tram vs hardwood

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
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Took my 12 inch tram out camping about a week ago. (it had been convexed to a razors edge by siguy) he did an awesome job.. I used the tram almost exclusively for all sorts of tasks suited to both a large and a small knife. It worked great and I was impressed. My only complaint if you could call it that was that the edge did show some damage from the heavy use...

So today I headed out to one of my secret spots...Gave the edge a quick work up on some 400 grit paper and a mousepad.. litteraly 20 seconds and the chips where out. A few swipes on a strop and it was popping hair..So I decided I'd give it another workout. I Started off whittling some trap triggers out of maple.. Than cut a few oak fuzz sticks.. Chopped through several miscellaneous dead fall trees (nothing thicker than wrist thick) than I decided it was time to use the baton... I split several thick pieces of ash and it breezed through them like nothing. I did use a heavy baton, and the wood was good and dry. but it defintely impressed me once again..I even roughed out a decent spoon afterwards and again there where a few small rough spots along the edge, but the majority of the edge would still shave hair. I think a machete is really almost a do it all blade in skilled hands, (which mine are not)!!! I have yet to try it in cold weather but I imagine the thin edge will not fair well against frozen wood, but at least in my mind cold weather is hatchet time... but over all a 6 dollar machete and a very cost effective sharpening job by siguy makes for an extremely effective and ridiculously versatile cutting tool.
 
Totally agree bro!

It makes it hard to justify the more expensive blade purchases I have made. But I do not regret any of my knives.

I thank you again for sending me that tram, as I also have been using it alot lately,
 
Good report Riley. You mentioned about using it in cold weather. It would be an ideal snow knife for carving snow blocs for shelters.

Doc
 
Gotta love that tramontina! I may have to sell off my gransfors mini hatchet now...
maybe not.:D That thing cuts like a demon as well.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys..I used to be strictly a small blade guy.. but for the past few months I've been digging the versatility of the larger blades...I feel a little weird carrying them around on my belt but I've been experimenting with less obvious ways of carrying. I also always feel like I'm cheating on my expensive knives. nice idea about the snow blocks doc.
 
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Tramontinas are my favorite machete, I cut a 6" maple the the other day, cut it into sections and split it with my 2 trams, 12 and 18" 18" ontario and cold steel kukri ( just for a comparison) The trams were my favorite, the little 12" easily split4-6in green maple, easier than the thicker stocked ontario and cold steel, to my surprise. Only fault Ive found with tramontinas is that if you do a lot of heavy chopping the handles with loosen up a bit, easy to fix, and most other riveted handles do the same.
 
I love my 18 inch Tram Panga but for shorter machetes ,especially on hardwood I think something like the 1095 Ontario would be better. Nothing beats a mora and a machete with some time spent giving them a good edge, as cheap but good truck tools.
 
Woohoo! Fluked into some Trams at a local pawn shop!
12.99 each brand new sheath included.
Not as cheap as the Smokey mountain 6.99$ price, but hey i didn't have to pay any shipping!
:D
I've only ever seen them locally once before and they were close to 20$ per.
I'm in Canada i could order them from SIR but they are also 17-20$ (plus shipping).

Anyway i bought two might go back for one more.
One to keep "stock" (they are the 18 inchers) and two to mod.
I'm thinking chop one down to 12 inches and convert one so its like my Martindale golok.
martindalegolok.jpg

Of course it will be thinner than the Martindale but i really like the Martindale blade shape/pattern.
 
RescueRiley said:
Thanks for the kind words guys..I used to be strictly a small blade guy.. but for the past few months I've been digging the versatility of the larger blades...I feel a little weird carrying them around on my belt but I've been experimenting with less obvious ways of carrying. I also always feel like I'm cheating on my expensive knives. nice idea about the snow blocks doc.
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lol it seem to me you switch between fix, folder, slipjoint, lock, axe, scandi, convex, this, that, other and another, sometimes several times a day:D

One of the things that seems to stands out in all the flip/flopping is that it all seems to get the job done for you.

If I didn't know any better, I could get the notion that the man behind the tool is more important then the tool it self. How silly an idea is that ;)
 
LMAO...That's pretty funny, and well said... I'm not sure if I've had the pleasure of interacting with you before..But that is very funny, observant, and insightful..Thanks.
 
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Hawkings said:
lol it seem to me you switch between fix, folder, slipjoint, lock, axe, scandi, convex, this, that, other and another, sometimes several times a day:D

One of the things that seems to stands out in all the flip/flopping is that it all seems to get the job done for you.

If I didn't know any better, I could get the notion that the man behind the tool is more important then the tool it self. How silly an idea is that ;)
Click to expand...

what does that have to do with anything?

this is the usless crap brian and those guys are talking about.:rolleyes:

Whats wrong with working out what tools he has, thats the point of the forum, sharing results and Ideas.
 
No worries!!!...I am flighty in terms of my knife choices, and will contiue to be untill I find the right ones..But I think Hawkings was pointing out that while I do vasilate frequently in my tool choices. that I am able to make them all work for me.. I think if anything it was complimentary, and humorous
 
RescueRiley said:
No worries!!!...I am flighty in terms of my knife choices, and will contiue to be untill I find the right ones..But I think Hawkings was pointing out that while I do vasilate frequently in my tool choices. that I am able to make them all work for me.. I think if anything it was complimentary, and humorous
Click to expand...

I agree.

Doc
 
Sometimes going off-topic for a while is not such a bad thing.
This is after all a discussion forum.
And sometimes the tangents are more interesting than the original topic and can themselves spawn new threads. Everything doesn't have to be linear.
At the very least it can help keep things interesting.

If all this was just about trading "data" we'd just post links to text and video.
I tend to think of these threads as conversations between enthusiasts that happen to take place at varying speeds and that can stretch out over an open-ended period of time!
:D
 
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