How many of you have stopped batoning?

I guess when it comes to batoning I have to say to each his own. Where I live there is no real "need" to do this. The only thing that bothers me about it is the knife manufacturers all know as soon as they release a knife all the youtubers are going to start beating it through knotty logs and repeatedly stabbing the tip into wood and prying big chunks off wood out as a "tip test" and then talk about how the knife "failed" if it breaks. So now the manufacturers feel like they have to overbuild all their knives to survive this type of abuse. Now everyone is making thick knife shaped axe bladed prybars that are difficult to sharpen and don't really work as well as a knife for cutting which is the tool it is supposed to be. I can see having some of these heavy duty available for the abusers who want a knife that will handle everything. But a note to the manufacturers, please remember there is a reason that blades like the Kershaw leek, opinels, and other smaller slicey blades sell so well.
 
chevyrulez1 said:
I guess when it comes to batoning I have to say to each his own. Where I live there is no real "need" to do this. The only thing that bothers me about it is the knife manufacturers all know as soon as they release a knife all the youtubers are going to start beating it through knotty logs and repeatedly stabbing the tip into wood and prying big chunks off wood out as a "tip test" and then talk about how the knife "failed" if it breaks. So now the manufacturers feel like they have to overbuild all their knives to survive this type of abuse. Now everyone is making thick knife shaped axe bladed prybars that are difficult to sharpen and don't really work as well as a knife for cutting which is the tool it is supposed to be. I can see having some of these heavy duty available for the abusers who want a knife that will handle everything. But a note to the manufacturers, please remember there is a reason that blades like the Kershaw leek, opinels, and other smaller slicey blades sell so well.
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I recently saw a review of the Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner, with the vid intro showing them shooting guns and stuff, so I'm thinking that they're a hunter who is going to show how good a skinning knife this is. Instead they're right into batoning with the skinning knife and using it for heavy bushcrafting or abuse-crafting. They were disappointed when they broke the tip, while using the skinning knife as if it was called the Benchmade Chisel. It's a bit like if I was watching someone review a Ferrari and the first thing they did was try to cram a cord of wood in it and then see how it handled off road.
 
Bob Denman said:
I agree. If you want a prybar: buy one!
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The irony is, the people typically touted as traditionally batoning (SE Asia/Meso- or South America) don't use thick, heavy blades. They tend to use long, thin, light machete-like blades.

Apparently they've never been told that you're supposed to be able to hammer the tip of your blade into wood and pry it apart or even use it as a step. I'm surprised they survived this long!.
 
In a pure survival situation: whatever it takes... 👍
But when you think about it: how many of us have ever been in that situation?
 
000Robert said:
I agree with you guys, but it is nice to know that my Carothers DEK1 would take the abuse if I ever had to abuse her in a survival situation.
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Robert, you and that DEK1 are just like me and the Spyderco Resilience. Neither one of us can shut up about it! 🤣

That said, I would definitely take the DEK1 over the Resilience for the topic of this thread. ;)
 
000Robert said:
I got lost in the woods one time for a few hours when I was a kid. I found my way back and never went into the woods again without a compass.
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Yup! Being prepared makes all the difference.
On a hunting trip: I got "turned around", and had to make my way through knee-deep snow in a swamp
Flashlights, compasses, saws and a hatchet are part of our hunting packs.
And I was VERY happy to see camp that night!
 
Bob Denman said:
Yup! Being prepared makes all the difference.
On a hunting trip: I got "turned around", and had to make my way through knee-deep snow in a swamp
Flashlights, compasses, saws and a hatchet are part of our hunting packs.
And I was VERY happy to see camp that night!
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Yep! I found my way by finding a big weird looking oak tree that I had seen earlier and remembered the way I came. It was kinda scary there for a little while. But it was a good lesson - it opened my eyes to the possibilities that can happen in those situations. I now like to prepare for the worse but hope for the best.
 
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