Is battoning safer?

M

mdole

Joined
Dec 13, 2009
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Is battoning safer than chopping with an axe or hatchet? I'm not sure if this question has come up before, but every time I go camping, my fingers are well clear of uneven pieces of wood when they are split. This isn't the case with an axe or hatchet...so I'm wondering, is the answer to "why baton?" saftey?
 
I don't baton wood, I know blasphemy...but the truth is, where I like to be (Desert or Sequoias) there isn't much need to baton. If I need a small fire I make a star fire then just hack the smaller branches off the wood for kindling. Not a popular sentiment here, but just another alternative.
 
It's safer, IMO. I don't do it 'cause it's safe, but because it's easy and convenient. I'm prone to batoning even on occasions where I have an axe. Splitting smaller stuff with an axe can be a PITA. I see youtube videos of people making perfect little sections with no effort(and obviously wood picked for the occasion). Rarely works like that, at least with the wood around here.
 
in my ever so humble opinion, those that are doing a lot of batonning, are doing so because they don't have a hatchet, and they like messing around with big knives. :D

In my area, there is little reason to ever baton, unless you just can't find any dry kindling. Not often where that is the case though.

I don't think one method is any 'safer' than another.
 
dang, I have been using a 'sissy stick' for probably 50+ years now, and never knew it by that name. :D
 
I baton with a large knife. I rarely carry an axe ( I do own them though, LOL), but I always have a knife. I started using a woodburning stove about 5 yrs ago to heat my house. I started batoning wood then to get kindling out of my resources. The guy I bought my wood from, charges $25 for a bundle of kindling. Well, nuts to that. I made my own. Is it safer? Probably, but I have been injured doing it. I broke a Kabar one time batoning a knot in some red oak, the broken blade then landed squarely in my thigh, point first, about an inch deep. Not sure of the physics involved that resulted in that injury, but I gots the scar. Thats the only incident I can think of where I have been injured batoning. With an axe, no injuries to report. Some folks just like playing with big knives. Moose
 
It is safer as you have more control, but that is not always why it is done that way. :)
 
Using a Baton is a very safe and controled technique to use with any edged tool. :thumbup: :cool: :thumbup:








I even Baton my Hatchet. :eek:








Big Mike
 
TheGame said:
It is safer as you have more control, but that is not always why it is done that way. :)
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If you know how to handle an axe or hatchet properly, you will have every bit as much control over that tool as you do over a knife, if not more. I split kindling and larger wood for years using a axe, a maul and wedge, or a hatchet and never injured myself or the tool.

I still do not baton, but if someone wants to? Gopher it I say. Justify it however you want to. Like what you want and use what you like.
 
I typically only baton my knife for crafting purposes. Rarely do I need to split short pieces of wood for a fire. I will on occasion split large logs, but that is easier with an axe and wooden wedges. Sometimes I baton my axe to get it started if I feel uncomfortable for whatever reason swinging it.
 
Codger_64 said:
If you know how to handle an axe or hatchet properly, you will have every bit as much control over that tool as you do over a knife, if not more. I split kindling and larger wood for years using a axe, a maul and wedge, or a hatchet and never injured myself or the tool.
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My dad has been using an axe for over 30 years, and he would disagree with you on that. However, each has their own opinions. :thumbup: :)

(He hasn't injured himself either... that I am aware of, at least)
 
I generally only carry a small to mid sized knife, so if I need to split some kindling or something battoning is the way to go. Plus I have way less experience with an ax than with a knife.
 
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I have never injured myself doing either. It doesn't matter though, chopping crossgrain and battoning are two entirely different functions used for different things. If you mean battoning versus splitting with an axe... I still have not injured myself doing either. I had a friend in high school that was splitting firewood with a good sized axe-he didn't bring the bit down perfectly straight, it bounced off the hardwood and the blade bit into his knee. If I recall it was about 9 months before he was walking on that leg again...
 
Codger_64 said:
If you know how to handle an axe or hatchet properly, you will have every bit as much control over that tool as you do over a knife, if not more.
Click to expand...
That is so far removed from reality, it's hard to believe anyone would even post it.
 
OwenM said:
That is so far removed from reality, it's hard to believe anyone would even post it.
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I understand that our realities (experiences) are different. I grew up on a rural farm where splitting wood was a nearly constant part of our lives.

I was taught by my Grandfather who raised a family through the depression on a farm. He never chopped himself. I've never chopped myself. Of course I have only been handling axes and hatchets and mauls and wedges for half a century.

Perhaps your own experiences are more expansive? Or perhaps you did not have a mentor who taught you the right way to use those tools? Whatever the case, I won't suggest that you don't have a firm grasp on reality and should not therefore post your opinion.
 
Codger, my Grandfather lived on a farm through the depression as well. Even after he started a family into the suburbs, he made a BIG point of teaching my Dad how to use an Axe and Hatchet. He chopped wood with an axe up to the very end, and made sure it was a skill that was not lost with my Dad or myself. Growing up in northwestern Oregon, chopping wood with an axe was a fairly regular task to do every other day.

There will never be a day when I think that an axe is too unsafe a tool to use. It just takes safety training and a level head (like guns, knives, and everything else we enjoy).
 
The Government said:
...There will never be a day when I think that an axe is too unsafe a tool to use. It just takes safety training and a level head.
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The proper use of tools, and the use of proper tools for the job is a skill set that is vanishing. I have seen people injure themselves using tool that were wrong for the job at hand.

Sure, with practice, and lacking the proper wood chisel, you can inlet a door for a lock plate. Or you can fracture the screwdriver or have it bounce out of the wood and send it into your arm severing major arteries. I've seen it done.

With practice and care, you can use a framing hammer to drive steel stakes to set concrete forms. Or you can shatter the hammer face and put out your eye. I've seen that done.

But as I said in my first post, like what you want and use what you like. :)
Just don't insult my intellegence because I like and use a different tool for a job.
 
For crying out loud, don't do that thing where you hold the wood up with one hand and chop down with your hatchet while at the same time letting the wood go. That is just asking for problems.

I don't disagree with Codger's axeman ship, but the simple physics of it is that you once you start the swing, the momentum is almost impossible to overcome with an axe. Of course, the safety practice that Codger is talking about is setting up the right conditions before you start your swing. This entails, using a level splitting block so that your piece of wood being split stays upright. It entails using a piece of wood that is capable of standing on its own. It entails the user understanding where the axehead is going to end up during a miss and having the precision of technique to perform a swing to match his mental calculations.

I agree with Codger that if you follow the right technique, using an axe can be safe and effective and it will certainly process wood faster than baton splitting. However, baton splitting can also be effective in situations where it is difficult to establish the safe parts of using an axe. For example, with a baton, having a splitting block is less important and might even be completely circumvented in some cases. Need to have a self standing piece of wood is less important. The baton can be corrected part way through the process and you can use controlled swings to test the wood before attempting to commit to the split. For people who have a bad back, swollen disk etc., swinging an axe is pretty much impossible but they can often kneel, back straight, and baton with little pain.

I agree that you can't process as much wood by batoning and you will more likely process smaller pieces by batoning than you would with an axe. I've also come to the opinion that most people must make tremendously larger fires than I do because of their demands for an axe. I agree with the statement that often times you don't even need to baton the wood. You can crack the wood over your knee or in a tree crook. There are many ways to get that wood for a small personal fire and baton splitting is one of a variety of techniques.
 
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