Is there any folder you COULD use for batoning?

I'd trust my Darrel Ralph bowie Maxx.



Blade is .220" Chad Nichols PD1 core stainless dsmascus.



 
I have a Wildsteer WX with the insanely strong WX-Lock® Double-locking system. As close to a fixed knife as you're likely to get from a folder. Definitely not fast deployment! Weighs a whopping 10 ounces and the X46Cr13 stainless steel blade is 4.7" long and 0.18" thick.

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[video=youtube_share;u2NSHNb3Uy8]http://youtu.be/u2NSHNb3Uy8[/video]
 
A POS gerber. I batoned some dried tree limbs a couple months ago with a gerber contrast. I used a brick to strike the blade and handle. Why? For the hell of it. What happened? Lock failed 3 times but the blade was in the wood so it didnt fully close. What happened after? A few blemishes on the paint, thats all. Then i sharpened it because they use mystery steel and it had dulled slightly. I put that thing threw hell and it keeps kicking. I threw it at my tree and it bounced off and hit a cement mixer and thats how it got its first actual scratch on the blade coating.
 
I've batoned with both my Cold Steel Pocket Bushman, and my Cold Steel XL Voyager several times, and they seem none the worse for wear. I wouldn't recommend doing it all the time but in a pinch, they worked. I have also batoned with my Cold Steel Kudu, and Eland, but the edges are so thin that they required sharpening afterwards. They did the job, though.
 
I've battoned with my zt 350 but it was only fatwood sticks about an 2 inch across its all about being reasonable. The knife can probably handle allot more but I'm not guna do it
 
I had to do some light batoning with my spyderco native. It didn't do any perceptable damage.
 
egally08 said:
You can baton with any pocket knife without damaging it, and what lock it has doesn't matter in the least.

As with most batoning, as long as the diameter of the wood isn't larger than the length of the blade you will be fine. I said the lock doesn't matter because you won't be using it. You disengage the lock, and fold the knife into a right angle. Essentially, you are just using the blade as a wedge with no force being applied to the lock or handle. The only thing you have to worry about is edge thickness.
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Nailed it. The lock is irrelevant.
 
JDX said:
Hypothetically speaking. I'm just curious, if you had to pick, which folding blade would you use if you had to baton with it or any ther heavy duty tasks?
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As a heavy knife user of 15 plus years I still don't understand batoning, even with a fixed blade. It seems to be a made up "task" from the likes of Nutnfancy.

Why use a knife for a job that a hatchet/axe does without issue? I understand wanting to only carry one tool to do it all but my father laughed his hindquarters off when I mentioned batoning logs with a knife because he thought it was silly (he runs a wood stove all winter long btw).

Not hating at all, only want to help.
 
I have seen it done with a Kabar Mule. That was knife that was seriously abused by its owner and never faltered.
 
Buck/ TOPS CSAR-T Folder 095. There's a video of a guy doing it with his, as a torture test, and it passed. I'd never do it with mine, simply because I like my knives. There's also a video of a dude doing the same kind of insanity to a ZT 301, again, not a thing I'd do to mine. I love my 301 too much (and don't want to buy another anytime soon). For a fixed blade, check out the Camillus Bushcrafter- 1095 steel, thick and full tang. Be safe!
 
I've done it with my Endura, no lockup problems, but that was a one time thing to just see if it could. No, I wouldn't want to baton a folder but if you HAD to don't engage the lock or spring mechanism. Iz Turley has a video of it on YouTube. But if I had to choose one to baton, svord peasant for sure or any cold steel folder. Wouldn't do heavy batoning with it of course.
 
Tri-ad locks are great at handling the extreme stress of batoning. I won't recommend doing it a lot, you will likely damage it over time. I believe an Axis lock could take this very well especially if it has a safety feature like on the BM 5300. ZT's and any other high end frame locks should hold up well. I did some pretty light batoning with a RAT-1 once with little ill effect (pivot loosened) but with medium to heavy work you will bend or break the liner lock. This is, however, considering you're doing these actions in the open and locked position.

Egally is correct, if you just let the handle hang while pushing the blade through you will not damage it at all. If you disengage the lock and pull down on the handle for easier batoning you can cause stress on the pivot but it's better than doing it in the locked position.
 
I will not tell you which ones can or cannot but I will tell you that I have batoned with my ZT 0301 before just to see how it would hold up. It did just fine. Do I advise doing? Nope! But if you absolutely had to use it for such it will handle the job!

Sept 2013 146 by https://www.flickr.com/people/57703464@N02/, on Flickr
 
Use the folder to carve a wedge. Cut a small groove in the wood you are trying to split and then use the wedge to split the wood. If the wedge breaks then carve another one. That is how you baton with a folder.
 
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