What a bad, bad day.

Fiddleback said:
I'm trying to figure out what happened here. I've never seen a person try to split wood by penetrating the tip into the wood like that. Just so you know, in my opinion, this is going to be the cause of this damage. Drilling with the tip, I get. To penetrate the tip into the wood first is something new to me. I've never once driven the tip of my knife into wood. These knives are designed for light batonning. Why wouldn't this kind of cut be used in this scenario? .
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It was a small piece of wood, and I have split a lot of little pieces like this. Now thinking back I probably could have baton it once more. Anyway just for a visual ref when you have time check out this video at about 1:25. this is kind of what I was doing minus hitting the pommel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJPkYL5orsg
 
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Fiddleback said:
You can see the blade was driven into the wood cross grain. So when you 'bumped' it, the grain structure of the wood caused lateral pressure.
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This is why I asked what kind of wood it is and if it is white oak. White oak is very hard, very dense, and a very strong wood which has a complex grain structure. As a woodworker I have lost as many router bits and saw blades to white oak as I have maple. The grain on some woods is so tight that just sticking the knife tip into them forces the tip to curve a little following the path of less resistance. At that point the blade would already be under lateral stress before even being forced further. Then the cold temp is another factor, as far as how cold the temp and wood were, how long the knife had been exposed to the cold. There be could be a few factors converging here.
 
I agree with the others. Driving a knife by placing the tip on the wood and striking the butt will destroy either the tip or the handle....or both.

Read up on how to baton a blade when splitting kindling, and this probably won't happen again.

In any case, Andy will make it usable again.

Over the years, I have had some knives come back with a broken tip, and every one was the result of misuse. it is a rare place for a HT stress crack to show up, but a common place for side stress in use to break the blade.
 
Very nice of you Andy. Should be a fat handled Bushfinger left when you are done :D

I like the thin tips on your knives so please don't alter them because of this. The Bushcrafter and Camp would probably be better if one wants to use the tip for splitting.
 
NoFair said:
Very nice of you Andy. Should be a fat handled Bushfinger left when you are done :D

I like the thin tips on your knives so please don't alter them because of this. The Bushcrafter and Camp would probably be better if one wants to use the tip for splitting.
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I AGREE!!!! I LOVE THE THIN GROUND TIPS!!!! Please don't change a thing, Andy! We love your babies, just the way you make them!!!! With a shorter blade, that could be a fun little campsite knife!
 
I have seen battoning end on being described as a valid technique (perhaps by Mors Kochanski), but that was to cut through the stem of a small standing tree, and of course it doesn't mean that you should do it with every knife. I don't know why you'd want to batton end-on with a free-standing piece of wood like the one shown here - would always be easier (on user and knife) to start at one end and batton on the spine.
 
Some people drive a knife tip first into a piece of wood ( relatively small size , thumb thickness) and twist to split. Seen a few people do this , I learned it from watching iz turley. However , everyone I've observed using this technique was using a blade with a stout gring at the tip, not a splinter picker. I bet an arête with a half height grind in 5/32 or better would do this, but I still wouldn't because of beating up the scales.
 
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I'm not harping, but I watched the video, and I do consider that abuse even without the part where you drive the handle. I have never seen anyone split wood this way. I believe it is going to be a problematic tactic on any knife with a properly thin cutting tip.

I can make the knife shorter, and the knife will appear as new upon return for no charge. Send it home.
 
Andy,

You are an inspiration to me in customer relations! I run a few small customer service businesses and man.... you are always so good to your customers! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Dealing with you makes the Fiddleback experience even better!

-Will
 
Yep I agree Andy. Over the top customer support! Greatly appreciated.
 
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Fiddleback said:
I'm not harping, but I watched the video, and I do consider that abuse even without the part where you drive the handle. I have never seen anyone split wood this way. I believe it is going to be a problematic tactic on any knife with a properly thin cutting tip.

I can make the knife shorter, and the knife will appear as new upon return for no charge. Send it home.
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A camp would probably do it fine. Don't see the point on anything bigger and I'd probably just feather anything small enough for it. Beating on a handle with anything other than ones hand is imho a bit iffy.
 
NoFair said:
Beating on a handle with anything other than ones hand is imho a bit iffy.
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I think doing this with any knife not specifically designed with such hard use in mind probably constitutes abuse. I have a few of these knives I use in my research, some people around here would consider them to be ugly knives, but compared to my Fiddlebacks, most of my knives are ugly knives :D
 
Dude! Everyone is trying to be nice about it but the bottom line is: that is a bonehead move. Driving the tip and twisting the the knife sideways broke the tip. The sad and funny thing about the video you posted is that the guy in the video broke the handle of his knife doing that same move yet he shrugs it off as "there's why you need a pummel plate" LOL! NO. There's why you "DON'T" pummel to drive the tip of the knife deep in the wood. I'm sorry man but that was a bad video example to follow. Unsubscribe from that channel immediately.
 
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I'm curious. My understanding is that batoning would generally be a survival or bushcraft technique. Wouldn't this generally be done on green wood to get to the drier center to create a fuzz stick? That wood looks pretty dry. I understand the "practice makes perfect thing" and I baton stuff all the time in the interest of learning. But, I feel compelled to point out, I've been backpacking and guiding for the better part of 30 years and I've only batoned or made fuzz sticks to show how it's done. I've never needed too as there is always a ton of fuel and tinder in New England. And when I do for the wood stove, the Gransfors Bruks comes out to play.

To be clear, I'm not digging on the guy for trying something that didn't work out. I whole heartedly encourage that sort of thing; that's how we learn. I'm just wondering if most people here baton because it seems to be the thing to do, or out of legitimate need?
 
cbiner said:
I'm curious. My understanding is that batoning would generally be a survival or bushcraft technique. Wouldn't this generally be done on green wood to get to the drier center to create a fuzz stick? That wood looks pretty dry. I understand the "practice makes perfect thing" and I baton stuff all the time in the interest of learning. But, I feel compelled to point out, I've been backpacking and guiding for the better part of 30 years and I've only batoned or made fuzz sticks to show how it's done. I've never needed too as there is always a ton of fuel and tinder in New England. And when I do for the wood stove, the Gransfors Bruks comes out to play.

To be clear, I'm not digging on the guy for trying something that didn't work out. I whole heartedly encourage that sort of thing; that's how we learn. I'm just wondering if most people here baton because it seems to be the thing to do, or out of legitimate need?
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Good point -- I seldom baton, and prefer a bow-saw or hudson bay style axe; batoning is cool to make some kindling once in a while and to maintain practice with regards to being a survival skill... but that's about it. I too am of the mind that the OP shouldn't be knocked for trying something new, its just that it didn't work out; lesson learned, and reading above problem solved, thanks to Andy's awesome customer service.
 
And he will end up with a one-of-a-kind custom, which is a pretty sweet silver lining. Maybe I should try point first batoning... ;)
 
I baton my 1/8" thick Recluse, the very first one, all the time to cut a piece of firewood down to tender and kindling. But there is certainly a right and wrong way to do it. The taps are relatively light, and the baton is also not a big honking baseball bat. In addition to proper technique, I pick straight grained pieces of wood and leave the knotty or curly stuff on the pile to burn whole.
 
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