Camp Tramp versus Pampas Grass

[Chad Ward]

Camp Tramp vs Pampas Grass

Well, the big test o' the Camp Tramp happened this morning. I won't keep you hanging on the edge of your seats – pretty much a tie. The pampas grass is gone, but the CT has suffered some significant edge damage.

For those of you not familiar with this little bit of Kansas joy, pampas grass is a tall grass with sharp-edged leaves and thick, woody, bamboo-like stalks. It's pretty tough stuff. We have four eight-foot stands of it "decorating" our house, two on each corner of the front yard. My wife and I hate the stuff, but some folks think it looks pretty. Those people should be killed in a slow and painful manner.

But it does provide some fun when I finally get tired enough of looking at it that I decide to cut it back for the year. If you don't, it just stays brown and the stalks get extremely thick. If you cut it back at least it looks green for part of the year and is a little easier to manage. So Jack, my eight-year-old and I decided to do some whacking. Jack was excited that I was going to let him use the POS Coleman machete that I picked up at the hardware store in a moment of weakness a couple of months ago. What a piece of garbage. I'm not sure it even has a heat treat. When I sharpened it with one of those hand-held carbide pull-through thingies that I keep in the garage for garden tools, slivers of metal just kept curling off the blade in long, thin strips. I never did get a good edge on it, but it's sufficient for weed whacking. Jack thinks it's about the best substitute for a pirate sword around. I kind of agree with him. It's fun to wave around. I even say "arrrrhh" on occasion if no one is looking.

So, on a cold and rainy afternoon, Jack and I geared up to do battle with the invading horde of pampas grass.

We started with the machete. For the most part it just bounced off the stalks at the base. You have to grab an armful of the grass (heavy work gloves are a must) and heave it over in order to get a good cutting angle. While Jack beat on one bunch of grass I went to work on another with the Camp Tramp. Despite being pretty short for this kind of work, the blade-heavy design made chopping a real joy. It cut through the heavy stalks with aplomb. At least for a while.

When you get down to the bottom of the stand of grass, you're faced with seasoned stalks about a quarter of an inch thick. These are the leftovers from last year's battle and they're tough as nails. They're also buried in soil. How it gets there I don't know, but the base of the stands of grass is actually kind of a hummock of old stalks, dirt and new stalks that stands about eight inches above the ground. Not a good cutting surface. The CT did great for about the first half hour, then I noticed that I was working a lot harder to get it to cut through. The edge had dulled considerably. There were also some minor dings right at the curve of the belly – the sweet spot for chopping. Not chips, but small dents.

I should note that the resiprene handles are excellent. Great grip, even when wet. There are no hot spots or blisters on my hands, despite cutting forcefully and steadily for about an hour. The CT has a really nice "snap" to it. You can whip it quickly into the cutting surface without any undue strain or effort.

We kept working. As I mentioned, there was a light drizzle, so the CT stayed wet throughout the hour or so that it took us to defeat all the grass. By the time we got to the fourth stand of pampas grass, the CT was looking pretty ragged. The coating held up beautifully, but the edge was suffering more and more dings and deformations. If I'd thought about it I would have brought home the digital camera from work so y'all could see before and after shots of both the grass and the knife. We filled up our entire garbage can – about 10 yard bags full – with the foul weed if that gives you any idea how much chopping we did.

The Camp Tramp is quite the worse for wear. The entire edge is dull with numerous dings, dents, rolled areas and a couple of honest-to-god chips. I wiped the blade down, but there are also a couple of rust spots along the bevel and all the damaged areas are showing rust. That's to be expected, I suppose.

To be fair, I suspect the pampas grass attack is one of the nastier things you can do to a knife. Last year I chipped out a Trace Rinaldi TTKK in D2 (heat treat by Paul Bos to about 60RC) doing the same thing. That should tell you how tough this stuff is. The only knife that's come through unscathed so far is my BG42 Sebenza, and that's probably just because it's too short to really whack hard. I ended up sawing through the grass with it.

So, there ya have it. To be honest, I have mixed feelings. The CT was a real pleasure to use. It was fun seeing it buzz through the pampas grass with a snap of the wrist. I did expect it to hold up better, though. It's going to take some real work to get the edge back in shape.

Take care,
Chad

 

[Andrew Lynch]

Thanks for the review!

About the edge damage...are you sure you didn't nick any rocks or hit the dirt (thus hitting pebbles and such)? I doubt that Pampas Grass on its own would do any damage.

 

[numberthree]

Pampas grass will dull pretty much anything you throw at it. My big pampas defeated my Recon Tanto's edge inside 10 chops. No chips or dents, but dulled considerably...

 

[Chad Ward]

Andrew, I should have been more clear. I'm absolutely certain that I did hit some rocks and pebbles in the little whack-fest this afternoon. I know I hit a brick once. Left a nasty gouge in the brick, too.

But, the brick aside, I was pretty careful not to cut anything but pampas grass. We beat the hell out of the machete. Heck, I was trying to break it so I could throw it away, but it's too soft to really damage . I was, however, much more cautious with the Camp Tramp. I used it hard, but kept it away from most of the rocks and such. In part because I was trying to set a good example for Jack and in part so that I could compare it with the other knives I've used for this task. But as I said, when you get down to the bottom of the stand of grass it's a weird mix of old stalks, new stalks and dirt (some of which probably had some pebbles).

Chad

 

[Cliff Stamp]

There is nothing that can stand up to rock contacts and stay sharp. I have seen a few reviews that claim otherwise, but in reality, rocks are harder than steel and combine this with the very thin cross section of an edge and impaction will happen very easily even on light contacts. The best way to minimize the damage and maintain the highest level of cutting ability is to apply a secondary edge bevel. Use a bevel that is fairly obtuse, say 25-35 degrees, but only apply it about one half to one mm wide. You also only need this bevel in the heavy chopping area.

That being said, 52100 is one of the tougher steels and with a decent heat treatment will give very solid performance in regards to durability. It can have a decent level of hardness without becoming overly brittle, there are steels which I would expect to hold up better, but nothing in that price range. Fixing it should not be a problem also as it grinds really easily. Personally, I would not be so concerned about removing all the damage and would just sharpen the blade and let the edge gradually come back into 100% with repeated sharpenings. But it depends on what you intend to use the knife for.

Nice commentary. Can you saw that material with a very fine saw? How does a serrated blade fare. What about finishes, coarse vs x-fine?


-Cliff

 

[Chad Ward]

Originally posted by Cliff Stamp
There is nothing that can stand up to rock contacts and stay sharp. I have seen a few reviews that claim otherwise, but in reality, rocks are harder than steel and combine this with the very thin cross section of an edge and impaction will happen very easily even on light contacts.

Yup, I discovered that

The best way to minimize the damage and maintain the highest level of cutting ability is to apply a secondary edge bevel. Use a bevel that is fairly obtuse, say 25-35 degrees, but only apply it about one half to one mm wide. You also only need this bevel in the heavy chopping area.

I might have to give that a try. I had already sharpened the CT to a 40 degree included angle on the Sharpmaker grey stones, so any benefit of the factory convex edge was already gone.

Personally, I would not be so concerned about removing all the damage and would just sharpen the blade and let the edge gradually come back into 100% with repeated sharpenings. But it depends on what you intend to use the knife for.

Yeah, but I'm kinda fussy about my knives. The dings and dents just bother me. I'm trying to learn to be a little more relaxed about those sorts of things. Which is why I beat the hell out of the CT in the first place -- getting that all-important first scratch so I'm not as hesitant to actually use the thing.

Nice commentary. Can you saw that material with a very fine saw? How does a serrated blade fare. What about finishes, coarse vs x-fine?

Dunno about sawing the pampas grass. It would probably work. Maybe something like a dozuki? I did saw through it with the Sebenza with good success. It just took forever.

I had a high-polish finish (15/20 double bevel) on the TTKK's edge and that didn't work as well as the coarse (yet shaving) edge on the CT. Of course that probably had more to do with edge geometry than anything else. But I did notice that the CT "grabbed" and cut on the chopping stroke much better than the TTKK. The TTKK was more effective when I bent over a thick handfull of the grass and push-sawed through the stalks than when I tried chopping with it.

The real trouble comes when I clean up the base of the stalks. Once the pampas grass has all fallen, you're left with a hummock of old stalks, cut stalk ends and dirt. I try to keep this little mound 'o nastiness trimmed and level, but it's hell on whatever you use. I should probably just whip out the weedeater and be done with it, but where's the fun in that?

Next time it's a Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet and perhaps a Martindale Golok, though I can't decide between the Golok and the Jungle Knife -- any suggestions?

Take care,
Chad

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Chad :

The dings and dents just bother me.

I know that feeling. I never actually feel comfortable with a knife until I have given it a full sharpening, until then I tend to baby it. But once I have confidence in sharpening I tend to relax on use. Of course keep your knives the way you want them. However with larger knives that see that kind of use, you really can't avoid edge damage from inclusions unless you go to extreme lengths like beating grass with a stick to check for debris, debarking all wood before you cut it, etc. .

Maybe something like a dozuki?

Yes, I was thinking of exactly that. I have been experimenting with some fine Japanese saws and they do give interesting performance on light vegetation, not nearly as efficient as a decently sharpened long blade of course, but a workable alternative.

you're left with a hummock of old stalks, cut stalk ends and dirt. I try to keep this little mound 'o nastiness trimmed and level, but it's hell on whatever you use.

I would alter the profile of the blade in the sweep of the tip bring it up to 25-35 degrees per side for about a mm in width and running back say two inchs or so from the very tip. This should make for a very durable tip area which I assume is what you are using, and would leave the rest of the blade at a more acute angle for the lighter work.

I can't decide between the Golok and the Jungle Knife -- any suggestions?

Not even difficult, the Jungle knife. The balance will take some getting used to because it is above your line of grip so the knife tends to want to fall over. To be clear, the tip on the Jungle knife is *really* acute, <15 degrees included , it will get mauled on hard contacts, it can't even take a knot in solid wood.

You will need to put a small micro bevel along the tip area of about 30-40 degrees (more than the CT as the Jungle knife is far softer), but it can be filed easily so this is only a minutes work. Make the bevel 1-2 mm wide, I would taper it actually from 1-2 mm to towards the tip. This is actually the opposite of how the Jungle Knife is meant to be used, but it is a workable adaptation.

The Golok is has a more neutral balance and thicker edged than the Jungle knife and a more traditional balance. NIB it works much better on woody vegetation, but with some edge work on the Jungle knife it steps ahead directly and its only weak point compared to the Golok is the weaker tip (far easier to bend, no prying) and odd balance.

-Cliff

 

[Kliff Stump]

Nice review. I have one suggestion - a Stihl chainsaw, just make sure you start it first.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

You can start them ?!

-Cliff

 

[Chad Ward]

I might have to try the chainsaw.

BUT -- and don't tell the SwampRat people this -- the best part of the test was throwing the Camp Tramp at the pampas grass. As we all know, this is most effective from the Praying Mantis stance accompanied by a loud "chi" shout. I missed a couple of times, but, hey, these are supposed to be tough knives, right?

Anyway, I always throw from the tip because that's the way they do it in movies, so I'd have to figure out a way to grip the non-spinning part of the chainsaw blade and use a hammer-throw sort of motion. That would be really cool, but I'm kind of afraid to try it. Maybe a mesh glove?

Thanks for the hints!
Chad

(Note to the humorless: this is a joke. I did not throw the CT, nor would I attempt to throw a chainsaw. I thought this was obvious, but apparently not. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming)