Top: Testing took place
in less than optimal
conditions including
persistent rain in a
T perpetually wet forest.he acronym SERE conjures
images of prisoners of war,
elite special forces or the
ultimate in the military survival
pedigree.SERE — short for Survival, Evasion,
Resistance and Escape — is highly
specialized training taught by a skilled
instructor cadre with real-world
experience in extreme environments.
SERE is also used to describe many
products when the goal is to marketthem eectively for a quick sale.
However, close examination reveals
many of these products wouldn’t
survive the occasional weekend trip to
the local park, let alone a rough military
op or rigorous survival situation.When we heard that Dave Beck of Beck
Knives and the Tracker Knife fame had
created a new SERE-inspired knife
called the Trail Dog, we jumped at the
opportunity to test it out. We wanted to
find out whether his knife was capable ofwithstanding real-world survival training
and if it would be worthy for carry by
America’s fighting men and women.The Trail Dog 6
With a 6-inch blade, the Beck Knives
Trail Dog fits the niche between EDC
belt knife and the KA-BAR-sized field
knife. Dave Beck uses 01 tool steel
exclusively and heat treats all of his
steel one blade at a time, by hand,
relying on color and a sixth sense to
know when the treatment is right.Bottom Left: The
Trail Dog features a
hand-sanded satin
finished blade of 01
tool steel.Bottom Right: The
Trail Dog’s machete-like
handle is extremely
comfortable during
extended use.26 KNIVES ILLUSTRATED • JULY/AUGUST 2019 knivesillustrated.com