Please Enlighten Me

cards94 said:
I've seen all the Rambo movies and I've never seen him baton. :p
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Literally LOL'ing here!

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Survival skill that is much better left to a fixed blade than a folder(although possible to use, but not recommended ). I have never found the need to Baton. May be of use in the Pacific NW where all the wood is soaked
 
Hi Jimmy, like others have alluded to, this topic has been discussed numerous times, however I don't think it is a bad thing to go over plowed ground. Many new members may have never heard of this practice, or may have experience that may useful to all. Personally I have never practiced this method of processing camp firewood and never heard of this prior to joining BF. I carry a folding saw, fixed blade knife and a wettherlings small hatchet into the Adirondack Mountains on my excursions. This has served me well for 40 yrs., that said I tried battoning camp wood just recently with my Bark River Parang and had a blast.

That being said it re affirms my aversion to subjecting a folding or fixed blade knife to this practice. The thick bladed Parang and blade geometry allowed me to strike the back of the blade with a piece of wood to force it through without blade damage or dulling of the edge. I think it is good knowledge to use in a survival situation, but for routine outings I would avoid subjecting a folder or thin fixed blade knife to this practice.

I took this picture just for a comparision of blade thicknesses. The fixed blade is an SK 5 Blackbird, thickness is 1/8 ".

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I have used my SOG Seal Team to baton fist-sized chunks of hickory down to multiple, finger-sized chunks for use in cooking. It worked a lot better (quicker and more precise) than other the ways I've tried (hatchet, hammer/chisel). But for logs on a fire? Probably not, unless I was caught unprepared, or just for fun/testing purposes. There are better tools for the latter job.
 
There are 2 knives I've ever owned that I've batoned with for real. My old Ontario MKIII and my Gerber Profile. These were in snow when I had to get to the dry parts to make a fire, but since then I carry my Machete, tomahawk or hatchet and I now don't have to beat my blades half to death to get warm in a snowstorm. Some people feel batoning is necessary, all the power to them, but I feel there is a right tool for every job. There is actually a review on how to do this with just a pocket knife on you tube, he even said he didn't recommend it, but in a life/death scenario where you could freeze to death, make due with what you got. If it's for fun, or you really need to make a fire with a pocket knife, go for it. I digress, I would not use my folders to baton with, I'll stick with using one of my aforementioned tools to process wood.
 
If I were lost in the woods and had to build a fire, and had a sturdy fixed blade I may use it to baton, some small branches to make fire wood.

With that said, I have been lost in the woods before on a very web damp day (in fact there was snow on the ground), and had to build a fire to prepare to spend the night. As wet as everything was, I was still able to easily build a fire using dead branches that were off the ground. So I don't think you really need it to get a fire built. But it would probably be handy. If it was on-hand, I probably would have used it.

Luckily I was found by a search team around mid-night and was able to go back to camp and sleep in a comfortable bed instead of the shelter I built. I remember the rescue person commenting on how nice of a fire I had going.
 
Thank you, Tyrone. I live in coastal NC and am old enough, or lazy enough, that if I was out camping, I'd be close enough to my Jeep that the weight of the chain saw wouldn't be a problem. You know what they say about "proper planning", too old to try to impress my wife and daughters with my " Daniel Boone" skills.
 
ericvar101 said:
If I were lost in the woods and had to build a fire, and had a sturdy fixed blade I may use it to baton, some small branches to make fire wood.

With that said, I have been lost in the woods before on a very web damp day (in fact there was snow on the ground), and had to build a fire to prepare to spend the night. As wet as everything was, I was still able to easily build a fire using dead branches that were off the ground. So I don't think you really need it to get a fire built. But it would probably be handy. If it was on-hand, I probably would have used it.

Luckily I was found by a search team around mid-night and was able to go back to camp and sleep in a comfortable bed instead of the shelter I built. I remember the rescue person commenting on how nice of a fire I had going.
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If I was lost in the woods with only one knife to survive with the last thing I would ever do it beat on the spine with a small log.
If I broke the knife or even just chipped out the blade, I then wouldn't have a knife or a lot less of one to survive with.
 
rhinoknives1 said:
if i was lost in the woods with only one knife to survive with the last thing i would ever do it beat on the spine with a small log.
If i broke the knife or even just chipped out the blade, i then wouldn't have a knife or a lot less of one to survive with.
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bingo
 
It's called the search button. Learn how to use it, you can learn from it without re-hashing the same things over and over.
 
OK, gentlemen...I am hereby "enlightened". Thanks for all of the responses. Moderators, I'm ready to move on and try to think up my next silly question. And that ain't hard to do with a 58 yr. old brain that's missing as many brain cells as mine is!
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
If I was lost in the woods with only one knife to survive with the last thing I would ever do it beat on the spine with a small log.
If I broke the knife or even just chipped out the blade, I then wouldn't have a knife or a lot less of one to survive with.
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Well I wouldn't baton a "small log", but "light branches", with something like an ESEE 6, I would have. In context of the situation, I only had a few miles to go to reach a road, I pretty much knew that, but had been walking for hours and was running out of day light. I had no flashlight so as I saw the sun starting to go down, it was either hunker down for the night or find myself wondering around in the dark. I pretty much knew when I got up the next morning I would have been out of the woods in less than 2 hours so I wouldn't have worried about breaking the knife as this was not a "long term-survival situation".
 
None of these knives broke (the first two pictures demonstrate the real danger of batonning...it can result in time travel ;)):









As to why...



Think about it! :)
 
ericvar101 said:
Well I wouldn't baton a "small log", but "light branches", with something like an ESEE 6, I would have. In context of the situation, I only had a few miles to go to reach a road, I pretty much knew that, but had been walking for hours and was running out of day light. I had no flashlight so as I saw the sun starting to go down, it was either hunker down for the night or find myself wondering around in the dark. I pretty much knew when I got up the next morning I would have been out of the woods in less than 2 hours so I wouldn't have worried about breaking the knife as this was not a "long term-survival situation".
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That situation makes sense.
 
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