Batoning large pieces of wood is not necessary...

I baton once a week with my NMFBM. I do it for the exercise and to relieve stress. The wood then goes into my fireplace.
 
R.A.T. said:
We always stood wet wood up around the fire.
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Would'a loved to had the luxury of doing that the one day I was out in the woods with some friends. It'd rained for about a week straight. Took forever to get anything to take a flame. Finally got a piece that took it... later that night while we were packing up I found out that the piece of wood we finally got burning was the walking stick I hiked in with. It served us well that night. Two lessons from that. 1) Make sure you know what you're processing for firewood. 2) Sometimes you have to go to great lengths to get something that will burn.

God bless,
Adam
 
Had no idea what batoning was before I got on this forum.
Took me a while to get used to the "concept"- mainly answering the question "why?"
I was almost there, but now you are telling me is not necessary?:eek:



Not necessary............but too much fun to give it up :thumbup:
 
I find it occasionally needed up here, but mostly in wet conditions or frozen conditions. For the most part, though, it's exactly as you describe. And even then you usually don't need to baton anything thicker than your arm.
 
I think it's a worthwhile thing to know. Yeah, you may not always need to do it. But there are occasions when I think it's a good idea. If you need a big roaring fire, split wood burns better!
 
I'm glad it came from Jeff...I thought I would start a huge S&&T storm a few weeks ago when I posted that it was not that important, but has became so HUUUUUUGE on the knife forums...

It IS an acid test of a knife's strength and I DO pay attention to SOME of the tests, but have NEVER done it in 25 years of wilderness backpacking and hiking.

But some "forum geeks" talk about it like you cannot buy a woods knife that "BuTTerNuTTs on You Tube" said wasn't good for batoning in "his" tests...
:jerkit:

It is proof that some people have WAAAY more keyboard time than woods time. :cool:
 
I remember this winter I decided to go out back and try fire while everything was all wet, and was told that I would have to baton into a large piece of wood to get to the dry stuff.

So, what's the deal there? Can you split wood that would be about that size against a tree?
 
R.A.T. said:
:rolleyes: Point is, anyone that batons large stuff to build fires is most likley bored and just enjoys doing it, because it is absolutley not necessary!
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Not entirely true. My RC5 told me that if I do not beat on it at least once a week it will beat on me.:eek: So you see my delima. :p

No way in hell I will hurt my RC5 but I agree completely.
 
KennyB said:
I remember this winter I decided to go out back and try fire while everything was all wet, and was told that I would have to baton into a large piece of wood to get to the dry stuff.

So, what's the deal there? Can you split wood that would be about that size against a tree?
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Well actually I keep looking until I find the right pieces of smaller wood I can break, strip and/or whittle away to the dry wood inside. Like as was posted earlier, larger pieces can dry around or over your intial fire. It ain't rocket science, and the original posting referred to the Southeastern U.S.
 
Good stuff, Jeff.

But now that you mention it, I am kinda bored . . . so I think I'll grab my 6 and baton something. . . .
 
I understand the original post, and agree with it to an extent, but have to say:

There are times and places where batoning is the best thing since sliced bread. Not necessarily for starting a fire, but keeping one going. A full round in a small fire may not ever burn, but batoning allows me to choose what size of fire I want to make, and how long I want it to last. It allows me to be much more flexible about what kind of wood I can use, and thus can save a considerable amount of time in searching for it.

Sure, batoning isn't always necessary, just like a poncho isn't, or a snow shovel, or a flashlight, or a firearm. When you need them though, there really aren't any efficient substitutes.
 
You have a point anycal...the problem is that the majority of users on these forums batton knives through wood all the time...you see thier knives and they are worn extensively in a pattern only cause by battoning through somthing...CHOPPING is a necisary evil in the wilderness...battoning isnt...but hey, if you want to beat your knife through an object....go ahead...ive done it, jeff has done it, everyone has done it, but with a little more common sense, none of us have to in a normal circumstance.

i have battoned my 5 through some timber in its time, but thats the only one ive ever had to beat with a stick to get done what i needed done..but on a side note, the 5 can take it....:o

nice pics Jeff!

-G1
 
Good topic!
I have made fires for over 30 years and can easily get a fire started in wet conditions and never even knew about batoning until recently. The only thing I usually had on me was a SAK. Now I am walking around with my RC5 or FBM and enjoy batoning and chopping to make a fire.. hmmm.. it surely must be more the fun factor than a real need for me to baton. Surely it has its place in certain conditions but I don't see the NEED of batoning through anything thicker than my wrist.. once a small fire is going any wood on it will burn even if it is still a bit wet.. and as others have mentioned just putting it around the fire to dry up a bit helps massively.
Maybe it is needed if it is not only wet outside but pouring down heavily.. ok, fair enough. And it surely is a good idea to train this from time to time in a non survival situation. But on a sunny day, when I usually go hiking.. well.. just collecting fire wood from the ground is surely not as much fun but it is efficient and better for the woods..

So rationally I know it is not needed.. But why the hell can I not stop batoning and chopping!?!?! Am I addicted??
 
Hmm.. reading it again.. it seems the same like speeding with the car.. Surely never really needed, but am still doing it from time to time..
 
I don't baton wood because Im bored. It's just an excuse to use my esee on something. Give me any reason to pull out my esee, in fact Im just looking for a reason to use my esee on something...That's probably why I butter my toast and cut birthday cake with it.
 
I wish I could just pick up dead wood off the ground to start a fire here in BC!

It rains for weeks at a time here. Heavy coastal rain coming in off the ocean in huge endless clouds. Most of our forests are softwood, so even standing dead trees act like a sponge because the wood is not dense enough for water to bead off. It soaks in instead. You have to get inside a log a good 2 or 3 inches to find dry firewood. Wood out here is seriously saturated in water.

In that situation, batoning is extremely useful. However, I only ever baton kindling sized sticks. Making little pencil sized pieces is real easy with a knife.

Anything larger gets split with my axe. I'm big on carrying the right tool for the right job.

Saying "batoning is not necessary" is technically true (assuming you have something else to split your wood with), but to me saying that shows a lack of experience in wet environments (and I'm not talking about an afternoon drizzle). It's an extremely valuable skill to know.
 
Any Cal. said:
I understand the original post, and agree with it to an extent, but have to say:

There are times and places where batoning is the best thing since sliced bread. Not necessarily for starting a fire, but keeping one going. A full round in a small fire may not ever burn, but batoning allows me to choose what size of fire I want to make, and how long I want it to last. It allows me to be much more flexible about what kind of wood I can use, and thus can save a considerable amount of time in searching for it.

Sure, batoning isn't always necessary, just like a poncho isn't, or a snow shovel, or a flashlight, or a firearm. When you need them though, there really aren't any efficient substitutes.
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I see your point also. It's not true for everyone everyplace, but the thing is everywhere around here you find all the sizes and thicknesses of wood you need, sometimes at arm's reach while you are sitting on your butt. Even standing dead timber :D

Learn batoning, yeah, one day you may need it...most of the time you don't and in a bad situation it could be just waisting energy. I think the last time I used batoning was at a girlfriend's house in 2009. Needed smaller logs and kindling for the fireplace, so I got my 5 out of the truck and split a huge piece of red oak because that was about all she had available to burn. Now that was an emergency situation. ;)
 
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