Trying to learn to baton

[RedEdge77]

Ok i've tried batoning a couple of times but don't know if i'm doing it right and have a couple of questions.

1. Where on the spine should you hit the knife? Closer to the tip or close to the handle?

2. Say the knife has a small blade (say 5 inches) and the logs diameter is 5 inches. After hitting the knife enough into the wood, there is no where else to baton unless you hit the handle. So what do you do then?

So if you could help thanks. Also any pics would be awsome

 

[skammer]

Ok i've tried batoning a couple of times but don't know if i'm doing it right and have a couple of questions.

1. Where on the spine should you hit the knife? Closer to the tip or close to the handle?

2. Say the knife has a small blade (say 5 inches) and the logs diameter is 5 inches. After hitting the knife enough into the wood, there is no where else to baton unless you hit the handle. So what do you do then?

So if you could help thanks. Also any pics would be awsome

If your blade is quality beat on it anywhere you want tip spine it doesn't matter. what matters is getting the blade through the wood to he bottom.

I normally baton the knife in at the center point then once into the wood flush I pound the front 1/3 at the tip on the spine and guide it down with the handle held firmly and level.

With a 5 inch blade you are limited to about a 3 inch diameter log as you need the tip to stick out in order to baton it. This is why I recommend a 7+ inch blade as a 5 inch diameter log is a nice size to baton. It also gives you some nice leverage to pry apart.

You can get facy and cut and shape wedges but its easier and less trouble with a large knife.

Skam

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Say the knife has a small blade (say 5 inches) and the logs diameter is 5 inches. After hitting the knife enough into the wood, there is no where else to baton unless you hit the handle. So what do you do then?

If the blade is not long enough to split the wood directly then either shape wedges or split the wood in pieces. Split off slabs from the sides to reduce the width and then split it across. If the knife is really robust sometimes you can split it by twisting or prying with the knife, but this takes a fair amount of strength and is difficult unless the wood is held in place as in a log not a round. There are piles of pictures of batoning on the Swamp Rat forums, some of it is done on wood I would not want to have to split wit a maul and wedges.

-Cliff

 

[Thomas Linton]

Ok i've tried batoning a couple of times but don't know if i'm doing it right and have a couple of questions.
. . .
2. Say the knife has a small blade (say 5 inches) and the logs diameter is 5 inches. After hitting the knife enough into the wood, there is no where else to baton unless you hit the handle. So what do you do then?
. . .

Imagine an analog clock face. If the tip of the knife is at the center of the clock face and a couple of inches of the knife (not counting what you will be holding) extends OUTSIDE the circle of the clock face, you can baton half the diameter of the piece of wood at a time. Once the full width of the knife is buried into the wood, (as you hypothicate), you simply strike the exposed "couple of inches" to continue the cut. This technique puts more stress on a knife than using a knife that has a blade longer than the diameter of the wood, but I have used it successfully (wood split/knife intact) with several different stout knives (3/16" - 1/4" diameter [Bark River Gameskeeper and North Star; Fallkniven S-1 and F-1; Greco Companion; Busse Badger Attack]).

A full guard would get in the way. A slightly-built knife might snap at the blade-tang junction. Handles can be easily marred,

If the knife is constructed to allow it, one can drive it point-first into the wood near the end of the piece and pry the wood apart. I have never tried this, but I have full-tang knives that would surely survive the experience. Hammering on the butt of a blind/hidden tang knife will almost surely damage it.

Or, if you carry a shorter knife (which I routinely do), you can use a light prunning saw (or SAK saw) to cut half-way through the wood; then smack the wood sharply against a rock, tree, or hard ground with the cut opening facing the direction of swing. The cut acts as a stress-riser and the wood usually splits lengthways.

(If I expected to do much batoning, I would have my Bark River Golak 'cause it's a batoning machine -- long and about 3/16" thick with no saw teeth or "false" edges on top to tear up my baton.)

 

[frank k]

The best wood for a baton is a green hardwood branch. Green wood is heavier and more flexible/impact resistant than dry wood - transmits less vibration too.


The only thing I can’t seem to figure out is how to get a nice fresh hardwood baton in the woods without a saw to cut it with in the first place.




- Frank

 

[Thomas Linton]

Got saw. :thumbup:

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Work up progressivly, cut a small sapling under tension, use it to cut a bigger one, repeat until necessary baton size is achieved, or improvise a baton from a rock or even your boot to make the initial baton, or just stab/chop/whittle the stick off.

-Cliff

 

[skammer]

The only thing I can’t seem to figure out is how to get a nice fresh hardwood baton in the woods without a saw to cut it with in the first place.

- Frank

I just use a dead piece of wood about wrist thick that hasn't rotted yet on the ground. It dosent have to be elaborate it just has to work.

Skam

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Fallkniven has a fairly different way of felling/splitting by batoning, the tang is extended and used as the impact point to drive the tip into the wood to weaken it. Their knives are easily robust enough to handle this though in general I find the other method of batoning using the blade to be more efficient. With their style of knives you can just stab off the first piece of wood to make the baton.

-Cliff