How many of you have stopped batoning?

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NeedItCheaper

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Jun 17, 2012
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Went on a trip recently, and I was so tired the first day I stopped batoning. I actually stopped using an axe too. I did a bit of sawing, then mostly collected 1 inch dead sticks from trees. Is this really more efficient? I'm starting to question both batoning and using an axe.
 
In my head, an axe is for felling and debranching/debarking trees, and splitting fire wood. For an open fire, unless it rains, dead sticks are perfect. Kindle for a stove at home is easiest to get from firewood. That's really the only application for batoning for me. But in the open, you are right, dead sticks are perfect. Just not as sexy as using a large knife in a Youtube video :)
 
Batoning Redux: A field expedient method of resizing or getting to the dry interior of wood. Popularized and perhaps fetishised by "personalities" as the next big thing.
 
Back when batoning became a thing on youtube a few years ago, I tried batoning a few of my fixed blade knives. Yep, the ESEE 5, BR Bravo 1.5, and Gerber Strongarm each batoned a few pieces of wood.

Batoning or axe work might be needed IF you can't find smaller twigs to start a fire. 99% of time, I can find small pieces of wood to start a fire.

I should also add I was never a "serious" camper who wandered around for miles in unchartered territory. I'm more a weekend camper who doesn't go too far off the beaten path. YMMV.
 
Danke42 said:
How many of us never started batoning?
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I for one. I thought it was silly then, and still do. In a lifetime of backpacking, canoe camping, kayak camping, and even car camping on cross country trips, just gathering dry kindling was enough to cook a meal. That is if whatever National/state park area you are one even allows open fires. All the trips made up and down the A.T. I never needed a fire big enough to baton. Batoning was a craze that started on youtube and picked up by the gullible knife nuts for an excuse to buy/sell over built knives.
 
Batoning has been around for a long long time, especially in other countries. IMO, it’s a more efficient way to make firewood, and safer too. I can make more wood with a saw and large knife, than I can with an axe. YMMV
 
Is batoning a bushcraft thing or a YouTube thing? I thought it was a bushcraft thing. You know, after you carve your own spoon, you're supposed to baton some firewood.

Every time I think of batoning and spoon carving, I remember that there's a really good Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood, and the whole camping trip gets canceled.
 
I baton all my CPKs too. When you do it right, are not an idiot, and have a tool that won’t break, why not? I have a hardcore hammer hatchet, but batoning firewood for kindling just works so much better then a hatchet or axe. Facts.
 
In good weather it's pretty easy to find twigs and other kindling. But batoning is a good way to get dry kindling in a wet environment. I use a saw and knife most often as I don't usually need large wood for a fire. And it saves hauling an axe when space is precious.
 
I haven't had to cut wood since I bought a propane room heater for those few times I need it. I used to heat a house in Michigan exclusively with a wood stove so processing wood is no stranger to me. I always used an axe for kindling and a splitting maul for splitting wood. I have a froe in 5160 for making real thin kindling if I need it. I never batoned with knives as it wasn't the best or most efficient way of doing it. When camping up north in the woods in winter I made sure to bring an axe. If I couldn't bring an axe I wouldn't go. After being in the army I realized the utility of "pioneer" tools that all our vehicles had assigned to them. When travelling by car to this day 40 some years later I still keep an axe and shovel in the trunk along with whatever else I think I need in case of emergencies. I have never needed them since the army out in the field but they will be there just in case.
 
I baton quite a bit. I will use a saw to cut rounds, and then use a large chopper to baton the round into smaller pieces.

I can in a controlled manner split pieces into approximately the same size. This is especially helpful when making a cooking fire, as the wood will burn evenly, and make more consistent coals.

It is also safer than swinging an axe overhead for wood that is seasoned.

I always get a kick reading others foofoo the method. It's quite common in parts of the world where people cook with an open fire.
 
I go camping twice a year and keep a big fire going all weekend. Finding dead small stuff works great until it all gets used up. I get the job done by processing bigger standing deadwood with a Council Tool Flying Fox hafted on a 19” handle.

I’m a firm believer in hatchets as effective tools for wood processing. I’m biased though, as I actually enjoy swinging axes.
 
I almost never battoned, just to get a few small pieces to help start the fire occasionally, generally could find stuff small enough to start fire. Now that I am getting older, the truck carries a Froe if I really want to split firewood, in the past I was a hiker/camper and a Froe was not on the list, now its in the truck.
 
If I can't baton with a knife, I don't want it. It doesn't meet the minimum requirements that I want in a field/woods knife.
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