What do you do with a 7+ inch knife besides baton anyway?

K

KnifeEnthusiast

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**Originally I was going to post this in the batoning/Nutnfancy thread but it's off topic so I started a new thread.***

I love my RTAK II but I've only done 3 things with it, thump on it while batoning, cut my wedding cake and clean it LOL. I gotta use it somehow, It cost me over $100!

I'll probably never be in a survival situation but if I am I'm glad to have some experience batoning. To me it's part of firecraft. Gotta get to that dry wood.
I do not own an axe so that just isn't an option.
I'm mostly I'm a folder guy anyway.
I just think this is a fun topic.
Throw in the Nutnfancy angle and everybody wants to contribute.

In the end I just love good knife talk.

Besides batoning what the hell do you do with a big ol' 10 inch knife anyway?
Most of my purchases are based on the "2nd kind of cool" concept Nutnfancy talks about.
I just love knives. The big ones look cool but the small ones come in far more handy.
Truth be told I get far more use out of my Benchmade 710. Even then I'm mostly cutting boxes at work etc.

I'd love a thread about what guys do with their 7+ inch knives but I bet after a few responses it would die. This batoning issue gets much more attention. For some reason it's controversial in the knife community.
What other issue gets 50 responses?
I'm new and learning and looking for great knife talk.


What do you do with a 7+ inch knife besides baton anyway?
 
Hmmmm....I don't own any with a 7" blade. yet. but I use mine for hunting and don't really have any need for a big blade. It would be fun to play with though so I'm sure I will own some sometime.
 
i got a BK9 for christmas and the only thing i am going to do with it is sell it of trade it for a BK2 or 5. i have no need for a knife of that massive size
 
It's always fun breaking down poultry with a sub 9 incher.takes all of 10 seconds, 20 if u French the drum sticks lol
 
As you said good for batoning and chopping, also I really like long blades for cutting heavy thick stuff like rope. I used a dexter russel boning knife of about that size on a lot of cod when I worked on fishing boats, and when I had to get the brain out to do some science I used to stick the edge right behind the eyes and give it a whack with a mallet. It would usually cut thick rope or webbing in one stroke too, no serrations required. Of course serrations help more a lot of the time and really 7'' isn't practical to have on deck for some people. They're also good for killing vampires, although the longer blade may make it difficult to get the blade in up to the hilt, which is what's really going to do the work as we all know unless the blade is also made of wood. (Your FB does have a wood handle right? If not perhaps you should consider its relative lack of anti-vampire utility. Or perhaps getting the knife blessed would help? Or forged under a hunter's moon? More testing is required... :))
 
The only thing I have done with the really big blades are fondle them for the most part. I really prefer something in the 4-6" size for just about every task for a carry knife. For chopping I prefer a machete, but that big knife would work for those that like to use them that way.

My Dad used to chop corn stalks up with a big knife for our cattle. We had a big garden with a lot of sweet corn. We'd chop the stalks up for our cattle, about a wheel barrow load at at time. They loved it the bite sized chunks.

But I still like a big knife. Can't deny it. I got a Condor Hudson Bay (8.5" blade) and it just tugs on me to carry it out in the woods.
 
For me a big blade is the most valuable tool while camping. I can use a 10.5 inch + knife for alot of the work that a small blade would be used for and do it better and faster.

For example making a fire after it has rained- with a big knife like a Rat Daddy LE, I can spit a few pieces of wood, get dry tinder and then use the knife to make feather sticks. Believe me when I say if you are skilled with a 10 inch blade you can beast out feather sticks with no arm fatigue and get better results. You can get the curlies just as fine as with a small blade with much less effort.

P1020397.jpg


Even with a BEAST like the NMFBM you can still do fine work.
photo3.jpg


No lets say you want to want to chop up some veggies for a stew- You can use a big blade just like a chef knife and get the work done FAST.

Next you want to make some tent pegs- Easy, you can use your big blade to carve just as you would with a small one except now you can chop down a small tree for wood if you didn't find any suitable wood on the ground

Then you go hunting and want to process a deer- take your big blade and go for it, it will tear through a rib cage and you can clean the animal just like your would with a small knife- its not as easy, but it still works.
I put down, and field dressed this deer with the knife shown. I also used it along with a folder to process it and it worked well.
photo.jpg


Next you want to clear some brush or you need to make your way through a thorn thicket- Good luck doing that with a small knife- This is where a large knife or machete really shines.

And then you for some reason need to chop down a fully grown tree and then process it. Easy.
photo9-1.jpg
 
I use mine for chopping. Better for the blade because the forces are distributed differently. Only time I would consider batoning is if I had no option and my blade was too short to chop and thick enough to handle it. Even then I would do it carefully and strike the spine only above where it contacts the wood. As mentioned by other posters there are plenty of things you can do with a 7"+ fixed blade

Knifeenthusiast, how come you started another thread on nutnfancy/batonning when there is a similar thread still active? Seems pretty on topic to me
 
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I had this question several years ago. After buying/trading/selling many large knives I ended up with a couple of good machetes a folding saw and a hatchet. For me, and what I do for fire prep, I found that with a machete, a folding saw and a small axe that I can do all the wood prep I'll ever want, and do it much easier than with a heavy 10" knife.

NOW, on the other hand, a lot of folks have discovered that with a big heavy duty 10" bladed knife they can chop wood, split wood and also do many finer more delicate tasks while keeping weight/number of tools down to a minimum. Of course were not talking about chopping and splitting 10 cord of wood with a knife. But just enough for a few camp fires.

Of course if I'm going to be stocking up fire wood for the winter I'll use a husky with a 36" bar and an 8lb maul. If I'm lucky I may even have a teenage nephew to help.
 
Traditionally, if we look back to the 19th century, large stout knives like these were issued as fascine/pioneer/Faschinenmesser knives to artillery and engineering units. During the early 20th century the US issued the Collins 1005 Engineers bolo, and the Springfield model 1904 medical bolo, as well as the 1909 and 1917 bolos. Virtually every major military power issued knives like these during the period. Their popularity with the military faded somewhat with the end of horse calvary and the rise of mechanized artillery.

So what do you do with a 7+inch knife? Primarilly, you can cut sticks, which can be used as raw materials for all sorts of camp projects.

Here is an example of the Russian 1837 sidearm:(note the photo shows a modern reproduction)
D47-russland-pionier-faschinenmesser-m-1837.jpg


US bolos 1909 bolo/1904 hospital bolo:

17523_3613_1_lg.jpg


n2s
 
I find that large blades don't really hinder most of the campsite work that I do with them. They can be more cumbersome for certain tasks, but they can generally get it done.

My BK9 out chops my hatchet (its a crappy hatchet I'll say that now), and does more things than it does, so its really a no brainer to take it. Generally now I take the Corona saw, BK9 and my mora when I go camping. That just about takes care of everything.

Also, people go hog hunting with large knives like this. They like them nice and pointy and long for that, and pretty much all that I have seen like this are in the 7-11in range.

They're also fun, and there is nothing wrong with that :).
 
I use mine more than any other blade. Chopping, batoning, using it to make traps (it isn't as easy if you aren't used to them) using it in the kitchen... I practice doing everything I do with a little knife with a big knife. Besides that, I just enjoy the larger knives more than the smaller ones.
 
KnifeEnthusiast said:

What do you do with a 7+ inch knife besides baton anyway?
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Nothing. That's why the couple of knives I have in that size range get almost no use. I know some people swear by them and think they can't get by without a huge blade in the woods, but I just prefer a more modest sized knife (4-5 inches) and a small axe or machete. I find the smaller blade does everything I ask a knife to do.
 
I like my long-bladed CS Trailmaster (9 1/2") for it's versatility.

With it's 5/16" thick, full-flat grind it obviously splits wood (batonning) fantastically. However, if i want to make a nice, flat surface on a log i can also use it's length in a draw-knife application. It will also peel bark very nicely in the same way. Admittedly, this is not a very-oft used application, but it's there if i need it.

Since i'm not into chopping (i prefer using a small, folding hand-saw) and given that i don't use the additional length that often for draw-knife applications nor need the extra length for splitting wood, Mr. Bryan Breeden is making a knife for me that is more middle in length @ about 6". This smaller, lighter Breeden knife will become my EDC and most-used knife.
 
big blades? decapitate zombies, of course. Seems like everybody is preparing for the zombocalypse any minute now. But to me, I just like big knives for a lot of the reasons already mentioned here plus the coolness factor. At work they always ask me what Rambo knife am I carrying; today it's a Muela Arocho with a 8.5" blade. I also find them very useful for cutting/splitting all sorts of fruits and their seeds for further examination.
 
I use mine for chopping, draw-knifing, batoning, general wood shaping, limbing poles, cutting notches, normal knife tasks, site clearing...
 
Chris Pierce said
" I found that with a machete, a folding saw and a small axe that I can do all the wood prep I'll ever want"

That's the very reason for carrying a larger knife . You have 3 tools there to carry and still no knife . So you need to carry a forth tool . That's fine if you're in a Jeep or on a 4 wheeler , but not many people want to carry that much gear if they are hiking , backpacking or canoe tripping .

Personally I have yet to own or see the need for a knife that's over maybe 8" (although one day I most likely will buy one just to see what the BIG blade deal really is) . But I can clearly see where a 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 inch knife "could" be used to do all the things you could need while camping , and have to carry just "one" tool into the wilds . If you know how to use a knife , you can chop , batton , cut cord or rope , make tent pegs , clear brush , carve trap triggers , dig holes , make feather sticks and do pretty much anything with a knife that's not TOO much bigger than 7 inches .


HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
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