How To Real-world knife use

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bigstevek

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Almost every (fixed-blade) knife review video includes batoning wood. But is that reality? I don't get out into the woods much (as in never), so those of you who do, and anyone with "survival" training, what are "normal" knife uses, especially for survival needs? And, would you typically baton wood, or is that just a contrived YouTube ideation? What about making eating utensils and carving food bowls? That all seems to be antithetical to the concept of conserving energy, especially in a survival situation.
 
One of many threads on the subject:

D

Thread 'Batoning?'

Ok - not looking to start a war, more of a knife-design question. I don't do a bunch of bushcrafting, but whenever I go camping and know that I will need to process firewood, I bring a hatchet. It never crosses my mind to use my knife to baton firewood. What baffles me is why batoning seems to be the "ultimate test" of utility/survival knives. Granted, my preferred utility knife is something Kabar-esque, and batoning a Kabar is not advisable. Perhaps I am missing the point, perhaps it is the case of "you only have what is in your government-issued gear." In that case, yeah, your only...
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Short answer is: yes/no/it depends/get a saw/get a froe/get an axe/get a chainsaw/only real men baton/real men only need an SAK and small Mora and never baton/SMATCHET.

Welcome to BladeForums!
 
I have never been in a survival situation. But I have backpacked extensively. I have never used a knife to baton wood. Most knife use was to cut some food or a piece of string or para cord. Maybe us one of the tools on a Swiss Army Knife to fix or adjust some gear. Most of the time I didn't build a fire. I carried a small backpacking stove for cooking. A fire is like a baby. Once you start one you are responsible for it. You can't just walk off and leave it. I would rather take my camera to the lake shore, and take sunset pictures, than sit in camp tending a fire. But when I did have a fire. I mostly just broke the wood to fire length. If it was to big to break, just drag it across the fire and burn it in two. Then you have two logs just keep pushing them in, as they burn up.

O.B.
 
Old Biker said:
I have never been in a survival situation. But I have backpacked extensively. I have never used a knife to baton wood. Most knife use was to cut some food or a piece of string or para cord. Maybe us one of the tools on a Swiss Army Knife to fix or adjust some gear. Most of the time I didn't build a fire. I carried a small backpacking stove for cooking. A fire is like a baby. Once you start one you are responsible for it. You can't just walk off and leave it. I would rather take my camera to the lake shore, and take sunset pictures, than sit in camp tending a fire. But when I did have a fire. I mostly just broke the wood to fire length. If it was to big to break, just drag it across the fire and burn it in two. Then you have two logs just keep pushing them in, as they burn up.

O.B.
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That’s what I suspected. Thanks for sharing your experience!
 
oldmanwilly said:
One of many threads on the subject:

D

Thread 'Batoning?'

Ok - not looking to start a war, more of a knife-design question. I don't do a bunch of bushcrafting, but whenever I go camping and know that I will need to process firewood, I bring a hatchet. It never crosses my mind to use my knife to baton firewood. What baffles me is why batoning seems to be the "ultimate test" of utility/survival knives. Granted, my preferred utility knife is something Kabar-esque, and batoning a Kabar is not advisable. Perhaps I am missing the point, perhaps it is the case of "you only have what is in your government-issued gear." In that case, yeah, your only...
  • Like

Short answer is: yes/no/it depends/get a saw/get a froe/get an axe/get a chainsaw/only real men baton/real men only need an SAK and small Mora and never baton/SMATCHET.

Welcome to BladeForums!
Click to expand...
Damn, you’ve answered about 80% of all threads here in one fell swoop!


But I’ll add anyway, batoning is a viable way to break down smaller pieces into kindling and tinder for a fire. Not the only way, or necessarily the best way, but a viable way. It gets a bad rap when applied in extremes, and/or with knives that have no business doing so. Heck I’ve done it plenty with even a Mora, but not on a 12” chunk of frozen oak, etc. for goodness sakes. Common sense is required.
 
Blue Sky said:
Damn, you’ve answered about 80% of all threads here in one fell swoop!


But I’ll add anyway, batoning is a viable way to break down smaller pieces into kindling and tinder for a fire. Not the only way, or necessarily the best way, but a viable way. It gets a bad rap when applied in extremes, and/or with knives that have no business doing so. Heck I’ve done it plenty with even a Mora, but not on a 12” chunk of frozen oak, etc. for goodness sakes. Common sense is required.
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Makes absolute sense! Need, not show!!!
 
bigstevek said:
Makes absolute sense! Need, not show!!!
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It seems that pounding a knife through a huge, hard log is not only potentially damaging to the knife but wastes a lot of energy. Once you have a smaller fire burning, you could just add the bigger pieces, which will naturally shrink once they burn. I'd be afraid of breaking the knife!
 
bigstevek said:
Almost every (fixed-blade) knife review video includes batoning wood. But is that reality? I don't get out into the woods much (as in never), so those of you who do, and anyone with "survival" training, what are "normal" knife uses, especially for survival needs? And, would you typically baton wood, or is that just a contrived YouTube ideation? What about making eating utensils and carving food bowls? That all seems to be antithetical to the concept of conserving energy, especially in a survival situation.
Click to expand...
I would use batoning for building structures if I don't don't have a saw.

So a stretcher is a good one to know how to do. Tent pegs would work.

Or when I use a survival wood stove. Those sort of Lego set ones.

But i also tend to carry a saw. I have found the little opinel 12 saw cuts enough wood to make those sorts of structures.

for me it would be looking for foragables. Which can get pretty knifey.

Making a digging stick for yams or worms. Opening nuts or fruits. Digging in to a tree for whichity grubs. Opening a fish, or a crayfish or a crab or something.

But my survival might not be as orthodox as survival should.

So for example it might be a crab pot out of milk crates.

 
As mentioned bushcrafting skills and survial situation skills can overlap quite a bit, but are seperate things. If it's a planned situation it would rarely if ever be necessary to baton wood, it would be a choice. That said it is much more controlled and if done with common sense it can be much safer than splitting wood with an axe for a short term wood processing solution.

I have often processed wood by batoning, but only a handful of times was it a "need to" situation. I usually pack an Agawa Canyon Folding Saw and can find enough tinder to get a fire started as needed or have a good firestarter of some type packed in my gear, but there have been a handful of occasions that there just was no dry tinder or wood to be found and batoning to get dry interior wood was the only way we were going to have a fire and it's a very useful tool to have in your skill sets.

I only take an axe when the campsite is relatively close to my truck and will be a trip permanent camp or when I'll have a base camp that will be frequented. If I'm moving camp daily an axe is one thing I can get by without by utilizing batoning if I need to process wood.
 
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