Warning About Battening

Flashpoint

Flashpoint

Joined
Apr 3, 2004
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I spent this weekend camping. That being said you can't go camping without a campfire and you can't have a campfire without firewood. So I proceeded to make some firewood out of the logs I had there. After battening through several logs to make lots of nice firewood I found one with a soft spot in it. All the other logs I initially hit, the blade only stuck in about an inch. The one with the soft spot split the log and traveled about 14 inches, veering off to the left side of the log until in met the right side of my left index finger. The knife hit bone and left a gash that ran around half my finger. When it first hit I was surprised I didn't pull back a nub. Needless to say, it bleed a lot. After cleaning it out, it took a tourniquet, and 4 layers of liquid bandage to get the bleeding to stop enough to put two butterfly closures on it. I then put a gauze patch on it, splinted it, and wrapped it in tap.

Here's my warning, and it goes for all knives, but especially while battening because so much force is applied. Control your blade, watch where you body parts are, control your blade, be careful while battening wood, there are too many inconsistencies in it, and control you blade.

Other than almost chopping my finger off the camping trip was pretty fun. :D

I know some will want picks, but at the time pictures weren't really on my mind. So the next time I go to change out the dressing I'll see if I can get some.
 
I'm still not sure I understand battoning. You have a LOG and you want a fire. Why not just put said log on the fire and be done with it? Are you trying to make a miniature fire?

Or is it just a reason to play with your knife? I have made probably thousands of fires and never felt the need to chop a already cut log into segments. In fact the log will burn up quicker when it is cut up and not left whole.

Just wondering.

Edit: Glad you still have all your dangly bits!
 
Could've been worse. I've been there man. Knives, even to the experienced, bite their owners here and there. Glad you're ok...I'd go see a doc anyway.
 
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FlaMtnBkr said:
I'm still not sure I understand battoning. You have a LOG and you want a fire. Why not just put said log on the fire and be done with it? Are you trying to make a miniature fire?

Or is it just a reason to play with your knife? I have made probably thousands of fires and never felt the need to chop a already cut log into segments. In fact the log will burn up quicker when it is cut up and not left whole.

Just wondering.

Edit: Glad you still have all your dangly bits!
Click to expand...

Batoning is used mostly for splitting a large piece of wood into thinner sections. IE- to make kindling. It can be used in wet conditions to get to dry wood when no other tinder or kindling is available. It can also be used to chop wood more efficiently when a large chopper or axe is not available. I find batoning to be incredibly useful- I do it all the time. It's also fun, except if you accidentally leave one of your fingers in the blade's path. :p
 
moonwilson said:
Batoning is used mostly for splitting a large piece of wood into thinner sections. IE- to make kindling. It can be used in wet conditions to get to dry wood when no other tinder or kindling is available. It can also be used to chop wood more efficiently when a large chopper or axe is not available. I find batoning to be incredibly useful- I do it all the time. It's also fun, except if you accidentally leave one of your fingers in the blade's path. :p
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Ok. I guess where I camp there is so much deadfall that if you want kindling you just walk around and pick up branches and break off the small ones. I don't purposefully go camping in inclement weather but I guess if everything is soaking wet that would be a good reason. Although I have had to start fires after a rain and was still able to do it but maybe it would have been easier if the inside of my wood was exposed.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I'm still not sure I understand battoning. You have a LOG and you want a fire. Why not just put said log on the fire and be done with it? Are you trying to make a miniature fire?
Click to expand...

It's good for exposing dry wood when the exterior of the wood is wet. Man, I type slow, you beat me Moon!
 
Yeah, you should go and see a doctor (sooner rather than later)for a couple of reasons. Cut nerves and/or tendons do not heal by themselves. Spare yourself the possibility of permanent injury. Good Luck

By the way, liquid skin should be used after the wound stops weeping. If you apply it before, it could help contribute to infection.

Cheers, Shane
 
ss Dragonfly said:
Yeah, you should go and see a doctor (sooner rather than later)for a couple of reasons. Cut nerves and/or tendons do not heal by themselves. Spare yourself the possibility of permanent injury. Good Luck

By the way, liquid skin should be used after the wound stops weeping. If you apply it before, it could help contribute to infection.

Cheers, Shane
Click to expand...

I probably will go see a doc later, but when I took a look at it when I got home it really looked pretty good considering. Most of the bleeding was stopped by the tourniquet. The Liquid Skin had an antiseptic in it and burned like a son-of-a-gun. I still have quite a bit of movement in my finger, but I haven't forced it because I don't want to run the risk of opening the wound back up.

FlaMtnBkr

I tried though whole logs on the fire but they really wouldn't burn. They would just smoke and turn into a big hunk of charcoal. Busting them up into fourths worked a lot better for getting a good flame.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I'm still not sure I understand battoning. You have a LOG and you want a fire. Why not just put said log on the fire and be done with it? Are you trying to make a miniature fire?

Or is it just a reason to play with your knife? I have made probably thousands of fires and never felt the need to chop a already cut log into segments. In fact the log will burn up quicker when it is cut up and not left whole.

Just wondering.

Edit: Glad you still have all your dangly bits!
Click to expand...

No need to baton specifically. An axe or splitting wedge can be used instead. The fact is that split dried wood burns better. But as noted stay in control and out of the way of the blade.
 
I have hiked and camped the whole eastern seaboard, smokey mountains, appalachians, poconos, green mts, white mts and never felt the need to baton.

But I think it is a matter of preference.

Some people find it useful, some don't.

Carl-
 
Darn, I'm glad you're still intact. :eek: That has to hurt.

I know d#ck about real camping/survival skills, but wouldn't feathered wood work just as well as batonning kindling? I'm just curious.
 
Glad your injury wasn't worse..

I'm one of the people that has never felt a need to cut firewood with a knife.
I've hunted/camped in some of the worst conditions imaginable, and I always have a small hatchet in camp or in my pack... Just seems to be a lot easier although YMMV
 
I wonder how exactly your finger got in the way of the blade. When I baton through wood, no body parts of mine ever travel in the path of the blade. One hand is holding the handle of the knife, and the other hand is holding the baton.

Maybe you're doing it wrong...?
 
puukkoman said:
I wonder how exactly your finger got in the way of the blade. When I baton through wood, no body parts of mine ever travel in the path of the blade. One hand is holding the handle of the knife, and the other hand is holding the baton.

Maybe you're doing it wrong...?
Click to expand...

Yeah am confused too. :confused:

Lets see, sit the knife on top of wood, then pound on knife with baton.... Hmmmmm. :D

Glad the OP is Ok though. :thumbup:
 
Im not sure how you could hit your fingers with the knife while batoning.. were you holding the log from below?
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I'm still not sure I understand battoning. You have a LOG and you want a fire. Why not just put said log on the fire and be done with it? Are you trying to make a miniature fire?

Or is it just a reason to play with your knife? I have made probably thousands of fires and never felt the need to chop a already cut log into segments. In fact the log will burn up quicker when it is cut up and not left whole.

Just wondering.

Edit: Glad you still have all your dangly bits!
Click to expand...

Lets think for a little. Log is the fuel needed for fire in this condition, and the more fuel is exposed to the consumer, the more energy it can save up and use, or burn off at the exact time. It's like our lung having many air sacs, and our intestines with cilias to absorb more of what is needed, and only differences between the log/fire and our body is that our body is adopted to consume more from least, when the fire is looking for more surface area of the fuel. Of course the whole log would burn. But it wont be the fire that many would prefer in a situation where you are in need of quick heat, like in a situation where you are lost in a wild and you were drowned in a water during winter. And of course, as many have said, it will expose dry part of wood. And I think a big chunk of log is not as convinient as a part of the log, and because of the variety of sizes you may choose to chop and botton, I think youll be able to carry it with you if necessary.

I might be wrong. Im just a young collector with small collection, only learning from what I hear and read. but it seems to make sense to me. If I'm wrong, please tell me. I dont want to live with wrong information on me :);)
 
i was chopping up a chicken one morning, said vsomething to wife & CUT 1/4 INCH off left index finger.was training a new guy that day & got to emergency 10 hours later. dr. said he could refer me to a plastic surgeon,i said doc what did they do a 100 yrs. ago?" give me the antibots. & send me on my way.i'm not dead yet just have a smaller finger.
 
puukkoman said:
I wonder how exactly your finger got in the way of the blade. When I baton through wood, no body parts of mine ever travel in the path of the blade. One hand is holding the handle of the knife, and the other hand is holding the baton.

Maybe you're doing it wrong...?
Click to expand...

I had been setting the wood on the ground and then wacking with the knife to get it started and then taking a smaller log to drive it through. The log that was being battened during the accident, wouldn't stand up by it's self so I was holding down low. The first wack that would normally only sink the knife down about half inch or so into the log, split the log all the way down to my hand. I think it's just a freak accident, but it's possible it could happen again. I'm just saying, I know there are a lot of people here who do batten wood and there is a chance that one hit could split the log, even with a 10" knife.
 
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