Should i baton wood with an expensive knife?

B

Beast Steel

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Jul 10, 2015
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ok so i’m pretty new to knives and i’m not a collector or anything i just want 1 or 2 knives that i really like, looks cool/practical and can depend on.

I used to baton wood with my Cold Steel SRK (60$) because it wasn’t so expensive so i wasn’t worried about breaking it( it most likely wasn’t going to break anyway i’ve seen insane torture test by users on youtube) it’s not that i didn’t like it or anything , in fact i loved my SRK it just felt better knowing that it wasn’t very expensive.

so recently i got my first “Expensive knife” which is an Cold Steel "AK-47 Field knife” it has an “super steel” which i really like, it costed me $170. I think this knife is really cool/practical and i really like and it is also full tang, i’d hate for it to break on me. But in reality it’ll most likely be tougher than the SRK which already survived insane amounts of abuse.

So i think it’s really all in my head........... should i just go ahead and baton with it or not? If i don’t baton with it , it still kind of bothers me because i know i’m not using the knife to it’s fullest capabilities.

hmmmm just really not sure what to do lol.

any thoughts on this?

EDIT: this is the knife http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/14AKVG/AK-47_Field_Knife.aspx
 
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If it's an expensive knife for you why do it? Buy an axe. I don't baton with any of my knives and wouldn't less an emergency.

Mike
 
knife is meant to be used and used hard, let it live up to it's makers intent. There is a reason people pay for good knives, the good materials that ensure a strong blade.
 
I say use it..

I recently got a chopper, and was expensive. When it came, it was much more beautiful than I thought it would be and fighting the urge to scar it up on some oak logs I have sitting around.
I figure once I scratch the blade up by accident, i will come around to use it.
I'm not the type to keep any knives in the safe or anything.

Same with my sebenzas, took some time to actually put it through some finish scarring use, but once it gets that first big scratch, it's on.
 
It's never a good idea to baton wood with a folding knife, even one with a Tri-Ad lock like the Cold Steel AK-47. Just get a much cheaper Mora Bushcraft and baton all you want. Or get an axe/hatchet like other people suggested.
 
I spent $250 on a Gravelle FK5, and every trip it goes on I baton the crap out of it. It's why I got the knife in the first place, to be a hardcore do-everything beast of a knife, and it's performed flawlessly.

I say, if you want to do it go for it.

edit: It has the same 3V steel your CS has, The only issue it had was it eventually got a bit dulled where it wouldn't cleanly cut paper all the time. It's a fantastic beater steel, meant specifically to do what you're asking about doing.
 
I baton wood with my favorite knife all the time. Pretty much daily in the winter in order to make kindling for the wood stove.

That being said, my favorite knife happens to be a .2 inch thick piece of A2 steel made by someone whose knives I trust. The knife is stout and heavy duty and IMO made for that kind of hard use.

I also take my time and don't do anything particularly abusive like twisting or busting through knots. If I can't baton the knife through, I carefully pull it out and try another piece rather than just bashing it over and over.

Anyway, just my 2 cents! I guess my point is it depends on your feelings toward the steel, design and build quality. Use your best judgement and I'm sure you'll he fine!
 
Why did you buy it if you weren't going to use it. It's a tool, isn't it? If you wanted a piece of decoration to hang over the fireplace, an old ornate pirate sword & dagger would be a better choice. I hope I'm not sounding too harsh.

I look at it this way. There are two routes you can go. One is to buy a case of Mora's and beat on one until it dies, then pull another $10 Mora out of the box and go to town on it, etc., etc.

The other route is to buy a quality knife that is designed for hard work around camp and enjoy using it.

My camp knife is a Bark River Bravo 1.5 in CPM 3V, which I paid dearly for. And I baton the heck out of everything in sight with it. I don't chop anything of size with it, not because it can't but because chopping is inefficient compared to a saw. I'm a backpacker and I'm not about to carry an axe. My Bravo and lightweight folding saw will take care of all my needs. I have total faith in the knife because I was willing to spend the money to get the right tool for the job.

Your knife is your partner; it wants to be used! Hmmmm. Sword & dagger over the fireplace.... No, the wife's not going to go for that! Lol
 
MAD777 said:
Why did you buy it if you weren't going to use it. It's a tool, isn't it? If you wanted a piece of decoration to hang over the fireplace, an old ornate pirate sword & dagger would be a better choice. I hope I'm not sounding too harsh.

I look at it this way. There are two routes you can go. One is to buy a case of Mora's and beat on one until it dies, then pull another $10 Mora out of the box and go to town on it, etc., etc.

The other route is to buy a quality knife that is designed for hard work around camp and enjoy using it.

My camp knife is a Bark River Bravo 1.5 in CPM 3V, which I paid dearly for. And I baton the heck out of everything in sight with it. I don't chop anything of size with it, not because it can't but because chopping is inefficient compared to a saw. I'm a backpacker and I'm not about to carry an axe. My Bravo and lightweight folding saw will take care of all my needs. I have total faith in the knife because I was willing to spend the money to get the right tool for the job.

Your knife is your partner; it wants to be used! Hmmmm. Sword & dagger over the fireplace.... No, the wife's not going to go for that! Lol
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you’re good lol not harsh at all, i want people to be straight forward with me and tell me their own real opinions.

thanks!
 
Ah, noobs. We were all like that in one form or another. Use it. Use it well, use it hard. It's the only way to really prove that it was worth the money.
 
You probably shouldn't be batoning with a folder...

Then again, I probably shouldn't be using the swedge on my Insingo Seb to pry open paint cans:)

Edit: oops, I didnt realize it was a fixed blade in question:foot:
 
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VermontEdge said:
I also take my time and don't do anything particularly abusive like twisting or busting through knots. If I can't baton the knife through, I carefully pull it out and try another piece rather than just bashing it over and over.
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I do the same thing. Eyeball the wood to see if the grain is straight and has no knots(or knots that I can avoid). Give it a couple taps to set the knife in. Like starting a nail with a hammer. Then just tap it through. TAP it through. If the knife won't move, pull it out and split a different log. If you do it with just a little bit of care it's really not that stressful on a decent knife.


The only thing I can see that might be a factor would be the thinned tip. I'd give that a good looking at and see if there's enough steel there. If it's about the same thickness as the USMC Kabar you may want to avoid hitting the tip. I dunno, you can't really tell from a pic on the web how thick the steel is there.
 
MaximIsayev said:
It's never a good idea to baton wood with a folding knife, even one with a Tri-Ad lock like the Cold Steel AK-47. Just get a much cheaper Mora Bushcraft and baton all you want. Or get an axe/hatchet like other people suggested.
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It's like asking, "Should I go off-roading in my Porsche?"

The answer would be to get the right tool for the application and even then, you still have a similar range of choosing a lowly jeep to a range rover. (I'm not really an off-roader so I may not have the appropriate brands.)
 
If you need to baton with a knife you aren't using the right tool for the job. The right tool is a small hatchet or axe.
 
I would use the knife intelligently. I do the same thing with my Dozier Pro Guides knife. I would not try to split a 4" log down the center such as you might do with an axe, but I might split off some smaller pieces with the knife. It just depends. I don't really baton much as just seldom have the need or desire to do so. A folding saw is your friend. If you baton a lot, I would consider a small hatchet or use the new knife and don't worry about it.
 
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