Tramontina Gaucho?

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xrangerx

Joined
Jul 31, 2012
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I saw one of these on the internet earlier today and had never seen or heard of them before. The one I saw had the sharpener with it. Anyone own/see/use one of these ever? Are they decent? I know I read a review somewhere that they cost 5-7 dollars?! Any advice or help is great!

Thanks!
 
Best I could ever find was $20 on the auction site for those. I was always intrigued by the gaucho/facon/criollo shape and this was the best option for a cheap version, but I never did get it. The steel is low-quality stainless as far as I know, probably what Tram uses in their kitchen knife block sets. I like that style of sheath very much still.
 
Tramontina makes some very good bang-for-your-buck knives and machetes. You're not gonna get a super high end tool, but I would be surprised if it didn't significantly outperform it's price.
 
I've been using the same Tramentina machete for over twenty years!
No experience with their knives, but I'm intrigued.
 
Tramontina uses 420 grade steel in all their current "sports" cutlery lineup.

I have a Tramontina bowie and, besides poor edge retention, I have had no problems with mine.

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Not to derail, but I love the ol' Benchmade CSK in your photo. If they ever brought it back without that whole BILT system thingy I'd be all over a plain edged one. The CSK II isn't nearly as nice in my opinion.

Regarding Tramontina I think I'd stick with their machetes personally.
 
Thanks 42b. I agree that the older one is better in every aspect, most notably the sheath. I also own the older CSK in PE, but frankly, I prefer the partially serrated one, since I use it at work. As much as everyone bashes serrated edges in bladeforums, I still prefer them in some of my knives. The false saw on the tramontina bowie pictured above, however, I would gladly go without.

Tramontina fixed blades are good for what they are: affordable, functional designs with cheap materials and good fit and finish. I can assure they are not gonna break on you at the first sign of hard use.

Tramontina folders, on the other end, are an entirely different beast. From my understanding, these are made from mistery steel, they actually get brought in from different factories in China, and go through quality control from Tramontina before being branded and marketed. I have talked extensively with a Tramontina sales executive, and he told me the rest of their line should not be judged by the quality of their folders. According to him, the decision to brand these import folding knives was a controversial one inside the company, and to this day some members of the board think it is a bad business move.
 
I'm not at all surprised. The same goes, in my opinion, for the few folders that Imacasa shows on their website. They're obviously Chinese outsourced and look to be of fairly abysmal quality. I can understand the desire to capture some of the pocket knife market but I'd rather see them hold off on it until they have the equipment and trained staff to make their own. I'd love to see a friction folder under the Condor name eventually when they're able to produce one well, and after proving the concept in the premium line they could move into a budget one for domestic consumption.

I'm no board member though. :o

I think that Tramontina could pull off some simple "peasant-class" folding knives no problem. Like along the same sort of classification as Opinels, Douk Douks, sod busters, etc. Something simple, rugged, easily produced, and inexpensive.
 
I have two different Tramontina Gaucho models. They are sort of like chef's knives, thin, full flat grind, very acute edges, but with more belly than a typical chef's knife. Both were less than $10 new. The more expensive one is larger, with a steel, and a leather sheath with hair. Handle/ferrule/pommel are fastened by screw onto the tang. The less expensive one has peened construction with cast fittings. Some digging around a few years back seemed to indicate the nicer one was made from a 4116 grade stainless, the lesser one from 420 grade.

Both are actually pretty good users, great kitchen prep knives. Lots of charachter, especially the lesser one. These used to be available very inexpensively for a long time, but I think they're simply not imported anymore. Possibly discontinued. Looks like they go for crazy prices these days.

Someone used to have a web page with these two models reviewed. I think it was longtime member Howard Wallace. Maybe he'll chime in.
 
discomonkey32 said:
Whatever floats your boat. But a 7 dollar knife will perform like a seven dollar knife :rolleyes:
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Oh really?

What about the hundreds of millions of people that go to work every day with their equivalent of a $3.00 machete?
Their tools will do everything from clear land, built a home, harvest the crops, butcher cattle and defend the homestead.

Skillset and knowledge combined with a $7.00 knife means more than some pasty pale suburbanite with a $700 knife.
 
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CWL said:
Oh really?

What about the hundreds of millions of people that go to work every day with their equivalent of a $3.00 machete?
Their tools will do everything from clear land, built a home, harvest the crops, butcher cattle and defend the homestead.

Skillset and knowledge combined with a $7.00 knife means more than some pasty pale suburbanite with a $700 knife.
Click to expand...

You know, I let it go, but I am glad you didn't let discomonkey's comment go.

I couldn't agree with you more. There is plenty of utility in knives that are dismissed because of their cost, with users incorrectly assuming that because it isn't a StriBenzaBuss it isn't a good knife. On the traditional sub forum of this site there have been some outstanding posts from folks across the world that use knives that were designed a century or three ago and are still great working designs today.

Some of these knives are as little as $15 cost in their own country. Even in the US, until just a couple of months ago you could buy a genuine CASE Sodbuster Jr. for $20 and it is made in the USA.

Something most folks here don't do is use their knives for hard work. They love them and take care of them, but they aren't a daily tool. You wouldn't use your StriBenzaBuss to open bags of heavily nitrated fertilizer, scrape mud off a tool, cut small wire, do light prying, or really heavy cutting of material that will hurt the blade such as cutting wet, filthy boom strapping when material is delivered to my jobsite.

Yet I do that all day long with a RAT1 ($20 when I bought it a few years ago) or a Queen soddie ($22 when I bought that one) and never think a thing about it.

A good tool matched to the job is an excellent tool for the job when priced right. It shows a definite lack of experience when folks think that you will get more tool simply by paying for it.

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
You know, I let it go, but I am glad you didn't let discomonkey's comment go.

I couldn't agree with you more. There is plenty of utility in knives that are dismissed because of their cost, with users incorrectly assuming that because it isn't a StriBenzaBuss it isn't a good knife. On the traditional sub forum of this site there have been some outstanding posts from folks across the world that use knives that were designed a century or three ago and are still great working designs today.

Some of these knives are as little as $15 cost in their own country. Even in the US, until just a couple of months ago you could buy a genuine CASE Sodbuster Jr. for $20 and it is made in the USA.

Something most folks here don't do is use their knives for hard work. They love them and take care of them, but they aren't a daily tool. You wouldn't use your StriBenzaBuss to open bags of heavily nitrated fertilizer, scrape mud off a tool, cut small wire, do light prying, or really heavy cutting of material that will hurt the blade such as cutting wet, filthy boom strapping when material is delivered to my jobsite.

Yet I do that all day long with a RAT1 ($20 when I bought it a few years ago) or a Queen soddie ($22 when I bought that one) and never think a thing about it.

A good tool matched to the job is an excellent tool for the job when priced right. It shows a definite lack of experience when folks think that you will get more tool simply by paying for it.

Robert
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Another good example are the Green River knives. Made in USA, notably inexpensive, but VERY high quality.
 
Pretty much the ones I own. The smaller has "Gaucho" etched on the blade in big, goofy letters, with a graphic. The larger one isn't etched.
 
Valle said:
Tramontina folders, on the other end, are an entirely different beast. From my understanding, these are made from mistery steel, they actually get brought in from different factories in China, and go through quality control from Tramontina before being branded and marketed. I have talked extensively with a Tramontina sales executive, and he told me the rest of their line should not be judged by the quality of their folders. According to him, the decision to brand these import folding knives was a controversial one inside the company, and to this day some members of the board think it is a bad business move.
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I was wondering that myself, i have several Tramontina folders i bought believing were brazilian made, maybe because the package had "Made in Brazil", but after the rubber lining of one the folder's handle came off revealing a chinese symbol printed in the aluminum, i don't know what to think anymore. But i believe the older designs are still made in Brazil like the slipjoints that are around since the 80's. I also collect fixed blades, and the most part are tramontinas (not many options here), and i think they have good quality.
 
Wolf_1989 said:
Another good example are the Green River knives. Made in USA, notably inexpensive, but VERY high quality.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I heard about those as they say "on another forum" (actually, harmless enough, it was a BBQ forum!) and guys had bought the kitchen patterned blade blanks and put the handles on themselves.

They were quite pleased with the knife blades and their quality. The price just made it better.

Robert
 
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