Bush knife failure

thx 4 all the replies, guys!! I've never hade a knife fail, but i was just wondering what would cause a well made one to
 
I've broken two. One was a really cheap folder that I might have pried with, and the other was a kitchen knife that got knocked off the counter and had a close encounter between a tile floor and the sole of my boot....

But I've bent a coupe machetes out of usability, while batonning. It's just not a good idea.
 
longbow50 said:
For instance, my primary go to knife is a Swiss Army Knife (SAK). I've tailored my skills so that I can accomplish the same chores as a guy using a 10" x 1/4" bladed survival knife. It requires much different methods, but the end result is always the same and I havn't broken one yet.
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Please share your methods for batoning an 8" log in half with your SAK.

I'm curious !

.
 
Myal said:
pbubsy

I have looked into Busse knives .......I couldnt bring myself to really *use* a knife that cost more than my car :)
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The Fusion Battle Mistress, their largest knife, sold for $387 a couple months ago........ Their sword, the AK-47, sells for $587........

What kind of car are you driving, anyway?
 
David E said:
I'd sure like to see some pictures of that method in action !!
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First of all why would you need too? second what benefits are there to splitting an 8" log while out? you can achieve everything that would need to be done with a SAK. The more knowledge you have the less gear you need.
 
Because he said:
my primary go to knife is a Swiss Army Knife (SAK). I've tailored my skills so that I can accomplish the same chores as a guy using a 10" x 1/4" bladed survival knife.
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If that's really true, then I'd love to see the methods used to baton/split an 8" log with a Swiss Army Knife.

But if he really means, as you allude to, that he finds other ways to do things, then say that.

This month, we had 21 rainy days in a row. I would think that most of the wood would be saturated. Having to split a log to get to dry wood seems like a viable reason to have batonning capability. (not that I want to turn this into a "is batonning necessary" thread.)
 
My hatchet handle broke once... We hiked back to the car and drove to the local wal mart to get a new one for 6 dollars. It worked, and the wood kept us warm.
 
You know I keep reading this post and kept thinking ,well none of mine have ever broke and I have just remembered one did !!!
I had a Leatherman Pulse and the first time I used it the screwdriver bit rounded of a little and the second time I was away on holiday and my wife was doing some dinner. She asked me if I had a can opener on my knife, I replied in a cockey manner that of course I did and quickly opened up my Leatherman.As I started to open the can there was a strange noise and I found that the locking mechanism had broken. I went back to the store where I had bought it and they let me swap it for another Victorinox SAK ( I have a few ) and that has never let me down. I would never buy another Leatherman but would buy another SAK in an instant ( not that I will as they never break !!!).
 
Hello Chuck, I think I may have some ideas for you. Before i start, im sorry for your tool leting you down on the bigest day of your life. Can you please tell us the name and brand of this tool, so we don't buy one. If you tell us, that is the best start of any survival kit, knowing not to buy one. Well chuck, actual survival experience's may be large or small, in your case its large. First rule of survival when you know your in a tuff spot is to take a look at what water, food and survival gear you have / keep on you at all times in the woods. Be ready 100% of the time and always try to have a back up idea in mind, it may not be as good as your old belt knife or tool, but any back-up will work. I always have three ways to start a fire, and three ways or more to cut wood, chop wood, or saw wood. Know we know we can use are hands, large rocks, or fire and about three other ways to cut wood. but its still great to have two to three ways to do the job, now im not teling you to but big tools that will slow you down, or make you say im not placeing this stuff in my back pack, or too bag. I do like a very small belt axe, and one 6" to 17" wood cutting blade to make in to a saw, and lets not forget the great folding hand tools and knives with very good saws. Now i can go on and on about lall the types of saws we can buy, but i know you got what i was trying to say. And what about the great flint or quartz stone axe heads and knives you can make in about one hour or less. If you don't know how, you can get some good books about stone knives and tools, and than go out in the wild and try it, untill you know what and how to do it. Or please feel free to ask me by phone, or ask some one in your own town. Chuck, if you can, keep a small back up tool in your kit, or on you. It can be large or very small, like a box cutter tool, like people use in a store, or a utilty knife and so on. The big stuff can be a large axe, a machete and so on. I don't know if this will help you, i think you had the tools to come out on top the whole time. You did good i know you did, the reason is you did get back in one pice and posted a good post. Thank you for you time, your friend at the post Donald S.
 
David E said:
The Fusion Battle Mistress, their largest knife, sold for $387 a couple months ago........ Their sword, the AK-47, sells for $587........

What kind of car are you driving, anyway?
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I drive a 1980 something model Toyota I bought for AU$90 and a sixpack of Fosters .

Id LOVE a Battle Mistress , its there on the must have list , just down there on the must have ... one day list as opposed to the gotta have right now list
 
Esav Benyamin said:
It's easy to think about these things sitting at a keyboard, but the typical cold-hungry-tired-and-rained-on situation is when tools get abused and chopping slips off the log and onto the leg.

Keep a focus on how you're feeling, how well you're dealing with conditions, and you won't have many problems with your tools.

I definitely agree that practicing with a variety of tools and backups under controlled conditions is best. A dayhike is always a good time to bring 3 or 4 knives along and play at whittling and batoning.

There's always the defective equipment or the unexpected circumstance, though, which is why a SAK or an Opinel or Mora should always be somewhere on your person, not in your pack.
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Sign me up to second this, but I put it another way: A good state of mind is your best survival tool, not a good knife. Take your best knife as a backup.
 
David E said:
Because he said:

If that's really true, then I'd love to see the methods used to baton/split an 8" log with a Swiss Army Knife.

But if he really means, as you allude to, that he finds other ways to do things, then say that.

This month, we had 21 rainy days in a row. I would think that most of the wood would be saturated. Having to split a log to get to dry wood seems like a viable reason to have batonning capability. (not that I want to turn this into a "is batonning necessary" thread.)
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First, I would never regard one of my SAK's as my primary woods tool.

If the task is getting at the dry interior of an 8" log and assuming that an 8" diameter log was the only choice (a choice I've never had), you can make multiple cuts with the SAK's saw and, at the cost of lots of effort, open the log that way.

You can baton off slabs of the log as large as the blade will allow and, with lost of effort, get to the inside.

You can saw half way through the log and slam in into something hard to produce a "greenwood" split the length of the log.

I have witnessed the first two and done the third.

But I guess I'm just lazy or impatient 'cause I carry a 4" shath knife and a folding prunning saw.


And let's all be nice and we might learn something from each other.
 
Those are the only way's I'd ever baton, Thomas. The other technique you missed is to whittle wedges, make a notch with the saw or knife of the SAK, and use a stout "whacking stick" or a rock to drive the edges in. Anything else in my observation is a form of russian roulette.

Honestly, you can carve down to dry wood, using the knife as a knife rather than trying to force it to be a maul or axe. Or you find soft wood that is pitchy enough that it will burn when wet/green without a problem.

Oh and David, I grew up in a forested area and took every advantage there was to be had. I've been in a situation where a fire was needed, and a couple where I should have built one. I've never seen a set of circumstances where all you had was 8" short of trapped in a lumber mill's stock yard. :P If you are thinking about wood being that wet, forget it- if water has soaked more than 3" into wood, you aren't getting a fire lit, becuase you are at the bottom of a river, or you are missing a lot when you are looking for dry wood.
 
I don't agree about the 3 inch rule...I have spent time on BC's North Coast where you get three hundred days of rain a year, and I have seen a lot of forests in which there was dry wood, but it was a LOT further in than three inches. Sometimes more like six or eight!

That said, as I mentioned way up at the top of this page, wedges can be used to split wood and I think a knowledgeable person could do pretty well with an SAK. My first choice would not be a small folder...but it sure wouldn't be a Busse knife (and I do have one.)
 
David E said:
Because he said:

If that's really true, then I'd love to see the methods used to baton/split an 8" log with a Swiss Army Knife.

But if he really means, as you allude to, that he finds other ways to do things, then say that.

This month, we had 21 rainy days in a row. I would think that most of the wood would be saturated. Having to split a log to get to dry wood seems like a viable reason to have batonning capability. (not that I want to turn this into a "is batonning necessary" thread.)
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I live in Oregon and have never had to split an 8" log to start a fire. You really want to get into rainfall totals?:D

Then again you're not going to find me with just a SAK. If I had only one tool for my climate it would be a hatchet. Maybe my M6 but I have to feel it out a bit more. ;)
 
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