- Joined
- Feb 24, 2009
- Messages
- 517
Today was beautiful, sunny, and in the low 20's in the coastal hills where I live in Northern California. There was no kindling left to start the day's fire, so it was a good excuse to evaluate some of the tools at hand I've been thinking about. I started with a round of live oak I sawed out of a dead tree this spring. Live oak turned out to be a good wood to test some theories and presumptions I had. This is tough, hellishly fibrous wood with swirling grain.
Tools:
Gransfors small forest axe
Dozier Professional guides knife -D2 -hollow grind
Siegle SAR 4 -differential 5160- saber grind
Let me start at the beginning. I use a large Gransfors splitting axe to break down rounds usually, and I love this axe but it isn't really packable. I've also been using an HI kuk for the last few years to process kindling. on dry straight grain stuff, the kuk can chop em down like a kitchen knife. Its that fast when you get the hang of it. Its also heavier than my small forest axe. Might be another tool thats too heavy for a long trip.
I thought for longer outings when I'd really need to process wood I'd take my proven silky saw, the small forest axe and a light woodcrafting blade, not necessarily even full tang.
The Dozier and the Siegle were on my list for one knife situations.
Because this wood was already broken into quarters, I thought the small forest axe could break it down into small pieces that I could then baton into smaller stuff. The Dozier rides in my BOB usually, its very light in the hand at 1/8" (compared to the Siegle at 3/16") and has the length advantage. The Siegle is way stouter.
I had it wrong. The small forest axe just bounced off of the larger wood pieces. I used the Mears technique of bringing the axe and wood down together on a stump. I've practiced with other woods like madrone but this time was a total fail. I resorted to breaking the quarters down by batoning 1/2" flakes off of the pieces, and quickly used the Mears technique to break the 1/2" pieces down further. In other words, I guess I could have batoned all the way down but the axe was faster. The axe would have worked better processing small branches but for this task the knife was essential because of the control. I could measure the 1/2" and send it. Its pretty hard to do that with an axe.
As for how the knives performed it was a trade off. The Dozier had more reach (hence more area to baton) but I was reluctant to push its limits through twisting grain and pulled it a few times. This knife would be better for processing meat and slicing tasks though. The Siegle was shorter but I was surprised how burly it was, the wedge profile worked great for batoning and I never worried about breakage, it tore through. This knife can be used to pry without a doubt, and smash with its extended tang. Both steels performed extremely well, they both got a little strop love at the end though. yes, the D2 can take a nice stropping.
I have to say if it came down to it, I'd need to carry another small knife for tasking with the Siegle, not a problem. but If my life depended on the knife I think I'd go with the Siegle, its going in the BOB. Why? because I don't carry an axe in the BOB. I guess the moral of the story is that batoning is a very important part of wood processing with certain unpredictable woods, and a 4"+ knife is essentially the smallest size you want to break down some decent size wood. I'd feel fine with just the Siegle in the woods with a nice saw and a very small utility knife or necker. The Kuk would be even better, it batons great as well, but this post is about efficiency. I need to try out the small forest axe on some other woods, I suspect it would do just fine.
In the woods, you never know what "woods" you might have to work with. Something like fir or pine would be easier to work with, but I know if I put a chunk of oak on my fire at night theres a much better chance I'll have coals in the morning, and a more efficient fuel source. So I guess I figured out the obvious today, its the capability of your tools that gives you options.
Many thanks for this forum and all of the great info and entertaining reads. Hope everybody enjoys their chopping and burning this winter.
Tools:
Gransfors small forest axe
Dozier Professional guides knife -D2 -hollow grind
Siegle SAR 4 -differential 5160- saber grind
Let me start at the beginning. I use a large Gransfors splitting axe to break down rounds usually, and I love this axe but it isn't really packable. I've also been using an HI kuk for the last few years to process kindling. on dry straight grain stuff, the kuk can chop em down like a kitchen knife. Its that fast when you get the hang of it. Its also heavier than my small forest axe. Might be another tool thats too heavy for a long trip.
I thought for longer outings when I'd really need to process wood I'd take my proven silky saw, the small forest axe and a light woodcrafting blade, not necessarily even full tang.
The Dozier and the Siegle were on my list for one knife situations.
Because this wood was already broken into quarters, I thought the small forest axe could break it down into small pieces that I could then baton into smaller stuff. The Dozier rides in my BOB usually, its very light in the hand at 1/8" (compared to the Siegle at 3/16") and has the length advantage. The Siegle is way stouter.
I had it wrong. The small forest axe just bounced off of the larger wood pieces. I used the Mears technique of bringing the axe and wood down together on a stump. I've practiced with other woods like madrone but this time was a total fail. I resorted to breaking the quarters down by batoning 1/2" flakes off of the pieces, and quickly used the Mears technique to break the 1/2" pieces down further. In other words, I guess I could have batoned all the way down but the axe was faster. The axe would have worked better processing small branches but for this task the knife was essential because of the control. I could measure the 1/2" and send it. Its pretty hard to do that with an axe.
As for how the knives performed it was a trade off. The Dozier had more reach (hence more area to baton) but I was reluctant to push its limits through twisting grain and pulled it a few times. This knife would be better for processing meat and slicing tasks though. The Siegle was shorter but I was surprised how burly it was, the wedge profile worked great for batoning and I never worried about breakage, it tore through. This knife can be used to pry without a doubt, and smash with its extended tang. Both steels performed extremely well, they both got a little strop love at the end though. yes, the D2 can take a nice stropping.
I have to say if it came down to it, I'd need to carry another small knife for tasking with the Siegle, not a problem. but If my life depended on the knife I think I'd go with the Siegle, its going in the BOB. Why? because I don't carry an axe in the BOB. I guess the moral of the story is that batoning is a very important part of wood processing with certain unpredictable woods, and a 4"+ knife is essentially the smallest size you want to break down some decent size wood. I'd feel fine with just the Siegle in the woods with a nice saw and a very small utility knife or necker. The Kuk would be even better, it batons great as well, but this post is about efficiency. I need to try out the small forest axe on some other woods, I suspect it would do just fine.
In the woods, you never know what "woods" you might have to work with. Something like fir or pine would be easier to work with, but I know if I put a chunk of oak on my fire at night theres a much better chance I'll have coals in the morning, and a more efficient fuel source. So I guess I figured out the obvious today, its the capability of your tools that gives you options.
Many thanks for this forum and all of the great info and entertaining reads. Hope everybody enjoys their chopping and burning this winter.
