Another new TOPS model to talk about: the Silent Hero 4 Tanto. It’s more than just a new blade shape here, with alterations across the board to fit the Silent Hero concept into a tactical use category.
There is an interesting history behind this new Silent Hero 4 release. It originates in the Silent Hero, a fixed blade designed by Anton du Plessis to be the all-purpose fixed blade tool for his work in the field against poaching operations in South Africa. The original TOPS Silent Hero had a blade length of 6.38 inches, and eventually it spawned the Silent Hero 4, which retained the Hero’s wide stance drop point blade shape but took the overall length down to, you guessed it, around 4 inches. It is this smaller sequel that serves as the point of departure for the Silent Hero 4 Tanto.
And yes, the new blade shape is obviously the biggest difference – but on this model it really does alter the entire thrust (pun intended) of du Plessis’s design. Whereas the first two Silent Heroes emphasized outdoors work, the Tanto prioritizes tactical situations, including high stakes self-defense scenarios. The Tanto’s tanto is obviously a strong fit for that from an edge geometry perspective, but evidently TOPS went a step further and made sure that the overarching structure of the Tanto facilitated reliable quick drawing for situations where every millisecond counts.
The handle has also been given the once-over, and the keen-eyed Silent Hero-heads in the audience will note that the buttend has much more pronounced bracket to preclude slippage. The forward finger choil has been carried over from the other Heroes, which is a good thing because it is deep and angled slightly upward to give the user major control over the direction of the entire edge. Wrapping things up we have a Kydex sheath, which can be implemented in several different carry orientations of course. The Silent Hero 4 6 oz. even on its own, and 8.8 oz. in the sheath.
It is available now.
Knife in Featured Image: TOPS Silent Hero 4 Tanto
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