In advance:
Don't baton with a folding knife. It's not covered by warranty and is likely to result in malfunction and / or injury. If the Dozier broke, I assume no warranty coverage and just have some spare parts.
Okay, I wanted to see if I could make do with the standard $20 Dozier folder (the exact model is 4062) if I needed to split wood. It's linerless, just FRN handles, so I was curious to see how it would hold up. A few words on how I did what I did...
-The wood was dry and anywhere from 1/2" to 2-1/2" in diameter. Enough blade was exposed to be batoned through. Most of the wood was pine, but there was some oak in there. I avoided knots.
-The baton was just another piece of wood, oak this time. I didn't try to kill the wood; a few medium taps does enough.
-The knife was NOT locked open. This ensures lock failure. So, I started the blade in to where it wouldn't get out of the wood, then unlocked it. The handle was folded down (about 90 degrees) and batoning went as normal. As the tip was hammered through, the handle was pulled down. Doing it this way puts all of the pressure on the pivot pin (and the FRN handles) and none on the locking mechanism (since it's not locked).
So, how did it do? It did really well. The edge didn't chip or roll, but it did dull a bit. I started with an edge that would slice paper, and it was brought back in about two minutes on a smooth ceramic stick and strop. There was no failure in the FRN; no chips, cracks, or anything. There was no change in lock-up except that the pivot screw had loosened up, and this was remedied with a Torx driver. All in all, the Dozier did quite well. I don't advise doing this a lot. I split enough wood for one large 30-minute fire using only the Dozier and my oak baton. It's nice to know that the knife can do this chore, but I'm not going to make a habit of it.
UPDATE: Upon close examination, the pivot bolt spins freely now. For those who don't know, the pivot bolt is a D-shaped bolt and the flat part fits into a flat in the FRN handle. The bolt itself is fine, but the flat in the handle is rounded out now. This causes the bolt to spin freely instead of stopping. I simply used a pair of pliers to hold the bolt still while I tightened the Torx screw that goes into the bolt. Not a major problem, and easily fixed, but something to note. Buy a Dozier.
Don't baton with a folding knife. It's not covered by warranty and is likely to result in malfunction and / or injury. If the Dozier broke, I assume no warranty coverage and just have some spare parts.
Okay, I wanted to see if I could make do with the standard $20 Dozier folder (the exact model is 4062) if I needed to split wood. It's linerless, just FRN handles, so I was curious to see how it would hold up. A few words on how I did what I did...
-The wood was dry and anywhere from 1/2" to 2-1/2" in diameter. Enough blade was exposed to be batoned through. Most of the wood was pine, but there was some oak in there. I avoided knots.
-The baton was just another piece of wood, oak this time. I didn't try to kill the wood; a few medium taps does enough.
-The knife was NOT locked open. This ensures lock failure. So, I started the blade in to where it wouldn't get out of the wood, then unlocked it. The handle was folded down (about 90 degrees) and batoning went as normal. As the tip was hammered through, the handle was pulled down. Doing it this way puts all of the pressure on the pivot pin (and the FRN handles) and none on the locking mechanism (since it's not locked).
So, how did it do? It did really well. The edge didn't chip or roll, but it did dull a bit. I started with an edge that would slice paper, and it was brought back in about two minutes on a smooth ceramic stick and strop. There was no failure in the FRN; no chips, cracks, or anything. There was no change in lock-up except that the pivot screw had loosened up, and this was remedied with a Torx driver. All in all, the Dozier did quite well. I don't advise doing this a lot. I split enough wood for one large 30-minute fire using only the Dozier and my oak baton. It's nice to know that the knife can do this chore, but I'm not going to make a habit of it.
UPDATE: Upon close examination, the pivot bolt spins freely now. For those who don't know, the pivot bolt is a D-shaped bolt and the flat part fits into a flat in the FRN handle. The bolt itself is fine, but the flat in the handle is rounded out now. This causes the bolt to spin freely instead of stopping. I simply used a pair of pliers to hold the bolt still while I tightened the Torx screw that goes into the bolt. Not a major problem, and easily fixed, but something to note. Buy a Dozier.
