This knife review features the Fieldcraft by Brothers of Bushcraft (made by TOPS Knives).
This knife is a tough, beast of a knife in a compact package. I put the “TOPS B.O.B.” through a lot of work in order to form my personal opinion about this knife. In this video, I go over the basic specs of the knife and include several close-up views to help give you a good idea of what this knife is all about, but I also use the knife in the field (actual use).
Looking at the specs alone, it might seem that this blade would be overbuilt for some of the smaller tasks, but in hand, the knife is very easy to maneuver and work with. During my review process, I made sure to attempt several of the finer detail tasks—even attempted some spoon-carving (please don’t hold my lack of spoon-carving skills against me)—and it handled them all much better than I expected. The micarta handle scales on this knife feature a bow drill divot, so of course I had to put that to use as well.
As a comparison, I found the TOPS BOB to be similar to to the ESSE 5 from ESEE Knives. I’ve used the ESEE 5 a lot (both here in Arizona as well as in my earlier days in Alaska). The two knives have plenty of differences, but they are both in the “combat beast of knife” category. However, while I do like the ESEE 5, I found that even though the TOPS BOB is slightly smaller than the ESEE 5, it still performs many of the same tasks just as well while having the advantage of tackling those smaller tasks with greater ease.