- Joined
- Nov 13, 2001
- Messages
- 234
Okay, folks, I put the CT through some serious abuse today. Results follow.
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
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
