- Joined
- Jul 22, 2004
- Messages
- 527
This is a cross-post from a thread over in the Wilderness/Survival forum about using folders in survival situations. I'll put it here too so people looking for Manix info can find it more easily.
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A couple of days ago I was clearing out some trees that fell in a recent ice storm and had the opportunity to baton my Spyderco Manix some. I had some 6-8' long limbs I needed to remove from the trunks. The limbs were 3-4" in diameter at the trunk. The trees were pine and some other deciduous species I didn't know.
On the smaller limbs, I carefully batoned the blade in an unlocked position into the wood at a 90 degree angle with ~1/3" of the spine remaining out of the wood. The limbs were then easily broken off with the starter cut.
With the larger limbs, I made 2 shallower diagonal cuts to remove a wedge of wood. I then batoned at a 90 degree angle into the sides of the cut-out. Doing this with the blade unlocked was very awkward and I ended up locking the blade while batoning. Again, once I made these starter cuts, the limbs were easy to break off.
The damage: I ended up cutting and breaking about 6 limbs in this manner. My Manix had a very sappy blade at the end but still seemed very sharp by my slightly dangerous "feel the edge w/your finger" technique. Once I cleaned the sap off, it was still shaving-sharp and push-cut paper as easily as it had before. I noticed the pivot got a bit looser after my little adventure. I re-tightened it and everything was good; no play, smooth action, and good lock-up. I suppose I should re-Loctite the pivot screw.
With appropriate technique and amount of force, the Manix appears to hold up just fine in this type of use. I imagine you wouldn't want to do this routinely, but it seems sufficient for creating enough wood for a basic shelter. The size and amount of limbs I cut would easily frame out a simple lean-to or debris shelter. I will grant the "large fixed blade" camp that a Manix wouldn't be very efficient at splitting large pieces of wood due to its size, but neither is it a "woefully inadequate folder" in the woods.
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A couple of days ago I was clearing out some trees that fell in a recent ice storm and had the opportunity to baton my Spyderco Manix some. I had some 6-8' long limbs I needed to remove from the trunks. The limbs were 3-4" in diameter at the trunk. The trees were pine and some other deciduous species I didn't know.
On the smaller limbs, I carefully batoned the blade in an unlocked position into the wood at a 90 degree angle with ~1/3" of the spine remaining out of the wood. The limbs were then easily broken off with the starter cut.
With the larger limbs, I made 2 shallower diagonal cuts to remove a wedge of wood. I then batoned at a 90 degree angle into the sides of the cut-out. Doing this with the blade unlocked was very awkward and I ended up locking the blade while batoning. Again, once I made these starter cuts, the limbs were easy to break off.
The damage: I ended up cutting and breaking about 6 limbs in this manner. My Manix had a very sappy blade at the end but still seemed very sharp by my slightly dangerous "feel the edge w/your finger" technique. Once I cleaned the sap off, it was still shaving-sharp and push-cut paper as easily as it had before. I noticed the pivot got a bit looser after my little adventure. I re-tightened it and everything was good; no play, smooth action, and good lock-up. I suppose I should re-Loctite the pivot screw.
With appropriate technique and amount of force, the Manix appears to hold up just fine in this type of use. I imagine you wouldn't want to do this routinely, but it seems sufficient for creating enough wood for a basic shelter. The size and amount of limbs I cut would easily frame out a simple lean-to or debris shelter. I will grant the "large fixed blade" camp that a Manix wouldn't be very efficient at splitting large pieces of wood due to its size, but neither is it a "woefully inadequate folder" in the woods.
