Sometimes I shouldnt read expert advice on the internet. Or?

DeSotoSky said:
jbmonkey jbmonkey
Well, If we are going to tell paddling stories....
Back in my school days Jim and I were paddling Honeoye Creek below Factory Hollow.
Having to relieve my self I was standing up on the back letting go a "rooster tail" like only an young bladder can.
As we floated by I realized there was a woman sitting on the bank in full view of my 'spectacle'.
I hurriedly sat back down and encouraged Jim to paddle a little more quickly.
Not as good a story as jbmonkey's but is was an embarrassment I remember well.
No Buck in my pocket back then, probably just a cheap "gas station" fishing knife.
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oh, its better in some ways. hilarious moment of being young. if i had tried that, the kids I grew up with would have rocked the canoe and tried to make me fall out.:)
 
You could have made a video yourself showing how great the Vanguard is as a woodsman knife and it would've had just as much credibility as the one you watched.
That said could someone explain to me why you would baton with a knife?
Seriously just looking for insight, no judgement here.
If I was stranded in the woods (or just camping) I'd walk around and gather twigs for kindling, in fact I've done that many times and it works just fine.
 
Hjalmar69 said:
10 years ago I got a wooden handled Buck Vanguard from my brother when I began hunting. I love it for field dressing and skinning. However, I also used it for food and whittling. Sometimes I even batoned small sticks for kindling. Then I read some reviews about the hollow ground blade being to brittle, which I haven't noticed, so now I only use it for the game processing, otherwise it stays in my backpack. This irritates me since it is my favorite fixed blade. I have a sturdy SRK, but I don't like it as much. If I am being a bit cautious I should be able to use the Vanguard as an overall woods knife?
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I don't think you did anything out of the ordinary or over the top that this knife isn't capable of. Have at it :thumbsup: Mine hasn't let me down yet. It goes everywhere.
 
There's a 5160 Vanguard that would probably work pretty well for the sort of things your talking about.

Now and then there's a long blade Vanguard that makes an appearance here.
Wouldn't it be cool to combine that with maybe a 5160 blade with more of a sabre grind. Not so much of a high hollow.... But I prefer flat grinds.
Anyways. Vanguard are cool, even those ugly rubber handled ones that are on my wish list.

I agree with fishhunter, use it. It's bugging you that your not.
 
Scott J. said:
You could have made a video yourself showing how great the Vanguard is as a woodsman knife and it would've had just as much credibility as the one you watched.
That said could someone explain to me why you would baton with a knife?
Seriously just looking for insight, no judgement here.
If I was stranded in the woods (or just camping) I'd walk around and gather twigs for kindling, in fact I've done that many times and it works just fine.
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Maybe needs to craft something. Who knows the reasons but baton away if you wish.
 
Scott J. said:
You could have made a video yourself showing how great the Vanguard is as a woodsman knife and it would've had just as much credibility as the one you watched.
That said could someone explain to me why you would baton with a knife?
Seriously just looking for insight, no judgement here.
If I was stranded in the woods (or just camping) I'd walk around and gather twigs for kindling, in fact I've done that many times and it works just fine.
Click to expand...

sure others have other reasons. but one I've run into........so if its real wet everywhere and has been for awhile. think florida subtropical rainy season. inside thick branches and logs the wood is dry or drier. so batoning helps get the dry in the middle of a thick branch or log and makes starting a fire much easier when all the twigs and kindling is saturated and wet.

course hatchet works just as well or better really.
 
Makael said:
What are you gonna do when a gator takes off with your axe and someone steals your truck. your left out in the swamp with a knife. Snow on the ground, Wild Hogs runnin around, close to hypothermic........:eek: And you hear a Banjo, getting closer by the minute.
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Ha, id pull out my bow an shoot that sucker.
 
Scott J. said:
....could someone explain to me why you would baton with a knife?
Seriously just looking for insight, no judgement here.
If I was stranded in the woods (or just camping) I'd walk around and gather twigs for kindling, in fact I've done that many times and it works just fine.
Click to expand...
Exactly, i sure woudnt want to dull my knife in a survival situation when theres always plenty of small stuff around. Its the big stuff thats hard to find if it aint to rotten its to big to gather without a saw or axe.
 
Out in our part of the country. Notice I didn’t say “woods”. There’s not many trees lol. Except along the river or a dry creek bed and they are sparse at that in some stretches. Growing up on the high plains was a different experience.
I’ve had camping trips that we hauled wood fence posts for the camp fire. We would always save the broken and rotted off posts for just that. Some were (Osage orange/ bois d’arc or hedge apple, depends what part of the country you’re from), and some were cedar. In the old days folks used to burn cow chips but they’d have a smell to’em. Lol. We used dryed grass tied in Knots for starting the fire but we split kindling from the cedar posts, the bois d’arc posts were just to hard. But I would use an old bent mower blade to baton and split off the kindling from the cedar posts. Twigs and small pieces of wood were even more scarce. Sometimes there would be some sage brush we could use but most areas it was only grass and soap-weed or yucca as some call it and they don’t burn well. I didn’t have a good hunting or camp knife then only a stockman pocket knife and mom wouldn’t let anyone take the kitchen knives out except to butcher with. Lol. We did have a big axe to shorten the posts with and made do with what we had. If I’d had a good camp knife I’d a probably used it to make kindling off the cedar posts but the mower blade did it well kinda like a froe.
 
Lesknife said:
Out in our part of the country. Notice I didn’t say “woods”. There’s not many trees lol. Except along the river or a dry creek bed and they are sparse at that in some stretches. Growing up on the high plains was a different experience.
I’ve had camping trips that we hauled wood fence posts for the camp fire. We would always save the broken and rotted off posts for just that. Some were (Osage orange/ bois d’arc or hedge apple, depends what part of the country you’re from), and some were cedar. In the old days folks used to burn cow chips but they’d have a smell to’em. Lol. We used dryed grass tied in Knots for starting the fire but we split kindling from the cedar posts, the bois d’arc posts were just to hard. But I would use an old bent mower blade to baton and split off the kindling from the cedar posts. Twigs and small pieces of wood were even more scarce. Sometimes there would be some sage brush we could use but most areas it was only grass and soap-weed or yucca as some call it and they don’t burn well. I didn’t have a good hunting or camp knife then only a stockman pocket knife and mom wouldn’t let anyone take the kitchen knives out except to butcher with. Lol. We did have a big axe to shorten the posts with and made do with what we had. If I’d had a good camp knife I’d a probably used it to make kindling off the cedar posts but the mower blade did it well kinda like a froe.
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shows different places require different processes. good tale, an eye opener for me, being from the wet jungle down here. only plains, better called pastures, here are cow pastures made to be that way.
 
jbmonkey said:
shows different places require different processes. good tale, an eye opener for me, being from the wet jungle down here. only plains, better called pastures, here are cow pastures made to be that way.
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Ya, I guess most places in the east if you go camping your camping in the woods. I do suppose you have some camp on the beach.
 
Hjalmar69 said:
10 years ago I got a wooden handled Buck Vanguard from my brother when I began hunting. I love it for field dressing and skinning. However, I also used it for food and whittling. Sometimes I even batoned small sticks for kindling. Then I read some reviews about the hollow ground blade being to brittle, which I haven't noticed, so now I only use it for the game processing, otherwise it stays in my backpack. This irritates me since it is my favorite fixed blade. I have a sturdy SRK, but I don't like it as much. If I am being a bit cautious I should be able to use the Vanguard as an overall woods knife?
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Whenever I read about what some self professed "expert" says, I usually switch off. They typically don't deal in facts, just suppositions and opinions, most of which I tend to disagree with.

As an example, most experts say 420hc is not an acceptable steel. However, the "ignorant" masses all happily go on, day after day, blithely unaware that their knife steel is somehow not capable to cut warm butter, let alone anything else.

Now I heat with wood and for awhile my son did hardwood flooring and would bring home bundles of scrap oak flooring. I bought a cheap no-name ($10) FB with what was supposed to be 420HC. I have no idea whether it was 420HC or not, but I batoned the snot out of it making kindling. No chips, rolling, or any damage at all and I still have all my fingers.

I say "phfttt", just use it like you want to, and to blazes with the experts.
 
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