Batonning v. Axing

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Kru03

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Jul 3, 2008
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I thought I would make a note here about my recent camping trip. Over the last 4-5 years or so, I've regularly batoned firewood when I go camping. It's not too difficult to pull off and it's fun to use a big knife to baton wood. I certainly don't begrudge anyone liking to baton wood and I'm sure I'll still do it occasionally.

BUT, I bought a decent hatchet for this last trip and finally got to see what everybody was talking about when they say ... "why do people insist on using a knife when a small axe does better..." I got a semi-decent small axe in a trade a gun show a couple of months ago and finally got to use it on this last camping trip. There was no comparison. Not even close. That little axe cut apart the fire wood in one-fifth the time it would have taken batonning.

As an aside, it was car camping in Southern Colorado and the Grand Canyon. I've got an 8-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl and I won't be doing anything too adverurous for several more years.
 
Kru03 said:
There was no comparison. Not even close. That little axe cut apart the fire wood in one-fifth the time it would have taken batonning.
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I've found the opposite.
Big knife beats hatchet (talking 10 inch blade knife), but big axe beats the hell out of big knife.
And a saw is probably the most useful thing to have in most situations...but it ain't as much fun.:)
 
Maybe I'm wrong (wouldn't be the first time), but I kinda see batonning as more of a survival skill for those trips into the woods when you didn't intent to be out long enough to need an axe/hatchet, but ended up having to rely on bushcraft skills for some reason.

Where as an axe/hatchet, is more for camping trips that you knew ahead of time you would be out long enough to need them, so their extra weight was justified.
 
I Prefer a medium sized axe like the Granfors Brooks Small forest axe, paired with a decent saw, it is a killer combo
 
Slider817 said:
I Prefer a medium sized axe like the Granfors Brooks Small forest axe, paired with a decent saw, it is a killer combo
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Agreed. A good saw has to be the most effective firewood gathering handtool. Not that I won't baton on occasion....
 
Axing! Isnt that a term coined by Ike Turner? Just kidding. My knife is the last tool I use for processing firewood. I use a Silky saw and hatchet/axe, which I always carry. I keep the work on wood to a minimum anyways. I just drag the biggest piece I can and let the fire cut it in half.
 
WOW! I have always used a hatchet for splitting wood, then picked up an Ontario heavy machete, and played with it,it was ok. Slower than the hatchet but more versitle. BUT, I took a 6" blade made from 3/32"steel and split 3 bundles of wood, made fuzzsticks, kindling, all in record time. I prefer it, I now want to make an 8" and take that, and a pocket tool camping, thats all I will need, especially being in so cal.

Edit* there was one knot that I didn't attempt to pound through and just split the wood multiple times in multiple places and just pulled the wood apart from the knot.
 
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I will do whatever is easiest according to what I have on hand .

I dont have the hatchet always , but I usualy have my machete ..

its about as fast for me to split wood up with a hatchet , or my machete and a baton .
 
In the places I camp, Virginia, NC, Georgia, Florida, I see very little need to ever baton wood with a knife or ax. Only time I do that is if the woods are wet, and I am needing to find dry wood inside some wet stuff. That almost never happens.

Virtually every time I need fire wood, there is enough blow down, or fallen sticks, trees, that I never have to chop much, if any.

I like a good chopper as much as anyone, but I don't use mine often. For an ax, I have several GB or Wetterlings to choose from.
 
jw2n said:
Axing! Isnt that a term coined by Ike Turner? Just kidding. My knife is the last tool I use for processing firewood. I use a Silky saw and hatchet/axe, which I always carry. I keep the work on wood to a minimum anyways. I just drag the biggest piece I can and let the fire cut it in half.
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Silky makes the best folding saws that I have ever used, this pretty small and light Silky Super Accel cut this small tree down in under 10 Seconds

P6060236.jpg
 
I have mostly used a hatchet for firewood, but I have to admit I am not that skillful with it. I have recently been experimenting with batoning a big knife, and I feel like I can do that more safely and precisely.

Of course, an axe or saw is the tool for processing larger wood.
 
I agree a mid-size and big axe is far more efficient. I just hate bucking with an axe and far prefer a saw (I use a trailblazer take down buck saw). When it comes to splitting, I prefer to use a knife. If I had to split a lot of wood, I'd wish I had an axe. A nights fire of wood? Thats really not that much wood unless its winter. I only use about 8-9 rounds, split 2 into kindling, split one in 1/4's and split one in half. Burn the rest as whole rounds. Why carry an ax to split 4 pieces of wood?
 
jw2n said:
Axing! Isnt that a term coined by Ike Turner? Just kidding. My knife is the last tool I use for processing firewood. I use a Silky saw and hatchet/axe, which I always carry. I keep the work on wood to a minimum anyways. I just drag the biggest piece I can and let the fire cut it in half.
Click to expand...

+1. folding saw and axe FTW
 
I'm a big knife person, myself. I prefer them because I have more fun with them when I am out to have fun. Chopping with a knife, as well as batoning are fun activites to enjoy. If I was needing to fell a large tree, and I wanted it down, I'd likely use a saw or an axe. However, I prefer larger knives for what they can do that I don't have the skill to do with an axe. (That would be the little knife work)

It's all personal opinion of what people do or don't do. Some people prefer axes, some machetes, I just happen to prefer the big knife. (Or machete, lately)
 
Kru03 said:
"why do people insist on using a knife when a small axe does better..."
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Yeah, why?
Knives are often lighter, although many people forget to count the heavier shealth.
Knives are a bit more versatile (notably for cleaning brushes)
Knives are cooler.
Batonning is a "survival skill", mostly training.

Actually I generally don't split that much anyway, maybe a few logs for starters, but then I just stack wood on top of the fire. Generally good enough.
 
My point here
For me ax is a more specific tool better for these jobs than a big knife.
But IMHO using a big knife for battoming is safer so you avoid serius injuries in the outdoors and a big knife has a lot more uses than an ax and is ligther so for me I go with my 10" parang that can be used as chopper, grass cleaner, littel knife=carving and yes I enjoy alot with it more than with any of my ax ;-)
 
This is a frequent topic on this forum. I'm an ax guy, but there are disadvantages to an ax. First, there are no minor injuries with an ax, second axcraft is a lost skill and it takes a while to use one well, third it's heavy. A folding saw is safer, lighter, easier to use, and better than an ax for cutting to length against the grain. But I never do that when I'm camping. So, my Silky is only emergency equipment I keep in my backpack or fanny pack.

There's nothing like limbing downfall with a food GB light forest ax or carving a something with a good GB hatchet. But, for me, splitting kindling could go either way - battoning with a good knife or splitting with a good hatchet.
 
What's with this talk about weight? My fiskars hatchet weigh 18.6 oz. A CS trail master weighs 16.7. Throw in a sheath, and you're carrying the same weight. Besides costing a lot less, I wager the hatchet will out chop and out split the big knife. It's just simple physics. A hatchet is more efficient for doing these tasks.

I have no problem with people choosing big knives over other tools, but claims of weight savings is misguided.
 
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