steel which is known for keeping its edge for long periods of time. This means that you can easily take it on a long hiking or camping trip and you won’t’ have to worry about the blade dulling. It also has high wear resistance. Then, the blade has been coated with a black traction coating. This increases the wear resistance of the steel while also providing high levels of corrosion resistance. All in all, the steel and coating combination create a blade that is hard to beat. Next, the clip point blade shape is designed to take on practically anything that comes your way. The large belly allows you to slice with ease while the sharp point allows some serious piercing capabilities. Plus, it has a lowered potin for control, along with a short row of thick jimping on the spien of the knife that will also add to your control.

The handle is also impeccable. The micarta is tough and lightweight. The micarta’s weight is the perfect partner to this full-tang knife, because it allows the knife to be kept at a lower weight. Plus, the handle will fit comfortably inside your hand.

The kydex sheath is just a cherry on top of this already durable knife.

The blade on the Trail Seeker measures in at 4.5 inches long with a blade thickness of 0.19. The Trail Seeker weighs in at 8.9 ounces on its own or 13.9 ounces when it’s in the kydex sheath.

Final Thoughts:

The TOPS Knives Trail Seeker boasts a comfortable green canvas micarta handle along with a full tang, clip point blade. The winning design of the 4^th annual TOPS Employee contest, this Luis Murillo knife makes a perfect trail companion when you are outdoors. The blade delivers a utilitarian edge and good penetration. The handle gives you a comfortable grip with a nice middle swell and a guard for safety. The sheath is a simple Kydex with a dangler to attach to your belt, pack, or wherever. Better yet, the Trail Seeker was made in the United States of America.

The combination of all these details and materials mean that the Trail Seeker is an exceptional trail knife—one that you are going to want to have with you. Order yours today from BladeOps.