Batoning with a rock?

myright said:
So I've noticed time and time again that Bear Grylls uses a rock to baton with. I know it's Bear and all and we all have our opinions of him but my question is has anyone actually done this before? What kind of damage occurs to the knife and what situation would warrant actually using a rock?
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I cannot think of one. You are batonning through a piece of wood...with a rock...what happened to all the other wood that would have been formerly associated with the piece you are now trying to split?
 
personally, i would simply walk another 2 feet and pick up more wood, rather than abusing a knife.

IMG_1693.jpg
 
Bushman5 said:
personally, i would simply walk another 2 feet and pick up more wood, rather than abusing a knife.

IMG_1693.jpg
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This image is why I never have to split anything in the wild other than when it is extremely wet.
 
even when it is extremely wet all i need to do i gather wood from under a fallen tree, or gather limbs on the underside of the tree (often very dry) , or bust apart a cedar stump (bone dry wood).

or just use a good pile of fatwood to rapidly heat up, dry out and ignite the wet/damp wood

(like here, this is a softball sized fire made from 4 small fatwood pieces. It was hot enough that i had to move away from it a bit) < build that under a pile of wet/damp wood and you have a fire.
http://s491.photobucket.com/albums/.../sundayslog/?action=view&current=MVI_1734.flv

no need to baton. I think a lot of people are caught up in the images and videos of celebrity "bushcraft" type Tv shows and Youtube, who depict batoning as the only way to get wood for a fire, when in fact one simply has to open their eyes a little more, walk a few feet around the area and see what they can find wood wise.
 
Bushman, that's great that there is lots of dead wood available, and lots of fatwood to get stuff dry, where you live.

That is not the case everywhere. Whether you're somewhere with few trees, or somewhere with six feet of snow on the ground, or somewhere without many pines, or somewhere where other hikers have already taken the good wood, you don't always have the luxury of being picky about what wood you try to burn.
 
I have batoned with a rock...it was a pain. I broke 4 batons trying to pound that rock through the log. I could'nt split the log but the broken batons made nice kindling
 
MustardMan said:
Bushman, that's great that there is lots of dead wood available, and lots of fatwood to get stuff dry, where you live.

That is not the case everywhere. Whether you're somewhere with few trees, or somewhere with six feet of snow on the ground, or somewhere without many pines, or somewhere where other hikers have already taken the good wood, you don't always have the luxury of being picky about what wood you try to burn.
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You know why you can't find any Fatwood around in your area? :eek: Bushman has cornered the market on Fatwood. :D
 
I've actually got fatwood in my area, but lots of people live in places where there isn't any.
 
MustardMan said:
Bushman, that's great that there is lots of dead wood available, and lots of fatwood to get stuff dry, where you live.

That is not the case everywhere. Whether you're somewhere with few trees, or somewhere with six feet of snow on the ground, or somewhere without many pines, or somewhere where other hikers have already taken the good wood, you don't always have the luxury of being picky about what wood you try to burn.
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fair enough, i guess i'm just used to our forests which are so overgrown and clogged with wood debris that finding wood is easy.
 
Understandable....If I cant find wood in that size, Ill baton. With a rock if neccisary, but I doubt it ever would be.
 
At risk of taking alot of flack, I batoned an Ontario SP-5 through a four foot long piece of dried Sweet Gum, that I had just chopped off of the top of a blown down tree.
I used a piece of "cinder block".
Previously I had sharpened the swedge & it was proving to be a hazard for a bush knife.
Batoning with the cinder blck took care of my problem with no blade or spine damage. of course a concrete cinder block is softer than most rocks.
 
Carney C said:
At risk of taking alot of flack, I batoned an Ontario SP-5 through a four foot long piece of dried Sweet Gum, that I had just chopped off of the top of a blown down tree.
I used a piece of "cinder block".
Previously I had sharpened the swedge & it was proving to be a hazard for a bush knife.
Batoning with the cinder blck took care of my problem with no blade or spine damage. of course a concrete cinder block is softer than most rocks.
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Damn dude - that's no joke. I'm suprised the block didn't crumble while hitting it. I've found those things to be pretty brittle when hitting them with anything.
 
I'm still really surprised by many of the responses here. I must be nuts I guess. I can't think of too many things I wouldn't do if it came down to survival.
If my life depended on me beating my knife through something I would do it. No questions asked If I survive, then I can buy or make a new knife. If I'm dead a pristine knife won't help me.
 
It really will probably never effect me because in 60+ years, I have never batoned anything yet.:)
 
udtjim said:
It really will probably never effect me because in 60+ years, I have never batoned anything yet.:)
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I haven't either I just don't rule out something simply because I haven't needed it yet.
I won't voluntarily do it but if I have to I won't hesitate.
 
I see no problem battoning with a rock, :thumbup: :cool: :thumbup:




...as long as it's your knife. :eek: :D :eek:





Big Mike
 
protourist said:
I'm still really surprised by many of the responses here. I must be nuts I guess. I can't think of too many things I wouldn't do if it came down to survival.
If my life depended on me beating my knife through something I would do it. No questions asked If I survive, then I can buy or make a new knife. If I'm dead a pristine knife won't help me.
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your 500 miles from the nearest town of 20 people......you baton your knife......it breaks in half.........

now what?

:(
 
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