Battoning

Besides protecting the locking mechanism, the other issue with batonning a folder is blade length.

If you have a 3.5" inch blade , and you are batoning a 3.5" diameter piece of wood , you have but one choice. And that is to lock it fully open, and baton in the area where the blade connects to the handle. This negates any suggestion of using a folder in an unlocked method.
It would only be plausible if you were batonning , maybe a 1 inch diameter stick, aka; "kindling".

Having a fixed blade of any type is the real answer, a folder being "last resort" and only used in a survival situation.

And even then, I would submit it becomes so critical that you don't break your knife (as it is your only one and your life depends on it) that it would be prudent to find a way around the need to baton and cause potential damage, in order to preserve you only cutting tool.
 
Mike The Money Maker said:
Whats the matter? can't you understand good information when you see it?

A guy tries to help some Greenhorns and this is what he gets!
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The matter is mainly your name calling. It would also help if you would read the previous posts, before making such aggressive statements. You might have realized that Cliff actually stated that he has batoned an unlocked folder. Finally, my personal experience is that more often than not people new to a forum starting of by calling other people randomly "Greenhorns" and "idiots" turn out to be either or both themselves.

Personally, I don't like to do that. It works, but my objective is first and formost to protect my fingers not the locking mechanism of a knife. And even if in general the danger of batoning an unlocked knife is not all that great, you can still experience an unexpected snap-back.
 
Hey skunkworks if you have a 3.5" blade and a 3.5" diameter piece of wood that does not mean you bang at the lock, try taking smaller pieces from the edges of the wood.

I have read tons of Cliff's threads and posts, I stand by my statement.
 
Mike The Money Maker said:
I have read tons of Cliff's threads and posts, I stand by my statement.
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I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I will say that very few people have as much experience with this sort of expedient woodworking as Cliff. He spends quite a bit of his time testing and doing alot of the techniques that we chat about here.

Right or wrong, he has alot of experience and is mostly always helpful to those who are seeking advice.

Frankly, when someone comes in fresh, calling people idiots and greenhorns, without introducing themselves or giving any inkling of the experience that maks them any less of a greenhorn, people tend to take that poorly.

We try to be polite and keep the conversation friendly around here. I can see your kind of a "greenhorn" when it comes to your social graces, but we'll try to help you out all we can;)
 
SkunkWerX said:
Having a fixed blade of any type is the real answer, a folder being "last resort" and only used in a survival situation.
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One thing to be very much aware of is the promotion of these knives. Several years ago there was a aggressive marketing of high strength locks, the 1000 in.lbs statistic which became fairly common. Spyderco went beyond this and developed the MBC rating and others like Ritter specifically promoted his knives (RSK folder) for impact splitting. Considering all of this information it has to force an evaluation of many common perspectives on folders. If a folder maker is clear is takes 1000 in.lbs+ of torque to break a lock and it is suitable to withstand direct impacts in a combat situation, then it can not be argued that impact splitting it beyond the ability of the folder.

shotgunner11 said:
Frankly, when someone comes in fresh, calling people idiots and greenhorns, without introducing themselves or giving any inkling of the experience that maks them any less of a greenhorn, people tend to take that poorly.
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Generally anytime anyone makes an arguement based on the individual, they are to be ignored.

-Cliff
 
On the subject of lock failure modes, I've seen the Schrade tests on the LB7 and Buck 110. They did not use the same measurement method, but rather direct weight applied to the blade of the locked knife. I believe in the report I read (internal engineering memo, not public hype), failure mode on both occured at around 110#, though the actual mode varied from breaking to deflection, usually of the backspring. Other brands were also tested. I'll have to see if I can find that report again.
 
I've split a lot of shakes using a froe and a mallet. Batoning small stuff with a stout knife and a stick isn't all that difficult, but I consider it a survival technique for making a shelter or gathering firewood. Taking on 3" or 4" stuff is workable. I'm sure you could knock down a 12" diameter tree with many of the "sharp prybar" knives, but that is just showing off, IMHO, and probably a good way to drop a tree on yourself. 2" diameter branches or lodgepole saplings are about all you need for a lean-to. If you are using a smaller knife or one that is more fragile, you don't need to get into a contest with yourself to see how big a chunk you can knock out of a piece of timber-- a few well placed smaller cuts will do less damage to the knife and reduce the possibility of whacking yourself with the baton or cutting yourself with wild hacking. Any emergency wood gathering I have done was driftwood or dead lower branches for the most part. As others have said, you can drag larger stuff across the fire, burn it through, and feed the ends into the fire.

Batoning is a handy thing to know, but I see it as a way to extend the range of a particular cutting tool and each has its limit. I'd rather get through life without finding myself in a situation where I would need to use it!
 
pit man said:
hardly a day goes by when I don't have to batton wood at home for my woodstove!!!
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I have batoned wood before. A hatchet or axe is SOOOO much less work. Alternatively, a good saw will cut rounds better than either and waist less wood in the process. ;)
 
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