Thick or thin blade for batoning

C

Chuck289

Joined
Mar 23, 2006
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Is a thicker or thinner blade better for batoning? I know Benchmade fixed blades seem to be on the thinner side, compared to something like Rangers. Sorry I can't think of a good comparison right now. If someone has a good example of thin vs thick, I would like to hear it.
 
I'm not certain that I know what you mean by "batoning." Did I miss a memo?; I often do.
 
smack the spine of the blade with a 'baton' (prob any suitable blunt object) to wedge it through wood.
 
Oh, well, that is an interesting question then. A precussive push-cut.

A thick blade is stronger to withstand the abuse, but a thinner blade will push-cut better making more cut per blow.

What a good question which, I suspect, is best answered by experience; so, I will bow out and just watch.
 
Wouldn't that be dependent upon type of wood, steel of the knife, and technique used (twisting and such)?
 
Thin ones go in easier. Flatgrounds works best as far as control goes. Go to thin however and pyring chunks of wood with your knife will be difficult with such little wedging ability in the blade. A SAK can be batoned through the wood, but you either have to go very far or split it with something else as a wedge. A big knife can do this for you.
 
I personally wouldn't batton a knife with a blade thiner than 3/16", unness it was only on very small pieces of wood. I feel 1/4" thick blade is optimal, but as long as it is a quality blade, most fixed blades will handle battoning.

I have used this technique many times without a problem and have battoned wood with an SRK, Recon Scout, Beker BK7, Ontario RAT7, Swamp rat battle rat and a camptramp.

To my mind any good wilderness/survival style blade of the 6" plus variety should be able to handle moderate battoning.
 
Gollnick said:
I'm not certain that I know what you mean by "batoning." Did I miss a memo?
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Gollnick, out of all of the people here, I would expect YOU to know what batoning is (not for any particular reason, just because you've been around so long)! It's basically a way of turning almost any sized knife into an axe, which is very often mentioned in survival situations (or at least simulations) to use the small tools that you have to build shelters, etc. You might want to do a search. I've read that almost any knife can withstand batoning as long you take care. I understand that when folders are used as batons, it should be with the lock DISENGAGED or you're just asking for a broken folder.
 
Assuming your going with the grain
If your just taking a slice off a peice of wood a thinner knife may prgress a bit quicker, most of the time the wedge effect of a thicker blade is more useful. Also a bladeshape wher more metal is behind the edge tends to mean the edge isn't coming into contact with the wood so is less likely to get flat spots if your battoning though knots in the wood
If your going against the grain (best to go at an angle) then a thinner blade works well and a thinner edge will cut through the fibers better.
I tend to baton a knife along the grain of the wood and use a 4mm thick convex knife, a BRKT northstar would be good as would a fallkniven F1, there isn't much difference betwen my custom and the F1 when going with the grain (and the custom with O1 steel might be just as tough as the thicker VG10 edge of the F1) but it's a lot better when going against the grain

Andy
 
To split wood you want the minimum cross section which has enough rigidity to keep the blade straight and open up the wood to induce a split. A thicker blade takes more effort to drive the knife into the wood, but a thinner blade can bend in the wood and won't induce the wood to split and thus it will basically have to cut its way through the wood.How much cross section is required depends significantly on the wood. Fresh clear pine splits very easy by batoning on a tramontina bolo. However the same blade used on a piece of seasoned spruce can bend in the wood, bind heavily, and will be a very poor splitter.

I have done it on soft woods with blades as thin as 1/16" and have seen woods so bad that even 3/16" thick blades warped. So it does make a major difference. How the knife is ground matters as well. A knife made out of 3/16" steel with a high and deep hollow grind is going to be far less suitable for batoning than a 1/8" thick knife with a sabre flat/convex grind. If the wood is too difficult to split directly which you can tell pretty quickly once the knife is in the wood, then just draw it back out, split off some slabs from the sides, make wedges and use them to crack the wood apart. With this technique you can split even twisted and knotty rounds with very small fixed blades and even light weight folders.

-Cliff
 
Yeah, what Cliff said. :) The only thing I would add is that it's recommended to use a wooden baton. Banging on the spine of a knife with a hammer or the back of a hatchet would be a bad idea especially right near the tang. I seem to recall hearing that you should baton on the last third of the blade? Maybe the last half.
 
GibsonFan said:
Banging on the spine of a knife with a hammer or the back of a hatchet would be a bad idea especially right near the tang. I seem to recall hearing that you should baton on the last third of the blade? Maybe the last half.
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Some steels are designed to take heavy impacts, but in general unless it is an emergency a wooden baton would be better for you and the knife. Beating on a knife with a rock isn't very comfortable in hand. Where you hit the knife depends on how it is balanced and how it is positioned in regards to knots in the wood.

DGG said:
Thick, and if really serious get some wedges and a sledge hammer.
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Generally batoning is used in activities where you are not likely to be carrying a splitting maul and similar equipment. It is a "survival" technique not something generally done in the backyard aside from practice.

-Cliff
 
WM

Gollnick is a musical director, I work for a music publisher.

A baton is the little white stick a conductor waves around to make the music go as it should.

A 'percussive push cut' makes perfect sense. Like a rim shot, but using a knife.

Well, it made sense to me anyway. LOL

Rob
 
wetdog1911 said:
Gollnick is a musical director...

A baton is the little white stick a conductor waves around to make the music go as it should.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And thank you for explaining that.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take my baton and go and rehearse the Internationally-Aclaimed Bladeforums Marching Marimba Band and Marching Tympani Drum Corp -- the sound so big that only the internet can contain it -- in preparation for our big summer concert.
 
chuck when you say batterning do you mean to use the knife to split pieces of wood or to cut branches.
 
I know 'batoning' as affixing batons of 2 x 1 to a wall to hold panelling. You glue them to the wall with 'Gripfill', 'No More Nails' or 'Silicone'.

If I was doing that, I would use a khukri, one cut one side, another cut on the other and 'snap'.

Or I would conduct the orchestra as Mr Gollnick said.
 
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