Batoning wood with knives/Nutnfancy

[FortyTwoBlades]

I baton for two reasons--one is to turn arm- to wrist-thick pieces of wood into finger- to matchstick-thick kindling. The other is for controlled shaping of wood when bushcrafting or building stuff, tapping the spine to work the knife like a chisel. Both tasks are actually VERY easy on most knives, especially if you aren't foolish about it and use good technique.

Batoning huge logs like seems to be common these days is just plain silly though. Start the split with the knife then finish it with a wooden wedge.