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    Tracker Dan Bloodshark Article

    Tracker Dan on the Bloodshark.



    While not a well known name in the blade world (yet), few people could have a better background to go into knife making than Tracker Dan. From an early age, Dan has learned a thing or two about survival, and using edged tools and weapons. While most focus on Tracker Dan’s time spent in the Navy SEALs, his interest and experience with edged weapons came much earlier.

    Since Tracker Dan was a child, he loved knives. Dan got his first pocket knife at age 6, and made his first knife in high school shop class (something that had to be done a little at a time, while the teacher wasn’t looking). Tracker Dan has been using edged tools through his time spent working as a carpenter (maintaining and modifying chisels, saw blades, and knives) and through his time spent as a wilderness survival instructor for Tom Brown.

    Dan used to teach for Tom Brown at his Tracker School in New Jersey, teaching students the means of survival though fire building, game tracking, tool making, and various other wilderness survival skills. A good sharp knife is critical in shaping tools to create fire, to separate bark and fiber to create cordage, to kill and skin game to eat, and to shape and harvest materials for shelters and snares/traps. Long before Dan graduated BUDS, he had a solid handle on wilderness survival.

    While Dan was teaching for Tom Brown, he met Tom Kier and started training in Sayoc Kali, a Filipino martial art that is best summed up by the phrase “all blade, all the time”. Sayoc is a military system which dates back to the 1400’s, different from some the agricultural Filipino Martial Arts (which got their name due to farmers using these systems to defend their land/farms). Sayoc is different, it is a military system - it was created by warriors for use in battle. It’s a very aggressive system, where violence of action is paramount, and blades are almost always in play.

    Dan trained extensively in Sayoc, then left to fulfill his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL. Having trained with Sayoc before making it to the SEAL Teams, Dan was always looking for ways to be a more effective warrior. He noticed shortcomings in the kit they were issued, especially with knife sheaths, so Dan got involved in learning how to make kydex holsters and sheaths. Dan immediately started modifying his issued sheathes, wire stitching issued kydex sheaths tighter to make them smaller and lighter on his rig (trimming away the excess), replacing leather sheathes with kydex…speeding up the draw by eliminating pesky retention flaps common on nylon/leather sheaths.

    Upon leaving the SEALs, Dan got back to teaching, this time with 2 of the most respected shooting schools on the market today, and also teaching for Sayoc Tactical Group (STG) – the Sayoc sub-group responsible for instructing various military, law enforcement and government units in edged weapon and combatives techniques. STG specializes at delivering tailored instruction to groups interesting in integrating edged weapons into their use of force options. STG’s techniques are specifically designed to function as seamlessly as possible with pistols, carbines, edged weapons and empty hand combatives.

    Tracker Dan and the STG cadre had long felt that there weren’t many blades on the market that they felt were well suited to concealed carry, and optimal deployment as a weapon. So, Tracker Dan put his experience as a Survival instructor, Sayoc instructor, and a Navy SEAL together to come up with the Bloodshark. A blade that is easy to always have on you (because of its size and ease to mount) and is fast to deploy and resheath. Tom Kier was consulted throughout the process to make sure that nothing was added that might hinder optimal functionality.

    I first heard about the Bloodshark through some of the STG cadre when training with them. I knew they liked the blade, but I didn’t know why. When I recently took a pistol class with Kyle Defoor, I learned even more about the blade, as he carries one.



    For those not familiar with Kyle Defoor, Kyle is a veteran SEAL who is well known throughout the firearms training community. Kyle served in the most selective and specialized Naval Special Warfare units, then went on to be the director of training for Blackwater USA’s facility in North Carolina. After leaving Blackwater, Kyle was the lead firearms instructor for TigerSwan’s training program before starting his own company Defoor Proformance Shooting, which currently provides full-time instruction to shooters deploying around the world from the special operations community, as well as from other units and organizations who are involved in the war on terror.

    When I asked Kyle why he preferred the Bloodshark, he had this to say:

    "The Bloodshark is the thinnest, most concealable fixed blade there is period. The combo of blade and sheath is from a brother of mine Tracker Dan, and it is very well thought out. From the blade design and finger grooves to the sheath which is second to none. It's the only blade I carry constantly. Good thing about Tracker Dan is he makes the blades and is a Sayoc instructor to boot, so it's an easy package to put together."


    As soon as I got home, I contacted Tracker Dan and put my order in. I recently received my Bloodshark from Dan, and I’ve been carrying it since. I asked Dan if he would be willing to explain how the Bloodshark came about, and he recently took the time to sit down with me and do so.

    Before the Bloodshark was around, many STG cadre had favored carrying the Cold Steel Culloden, a blade now discontinued, and not without weaknesses.

    “They were all stainless steel, and hollow ground. The tips just didn’t have enough strength, they broke too often. Also, there was no way to ID which way the edge was facing (if it got turned around in your pocket, etc.), without looking at it. You couldn’t put your thumb on the back, safely, without looking down at it. They made a carbon steel, 5” bladed version also, and that was great, it was stronger…but it was harder to conceal… and they’re both discontinued anyway.”

    Upon designing his own ideal blade, Dan wanted to make sure it had a good strong tip, but something that was plenty pointy and suited to thrusting:
    “So many blades out there, like the KaBar, have a hunting/skinning type tip on them…so they’re not really meant for thrusting. And whether it’s used for fighting, utilitarian stuff, any kind of medical tasks, or any kind of survival stuff, it’s really nice to have a sharp tip to get in and do things you can’t do with a broader profile. “

    “The 1” profile allows you to get into tight places. It allows you to access the brain through the eye sockets, something you just can’t do with a wider blade. But it’s not as pointy as the mini Cullodens, so it gives the tip more strength. The false edge on the back helps give it a spine down the center making it stronger. Also, removing the metal from the backside allows the tip to go in easy.”
    Last edited by Jim D; 07-05-12 at 17:42.

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