Inexpensive Tramontina Camp Knives

[Howard Wallace]

A short review is at http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/knives/Brazil/BrazilKnives.htm .

 

[Cliff Stamp]

For the camp knife, was the handle to short, or too narrow? The grind seems really thick to me as well.

The Gaucho knife has a very nice blade design, full flat with a thin edge, but the handle looks like it would get very slippery very fast. Plus index finger contacts with the back of the blade I would expect to get uncomfortable quickly. The blade/handle join looks really weak, but of course strong enough for light kitchen work.

The Camping knife looks simply excellent for light work such as food preperation.

Nice commentary Howard, to the point without content sacrifice.

-Cliff

 

[Howard Wallace]

Cliff,

The handle on the camp knife was too short. I had trouble comfortably squeezing my hand between the blade and the birdshead. I photographed the knife in my review after I had already ground off the obnoxious plastic extension on the guard that extended lower than the blade. I suppose I could grind off the end of the grip too, but I don't particularly care for the knife so I don't think I'll invest the time. The blade stock is thin so the grind is not too bad. The worst thing about the grind is that it does not extend all the way to the back of the blade.

The gaucho knife does have a round, pakkawood style handle. The conical design with a wide back end and the blade overhang at the front end tends to lock the hand into the grip and minimizes the slipping problem. As you note, the tang is not thick where it enters the handle. It works great for cutting food etc., but would probably bend or break immediately if heavy prying were attempted. This is evident when holding the knife, so I doubt users would be tempted to perform such (for this knife) abuse, for the same reason few people pry with fillet knives. I don't find index finger contacts with the blade to be bothersome, but I wasn't doing stabbing type actions. Perhaps in some butchering applications this would be a problem, where a slippery handle and point insertions were both present. For the kitchen tasks I was doing my finger rarely if ever contacted the blade. The overhang does provide some confidence and protection against the stubbing type of accident, where the knife point inadvertently sticks in a cutting board or table edge or similar hard substance, and the hand rides up on the cutting surface of the blade.

The camping knife is my favorite. I think SMKW calls it a cleaver, but it definitely is not. The blade is thin and I would expect serious damage from chopping through a bone. It does great work cutting meats and vegetables in the kitchen. The unfinished wood handle with rings cut into it does provide for a more secure gripping surface than the gaucho knife has. The larger diameter handle fills my hand better also. The only advantage the gaucho knife has is its slightly smaller size makes it more comfortable to carry.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Howard Wallace :

The worst thing about the grind is that it does not extend all the way to the back of the blade.

Yes, I would not like this much at all either on a kitchen knife, or blades in general for that matter.

[gaucho]

It works great for cutting food etc., but would probably bend or break immediately if heavy prying were attempted.

The heaviest use (here anyway) would be the cutting of thick vegetables such as turnips. This is usually done with a rocking motion, with pressure on the blade and handle. This is loading the handle in its strongest plane though, so I doubt there would be a problem. Lateral loads are rare for kitchen work.

For the kitchen tasks I was doing my finger rarely if ever contacted the blade.

A lot of this is personal method, I tend to ride fairly close to the blade and t his is why I prefer bolsters if possible.

[camping knife]

Yes, it looks very nice indeed. Have you sharpened it yet?

-Cliff

 

[joebe]

i just got the camp knife with a black plastic handle, i also got the
3" paring knife, and the 6" cleaver. the camp knife is ok, you can't complain for $2, the paring knife has a very thin blade and cuts like a razor, i haven't had a heavy chore for the cleaver but it is very heavy duty and really fits in the hand well ! i HAVe to order that camping knife, that is sweet looking....almost looks like an IWB sheath


cool stuff, dirt cheap !!!

 

[Gr8Scout]

I'm surprised to see the interest here in this forum about the camp knife...