Anatomy of Hype: Tom Brown Tracker knife Part 2
PART 2 of 2 Imbued with seemingly magical capabilities from the 2003 movie “The Hunted,” the Tom Brown Tracker T1 has gain stunning popularity. Starring Tommy Lee Jones as good guy LT and Benicio Del Toro as the out-of-control killer Aaron, the movie showed several laughable sequences involving the Tracker knife. No doubt, the TBT was chosen for its unusual visual appeal and to half-heartedly separate The Hunted from its plot source, the much better Rambo: First Blood movie. That show had already used a more impressive (and effective) Gil Hibben bowie knife in similar fashion. But from The Hunted movie we are led to believe that Tom Brown Tracker is the preferred blade, over all others, by an elite and secret group of combat soldiers. We see it thrown with amazing speed basically blowing a hole through the receiving tree. We see it hacking a part government assassins with ease. We see it being carried in a ridiculous horizontal fashion by Aaron. We see being forged out of raw steel into the perfect killing blade. And thats what Tom Brown, a technical advisor to the movie, would have us believe: that the Tracker knife is the swiftest, most deadly blade out there. If this wasnt the case, why then would these elite and superbly skilled operatives choose it and actually manufacture it! Never mind they could have BOUGHT much better blades or simply armed themselves with a much more capable handgun to dispatch each other. Nope, the movie avoids such logic and marches on with …
February 14th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
@larjanus hi. iv ordered 2 kukris from khukuriblades . com but i have not seen anything in damascus . do you mind telling me where you got yours .
February 14th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
this design also flunked the noss destruction test.
February 14th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
This knife costs £280 here in the UK (about $420 US?) and I often wondered if it was as good as promised. On this showing I’m glad I saved my cash! Instead, I have a BEAUTIFUL hand made 14″ 77 layer Damascus kukri forged by a Nepalese Kami (bladesmith) which does everything I need and cost me £180 including shipping from Nepal, Damascus chakmak and karda accessory knives and a gorgeous silver mounted sheath. It pays to check out the hype first! Thanks for the straight talk Nutnfancy!
February 14th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
the knife isn’t heavy
February 14th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
I have used many knives with my training ops for the military….. Generally a tracker is better for special ops due to their fitness standards, as well as a multi functional tool… If you are looking for a general combat knife, i like a CR2060 CRKT Elishewitz…. But for guerilla ops the tracker is favorable…. But I like you video….
February 14th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
This knife was designed for survival. Not military, but actually survival. Every part of it has a function. The curve on the back is for batonning. The “funky” hook on the lower blade is for smoothing shafts of wood, like arrows, spears, bows, etc.. (i think it’s called a rounder). And so on.. It was never intended for combat.
February 14th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I don’t agree with nutn in a lot of his videos, but I do agree with his review here. This knife was an over-glorified movie prop. Practically little survival use.
February 14th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
@scrimpyanimal So do you go out and buy something you are almost sure you are not going to like? If that is the case I have some dog poop in a bag ill sell ya lol. Granted with nutn he is doing a review on it and you are not but do you really expect him to waste time going out to borrow or buy a knife just to give it a negative review.
February 14th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
ya.. i’ll stick to my kabar thanks lol
February 14th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
@HeroSavage I don’t see how this isn’t a reveiw. He looked at the knife, assessed the specifications and gave his opinion(which is all a reveiw ever is) about how (not) good this knife is. I agree that if he actually used the knife he might have a more thorough reveiw, but seeing the blade design and weight, I think a 12 year old could tell this knife is inadequate for just about everything.
February 14th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
10$ bucks got me something better than this, well that is better suited for myself lol its a blade called the jungle got it at a bargain
February 14th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
Nutnfancy, the reason you dont like this knife is because it was made for one purpose, to skin and flesh animals. Notice the curve on the blade? Being a hunter i know that this would be a great skinning knife(not chopping). by the way the smaller version would be even better for cleaning an animal
February 14th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
its too small for survival it may look cool but thats all so….. dude your right again
February 14th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
its too small for survival it may look cool but thats all so….. dude your wright again
February 14th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
@HeroSavage – completly agree dude, i have used the knife and held it, it still sucks but call it an opinion instead of a review. Jo smo may love the knife somewhere in indonesia
February 14th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
The Tom Brown basically sucks at everything it is suppose to do. I know cause I owned one. First off the grinds were WAY TOO THICK to get a good bit into the wood for chopping, slicing or anything else. I tried to like this knife but I couldn’t because it is a poor excuse for a knife. I can take my 12″ Ontario machete and out do Tom Brown himself if he would use his own Tracker. I have used machetes for along time. My go to blades are a Mora #137 and a ESEE Lite Machete.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
the only use that i can see for this knife is for skinning an animal thats about it
February 14th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
I’d be happy if you were generalized with this screen review, but unfortunately you have taken your review beyond your resources. Sure, the knife was hyped up by its performance in the hunted, but so have other weapons such as shotguns, swords, throwing knives, boomerangs, and a whole other slew of weaponry. Hollywood over exaggerates everything. In my opinion, I feel you have no credibility in reviewing this knife because you aren’t holding it in your hands. There is no truth in speculation.
February 14th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Wow! Is all I can say, I really like your vids, but you at least have to use the product you’re reviewing before you can pass judgement, granted this blade may not appeal to all just as tanto point vs drop point, everyone has their own opinions and preferences, you CANNOT use 1 blade for all tasks, hence several different blade types, lengths, widths, points as previously mentioned, and shapes. Just like you wouldn’t use a filet knife to skin a deer, you wouldn’t use a butter knife to whittle
February 14th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
I’m dissapointed man, I just dont see how you can call it a review, you didnt buy or use the damn thing. Call it an opinion, but not a review. Respect the english language man.
February 14th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
great review thanks for posting!
February 14th, 2011 at 11:29 pm
I think a hand axe, 4 inch skinner combo would be more useful than the Tracker. If you got a set up with polymer handles it would be lighter too.
February 15th, 2011 at 12:01 am
dave beck actually designed and produced this knife, he died and tom brown took over
February 15th, 2011 at 12:10 am
@Mr1000Outdoors His field experience is right there in front of your face. He has dozens of videos showing him out in the wilderness actually using blades to do real work. I’ve seen reviews of the Tom Brown Tracker, being used on site, and the feedback is pretty consistent. It’s not difficult to see how a design will work, after you’ve spent a lot of your life in the out of doors, actually working with blades. If he’s wrong, lets see you post a video using it effectively.
February 15th, 2011 at 12:29 am
@ThirdPartyShadow A lot of knife experts I’ve listened to seem to favor shorter blades for a few reasons. Maneuverability, for one. Say you get knocked onto the ground and someone is on top of you, or forced into a wall. You’re really not going to be able to draw a full sized blade effectively that way. Others that come to mind would be conceal ability, and lowering the risk of a disarm. A larger blade will offer someone more leverage to take it off you, a smaller blade is easier to retain.