After waiting for its chance for nine years, the TOPS Badger Creek has hit the shelves at last. It’s an outdoors task-smasher with a bold blade shape rendered in an unusual – for TOPS – stainless steel.
The following bit of news will not surprise you: TOPS CEO Leo Espinoza likes big blades. His is the creative mind behind such monstrosities as El Chete and the Tundra Trekker, and while the Badger Creek is not in the same size class as those pieces, Espinoza gave it a similarly striking profile as its older, bigger siblings. The Badger’s 6-inch blade is a pirate-y clip point with ample width and a harpoon-ish swedge about a third of the way down the spine.
On the piratical note, the Badger Creek does seem like a good choice for cutting grapnel lines and clenching in between your teeth as you swing on the ratlines, but, if your day-to-day is less exciting than that, it will perform just as well, if not better, in the great outdoors, both as a trekking companion and a rock solid camp knife. TOPS is making this one from N690 steel, too, so it will hold up well under rain or snow (or seawater…).
Nothing wild going on with the handle, just grooves and curves that work in both forward and reverse grips, fattened with thick canvas Micarta scales bolted on to the tang. TOPS is a company that likes dangler sheaths and that’s what they’re equipping the Badger Creek with as it makes its way into consumers’ hands nearly a decade after its inception back in 2017. On a sad but sweet note, it was the last of Espinoza’s designs that TOPS founder Mike Fuller named before passing away in 2020.
The Badger Creek is available now.
Knife in Featured Image: TOPS Badger Creek
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