Batoning thoughts

Spirch said:
Going to let my video speak for me



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great example ... and as many said before ... you don'thave to find a huge hard gnarly tree and try to chop through it ... but finding the right sized wood (which by the way a good folding saw can be your best friend to do this) ...

but splitting wood for tinder and up to mid sized logs isn't really even that hard on a knife unless you go crazy ... if your get experience batoning and processing wood with a knife ... it almost seems silly not to ...

in my first post I said I have generally carried an axe and still do sometimes ... but even using an axe and I am experienced with an axe ...

I still always have used a knife to split smaller wood for tinder and if the wood is wet I use a knife to strip the outter wood away for dry fuel ... batoning a knife is more controlable and safer than swinging an axe for these tasks.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
....I still always have used a knife to split smaller wood for tinder and if the wood is wet I use a knife to strip the outer wood away for dry fuel ... batoning a knife is more controllable and safer than swinging an axe for these tasks.
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I agree especially for smaller logs. You can use a stick to hold a piece of wood to be split with another stick also.
 
So, JJ, do you carry the large knife, the axe and the mallet? ;) Just how large are you? :eek:
 
A 3/4 size Hudson Bay single bit ax works a whole lot better than any knife when it comes to splitting wood, and isn't a whole lot heavier than a big knife.
 
It all depends what Im doing … sometimes a full load for longer trips … a small axe (a Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe ) … a good medium sized fixed blade a CPK HDHK or one of a few LT Wright knives and a smaller fixed blade could be anything from an LT Wright Outback or CPK EDC2 but my second fixed blade is usually an LT Wright Bushcrafter … and a SAK Farmer always and a modern folder this can vary greatly which I carry ... and an Agawa Canyon Boreal 21 folding saw (my new favorite folding saw) or a Sven 21 Saw...

And sometimes it's as simple as a folding saw the CPK HDFK or LT Wright GNS and SAK Farmer ...

sometimes just a bigger fixed blade instead of the axe a BK9 or Esee Jungla ... soon to be a CPK Medium Chopper ... and the rest of my knives for different uses no mallet just a piece of wood and size doesnt matter much IMHO but and I'm a little over 6'1" around 295 … The top axe ...
 

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Batoning is useful and has been done for generations. I however am sick of "bushcrafters" that go full retard with batoning. I have yet to find batoning to be the decisive metric of the suitability of a knife for real world tasks. Baton away, it is useful. Real bushcrafting is not centered around batoning, it is about different ways of achieving some goal, i.e. starting fires, building shelters, and getting food. If you want to baton for fun go ahead, just don't take the further step of bubbling over how useful batoning is in real life. As I initially said, it is useful, but it is also something people dramatize and overstate the significance of.
 
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Personally, I think people get caught up in what can be done vs what should be done. Is it logical to be taking a fine instrument (blade edges aren't found popping up all over in nature) and subjecting it to impact? Not really. Should you make wedges or likewise prepare with rudimentary knowledge of physics? Probably. However, the modern man in his majority will buy a cool tool; use specific, and because he has not that use in abundance, will abuse it. If you want to live in the woods and split wood for fire or shingles/siding, you'd get a froe. Why people act like it is imperative they make little wood in case they get lost is beyond me. Cheers
 
I use an ESEE 6 to baton wood all the time. I can get a bunch of kindling in a few minutes which helps get the fire started quickly.

The ESEE has a lifetime warranty, so I am not concerned about using a $150 knife to baton wood.

To each their own..
 
SharpieB said:
I use an ESEE 6 to baton wood all the time. I can get a bunch of kindling in a few minutes which helps get the fire started quickly.

The ESEE has a lifetime warranty, so I am not concerned about using a $150 knife to baton wood.

To each their own..
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ESEE are very good for that. The 5 is a complete beast.
 
Pilsner said:
ESEE are very good for that. The 5 is a complete beast.
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Agreed.

I prefer the 6, but the 5 is definately more beastly.

My 6 was brand new when I started using it early May this year and after batoning with it every weekend until now, it is still like new minus the blade coating.
 
Pilsner said:
ESEE are very good for that. The 5 is a complete beast.
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Ya know, since we were just talking about using appropriate sized wood. I’ve actually done it with my Izula several times just to show I could.

If you baton a 1” thick piece of wood in half, and then baton that half into 1/4s. And baton those into 1/8ths, etc... then make one piece into shavings, you can get some itty bitty tinder, and once you light it, go through progression until you get to burning the 1/2 of that 1” piece, and then use that to burn another 1” piece and by the time you are burning 1” branches, you can light up progressively larger pieces.

So even without the ESEE 5, it’s still doable even with the little Izula. It just takes a little more patience since you have to split progressively smaller pieces of wood and then light them in the opposite progression.
 
I used 4 blades so far for batoning;

sykco 1311 (first video)
busse cg b13
busse hog b8 (second and third video)
busse BG SFNO

so far I think i prefer the hog b8, only because of the wide spine, it help splitting the wood faster
 
In the almost 64 years I have been on this planet, I've never batoned a knife.
I usually have an axe/hatchet, or saw with me, and it's easy enough to whittle a wedge if needed.

I see no reason to change my technique this late in my game.
 
19-3ben said:
Ya know, since we were just talking about using appropriate sized wood. I’ve actually done it with my Izula several times just to show I could.

If you baton a 1” thick piece of wood in half, and then baton that half into 1/4s. And baton those into 1/8ths, etc... then make one piece into shavings, you can get some itty bitty tinder, and once you light it, go through progression until you get to burning the 1/2 of that 1” piece, and then use that to burn another 1” piece and by the time you are burning 1” branches, you can light up progressively larger pieces.

So even without the ESEE 5, it’s still doable even with the little Izula. It just takes a little more patience since you have to split progressively smaller pieces of wood and then light them in the opposite progression.
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Oh yes. For sure. I’m a fan of ESEE and probably a bigger fan of Rowan. You can do just as you say, and I’d always advocate cutting slivers off large rounds. Take it down bit by bit with a knife. And yes, you can get right at tinder but it is pretty sketchy in the rain. With a tarp it is fine, or any decent shelter/overhang. But relying on wood shavings for a one stick fire in the pouring rain is a dismal prospect in my experience. I like to carry some supercharged tinder. ;)
 
Pilsner said:
But relying on wood shavings for a one stick fire in the pouring rain is a dismal prospect in my experience. I like to carry some supercharged tinder. ;)
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100% agreed. I don't think I've stepped foot in the woods without a few fat wood sticks in my pack in years.
 
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