Best Knife for Batoning

The ESEE 4 and Laser Strike come with real Kydex sheaths vs. the molded plastic of the 3 or 6. The Kydex is worth the extra $10.00 over the 3 if you ask me.
 
BK9 for a larger blade is right in the budget.
ESEE 3 is a fantastic all around blade for day hikes and camp work. Great slicer, batons just fine ( smaller logs of course) and is backed by that warranty so use away without fear. By far my favourite ESEE followed by my Junglas.
 
sarge1967 said:
The ESEE 4 and Laser Strike come with real Kydex sheaths vs. the molded plastic of the 3 or 6. The Kydex is worth the extra $10.00 over the 3 if you ask me.
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I had a 4 a few years back with kydex and noticed the newer ones are coming with molded plastic sheaths now. Can you upgrade to kydex ? Hence the $10 extra ?
 
You're all over the place...

In July '14, you posted that you had purchased a BK2. You have recently posted that you are going to purchase either 2 or a 10. Did you sell the 2 from July, or did you not actually buy it? In between, your next purchase was going to be a BK7 - I'm guessing you changed your mind. You post about batoning with knives, that you're over that phase & are going to use a hatchet...and now you don't want to carry a hatchet, so you're back to looking for a knife.
You can baton with your Mk1, your BK2 (the one you purchased in July, or the one you might get if you don't get the BK10 - which you could also use for batoning, btw). You could use an Ontario Ranger or a BK7 - there isn't much difference between batoning with an RD7 vs BK7; though I've got both and, overall, I think the BK7 is a better knife at a better price.
 
Dantone05 said:
I had a 4 a few years back with kydex and noticed the newer ones are coming with molded plastic sheaths now. Can you upgrade to kydex ? Hence the $10 extra ?
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They switched the 4 sheath to plastic? Well that sucks! My 4 is actually an older RC-4 before they changed their name to ESEE. The last ESEE I got was a Laser Strike and it came with Kydex. I got it about 6 months ago.
I was basing my $10.00 extra comment on old knowledge of when I got my Laser Strike. It would seem it has changed.
**EDIT TO ADD**
I just looked up ESEE knives on TKC you can still get the ESEE 4 with a Kydex sheath and Molle back for $105.95 the Laser Strike is $99.95
 
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sarge1967 said:
They switched the 4 sheath to plastic? Well that sucks! My 4 is actually an older RC-4 before they changed their name to ESEE. The last ESEE I got was a Laser Strike and it came with Kydex. I got it about 6 months ago.
I was basing my $10.00 extra comment on old knowledge of when I got my Laser Strike. It would seem it has changed.
**EDIT TO ADD**
I just looked up ESEE knives on TKC you can still get the ESEE 4 with a Kydex sheath and Molle back for $105.95 the Laser Strike is $99.95
Click to expand...

Good to know. Not a deal breaker but I would prefer kydex if it was my choice. My friend and I went looking at a new ESEE 4 for him a couple months back at and it looks like the 4's were switching over to molded plastic.
 
Dantone05 said:
Good to know. Not a deal breaker but I would prefer kydex if it was my choice. My friend and I went looking at a new ESEE 4 for him a couple months back at and it looks like the 4's were switching over to molded plastic.
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Yea at this point you can get both. Your probably right about ESEE phasing out the Kydex for the 4.
 
A good 7-8" Nordic leuku will give you hours of batoning enjoyment. It's more or less what they're made for.
 
Best is pure opinion and very relative. Hence, I would say that you are on the right track in terms choices within your original post. They will work for you. You just have to decide on brand, length, steel and so forth and address the budget issue so what you choose makes you happy and confident that you can use it for the tasks you have in mind. I would say just buy what you think will work for you and stick with it for a while. You have plenty of time to buy many more knives.

If ESEE is switching over to plastic sheaths (vs kydex), that pretty much eliminates my buying them over say a Becker.

Added: I don't think the BK-2 or ESEE 5 (from previous discussions) are great general purpose knife choices regardless of budget. I would go much larger or stay in the 3"-5" range with a thinner blade stock. You can baton with a 4" blade. Just carry a folding saw for the bigger stuff if you like to cut wood up at a camp site.
 
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Aluminum splitting wedge. Just an alternative to consider. :)

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Todd21969 said:
You do know a knife with an edged portion of the blade 4" and over is a no-no in Connecticut unless hunting, fishing, or trapping?

With your reply to my question I am guessing you don't know, or don't care about a possible felony arrest.
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I have a hunting and fishing license. As I mentioned earlier, although, I don't normally hunt in connecticut. I do occasionally.
 
CapitalizedLiving said:
To the OP - yeah I know exactly what you mean, I like to baton too. Sorry you have to deal with a lot of bad noise just because you want a recommendation for a knife.

I say go with the Browning Crowell/Barker chopper. $100 or so, and spring steel. It's nice.
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thanks for the support brother. And I'll look into that, thanks for the recommendation
 
hhmoore said:
You're all over the place...

In July '14, you posted that you had purchased a BK2. You have recently posted that you are going to purchase either 2 or a 10. Did you sell the 2 from July, or did you not actually buy it? In between, your next purchase was going to be a BK7 - I'm guessing you changed your mind. You post about batoning with knives, that you're over that phase & are going to use a hatchet...and now you don't want to carry a hatchet, so you're back to looking for a knife.
You can baton with your Mk1, your BK2 (the one you purchased in July, or the one you might get if you don't get the BK10 - which you could also use for batoning, btw). You could use an Ontario Ranger or a BK7 - there isn't much difference between batoning with an RD7 vs BK7; though I've got both and, overall, I think the BK7 is a better knife at a better price.
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I buy knives. Sell them, lose them, get bored of them etc. But if you're going to be some hardcore fanboy and go research my past posts, then I'd prefer you don't bother answering at all. And I might post a question , and a week later hear about something new and post another question. So relax buddy
 
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