This is small fixed blade from Tramontina. The knife is made by stock removal out of 0.063" thick steel (~1/16") with a full height flat grind down to a thin (0.016-0.018") and acute edge (16.1 +/- 0.5 degrees per side). The type of steel is unknown as is the hardness, it is fairly soft though as it files readily.
The edge is 15.1 centimeters long, with 1.9 centemeters unsharpen forming a choil, the overall blade length is 26.5 centimeters. The knife has a 5.5 centimeter long clip point, and is 3.2 centimeters at its widest at the start of the clip. It weighs 200 grams and is balanced 2 centimeters (just under an inch) behind the guard so it is quite handle heavy.
A shot of the blade in the sheath :
and drawn :
The handle is nicely contoured, though has several ergonomic issues. The guard is abrasive due to the knobs and the upper portion interfers with utility grips (for more detail see the handle section of review of the Green Beret : ref). Before any serious work was performed the upper guard was removed, the lower one was smoothed out, and the monkey head at the pommell was altered to improve ergonomics.
All work that follows was done with the modified knife :
A few quick tests done which allow a decent perspective to be gained on various aspects of performance.
As the blade was bought used, no comments can be made about its initial edge aside from a comment by the owner that it was "shaving sharp". All of the work done in the review was with a user honed edge.
With a high polish (0.5 micron CrO), the Tramontina push cut the 3/8" hemp with 25 +/-2 lbs through the tip of the blade. Pointing sections of hardwood dowel the Tramontina could form a one inch tip in 11.4 +/- 1.6 slices. While the cutting ability was high due to the thin and actue edge, it was very difficult to apply maximal force to the blade, as comfort was low when choking up on the blade to minimize the leverage disadvantage as the heel of the hand across the thin back of the blade which generated a very high pressure point, even with a thick rawhide glove the cutting became uncomfortable quickly.
With partial grip around the end of the handle, the Safari Skinner was compared to the Green Beret and found to have 24 +/- 2 % of the chopping ability on 1x4 inch lumber. Using the known performance of the Green Beret, the perforamance can be extrapolated to compare to the Wildlife hatchet from Gransfors Bruks, which gives 9 +/- 2 %.
With a 50 lbs push the Tramontina sank 159 +/- 6 pages into a phone book and with a hard vertical stab penetrated XXX pages. The point is far too slim to pry in woods it just flexes readily, and thus 2x4 digging was not attempted.
For perspective on the stock testing here is some info on the ability of the compared to the .
After the stock testing the blade was used in a variety of ways to get a feel for its scope of work, round out the stock testing profile and examine several aspects of long term use.
The large guard reduces performance in the kitchen, mainly in reducing ease of working on a cutting board, to make full cuts the food must be near the edge of the board which is at the edge of the counter or table, to allow the guard to drop down over the side. With that limitation dealt with the Tramontina works well, being light in hand with an efficient cutting profile. It is able to cut small potatoes with 5-6 lbs, half the required force of a thicker tactical knife like the Green Beret. Of course it is still well behind the ability of a simply optomized kitchen knife like the Japanese utility blade which cuts the same potato in only ~2 lbs.
The Tramontina is far too small and light to chop down even take down small trees, or limb out such sticks (1-3 inches) well. It does however cut light vegetation well, aside from the lack of reach, it mainly is optomized for wood carving. It has limitations due to the point style and thus is much more awkard than something like the Mora 2000.
The steel is soft sharpens readily even on simple abrasives, it can even be filed with ease. It can readily take a very high polish, push shaving sharp, as well as responds nicely to coarse finishes forming an aggressive slicing edge. The only downside is that the soft steel will form a floppy edge without care, so care needs to be taken when honing to use light pressure to set the final edge. Using ceramic rods and similar hones needs a delicate touch to prevent the edge from rolling.
As noted in the above, initially the handle had significant problems with ergonomics which were addressed with a few modifications. These greatly improved the comfort and security. For more information on the limitations of dual guards see the handle section of the Green Beret review.
The sheath is a simple design, it holds the knife securely, but is not rigid, and prone to be cut if the blade isn't sheathed with care. It comes with a belt loop which is just a narrow slit in the back.
The following are general comments on various aspects of blade design including geometry and materials. These are constructed after the above work, as well as having the blade out on loan to friends to see how it reacted to different levels of skill and physical ability.
The basic blade design could be altered in several ways to enhance functionality :
In addition there are other elements which are much more subject to user variability, such as the dual guard and preferences for security vs grip versatility.
Comments can sent via email : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or by post to the following thread on Bladeforums :
More information can be obtain at the Tramontina webpage.
Of interest, a review of a Tramontina bolo.
| Last updated : | Fri Jun 18 02:58:10 NDT 2004 |
| Originally written : | Fri Jun 18 02:58:45 NDT 2004 |