About S35VN......

A

AᵇᵇᵃᵈᵒN

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Aug 27, 2022
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5
Hello! Im a new member and I have a few questions....

A few weeks ago I brought the fantastic (atleast for me) Cold Steel Code 4 Tanto. Now I have a great challenge for this knife at hand.....IT'S ABOUT CAMPING! dont get me wrong but very often when I went camping with my friends.....one of the pocket knives we had with us had to bite the dust, a honorable mentions to my friends (he is the guy who literally abuses his knives, mostly with the excuse "thats only 30€") Aubey VG-10 damascus steel laminated knife, it has held up extremely well and even survived a few hours in the campfire (dont ask me how it happened, I cant really explain it, but I found it when I put new wood on the fire)

Since we only take tents with us we have to make fire by ourselves. This will mean my new baby will have to withstand wood batoning, is S35VN suitable for this? (It wont be anything too carzy maybe 3-4cm in diameter at best)

Now don't think that I am the knife abuser, I am more one who uses his knives properly but then also treats them like a baby afterwards. I would be very grateful about any answers.
 
Don't baton with a folder, and avoid using a decent edge retention stainless like S35VN for it too.

Don't put a knife in a fire. No knife will come out fully unscathed, you're going to warp things or mess with heat treats.

Don't throw folders. Maybe if they're literal trash, otherwise don't throw them. Obviously this doesn't apply to someone wilfully trying to destroy their knife. Everyone else has no business throwing a folder.

Don't let your monkey friends handle your real knife. Let them play with their two dollar toys they found God knows where.

Your knife is great but it isn't made for chopping and it isn't made for batoning. Bring a Mora or something if there's a legitimate use for a wood processing knife and you're camping with monkeys.
 
dont go with s45vn as your main camping knife and never baton a folder. get a mora or other carbon fixed blade and impress your crazy friend by using it to make a fire with a ferro rod.
 
Theres a lot to unpack here, but I'm going to echo the sentiment of the above posters.

Don't baton with a folder, or ideally with any knife. Knives aren't generally made to tolerate the stresses of being hammered through wood, nor are they anywhere near as good at doing so as a basic hatchet. A Code 4 with relatively brittle, high carbide content stainless steel is definitely not meant for wood processing tasks like that. Get a hatchet, Silky saw, and/or a Mora knife if you need to process wood. You can get all three for the cost of your Code 4 and all of them will do wood processing way better.

Putting a knife into a fire is going to blow the heat treatment of the knife and permanently ruin it. I'd advise against doing that.

Don't lend knives to people like your friends if you want the knives to remain functional.
 
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pholder said:
Would you please elaborate on not going with S45vn?
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sure. s45vn is a very hard steel. softer steels are easier to sharpen and can be sharpened with a wider variety of tools and natural objects. while camping/ hiking most people like to travel light and eliminate unnecessary items. it is smart to carry a stone that can sharpen your folder and your fixed blade (or cooking knife) and your hatchet. so sure, you could just bring along a set of diamond stones, but its going to suck when you lose them out in the middle of nowhere. I carry a 1" x 3" 2 sided stone that i bought for $.99 at the asian market, while in the woods. also s45vn is (near) stainless steel, so you may be able to use a ferro rod, but will never be able to use chert or flint in a survival situation. A carbon blade will strike a spark. The knife I carry and use every day is s45vn, so its nothing against the steel.
 
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BennyBlade said:
sure. s45vn is a very hard steel. softer steels are easier to sharpen and can be sharpened with a wider variety of tools and natural objects. while camping/ hiking most people like to travel light and eliminate unnecessary items. it is smart to carry a stone that can sharpen your folder and your fixed blade (or cooking knife) and your hatchet. so sure, you could just bring along a set of diamond stones, but its going to suck when you lose them out in the middle of nowhere. I carry a 1" x 3" 2 sided stone that i bought for $.99 at the asian market, while in the woods. also s45vn is (near) stainless steel, so you may be able to use a ferro rod, but will never be able to use chert or flint in a survival situation. A carbon blade will strike a spark. The knife I carry and use every day is s45vn, so its nothing against the steel.
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This is a classic question. Do you go with something that doesn't hold an edge that long but can be easily sharpened, or something that holds an edge for a long time but is more challenging to sharpen or requires special stuff to sharpen? It depends on your needs, what you do, where you are going, how long you will be there, etc.

Speaking of doing, the important stuff has probably been said. One thing to note is that I've been able to spark just fine with stainless steels so long as I have a crisp spine or other spot to run off the rod. Honestly though, I feel like starting fires this way is more about the joy of doing it that way. I do it that way sometimes but usually, a lighter is just more convenient. A lighter is already part of my EDC. Even a cheap disposable Bic can be very effective and fairly reliable.

I also don't care about batoning. I get the idea of "just a knife", in which case it should be an appropriate fixed blade. I'm more inclined to just bring an axe or hatchet but that's the kind of camping I do. Your needs depend on you and your trip.
 
Thanks for all the replies! I think I should take the Sr1lite with me, considering the thick and durable softer steel blade.

You guys really put a stone from me Im very grateful for the entertaining answers and yes, my friends especially one of them can be called a monkey.

Again so many thanks for the answers
 
BennyBlade said:
sure. s45vn is a very hard steel. softer steels are easier to sharpen and can be sharpened with a wider variety of tools and natural objects. while camping/ hiking most people like to travel light and eliminate unnecessary items. it is smart to carry a stone that can sharpen your folder and your fixed blade (or cooking knife) and your hatchet. so sure, you could just bring along a set of diamond stones, but its going to suck when you lose them out in the middle of nowhere. I carry a 1" x 3" 2 sided stone that i bought for $.99 at the asian market, while in the woods. also s45vn is (near) stainless steel, so you may be able to use a ferro rod, but will never be able to use chert or flint in a survival situation. A carbon blade will strike a spark. The knife I carry and use every day is s45vn, so its nothing against the steel.
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Thank you
 
I don't understand the need to baton wood. If it wasn't for You Tube or Web Forums I wouldn't even know what that word means. I've been camping for over 50 years all around the U.S. and have never had the need to do so. I just gather up wood and break it into pieces to burn. If it's too big to break I burn it in half. I have axes and saws but rarely use them when camping. Maybe batoning wood is fun to do but it certainly is not necessary.
 
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the correct knife for this (imho) is a mora companion... you can pick one up for under $15, it's a fixed blade & very tough ... abuse it as much as you want

or watch a few 'destruction testing' vids on youtube for mora, you'll see they can take a silly amount of abuse without failing
 
Sibyrnes said:
I don't understand the need to baton wood. If it wasn't for You Tube or Web Forums I wouldn't even know what that word means. I've been camping for over 50 years all around the U.S. and have never had the need to do so. I just gather up wood and break it into pieces to burn. If it's too big to break I burn it in half. I have axes and saws but rarely use them when camping. Maybe batoning wood is fun to do but it certainly is not necessary.
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Same here. But I bring my Becker Extreme in case I ever do.
 
Sibyrnes said:
I don't understand the need to baton wood. If it wasn't for You Tube or Web Forums I wouldn't even know what that word means. I've been camping for over 50 years all around the U.S. and have never had the need to do so. I just gather up wood and break it into pieces to burn. If it's too big to break I burn it in half. I have axes and saws but rarely use them when camping. Maybe batoning wood is fun to do but it certainly is not necessary.
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I learned how to baton wood 30 years ago in Boy Scouts. It does have some useful applications.
 
I will be motorcycle camping in the Nat forest tomorrow night and I’ll have my White River Ursus 45 with me. It will require some sort of serious emergency for me be to start hammering on it!
 
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