Recoil Offgrid – August-September 2019

056

ISSUE 32

OFFGRIDWEB.COM

TOPS Knives

SXB

BLADE STEEL

1095 RC 56-58

HANDLE MATERIAL

Black linen Micar ta

OAL

15.75 inches

BLADE LENGTH

9.38 inches

BLADE THICKNESS

0.25 inch

WEIGHT

26 ounces

MSRP

$310

URL

http://www.topsknives.com

heaviness of the

SXB, regardless of its con-

dition, worked very well, making its

way down the grain. While knots are usually

detrimental to the blade, it made short work of

them too. My preferred technique for batoning is

to keep the hilt of the blade close to the edge of the log and

to point the handle in a slight downward direction, to main-

tain control of the blade going down the log as you strike it

with a baton. The SXB’s blade is so large that you can attack

wider logs that wouldn’t be possible with other knives.

A downed pine tree served as the test for de-limbing

purposes. It’s easy to clear branches and limbs when you

have a sharp knife. With the weight of the beat-up SXB, it

only took one to two chops on branches thicker than 2

inches in diameter.

The last test I performed was to cut through a dry tree

with both the GB hatchet and SXB. I went at it the usual

way — cross strikes to create a V shape in the log and

working around the cut for a 180-degree V. The hatchet

did a quicker job than the knife, but I feel I put in a similar

amount of work, with the hatchet being just slightly more

efficient that the SXB, but not by much. In all fairness, the

hatchet was designed for this type of work. So it’s impres-

sive that the SXB functioned as well as it did.

Final Thoughts

My initial assumptions about the knife

were both wrong and correct. Correct in

that it’s indeed a bat-sh*t crazy knife — but

it’s a very useful, durable bat-sh*t crazy

knife. I abused the hell out of it, yet the

blade stood up. It chipped a little, but not

much, and still managed to make short

work of tasks. Some may question my

methods and techniques, and that’s fine.

Although deliberately abused, I have a knife

I can still use and knowing its capabilities

means more to me than a pristine, free

knife. Frankly, I feel this is the best way to

test equipment — see how it'd hold up after

sh*t hits the fan. I only trust those who go

through hell with me and come back stand-

ing, so why shouldn’t I think the same with

my gear? Great knife, EJ! Your challenger

proved to be a worthy opponent.

GLUTTON FOR

PUNISHMENT

About

The Author

Brady Pesola is an out-of-

the-box style writer and

tester when it comes to

gear reviews. As a former

Marine, he’s frank and to

the point but writes with

fairness and integrity.

Brady teaches outdoor ed-

ucation in San Diego and

is working on redefining

the way survival is taught

and viewed. He also runs

a non-profit focused on

getting veteran’s outdoors.

sandiegosos.com