All this military memorabilia reminds me of a favorite bit of trivia. Napoleon (An army marches on its stomach) Bonaparte sponsored a contest for a new way of preserving foods in quantity. He needed a way to feed the huge modern armies of his day. This lead to the development of canning, which became widespread on both sides of the English channel around 1810.

The fun part is that the can opener was not invented for another thirty years. Soldiers were expected to open their metal canisters of food with their bayonets.

MAN! I really like that SH-e.

Hi Andy,

The Camp Tramp looks great. It looks like an 8" blade and the handle material looks like it is the same as SY knives....so is this one a Rat or a SY? If it is a Rat, what type of material do they use?

Mac,if I suggested this the first question I would be asked is "let's have a look at one"? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/doh.gif" alt="" />

Unsub, you certainly seem to know your FS history. This knife also got me started on this "bug"....my first knife was a black FS made by Nowell and distributed through Whitby...must have got it 30 years ago...1977 I think..
I still have it. I have been told the Mark I and some of the II's were made by the George Wostenholme Company in Sheffield. They had the best knifesmiths and were/are the premier knife maker in the City. They made the Bowie knife for Jim Bowie's brother when he commissioned it and have been making knives long before Marples began in the United States. The history of the knife you have would be worth looking into. The marks on the base of the handle at the hilt tell you who made it and who for. They seem to be similar to a "hall mark" and depending on who made it the value can increase dramatically. Wostenholme still make knives in Sheffield....they must have been going for some time now.

Implume, interesting fact about the cans. I reckon the Artillery guys must have struggled then.....LOL....one or two hungry faces there I bet not having a bayonet! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> The Cavalry boys probably had their servants do it for them rather than damage their swords! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Somethings have'nt changed much....

The Camp Tramp is a Swamp Rat knive, SR101 steel. I think it is a 7" blade, maybe 7.5".

Thanks Shaolin.Do they do this with a Satin finish? On some of the Rat knives I see they have a slab grips but this looks to be an all wrap around grip with a hidden tang? Is that right?

Unfortunely am at work and do not have access to the website where I can look up some info. Off the top of my head, I've only seen pics of CG CTs, the CTs I believe, again off the top of my head, use Resprine-C like the Scrap Yard Knives. My Swamp Rat knives have micarta handles.

The original line of Swamp Rats had coated blades and hidden tang Resperine-C handles. That includes the Battle Rat and the Camp Tramp. The tangs aren’t skinny rat-tailed things. They are designed to be wide enough that you can still use them—though not very comfortably—even if the Res-C has somehow been stripped off.

SF, the yard hook/hookguard is perfect for you.
Its an excellent chopper/cutter/and fighter.
Its the perfect size.

The CT is SR101 which is more commonly known as 52100 a good ball bearing steel with no chromium. The impressive part of the Busse heat treat with the CT is getting an excellent hard good edge holding steel tough as well.

How they do that with the M6 and larger Swamprats is differential tempering where they leave the back soft and only harden the edge.
That is a very difficult proccess on a industrial scale and one that no other company is doing. Even just working with 52100 is very difficult as Spyderco ,a company who knows knife manufacture ,found out while trying some out on a limited run of (test Mules). They were going to make a bushcraft blade from it but changed to O1 after the Mule.

S7 is the opposite. It was a "shock steel" which is used for jack hammer bits and the impressive thing about the Busse heat treat is getting it hard enough to hold an edge. I thought it might be to soft before I got my first S7 knives but it turned out they had good edge holding although not quite what the Rats or Infi had. S7 was at least as tough as INFI and even tougher than SR101 though which makes it perfect for big knives like the DF's and Yard Guards.

It's also the reason the new Muppy is CPM154 ,because a small knife needs edge holding more than it needs toughness unless of course your HornDog <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hi Unsub,

Thanks for the explanation of the different steels in the Busse Kin knives. I was interested to see that Spyderco were reverting to 01 steel for a bushcraft knife. Bushcraft knives are perhaps the most up and coming of knives which you now see on belt kit over here as a personal knife and it is not hard to see why...the size and shape lend themselves very well to fighting/general use.

I have tried these and can say I am impressed at the comfort and ease of sharpening on a Scandi grind .....here are mine....



This is the "original" Ray Mears/Alan Wood Bushcrafter...made from 01 Tool Steel with a great heat treat



This one is by Mick Wardell and is a Damascus 01 blend which has an even better edge holding ability and is slightly smaller but both are basically 4 inch blades.

The Scandi grind makes sharpening easy compared to a Convex edge on a straight grind but these are the ultimate edges for longevity and strength. I have some knives with convex edges on truly super steels and the cutting power of these is amazing. The first is a Fallknaven Idun on Cowry X steel.


This is a beautifully balanced knife at 4 inches although I have not used it and keep it perfect incase I might need to sell it. I have another Cowry X knife which I do use.....both are done by Hattori in Japan...he is contracted for the Idun and does these knives himself... and this one I sanded and modified the stag handle for a comfortable grip. Here it is

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Both knives have hidden tangs but both are as you would expect very sturdy.

Japan seems to be the home for convex edges and knives which eptimise the "poetry of steel". Here are my best two knives made by a custom maker Mr Itou...they have convex edges and the steel is R2 Damascus. All these blades are hand forged and ground by masters who have a lifetime of skill under their belts. I thought the Hattori knives would be unbeatable until I saw this man's work and the edge holding is "crazy sharp".



This is a 5 inch drop point done in R2 Steel and Big Horn Sheep handles,red liner and silver nickel guard with a tapered tang for balance and shock strength. It has a bigger brother with exactly the same specifications but this is a 6.5inch SOG Bowie style blade and is perhaps my favouite knife.




This last knife if it were done with green micarta handles and no silver bolsters or guard would make for one hell of a webbing knife.....but some things are often too nice to rough up.....although I am a firm beleiver in using knives so that the pleasure of the workmanship and steel choice and edge geometry can be appreciated. The Hattori stag handle which I do use has made me realise just why these knives are conceived. They do really give you better performance.

Got to go now and hope you enjoy the pics.

Beautiful knives SF. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

SF, those are all beautiful knives. Are those all yours? It seems that soldier's pay has much improved since I wore the OD green! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I can remember how angry some of my family members were with me for buying a Gerber Mark II for $40. That was the equivalent of about $120 in today's funny money.