I thought I was done with big knives, well done with carbon steel ones anyway. I'll have you know Chris your videos have inspired me to buy JX4 and the LT Outback.....today.....within minutes of each other.
@@ssunfish good for you! Its a beauty isn't it? I since sold my last one and preordered a Black Burlap & Orange liners that i got Fri morning!! Still absolutely love it!!!
G'day Chris, Are you kidding me... I was on the email to Paul at DLT when I saw the thumbnail of this video BEFORE I watched it! Just on the strength of your title. If you reckon it's 'better than Jess..." that's good enough for me; the video is a great bonus. Thanks Chris! Cheers, BH
Ok Chris, you did it again. Thank god I'm retired and have disposable income. I viewed the video, and promptly went to DLT trading and bought one. Now Iv'e got a big brother for my Bark River Cub.....lol. Great review as always, keep up the good work. I'm headed up to the mountains, about 4 1/2 hrs. from home. Bringing both of my new knives with me, along with my new Daniel Defense M4 V7 PRO (have my own gun range out there). Should be a heck of a great week carving and shooting.
Prep Mind 101 picked a good knife. I was skeptical at first. So, after much consideration I bought this knife with burlap micarta scales and black liners, no ramp (I don't like the ramp on my Bravo 1.25 3V). The Tope Recon with burlap looks great and goes well with the Obenauf's treated sheath which I treated. PROS: Perfect size for many tasks, best handle even for my L-XL hands (fits my wife's small hands equally well) except the pommel (more on that), sharp, grind is excellent, weight forward balance, chops way out of its weight and length class, was able to carve feather sticks even in hard oak, the shark fin grows on you. CONS: Pommel is WAY too sharp and annoying out of the box for snap chops (I smoothed it out with a Dremel and Cratex cone), sheath is slightly short, if you jam the knife in hard after oiling it it may contact the rivets. MODS I'd like to see: I'd like to try it with a forward finger choil and longer sheath or Kydex.
Dan definitely knocked the blade design out of the park with this one! I love the new handle on it. It shares the same handle as the Machete and the new Crusader. I hope you get to do a review on the Crusader!
Man i am so pissed that I just discovered this knife on the net 2 years after the fact, only to find that not only is it actually a really good knife, but that there isn't a BRK Tope Recon CPM 3V Field in Bastogne Walnut anymore and the lucky fucker who owns one would probably rather swallow it than sell it. Great video man.
@@atlas_au Sorry man, I was being a smartarse, I don't have one. Never expected an answer. I will look for your knife now. I am chasing a Cold Steel Espada medium polished version.. If I find yours I will tell you through this thread. I like your dedication. G'day from Australia.
I really like the design. And I love the convex grind on how it performs. Except I absolutely hate sharpening convex grinds lol. I personally can never have the grind look as pretty as first out the box
Was really impressed with this video, was lucky I found one in good condition and was able to snatch it... will be reviewing on my channel soon! This thing looks A+ and if the weight feels light as you claim, I think this might be the missing piece I had been looking for :)
Very nice ! Yes that harpoon "tip" is kinda the rage now. I recently got a Spyderco Magnitude and the tip has a harpoon design. Looks like a terrific knife you reviewed.
Big blade up to 6" no finger choil totally suck, suffer handling fine work! Still stay with bravo survivor with thickness spine 275mm more heavy and have finger choil easy to do fine work with it. With 3v steel next 10 years still have lots of steel even every 6 months sharpen.
I've bought many used Bark river knifes, love them. I've sold my Bravo 1.5 3v and DLT shipped my Tope recon today, my first new Barky, can't wait. maybe it can replace my bravo1.25 too(would love a 1.25 LT 3v though)
I want one to pair with my jx4 now. Til now it’s been with my old and trusty Ontario marine raider 10” Bowie. Love the jx4 btw it’s my favorite of your designs
Whata up Chris? Just bought this, and the bravo 1... both black micarta, both rampless, the tope that I got has red liners and brass hardware though. The plain black micarta were sold out at dlt. Can't wait to get them. I wanted the 3v survivor, but NOBODY has any left ANYWHERE. Hopefully I'll like the tope.
Very cool... the design looks a lot like the Spartan Horkos combat/ utility knife, which I own. So, if this knife works even half as good then it's well worth the money! Now I'm stuck cause I was just about to order the LTWK SOSPES and now I don't know what to do! Help!
From the red welts showing up on your hand from such short usage, seems to suggest the handle is not very user friendly. Such knives are sick looking and cool to look at but practically for real bushcraft there's many better options and cheaper to boot.
Very very beautiful knife! Its too bad the flat grind on in just below the fuller is so uneven! Specially on the right side!I would expect that from Kabar or Ontario not from BarkRiver! At this price point and quality attention to detail cannot be overlooked! And like most BarkRivers the handle is too small if you have large size hands Thanks for the video Chris
I was looking at it trying to imagine it with a more centreline point. I think the Harpoon shape is what gives it that little bump to where you can actually effectively chop when you normally wouldn't with a blade that size.
Dammit... I ordered one yesterday. My first one where I sprung for the fancy scales. Can't wait for it to get here... I'll post it on the FB Barkie page.
Hey Chris... so first love your videos. But real quick I'm debating between this knife (the bravo tope) and the fobos legion. I know your love of 3v but am good with either 154 or 3v. Your legion video made it seem like it was such a great "wood hog", a great slicer, and a fairly good chopper for its size. You totally sold me on it & once it came back in stock I was going to pounce. Do you think the bravo tope is better in those regards? Cuz I want that kind of full length bush knife with minor chopping capabilities -- but which is better in your opinion? I wouldn't really want to go much bigger than the tope.
@@preparedmind101 don't get me wrong it is a great knife and if i could afford it i would buy it. Still wish i could get my hands on the original jessx
