Nice review. I have this knife and can tell you it is fantastic. I added a para cord cobra weave strap between the front and back lanyard holes that locks my hand in with any grip. Really helps with chopping so you can safely get way back on the handle for extra leverage and momentum. I did upgrade to a custom kydex sheath with a tek lok clip so I can carry in a 45 degree cross draw. The knife performs extremely well for slicing, chopping and even fine detail tasks. The blade takes a laser sharp edge with good retention. The game wardens of Africa are well equipped with this gorgeous knife designed by Anton Du Plessis.
+Bill Burkheimer Hi Bill, thank you for your comment. Glad you are enjoying the knife, I think it's a great knife also. I have not updated the sheath yet, who did yours?
+KnifeRev Hey KnifeRev...I bought the custom sheath from "7rattlesbushcraft" on eBay. The quality is excellent. I paid $59.99 plus $15 for the teklok clip installed. It's done in kryptec kydex which looks like snake skin. Have to tell you this knife with the 2 tone black and grey cobra weave handle strap in this sheath is total knife porn!
Say Heah, Yeah, Your Top's Silent Hero is very similar to one of my all time Fav's Knives, My RatManDu. I don't have a Silent Hero, But I know it's a good one using my RatManDu as reference. Infact I even have (2) in the INFI Steel. I got very lucky to end up with (2) in the INFI Yeah their rare.
Yes they are Reverand,, What took me to Swamp Rat Knife Work is the steel, Their proprietary name for it is SR101 but it's a 52100 with their Busse Technology Temporing with a deferentially temper too. It's similar to the 5160 but with more Carbon and my Swamp Rat's are around a 60 RC, for quality/price ratio IMO it's the best $$$ for what you get. Alot complain about they don't come with sheaths, But you can get sheath's for reasonable prices, I got my Kydex from Mash Cats and Jason will make you a sheath without sending in the knife, I also have a great quality leather dangler from Battle Horse for a very reasonable price too. I just got my RatWeiler and got a Spec-Ops Sheath that fits it like a glove, I teamed the RatWeiler with my Rodent Solution for a great matching combo and great functioning wood crafting knives. I did get luvky, first of all, I was lucky to win a drawing to just to beable to buy a INFIRatManDu, right after I bought mine, I got a e-mail stating my INFIRatManDu was ready so I bought that one too. I now have (3) RatManDu's. Oh by the way, Swamp Rat is a sister company of Busse Combat famous for their INFI Steel and the other sister company is Junk Yard Dog which uses sometimes the S7 or the SR101 but with the rubber handles which theirs is excellent I just can't think of the name, But the knives use the same steel but are less expensive because of the handles, Swamp Rat uses either G-10 or Micarta, Busse Combat makes their knives in all three combination plus in the INFI Steel, But once they sell out a style, you never know if you can get that knife again, I know my ASH-1 Magnum is a very rare knife and it was a first that they used a Cerakote that tgey only made a very short run for the Atlanta Blsde Show. Mine is a Green American Flag Cerakote, the RatManDu is a Swamp Rat Knife but Busse Combat made it in the INFI Steel. God is Always Good and Good Always is God. It was nice, we got to do this again, It was nice to have net you, Reverand.
The blade design looks very practical. But I think the hilt is much too slim for those of us with big hands, and I think the lanyard hole front and back to make the finger retainer out of paracord is a complete gimmick. I love Tops quality, but I wish they'd done this knife in a more rust resistant outdoors steel. Maybe VG10 or SV30. It's small enough to use either of those steels well. And, yeah, the sheath is a poor design. Good leather, poor design. Tops is known for their super knives and oddly poorly thought out sheaths. You should take a look at the Tops Air Wolfe. It's a similar profile with a better grip, exposed rear tang and beefier hilt. I've used it to butcher two deer as well as grouse and rabbits and as a solid all purpose camp knife. I think it's a sleeper gem overlooked by the trendy knife community.
+Cliff Seruntine Thanks for your comment Cliff. If I could change anything about the Silent Hero it would be the handle. For me it is a bit narrow and I rather not have the groves. It would be nice to have a to have a more rust resistant steel. Still I think it's a good design, with a couple of changes it could be an outstanding blade.
Exactly. It's so close to perfect. Heck, if they made it in VG-10 or SV30 or some other good stainless steel, I'd snap it up and make my own scales for it. If it came with beefier scales and a good drop sheath or kydex sheath, it would be perfection.
1095 is a terrific steel. it's easy to sharpen and holds a great edge. As you mentioned, it's a reactive steel and will rust. to help combat this issue, TOPS applied a clear Ceracoat finish to the blade. when it comes to cutting things, there is a reason they don't make saw blades and drill bits out of stainless...
Never been a big fan of stainless steels in medium-large survival knives. I can see why people like them, it's not as if they aren't tough but if you take care of your knife, rust won't be an issue. 1095 really doesn't pit either, it's more surface rust than anything and is easy to fix if you do run into that issue. easy fix to the sheath is to get a kydex or another leather sheath you do like, it's a popular knife so there's plenty of options
Nice review. I have this knife and can tell you it is fantastic. I added a para cord cobra weave strap between the front and back lanyard holes that locks my hand in with any grip. Really helps with chopping so you can safely get way back on the handle for extra leverage and momentum. I did upgrade to a custom kydex sheath with a tek lok clip so I can carry in a 45 degree cross draw. The knife performs extremely well for slicing, chopping and even fine detail tasks. The blade takes a laser sharp edge with good retention. The game wardens of Africa are well equipped with this gorgeous knife designed by Anton Du Plessis.
+Bill Burkheimer Hi Bill, thank you for your comment. Glad you are enjoying the knife, I think it's a great knife also. I have not updated the sheath yet, who did yours?
+KnifeRev
Hey KnifeRev...I bought the custom sheath from "7rattlesbushcraft" on eBay. The quality is excellent. I paid $59.99 plus $15 for the teklok clip installed. It's done in kryptec kydex which looks like snake skin. Have to tell you this knife with the 2 tone black and grey cobra weave handle strap in this sheath is total knife porn!
+Bill Burkheimer Thanks Bill, will check it out.
Good Review and has earned a Sub, thank You .
Say Heah, Yeah, Your Top's Silent Hero is very similar to one of my all time Fav's Knives, My RatManDu. I don't have a Silent Hero, But I know it's a good one using my RatManDu as reference. Infact I even have (2) in the INFI Steel. I got very lucky to end up with (2) in the INFI Yeah their rare.
+paulie 4x Hi Paulie, I checked out the RatManDu on their web site, nice knife and yes similar style to the Silent Hero.
Yes they are Reverand,, What took me to Swamp Rat Knife Work is the steel, Their proprietary name for it is SR101 but it's a 52100 with their Busse Technology Temporing with a deferentially temper too. It's similar to the 5160 but with more Carbon and my Swamp Rat's are around a 60 RC, for quality/price ratio IMO it's the best $$$ for what you get. Alot complain about they don't come with sheaths, But you can get sheath's for reasonable prices, I got my Kydex from Mash Cats and Jason will make you a sheath without sending in the knife, I also have a great quality leather dangler from Battle Horse for a very reasonable price too. I just got my RatWeiler and got a Spec-Ops Sheath that fits it like a glove, I teamed the RatWeiler with my Rodent Solution for a great matching combo and great functioning wood crafting knives. I did get luvky, first of all, I was lucky to win a drawing to just to beable to buy a INFIRatManDu, right after I bought mine, I got a e-mail stating my INFIRatManDu was ready so I bought that one too. I now have (3) RatManDu's. Oh by the way, Swamp Rat is a sister company of Busse Combat famous for their INFI Steel and the other sister company is Junk Yard Dog which uses sometimes the S7 or the SR101 but with the rubber handles which theirs is excellent I just can't think of the name, But the knives use the same steel but are less expensive because of the handles, Swamp Rat uses either G-10 or Micarta, Busse Combat makes their knives in all three combination plus in the INFI Steel, But once they sell out a style, you never know if you can get that knife again, I know my ASH-1 Magnum is a very rare knife and it was a first that they used a Cerakote that tgey only made a very short run for the Atlanta Blsde Show. Mine is a Green American Flag Cerakote, the RatManDu is a Swamp Rat Knife but Busse Combat made it in the INFI Steel.
God is Always Good and
Good Always is God.
It was nice, we got to do this again, It was nice to have net you, Reverand.
Great knife love the wide belly on the blade i beat the shit out of it and holds up nice
Belle qualité d'image
Can you tell me how tall the knife is? Trying to figure out if it will fit in a SpecOps Combat Master sheath, great video!
I don't know if anyone has gotten back to you with this elsewhere. If by "tall" you mean "length," my Silent Hero measures in at 11 5/8 inches,
The blade design looks very practical. But I think the hilt is much too slim for those of us with big hands, and I think the lanyard hole front and back to make the finger retainer out of paracord is a complete gimmick. I love Tops quality, but I wish they'd done this knife in a more rust resistant outdoors steel. Maybe VG10 or SV30. It's small enough to use either of those steels well.
And, yeah, the sheath is a poor design. Good leather, poor design. Tops is known for their super knives and oddly poorly thought out sheaths.
You should take a look at the Tops Air Wolfe. It's a similar profile with a better grip, exposed rear tang and beefier hilt. I've used it to butcher two deer as well as grouse and rabbits and as a solid all purpose camp knife. I think it's a sleeper gem overlooked by the trendy knife community.
+Cliff Seruntine Thanks for your comment Cliff. If I could change anything about the Silent Hero it would be the handle. For me it is a bit narrow and I rather not have the groves. It would be nice to have a to have a more rust resistant steel. Still I think it's a good design, with a couple of changes it could be an outstanding blade.
Exactly. It's so close to perfect. Heck, if they made it in VG-10 or SV30 or some other good stainless steel, I'd snap it up and make my own scales for it. If it came with beefier scales and a good drop sheath or kydex sheath, it would be perfection.
1095 is a terrific steel. it's easy to sharpen and holds a great edge. As you mentioned, it's a reactive steel and will rust. to help combat this issue, TOPS applied a clear Ceracoat finish to the blade. when it comes to cutting things, there is a reason they don't make saw blades and drill bits out of stainless...
Never been a big fan of stainless steels in medium-large survival knives. I can see why people like them, it's not as if they aren't tough but if you take care of your knife, rust won't be an issue. 1095 really doesn't pit either, it's more surface rust than anything and is easy to fix if you do run into that issue. easy fix to the sheath is to get a kydex or another leather sheath you do like, it's a popular knife so there's plenty of options
Silent Hero vs Esee 6?