Tramontina Knives - a Review

[Jdee]

Firstly, Tramontina is one of the few Knife Manufacturers of butcher type knives to be up front about their steel and heat treatment. They say they use Krupp 1.4110 and Sandvik 12C27 Stainless Steels which on paper are not dissimilar. A lot of European manufacturers use these 2 steels and 12C27 in particular is used by Frosts of Sweden and Opinel. The US company Bark River have had good success with 12C27 with a special heat treatment and bringing out knives at 58hrc. Tramontina also say they heat treat their knives to 55-56hrc, which is about the norm for this type of knife, using an ice-hardening process or cryogenics.

I decided to test the Tramontina against 2 other popular brands of butcher knives they being: F-Dick; and Victorinox. I chose a 6" skinning knife for the test given that this is probably the most popular amongst hunters, farmers and home butchers. The first thing to note is that neither F-Dick or Victorinox are forthcoming about the steel or the heat treatment involved in their knives. The second is that both the European knives were highly polished whilst the Tramontina was satin finished. All 3 knives had plastic handles and were accredited to the NSF standard for hygiene and of the 3 I found the Tramontina most comfortable mainly as I have hands on the small side and the Tramontina handle was not as bulky as the others esp., the F-Dick. All knives appeared sharp out of the box with similar sized bevels. Prior to testing I did not sharpen the 3 blades but during the course of testing I gave each knife an equal number of strokes on a smooth steel after each individual test.

Rope (3/8" manila rope) - the Tramontina was the only knife to cleanly cut the rope the other 2 stopped half-way.

Leather (1/8" x 1" new vegetable tanned) - the F-Dick cut the cleanest followed by the V'nox and then the Tramontina.

Wood (1/2" hardwood dowel) - the F-Dick cut off the largest piece followed by the V'nox and then the Tramontina.

Carrots (new and crisp) - all knives easily sliced the carrot at the thick end and no difference was found.

Tomatos (very ripe) - the Tramontina performed the best here by easily cutting through the other 2 knives were hard to start but once through the skin they performed well.

Meat (stewing steak) - the Tramontina was just in front of the F-Dick and the V'nox appeared to be tiring. The Tramontina was the better performer in trimming off fat etc.

Cardboard (corrugated packing) - cutting with the grooves all 3 knives performed equally. Cutting against the grooves the Tramontina performed best.

Cardboard (manilla folders cut into 4" strips) - this was my edge retention test (remember these knives have not been sharpened). Using a pull stroke I kept slicing until the blade started to hesitate. Here the Tramontina was in front of the F-Dick and the V'nox was last.

From the above it appears that the Tramontina was the best performed and I put this down to the fact that the other 2 knives were highly polished and presumed that their edges were also polished whereas the Tramontina had an aggressive edge. It is a fact that an aggressive edge works better on some mediums EG rope than a polished edge but the latter will work better on push cuts EG wood than the former.

I then sharpened all 3 knives on a 2 x 36" belt sander using a used 240 grit slack belt. Each knife was sharpened at a 30 degree angle IE 15 degrees each side and then given 20 strokes on each side on the Spyderco Sharpmaker at 30 degrees using the white or fine rods. All 3 knives should have now been equal as far as sharpness and edge profile was concerned so I conducted the rope test again and the results were as follows:

Tramontina = 10 cuts; F-Dick = 9 cuts; V'nox = 7 cuts. From this you can assume that the Tramontina and the F-Dick had about equal edge retention and the V'nox the worst. Not knowing the steel and hardness of the F-Dick and the V'nox it is hard to make any firm analysis but certain assumptions can be made. The Tramontina and the F-Dick may have similar steel and/or similar hardness whereas the Victorinox had inferior steel and/or lesser hardness.

But when it comes to looking for a knife for working in the field it appears to me that you cant go past the Tramontina based on the above and based on the fact that it costs significantly less then the 2 European knives. I have based costs on wholesale prices as this negates the various markups that abound and the cost of a Tramontina 6" Skinner is approximately half the cost of the European Knives. Without extensive testing I could not recommend the Tramontina as a professional knife although I understand they are being used in some meatworks but for hunting or on the farm or for the home butcher they should be an excellent alternative to the higher cost European knives. They also perform well in the kitchen I bought an 8" straight butchers knife for meat only and a 7" flexible boner which has proven a worth alternative to your traditional ham slicer.

[Beer-Man]

Good review, I had always been put off buying Tramontina blades I thought low cost = low quality which I eventually found was not the case. When I was offsiding (roos) we used F-dick and tramontina straight edge stiff blade boners which I think are the same steel as the skinners, these held their edges well and were only touched up with a steel about twice a night. The good thing about the tramontinas is if you leave one on the ute and loose it you don't get all upset and waste time looking for it.

[ratel10mm]

Tramontina have always been under rated.

It's nice to see them getting a bit of recognition here.

[Apatari]

Good read Jdee. Thanks.

I got a set (plus wooden block) of them from Aldi on clearance.

Hard to beat for the price!!

[Stockman]

Exceptional knives for the price, they take a wicked edge with little effort, large range from filleting, butchering, skinning to traditional chefs. I do own better kitchen knives, but the Tramontinas can't be beat for value for money. Thanks Jdee for introducing them to me a few years ago.

[ronstevens]

I've done a forum search and haven't found anything that addresses the Tramontina Professional series.
I realize that a knife is a personal thing, and that these, made in China most likely would be inferior to a Wusthorf or German/Japanese knives.
I just want to upgrade my knives and don't know that I want to spend the green on the Wusthorf if I am unlikely to be able to tell the difference.
I do want something decent, forged not stamped, but I am not doing serious prep for a cast of thousands either.

I am now using a cheap, stamped carbon steel set purchased at TJ Maxx 100 years ago, which still take an edge but not for long.

Has anyone used the Tramontina Professional series knives? Thoughts? Opinions? Total dream object would be the Wusthorf.

Thanks for any input.

[warrigal]

G'day Ron and welcome. I don't know Tramontina kitchen series intimately but I have got a couple Machetes and one or two steak knives.
I know with Victorinox the Saks and baseline "home" kitchen knives were a separate line to the professional kitchen knives and done by different importers.
perhaps that is the same with Tramontina but I'll see if I can chase that up through work Might take a little while though.
In our kitchen I principally use a six inch Damasteel Scanpan chefs I have a 9 inch Santoku from them but the small chefs gets used a lot more.
A Work mate has a couple of the Scan pan non-Damasteel and hates it.
For a cheaper Drop forged set try the Mundial range very good value for money but make sure it is drop forged not the futura line that is a bit tinny for my liking. Best bread knife ever and also have a carving fork good, solid, forged.
Carl

[dmgm]

I have a set of Mundial kitchen knives also, and they are quite good. Mine have a full tang, which can be seen through the handle. The Futura series are attached to their handles by a pin, which changes the weight/balance. I think that may be what Warrigal means when he says they feel "tinny".

I've always associated full tang with quality, however I note the frost mora's aren't full tang, and they seem to have an excellent reputation, so perhaps it isn't that easy to judge. Especially after reading this thread

[warrigal]

Yeah but a Frost clipper is $20 12c27 and for that very hard to beat.
Love my Clippers.
Carl