The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous, and I wanted to take advantage of it, with the little time I had to play this weekend. I been remiss in playing with my BK2, in light of several reviews of other blades I been doing.
Also seems like a rash of injuries lately, and since I will be instructing basic knife skills, safety and field expediant sharpening at the ESEE Woodland course, I wanted to brush up on some stuff. Most of this ya'll already know, but, hey, its teh interwebz, redundant info is what takes up space right? Plus, I wanted to use the timer on me camera, for some action photos.
Here we go:
My Favorite BK2. Been through alot with this fella.
One of the victims of my BK2 goodness, and a future victim standing beside it.
Just freshening up the stick, trimming it out. I always like to use a backstop when I chopping at wood.
Basic cuts, that make up the chorus of basic woodland skills. Reverse cut and push cut. These are two of the most used cuts in knife handling. Using the thumb with the reverse cut, adds control and power.
The push cut, is good for many, many things, from making fuzzies, to cutting down trees. Yes, cutting down trees.
Chopping is a skill I use alot, mostly snap cuts on free hanging greenery, to heavy downward power chops for making big wood into small wood.
Always have a backtop when you are chopping. Dirt doesn't works most times and with an off strike, you just dinged your blade up real good. This is some wood from my burn pile, but any log or downed wood will work. Make a work area, and your backstop should be your work bench.
Safety: Note my stabilizing hand is nowhere near the area where the blade will be contacting the wood, I'm kneeling far from the area of work, so if I fall short with my strike, the knife doesn't end up in my leg. Also not the lanyard on the knife and the lower grip, always make sur you got a good grip on the knife.
Gawd, I love this knife. A true marvel and great Campanion for any trip. Buy Becker, its the quenchiest. LMAO
Batonning wood is a skill that some argue is nothing more than knife abuse. I can see that, but I baton wood, and I consider it to be an invaluable skill in the woods.
Never try to chop or seat the knife in the wood. Fingers have been lost doing that. Simply place the blade on the wood, where you want to split to begin. Keep the knife in your weak hand, baton in the primary hand. Make sure you are striking the exposed part of the knife, parallel with the body, so you can see and aim at the exposed tip.
Heavy strikes are sometimes needed, but not all the time. Make sure you feel comfortable with your knife and what it can do, this is where knives get broke. Becker were built for it. Buy Becker, its the batonniest.
When splitting the same piece, repeatedly, learn to use the knife to pick up and set the next piece without setting the knife down. Alot of injuries occur when retrieving a placed knife, when your attention is elsewhere. Safest place is in your hands.
Wood knots are a bear to beat through, and open your knife to breaking and you to injury. I try to head straight at them. See, this one split right through the knot. Buy Beckers, they're the knottiest.
Back to the push cut. Learning to stabilize the wood, yourself, and the knife, means safe, efficient work. Using your body, and the natural terrain, to work to your advantage, is important. Spend time finding what works for you. Here, the basic idea, is I am pressing the wood into the backstop with my stomach, using my weak hand to add pressure towards the backstop and keep the stick from poking into me. Primary are straight, elbow locked, wrist locked, and I am moving from the waist and shoulder, to make the cuts.
Head on view, weak hand supporting the wood, body adding pressure to keep the wood stabile, elbow and wrist locked straight.
You don't have to be on both knees, but make sure you are stabile and comfortable. Here, in this manner, with my left knee raised, I can get more of my body weight behind each cut, allowing deeper, longer cuts.
Draw knife technique is useful, but dangerous. The motion for drawing the knife towards you body, is putting the sharpened edge, headed toward you, with force behind it. If the blade slips or cuts through, and you are not prepared for it, well, it can get bad fast. A few things to consider first, is creating a safe, secure area to work in. Like here.
By wedging the wood you want to draw off, between two trees, this allows you to have complete control of your body, and not haveing to use it to hold the wood. Wedge your work piece in between two trees or two branches, and beat it in nice and secure with your baton.
Wedge it in tight
Adding some natural cordage, para cord, or an under support, whatever it takes to make that wood more secure. Draw cuts require downward pressure and a pulling motion. If you wood is not supported, it will angle down, making this harder to do.
Here is me trying to draw cut without support. The work piece is already starting to angle downward.
Add a support stick under it. Use the natural V of a branch to act as a prop rod for the work piece.
SO, now the blood and danger. Bare handed draw cuts, are dangerous. You don't get a good grip on the blade, and you have to kinda, be very cautious when holding onto the spin. If you get involved in the work and lose focus, you get cut.
I done this on purpose, thats why its just a little poke in the hand. I did do it while draw cutting the work piece, but all I did was over grab the knife tip. If your knives are like mine, they are sharp and pointed and will rend flesh quick.
Like all things, there is a simple fix. Pommel strike the tip of the knife into a piece of wood, and make a handle on the pointed end of the knife. Note, everyone likes the pommel extension, and this is a good time to use it.
Now, we have our stabile work area, we have our safe knife, now all we have to do is focus on the task at hand. Draw cutting wood.
In a very short time, you can make lots of shavings, and have your wood planed down to whatever you wanted it to be.
Another good stron cut is the "Rower's cut" or Lat cut. You use the back muscles for the power. See this little knot,
You can use a "hacking motion" to try to clear it, but it just kinda stays put,
Or, you use the Lat cut, and clear it off flat, in one shot,
You can use the thumb assist, or you can just do a "pulling motion", either way, its a very powerful cut.
Scraping. Its handy when you are coming up with natural tinder for a fire, but it can be dangerous, if you don't do it right. Here, I am scraping with the blade perpendicular to the wood. The downside to this, is the knife blade want to roll in your hand.
The better method, is to roll the blade edge up, and dig in. The blade stays secure, and you still get the scraping done.
Part 1 done.
Moose
I have a few skills I still need to work on, and brush the dust off, and I'll be getting to those a little later on. So, more to come.
