Buy 10 of these at least.

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Freshly Cut Cheese

Joined
Jul 28, 2013
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As far as large fixed blades and choppers go I can't find a better quality to price ratio anywhere for anything. The Kershaw Camp 18 is marketed as a fixed blade knife. The damn blade is 18 inches long and .20 thick. The forward angled blade gives this beast immense chopping power. Not exactly sure what grade steel it is made from, but it states in the ads that it is constructed from high carbon tool steel. After beating on some cold hard Michigan wood for an hour the edge is hardly blemished. The thickness of the blade is perfect. It bites deeper into wood than some of those 1/4 thick choppers. It is still thicker though then let's say, the ESEE Junglas making the Camp 18 one stout blade. I do love my Junglas though! For 50 dollars this makes one killer machete that you could arm a whole platoon of fellow preppers for a reasonly low amount of money. I'm looking for other examples of ridiculously great values for price to quality ratio.


BK2 Companion, and Schrade extreme survival knife are two other good examples of must haves.
 
I have a Camp 14, and I agree that it's almost perfect.

BUT I HAVE ONE BIG ISSUE WITH IT.

Sharp to me is able to easily slice phonebook paper, and while the blade (1065ish) steel is ridiculously easy to get that sharp, as soon as you put it in the sheath, the glass filled nylon from which it made ruins the edge. The blades will be perfectly sharp, but as soon as it hits the sheath, the edge will start reflecting light and it will barely cut copy paper well.

It's a real shame, because as you say, the performance is not just outstanding for the price, but for any blade.
 
Cashmore said:
I have a Camp 14, and I agree that it's almost perfect.

BUT I HAVE ONE BIG ISSUE WITH IT.

Sharp to me is able to easily slice phonebook paper, and while the blade (1065ish) steel is ridiculously easy to get that sharp, as soon as you put it in the sheath, the glass filled nylon from which it made ruins the edge. The blades will be perfectly sharp, but as soon as it hits the sheath, the edge will start reflecting light and it will barely cut copy paper well.

It's a real shame, because as you say, the performance is not just outstanding for the price, but for any blade.
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If a plastic sheath ruins the edge it's hard to imagine the blade would be any good for chopping anything tougher than potatoes.
 
I've heard plenty of reports of unimpressive edge retention with 'em and I think the checked rubberized handles are blister machines if working bare-handed.
 
Yep, I guarantee that if the plastic sheath rolls the edge, our SE Texas hardwood will make it unusable long before an hour. Must have different hard wood in Michigan.
 
I must be alone in this thinking but the Camp 10 I tested had pretty decent edge retention. In fact, there was 8 or so (guessing) guys that tested it before me and it still hadn't been sharpened. Also, just my opinion again, but if your hands get blisters from the grip of that knife... The knife isn't the problem. I chopped with it on pine for over an hour with zero issues. Flame away but I think it is at the top if the heap for the money.
 
wroughndt said:
I must be alone in this thinking but the Camp 10 I tested had pretty decent edge retention. In fact, there was 8 or so (guessing) guys that tested it before me and it still hadn't been sharpened. Also, just my opinion again, but if your hands get blisters from the grip of that knife... The knife isn't the problem. I chopped with it on pine for over an hour with zero issues. Flame away but I think it is at the top if the heap for the money.
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I'd be amazed if it outperforms Ontario's <$20 12" 1095 milspec machete.
 
IMHO, Ontario 12" parkerized mil-spec machete is the absolute "best bang for the buck" chopping instrument there is. You can easily modify it to your needs/liking. :thumbup: :D
 
It's not the plastic in the sheath ruining the edge. It's the glass filled threads in it I would suspect. Try any steel on glass, and it won't do well.

It did the same thing to a Spyderco Super Blue blade I ran along the sheath. And both the Spyderco and the Camp 14 have performed very well for me otherwise.
 
Thanks for knocking me off of my cloud with some of those replies. I couldn't find a single negative on this product. I'll agree the handle grip does create unwanted friction, and the sheath kinda sucks. I tend to be a little too careful when removing and returning the knife to the sheath and make sure that I am sliding the spine of the knife along the inside of the sheath so that the blade is not in contact with the inside of the sheath. So I have not experienced any dulling or rolling of the blade due to that.
 
check out Condor knife and tool. They have a bunch of stuff in the same price range but they come with leather sheaths and wooden handles.
 
Freshly Cut Cheese said:
Thanks for knocking me off of my cloud with some of those replies. I couldn't find a single negative on this product. I'll agree the handle grip does create unwanted friction, and the sheath kinda sucks. I tend to be a little too careful when removing and returning the knife to the sheath and make sure that I am sliding the spine of the knife along the inside of the sheath so that the blade is not in contact with the inside of the sheath. So I have not experienced any dulling or rolling of the blade due to that.
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Hi,

I actually felt bad about my post after seeing where it led. I apologize for that. I think you're right to be happy with the product and recommend it. I don't find the traction on the grip bad in the slightest. The sheath thing is just an issue for me because of the level I like the edge to be at. I actually think the sheath is well designed, very much so, outside of the material. And if the blade was held more securely, that wouldn't be an issue, but since it moves in there parts of it always bang into the edge.
 
wroughndt said:
Also, just my opinion again, but if your hands get blisters from the grip of that knife... The knife isn't the problem. I chopped with it on pine for over an hour with zero issues.
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Dude--I live on a homestead and take care of farm chores half the day. My hands are plenty tough, let me assure you. :D

The problem is that for maximum chopping performance, a pivoting action is used along with a rolling snap of the wrist and extension of the arm, "casting" the mass of the blade towards the target. Such a motion causes tons of undue friction on the hand at the point of pivot if the grip is overly textured and/or rubberized. Also, an hour is basically where I consider an extended use session to START. I'm talking multi-hour work where the task is one of the major things you do that day. When you're working the full day you want a hard handle material with minimal texturing.

You can avoid getting blisters or hotspots from such a grip by hammer-fisting it and swinging only from the shoulder and elbow, but it severely robs the blade of power compared to a full blown snap from the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and fingers in tandem. If you hammer-fist you can still get a LITTLE motion out of the wrist, but not nearly as much.
 
It's also possible that the mixed reports with edge retention may be due to poor quality control in heat treatment, but I don't have first hand experience with that. I had high hopes for the models but the one that I got as a test sample didn't get any woods time. I put it right back in the package after dry-handling it and experiencing discomfort with the grip. I liked the overall design but the grip texturing and material just killed it for me. If they came out with the exact some models but with a grip swap with hard minimally textured material I'd be all over it.
 
I've had small problems with the texture on the 18. Although the same stands out on CS's PVC handles. Its not bad for like 2 hours but then you can start to notice where it blistered on your hand. Never got one I could just feel discomfort. However it is outstanding for anything else and can do the job. Have not noticed a problem with my edge but I've only had it a few months. I'd recommend it.
 
If it came with a better sheath and maybe better steel, i would love to pick one up. Other than that.....the Condor Golok is about the same price and is fantastic
 
I mean if I were really so enamored with it as to overlook the grip texturing, I could probably just slip a bike innertube over it and call it a day. I think the sheath is VERY well thought-out, but could do with a slightly more secure fit to reduce the aforementioned rattling. It's hard to go back and fix molded sheaths, though--once you sink the money into the tooling for that plastics mold it's pretty hard to modify.
 
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