Do you really need to baton wood?

When people ask "do you really need to baton wood?"

Why not answer that question with another question: "do you really need to go in the woods?"

Certainly there are many folks who live out their entire lives in an urban environment. Why leave the city at all? Just go to the park if you want to see a tree. ;)


Better to have the ability to baton wood should you chose to, than find yourself up Poo River with a brittle POS knife that cannot even handle getting whacked with a stick, when a real "need" might arise.

The bottom line is, any quality fixed blade can handle batoning. If it breaks, then it was not a quality blade, it was a piece of crap.

As to the wedge argument- You can use wooden wedges to split a log, but it is far less efficient than batoning a large knife. you have to make the wedges, and then baton the wedges which inevitably mushroom and splinter. Takes many times the time and effort of simply batoning with a knife.
 
Are you all batonning those pieces of wood to get those nice square ends?
;)
Ever try batonning a piece of wood that you cut off with your knife?

Batonning is another skill set.
Or another tool for your tool box.

IMHO, not a reason to choose a knife.

I was camping last week and batonned my SwAK thru some pieces of kindling because.......I could.
 
Ebbtide said:
Are you all batonning those pieces of wood to get those nice square ends?
;)
Ever try batonning a piece of wood that you cut off with your knife?

Batonning is another skill set.
Or another tool for your tool box.

IMHO, not a reason to choose a knife.

I was camping last week and batonned my SwAK thru some pieces of kindling because.......I could.
Click to expand...

NO! thats what the Fiskars is for. :D
 
Thomas Linton said:
. . . , they used to have a building called a "wood shed." Lots of things happened thereabouts. I'm sure few, if any, of you remember that one of those things was a task, called "Making Shingles." These were used about exclusively for roofing buildings -- even covering the sides of buildings in a unique area called "New England." Using a tool called a froe, many became quite proficient at "Making Shingles." You just rested the sharpened edge of the blade of the froe horizontally on the top of a lround of suitable wood and hammered on the back and exposed tip with a wooden mallet. Viola, a "Shingle." They did it millions of times and the buildings of the U.S. kept the water out (mostly).

Now in the 21 century they call it batoning. Must be a French word. :)
Click to expand...

A shingle makers work shop ( what's left of it ) Just large enough to work in one side and the owners horse in the other side when it was cold and snowy For heat.
The head stones across the road are last dated in the 1880 's
Breaks my heart that the current owner of the property now has done nothing to preserve the little bit of heritage in his yard :mad: 20 years ago it was intact including the roof.

IMG_2919.jpg
 
Fonly said:
Thats a british Mod 4, btw pitdog does it have a convex grind?
Click to expand...

Yeah it has a convex grind bro and keeps an edge real well !

What looks like some kind of filler in the handle screws is actually just candlewax that I put in to stop rust.....first time I used it half the wax fell out but they don't rust anyway !!!
 
Back on the subject of batoning, In winter I split my logs for my stove with an axe but to get small kindling pieces I find it's eaier to use my knife !!!
 
"Do you really need to baton?"

For me the answer (without the semantic gyrations of 'need') is yes.

Could fire, for instance, be produced without it? Of course, but ‘tis far easier with it!
An example with a larger knife.
Another example with a smaller knife.

As a SAR volunteer, I've found that when you really really NEED a fire, being able
to hack, chop and baton with reckless (but safe) abandon is quite useful...!!

Clearly having a knife you can absolutely count on is key.

Just my $.02,

8
 
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