Please school me on batoning firewood

[GatorFarmer]

A four or five inch knife batons adequately, so I am not sure why there is a focus on large and heavy knives. The better grade Moras will even old up for a while.

I don't get the whole beating on a knife with a log. Splitting firewood and felling trees is the job the axe and hatchet was designed to do. One could dig a hole with a knife too, but shovels

Chuckle. True enough. But that is no different than fighting being a job for battle rifles...yet we all carry around handguns as we go about our day, not FALs.

I forgotten about digging cat holes though. That is another fine use for a good knife...

The utility belt knife or survival knife or whatever folks want to call it fills in as needed when one is unlikely or unable to be hauling around a hatchet, axe, shovel etc.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

It's hard to say with certainty exactly where this batoning BS came from.
But us older guys do know that it's a fairly new term.
When you get to a certain age, you begin to realize that you don't like most of the new stuff that you learn.
I have gathered firewood every which way you can name except baton style.
I like the lazy *** technique. Start a fire and lay an entire tree on the fire. When it burns through, lay the two halves on the fire, etc.
Only do this out West in the dry areas!

 

[soFlaNative]

I don't get the whole beating on a knife with a log. Splitting firewood and felling trees is the job the axe and hatchet was designed to do. One could dig a hole with a knife too, but shovels work better.

I thought one of them looked familiar.
I enjoyed that thread.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/firearms-knives-other-brands/383815-refurbishing-old-axe.html

 

[GatorFarmer]

The use of a knife as a splitting wedge or chopper, whether aided by a club or not, is not new. It goes back at least to the 19th century. Then, as now, some writers wrote essays against the practice of chopping and splitting with a knife and against large knives in general...Suggesting the hatchet or axe and a smaller belt or folding knife for a "gentleman". Yet people continue to use large knives. Outside of Europe, a large knife be it kukri, parang, bolo, et al is what people carry and use, not a hatchet.

 

[rwsmith]

It's all to sell.......

It's all to sell more equipment with tough, modern materials when a 'hatchet' would do the job. Like man, I gotta get one of those knives that split wood! The only way I'd use a knife that way was in a life or death situation.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

all these posts and still have not heard one peep about the old standby-charcol lighter.. Sheesh!!!!!

 

[Cooter Brown]

Like others I had never heard the term until I went to a knife forum or two. Particularly in the "Bushcraft" (whatever that is) sections of the forums people seem to put a lot of importance on "batoning".

I've spent a lot of times outdoors, many days camping, many miles of backpacking in my younger days. It would never occur to me to do something like that to a knife unless...I'm not really sure I can think of an unless.

Like Chief38, as I gained experience my knives got smaller. That seems to be a truism among people who spend a lot of time outside.

As far as making a fire, with the right stuff you can start a fire under most any circumstance--see a recent thread started by Mule Packer to get an idea about the right stuff. And with a slipjoint pocket knife you can whittle off a pile of shavings in no time.

When backpacking there's no real reason to bust up wood--burn bigger pieces in half, or push them into the fire as they burn. If you're not going light, there's no reason not to have an ax or a saw.

The batoning thing seems to have a life of its own and no real purpose other than proving it can be done. But I suppose that's true of a lot of things. Just please refrain from doing it with any of my knives.

Smith 357, those are some great looking axes! I really like the hand ax and the boy's ax in the first pic. I refurbed my grandfather's old boy's ax a while back. I've used a a good bit for limbing felled trees and it's a pleasure--quieter, safer and often more efficient than a chainsaw for that purpose.

 

[DeathGrip]

So what I get from this is you drive a knife through a piece of wood to split it for fire wood?

Thus proving it's tough?

I used to drive mine through a nail with a hammer.

 

[T. McIntyre]

It's the cool thing to do according to the internet survival "experts"...


Personally, my grandfather's plain old Old Timer pocket knife will do all I need to do.

When I'm camping, hiking, fishing, etc. I use my foot, more often than not, to make big sticks into little sticks for a fire.

 

[T. McIntyre]

Of course if I build a fire while hunting, it's just a small one to boil up some coffee or tea and have a nice warm cup, which can make a sloppy wet and cold winter day, much more enjoyable.

No batoning needed.

 

[GatorFarmer]

The other use for batoning, aside splitting, is chopping and crafting. That means being able to bash on a knife and use it to gather shelter materials, poles, what not as quickly as possible. The idea is that if it is a bad day and a storm is rolling in, to be able to mash together somethig to keep the rain and cold off.

Crafting this, that, or the other may well involve splitting off smaller slicesnor pieces.

One does not always have a choice of what size trees or branches are available.

Like Chief38, as I gained experience my knives got smaller. That seems to be a truism among people who spend a lot of time outside.

Take a look at any society where then people spend a lot of time in the woods because they have to, not as a hobby, but because they live there. Brazil, the Phillipines, Thailand, Africa...the locals in the bush have big knives. Third World folks may well have a small knife, folding or other wise, but the culturally evolved panga, golok, bolo or other national knife will be a large fixed blade. Even if a person essentially lives in the stone age otherwise...they will have a large fixed blade if at all possible.

Only perhaps in Scandinavia are the foresters carrying smaller knives, and in these countries the axe does become the substitute.

 

[walnutred]

I'm afraid to admit it but until it was stolen the WW2 surplus KaBar Mk2 I bought in the late 60's was used many times to "baton" kindling into tinder. Probably before I purchased it as well. Though I'd never heard the word baton used that way until this thread. Though now that I think on it I've also batoned (is that a word) axes into fuel to make kindling, the backs of breaker bars to vibrate penetrating oil into stuck parts, and all manner of other things.

Though if I'd asked most of the people I've camped with "Let me borrow your baton so I can coax my knife through this stick" I'd have gotten some odd looks. Or is it "Toss me yon stick to I can baton my way through this kindling and get a fire started". Nether sounds correct to me.

 

[williamlayton]

Why do I keep thinking about Baton Rouge ?
Blessings

 

[ATF]

Take a look at any society where then people spend a lot of time in the woods because they have to, not as a hobby, but because they live there. Brazil, the Phillipines, Thailand, Africa...the locals in the bush have big knives. Third World folks may well have a small knife, folding or other wise, but the culturally evolved panga, golok, bolo or other national knife will be a large fixed blade. Even if a person essentially lives in the stone age otherwise...they will have a large fixed blade if at all possible.

Only perhaps in Scandinavia are the foresters carrying smaller knives, and in these countries the axe does become the substitute.

There aren't many if any people living in the forest in the places you mention except indigenous tribes. They all live in towns or cities. In tropical or sub-tropical countries they use a machete to split coconuts which would be almost impossible with a small knife. Machetes can be easily made from sheet steel. As far a Scandinavia is concerned it's much more highly developed than Wyoming but they do have Polar Bears in the far north.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Why do I keep thinking about Baton Rouge ?
Blessings

Probably because LSU just did a three game sweep at the Houston classic at Minute Maid Park

 

[Cooter Brown]

The other use for batoning, aside splitting, is chopping and crafting. That means being able to bash on a knife and use it to gather shelter materials, poles, what not as quickly as possible. The idea is that if it is a bad day and a storm is rolling in, to be able to mash together somethig to keep the rain and cold off.

Crafting this, that, or the other may well involve splitting off smaller slicesnor pieces.

One does not always have a choice of what size trees or branches are available.




Take a look at any society where then people spend a lot of time in the woods because they have to, not as a hobby, but because they live there. Brazil, the Phillipines, Thailand, Africa...the locals in the bush have big knives. Third World folks may well have a small knife, folding or other wise, but the culturally evolved panga, golok, bolo or other national knife will be a large fixed blade. Even if a person essentially lives in the stone age otherwise...they will have a large fixed blade if at all possible.

Only perhaps in Scandinavia are the foresters carrying smaller knives, and in these countries the axe does become the substitute.

The first part of your post is the most reasonable explanation I've seen. Though as a Boy Scout we managed to build shelters without big knives or batoning.

As far as the second part, I guess I'm more Nessmuck/Scandinavian than New Guinea aboriginal. I even ate lutefisk once. Once.

 

[Biggfoot44]

I'm not going to touch on the small knife vs big knife ( the knife version of 9mm vs .45 ) , or on different methods of fire starting.

*Usually* if you are out in the woods at random , plenty of firewood is available to gather , abd be dealt with by hand and foot. The exception is well used designated camping areas. When other people have been combing the same streatch of forrest all season long , and year after year, the supply of easily gatherable wood ranges fron slim , to a long walk away from camp. In those situations, some form of splitting , if not cutting to length is needed. Could be a common hatchet , or a Hudson Bay style axe .

If hiking/ camping as a group , only one is needed for the whole group. For a lone person ? Don't have good choices : Bite the bullet , and carry a hatchet. Primarily use a camp stove. Camp farther off the beaten path free range.

 

[Rangerpat]

Bushcraft is basically primitive camping with a minimal amount of equipment, so some people don't carry a axe.

Ka-Bar sells a knife called the BK-2 (Becker Knife & Tool) that you can baton all day long with if you want to, or else field strip a Buick.

I was raised not to abuse knives, so I have a hatchet for making kindling.

 

[reddogge]

I guess if you gotta baton this will do the trick. A WW1 bolo.



Actually batoning is a very handy technique if you are into old time woodcraft making your own cooking utensils and furniture out of green saplings and wood.

 

[GatorFarmer]

There aren't many if any people living in the forest in the places you mention except indigenous tribes. They all live in towns or cities. In tropical or sub-tropical countries they use a machete to split coconuts which would be almost impossible with a small knife. Machetes can be easily made from sheet steel. As far a Scandinavia is concerned it's much more highly developed than Wyoming but they do have Polar Bears in the far north.

You do not have to be wearing a loin cloth to be living rustic. There are farmers, peasants, and country folk the world over.