Why don't you Baton?

[ykspydiefan]

Living in Western Washington we have periods where we have no fire bans due to the wet weather. Only problem with that is the wood is usually pretty saturated with water by then. I was up near Mowich Lake on Sunday in Mount Rainier National Park. Had a beautiful fire to watch the sunset before heading back down.

I usually have a tomahawk on me when I’m in the woods. Either that or an old roofing axe made of 01 steel that I hand ground with sandpaper into a bearded axe. So I don’t need to baton. Plus the tomahawk and bearded axe are much quicker at splitting wood. I do turn to a knife when I feather a stick, AEB-L mule.

I run a small tomahawk too. Very light weight, good swinging leverage. Excellent for camp style splitting work. I mostly used it for on willows to make snowshoe hare snare sets. My adventures in batoning are contained to the AEB-L mule, and mule related fun.

Thanks for posting up.

[Fireman]

Who will be the first to baton with the ceramic mule

[ykspydiefan]

Who will be the first to baton with the ceramic mule

[Fnscarlight]

Because it abuses the knife, axes or hatchets are for splitting wood. Having grown up in the bush where you may need your knife to survive why would you risk breaking an important tool. Never go into the bush with out a sturdy fixed blade knife and at least a hatchet.this is from experiance.

[vivi]

Because it abuses the knife, axes or hatchets are for splitting wood. Having grown up in the bush where you may need your knife to survive why would you risk breaking an important tool. Never go into the bush with out a sturdy fixed blade knife and at least a hatchet.this is from experiance.

yep, it's all about the right tool for a job.

[ykspydiefan]

Thanks for bringing this one around again, guys. I like the breadth of opinion and the room to express it here.

[sal]

A wise person said that if you're going to baton with folding knife, you should leave it unlocked. This made sense because if you think about it, hitting the locking mechanism with hammer can't be good for the lock?

sal

[vivi]

A wise person said that if you're going to baton with folding knife, you should leave it unlocked. This made sense because if you think about it, hitting the locking mechanism with hammer can't be good for the lock?

sal

That's the method I used to baton opinels and swiss army knives to see if they could handle it. That's the smarter way to do it.

[Naperville]

If it was an emergency and all that I had was a folder or fixed blade and was in dire straits and cold, I'd use my hands, forearms and body to snap small wood found on the ground or still standing dead timber. I'd use whichever knife I had to make small scrapings to light a fire if I did not have any other means of getting a fire going.

I might baton with a knife AFTER looking for wood to throw on the fire. I'd try everything to avoid batoning.

I would baton only as a last resort with any knife. To baton risks breakage and edge damage. Certainly you will rapidly dull the edge, which is the most important reason for having a knife with you.

If I purposely went off into the woods and was looking forward to a 24+ hour trek, I'd 100% have an axe. I'd venture to guess that 80% of all folders and fixed blades will not fare long term abuse, and my knives are special to me. I do not abuse them.

[kerrcobra]

To baton risks breakage and edge damage. Certainly you will rapidly dull the edge,

I would say that this doesn't match my experience at all. If the log I baton through has a pile of dirt on the end, and if I don't brush it off beforehand, then I could see the edge taking some damage or dulling; however, once you get the knife hammered far enough into the wood that it begins to split, the knife's edge isn't really coming into contact with it anymore. This is just my anecdotal experience though, and I will acknowledge that it's not true in every single batoning scenario, but I've batoned a lot of wood and a lot of different knives through wood multiple times, and neither edge damage nor dulling has ever been a concern. That's my $.02 though.

What I won't do is dig with a knife. There's so much silt and silicate material mixed in with the sand and clay in Georgia's soil that it wreaks havoc on a knife edge; at least, that's my experience with it the few times I've tried it.

[vivi]

Same. I won't dig with my knives but I don't think twice about batoning them.

Both my scrapyard dogfather and spyderco aqua salt have been batoning wood since the 2000's with no issues. Even with thinned out edges.

Wood isn't that tough on the edge of robust knives like this.

That said, Mules are a little lighter duty of a design, and while I've never had issues batoning them through small pieces of wood, I wouldn't try to push them too hard.

[SpyderJunky]

I don't baton...
If I'm within walking distance of my truck where I carry an axe and or hatchet.
But if I wander up into the wilderness I will not be carrying a hatchet. I will be carrying a bushcraft knife with a scandi grind. The grind alone makes them split wood more efficiently than another type, especially with a full flat grind. The flat grind gets stuck in the wood like an axe trying to split firewood instead of going through the wood like a maul.
If you're gonna want a fire or set a tarp with wooden pegs or need a to set up a cookin frame, you're gonna want a scandi grind bc knife.
I don't believe Spyderco makes a knife like this.
And I wouldn't even try to carry a hatchet where I take my knives...

[Tucson Tom]

Well, it is funny. I have built countless fires and never done any batoning. Nor do I carry a hatchet, certainly not backpacking. In places where there is wood for a fire, there is endless small wood (twigs and finger diameter material), so I just gather those up and start the fire with them.

In rainy weather, I have a new method -- stay home! Or carry a stove to cook with. Or eat cold food and go to bed.

As an old man I have learned to perfect the art of laziness and "conservation of energy".

Now if I was **** bent for some reason to split some wood by batoning, I wouldn't be trying to split 2 inch diameter pieces down the middle with a folding knife. Perhaps I would be splitting 1/4 or 1/2 thick pieces from the edge and work my way towards the middle. Part of this is a workman's sense of knowing the limits of his tools and getting the job done without abusing them.

[sal]

Hi Tom,

I guess one of the advantages of getting old (there aren't many) is learning stuff and getting to teach it to others.

sal
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"We stand on the shoulders of others and get to see farther".

[shunsui]

I learned how to use a hatchet in the Boy Scouts when I was about 12.
I keep an Estwing hatchet under the drivers seat of my car (no trunk).

Batoning is a good trick to know. Might come in handy, but I prefer a simple hatchet for splitting wood. It's actually very easy to use and leverages physics to your advantage.

Even Joe X liked it. (The theological implications alone are staggering.)

https://youtu.be/ZbrLzi0uks4

[vivi]

I have built countless fires and never done any batoning.

Part of this is a workman's sense of knowing the limits of his tools and getting the job done without abusing them.

So if you never baton how are you so confident whether it is or isn't within the tools capability?

I have knives I've been batoning for 10, 15, 20 years now. I think the fact they've suffered no damage or shown any issues being used in that capacity for such a long time frame is a clear indication it's within their limits.

Axes and hatchets are great but even a simple fiskars X7 will outweigh my 9" chopper. Much less something like an SRK or Aqua Salt than can handle batoning just fine too.



Yes, axes are superior for splitting wood. That's what I use at home.

But I'd rather use my chopper for a lot of other tasks I encounter. It doesn't split wood quite as well as an axe, or handle brush quite as well as a machete, but it does a good enough job in either role I can get by with it alone instead of two other tools.

Maybe not a big deal if you're a stones throw from your truck, but I'm often hiking 5-20 miles from my vehicle. Knowing I can split wood with something lightweight like an Aqua Salt has come in handy more than once.

It all depends on where you're going and what you're doing. For me, it's rare I carry an axe unless I'm on my property or car camping. Up north I carried them more but down here a machete or chopper is often more useful.

[Tucson Tom]

I have built countless fires and never done any batoning.

Part of this is a workman's sense of knowing the limits of his tools and getting the job done without abusing them.

So if you never baton how are you so confident whether it is or isn't within the tools capability?

I think is is common sense, reinforced by a variety of unhappy experiences along life's journey. I tend to not push things to their limits.

I have a "truck knife". A big fixed blade knife made from 1/4 inch stock and I think made from 5160 steel. Made by Ontario Knife Company. Just the thing (in my mind anyway) for batoning and general abuse. But I also carry a hatchet in the truck and would never carry either the hatchet or that big knife backpacking. That big Ontario Knife blade has been great for slicing bread on several occasions, though it isn't what anyone would call a "slicer"!!

But the whole batoning thing seems like a solution in search of a problem. Maybe someday I'll be in a situation where I want to split some wood to start a fire but it hasn't happened yet. I'll remember the tip about using a folding knife with it unlocked if that day ever comes.

[Tucson Tom]

Hi Tom,

I guess one of the advantages of getting old (there aren't many) is learning stuff and getting to teach it to others.

sal

Hi Sal,

I hope you are doing well.

I'm not sure sometimes if I am getting wise or getting "soft".

Here is a story along those lines. My son got a great deal on a 5 degree rated down sleeping bag from Western Mountaineering. He worked at an outdoor retail shop and bought if from one of his fellow workers. The seller was also accumulating the wisdom of years and made the comment, "If I need a bag like that, I'm just going to get a motel room instead."

[vivi]

I have built countless fires and never done any batoning.

Part of this is a workman's sense of knowing the limits of his tools and getting the job done without abusing them.

So if you never baton how are you so confident whether it is or isn't within the tools capability?

I think is is common sense, reinforced by a variety of unhappy experiences along life's journey. I tend to not push things to their limits.

I have a "truck knife". A big fixed blade knife made from 1/4 inch stock and I think made from 5160 steel. Made by Ontario Knife Company. Just the thing (in my mind anyway) for batoning and general abuse. But I also carry a hatchet in the truck and would never carry either the hatchet or that big knife backpacking. That big Ontario Knife blade has been great for slicing bread on several occasions, though it isn't what anyone would call a "slicer"!!

But the whole batoning thing seems like a solution in search of a problem. Maybe someday I'll be in a situation where I want to split some wood to start a fire but it hasn't happened yet. I'll remember the tip about using a folding knife with it unlocked if that day ever comes.

starting a fire isn't the only use. Like my picture showed I used batoning to section fatwood into smaller chunks that I sawed to the desired length. You can also baton into the side of sticks half way when carving traps with a lightweight knife.

It's just another way of processing wood. With the right technique it isn't abusive towards the knife. I've even batoned with SAKs and Opinels just to show it can be done without damage. Mules can definitely handle small pieces of wood.

[Tucson Tom]

Batoning is good to know about as yet another technique to file away in your bag of tricks. And for sure, doing it with care using a mule is entirely reasonable.

Done with pieces of wood that don't require twisting or prying action to make the split would seem like good guidelines.

Another thought I had is that it is worth distinguishing between strict utility and amusement. In my case my camping activities really boil down to amusement in virtually all cases, and playing with my toys (i.e. knives) can certainly fit right in. I plan car camping trips with the main intention being to fool around with my dutch ovens and experiment cooking with them. At one time in history this was necessity and a way of life, but for me it is entertainment and fun (and in general good eating).