By Nick Italiano
Knives by Nuge makes a wide variety of outdoor and culinary knives, but one truly bridges that gap and does both, very well! The Camptoku is a hybrid knife that is just as at home in your kitchen as it is at a base camp.
DESIGN
The design of the Camptoku is an interesting blend of a Nessmuk style knife and a traditional Japanese Santoku cooking knife. There is a lot of attention to deatil in this particular design. The blade grind is thin towards the tip to cut and chop through food, while it is thicker towards the heel of the blade so that it can aid in processing wood. The spine is a sharp 90 degrees allowing for scraping tasks and even fero rod striking but the area closest to the handle is rounded for user comfort.
SPECS
The Camptoku features a 5.5 inch blade and has an overall length of about 10 inches. The Camptoku we have weighs in at 6.35 ounces, but keep in mind weight will vary based on handle material. It uses stainless Nitro-V Steel which offers good edge retention and toughness, and is plenty resistant to staining from cutting acidic food items. The Camptoku comes standard with a Kydex sheath allowing for storage and transport.
FIT, FINISH, AND ERGONOMICS
As I have come to expect with all Nuge Knives, the Camptoku is exceptionally well made and as mentioned above there is an incredible attention to detail. The grind is even and the knife came super sharp. The Acrylic handle scales are very clean and even.
Thanks to a full sized handle, the Camptoku is very comfortable has no noticeable hot spots. Through regular use I noticed no unusual hand fatigue. The grip is very good even with the Acrylic handles and I have no concerns about losing my grip during use.
PERFORMANCE
Now for the good stuff, performance! In the kitchen the Camptoku outshines just about every kitchen knife I own. The sharp blade makes short work out of vegetables and meat alike. It is an absolute joy to use when doing some fine chopping of carrots, onions, garlic and the like. It went through many apples with ease. It also did a fine job cutting through pork roasts and whole chickens. Despite the large size of the blade doing fine chopping was a breeze using the front of the blade.
I’ve done some limited outdoor testing on our Camptoku but it did a fine job during normal wood processing tasks, such as scraping, shaving, and breaking down some kindling. Due to the Acrylic handles I didn’t do much batoning with it (and my wife would kill me if I messed up her favorite knife) but it handled some light batoning like a champion. Being it handled vegetables so well, this is definetly an ideal choice for processing foraged plants and fungi!
CONCLUSION
If you want a outdoor knife that is specifically designed to help you cook and process your wood to get your fire going, this is definetly the knife for you. While it’s a little on the large side and isn’t an ideal belt knife, this will be a great addition to any camp cooking kit, or even performing double duty in your regular kitchen.
The Camptoku is currently only offered as a custom knife, meaning you’ll have to order one and have it made for you. The advantage to this of course is you’ll have your choice of handle materials and you can truly have something that matches your individual tastes.
The base price of the Camptoku is $350 USD and can vary a bit based on handle material choices. To order one check out the Knives by Nuge Website.
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