Is this 'batoning' and firewood chopping with a knife a passing trend?

I like to think I know some basic survival skills, but my camping usually Consists of music festivals , amusement park cabins and nascar. So I have plenty of food, beer and energy.... Batoning is a fun way to beat the hell out my knife and marvel at its abilities. It passes some time and I feel like my knife is bad ass. There is no logical reason for this other than something I find entertaining. It's also good to know in case it was all I had on me in a more serious situation. Is throwing knives useful? Is sharpening them to a micron measured mirror edge necessary? Is owning 37 knives?.... People just like this stuff.
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I can't recall a single time when I HAD to baton through a chunk of wood to get firewood. On the other hand, I can't recall a single time when doing so wasn't fun.
What I really can't figure out, is why anyone would care enough about what others do when afield, to start a thread about it. :eek:
 
I didn't know what batoning wood meant until I joined the forum. It's not a hard skill to learn, but it's one more thing to have in the back of your mind.
 
Battling a knife though wood greatly reduces its time till failure..

Not really a problem in todays world where you use the knife once every few months on a camping trip, and if it lasts 20 years... you think what a great knife.
The fact it actually only saw a few months of real use doesnt really CLICK with people.

IT becomes a problem for people who use a knife EVERY day all day.
Wrecking knives are a great example of hard use knife that includes batoning and how they have to be constantly replaced due to wear and failure.

Its nice to know a knife can do something... but really you shouldnt baton a survival knife unless in a situation where life depends upon it, so that it wont fail at this exact point where its most needed.

Knives are like people, treat them right, and they will stick with you all your days.

PS-larger tools like Machetes that are designed for high stress impacts... are softer then most knives for a reason.
Toughness and hardness have a inverse relationship.
If it didnt we would still be using Volcanic Glass blades... which are hundreds to a thousand times sharper then steel blades.
 
"Well if you were in a life of death survival scenario..." Is probably the dumbest reason to baton, why risk breaking your most important tool? I shake my head at all the youtube knife experts who get a new folder and run out to show how the "test" baton... That being said, I do baton when camping with my buddies because its fun and if my knife breaks its no big deal...
 
Batoning is an old technique. You can find old farm tools and such that were obviously batoned, with mushroomed spines and such. A froe is a specialized knife for batoning, but it's likely someone batoned a knife first then made something specifically for that use. Wood chisels get used with mallets. It's not a great leap to try the same thing with a knife.
 
Smokinape
A major storm is coming lots of rain and subzero nights for an entire week, you have no shelter, the only resources you have is a knife and the trees growing around you.
No caves.. no hills or overhangs.. no half hollow burnt out trees you can use to weather the storm.
You either suffer the elements for a entire week and likely DIE, or you use that knife to chop batton and split trees into a shelter as quick as you can.
Normal winter storm here is Western Australia would be deadly if you had no shelter from it.. and our winters are very mild compared to most of the world, our summers are another thing all together.

Given time you would only use the knife to make wood wedges hardened in a fire and use them to split wood with a mallet you also made saving your knife from alot of stress.

Sometimes you just dont have TIME.

Should you use a knife as a baton?
NO

Could a situation arise when its needed?
YES


Honestly I also find your argument horribly flawed.
Most people dont go put themselves into a survival situation... Events unfold and people find themselves in one.
You go camping with your buddies.. no big deal?
Break the knife... no big deal?

You use your knife to baton.. it breaks.. no big deal you goto sleep.. you wake up during the night with a massive storm front has come in that was unexpected, local flooding and high winds... roads are washed out you are stuck no chance of air rescue...The storms damaged the tents and blown away alot of your gear and equipment... you now need to make a shelter...
Ohh look that broken knife that was NO BIG DEAL, just became one....

How equipment has been treated is a BIG DEAL, from the factory to your hand, and that point onward.
You treat it right... so when you DO need to abuse it, its less likely to fail... not argue the other way around.
Survival situations are not a choice, bad decisions lead to them, bad decisions during them can kill.
 
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"...And what do you suppopse you'll do if you were on a day hike (you carry an ax on those too,do ya? ) that turns into a survival situation and all you have is your BK2 with you? Freeze?"

No, I'd do what I've done before when I got stranded with a dead battery waay out on a deer lease, gather a bunch of firewood build a fire and relax. I didn't have a big bowie with me then either nor did it ever occur to me I wish I'd brought it so I could start hacking on and splitting dead trees. I didn't freeze.
I worked for Lower Colorado River Authority which supplies hydro-electricity via the dams to much of Texas and our department's job was surveying which meant laying out straight lines across the country for power lines. This required much serious brush cutting, sometimes for miles. If I got out of the truck and started hacking even small brush with a Trail Master or other big knife the crew chief would have asked "WTF are you doing!?"

I read where some don't like the Kraton handle of a Trail Master because it's uncomfortable after long hours of brush cutting. I guess so, my Kershaw Blur would get old after a while too, thats when I'd grab a machete and get serious.
I'm not trying to be a troll here, I just don't see where wood chopping and pounding on the spine of a belt knife down a piece of wood, something that would have gotten me chewed out and a demerit in Boy Scouts, is that critical in what makes a good big blade.
 
I wouldn't baton wood with a folder, ( I learned my lesson with my Buck), but give me a nice solid fixed blade and sure I'll give it a go. Sometimes you don't have that option and have to use what you have.
 
Ive built plenty of fires without using an axe and definitely not a knife. I laugh watching videos of people struggling and wasting energy to baton through a dead log. By the time they finally get through it I would have already stomped plenty of small and large branches.

Batoning seems ridiculous, and so are some of these sharpened crow bars that are being pushed as essential for camp knives....
 
"...What I really can't figure out, is why anyone would care enough about what others do when afield, to start a thread about it."

Well because...When reading the reviews or watching a Youtube on virtually any big knife, which btw I love and even have a Bark River Rio Grande Bowie as a screen saver, the first thing almost all the people say after showing it off to the audience is "OK, lets see how well it batons" and then commences to pound it down through a piece of wood or starts hacking on a dead tree leaving it half chopped through after five minutes.
 
I just carry a folding saw. Have carried the same one for about 4 decades. Lighter and smaller than an ax (and many knives). Better than a knife for cutting wood. Can buy one for $15-$20, and it'll last a long time with just a modicum of care. As others have said, use the right tool for the job at hand.
 
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Redmasta said:
Ive built plenty of fires without using an axe and definitely not a knife. I laugh watching videos of people struggling and wasting energy to baton through a dead log. By the time they finally get through it I would have already stomped plenty of small and large branches.

Batoning seems ridiculous, and so are some of these sharpened crow bars that are being pushed as essential for camp knives....
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Good point.
 
Smokinape said:
Why not baton with an axe?

[video=youtube_share;hOMxnWPgUlk]http://youtu.be/hOMxnWPgUlk[/video]
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Exactly! An ax or hatchets wedge works much better for splitting wood.

Plus if you are toting grills, coolers, and folding chairs to the outdoors, you might as well tote an ax and a saw too.
 
imho the best method for cutting wood for fires and shelter is the the one that best suits the individual. If someone is better with a knife then it makes sense for them to use a knife. Doing the things the perceived "right" way is only "right" if the person doing the work is comfortable and safe. There are numerous survival shows on television these days. While basics of survival are a constant many of these personalities have different ways of going about it. None of them are wrong. They are simply showing what works best for them and if you can relate to that then awesome. If not, find what works for you. In the end the only right way to do anything is the way that best works for you. If you are a safer driver making all rights instead of taking any lefts then I dont see any reason to NOT go around the block to get across the street.
 
Batonning is a good skill to be familiar with if you hit the woods much. Other than for fun, the dominant time I would need to baton wood for a fire is when the wood is wet and I need to get into the dry portions quickly and at the same time split some fairly thin pieces for the early stages of a fire. You can use a hatchet or axe for the same purpose. It sort of depends on what you have with you.

My general approach for the woods is a two knife approach (big and small, or medium and small) and bringing a folding saw along if I'm going to be out a while and feel I will be spending a fair amount of fireside time.
 
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