Dont batton with your knife

[SJStuart]

That's it all sorted then! Perfect.

What else would you use to open a can of paint. I've even got a special screwdriver I use for that purpose and never use to take screws out

But you can't use a simple, effective and efficient means like that! I mean, you have to use the specialized tool which performs exactly the same function... </sarcasm>

 

[ozzy1977]

Nope I have a can opener, loaned to me from ici when I worked in a lab there

 

[SJStuart]

Nope I have a can opener, loaned to me from ici when I worked in a lab there

Have you ever considered a career in politics?

You know... where you can get paid for taking something inherently simple and obfuscating it?

 

[ozzy1977]

Being stranded in the wilderness is diffrent from what we do, which to be fair is camping in a wood. In a true survival situation if I only had a knife then if needed it would be used.

 

[ozzy1977]

Not making thing difficult, I was always taught to use the correct tool for the job at hand.

 

[SJStuart]

Not making thing difficult, I was always taught to use the correct tool for the job at hand.

I'm just playing with you, buddy... and by and large, I agree with that line of thinking (which is why whenever I find myself needing a tool, I buy it rather than trying to fudge the job and risking damage to other tools I already have).

Still, my knife is made for batoning, and that's just what it'll do... one of these days... I'm not going to finish that

 

[Dave-the-rave]

Today I used a set of unused handle bars as an extension on my breaker bar to crack a bolt with 40 ft lbs of torque on my bike. Personally I thought that was using initiative.

As for battening a knife well I don't care what others do. What I've found though is heavy battening can take an edge of a knife so the heaviest I'll go is dependent on the knife being used. I'm only talking about edge retention here, I'm not talking about breaking a knife.

If I could batton a 4 inch blade through 4 inches of wood without blunting the knife I probably would, assuming I didn't have an axe to hand. I don't though because my knives won't take that and I have no intention of having to sharpen my knives if I'm only out for a few days. I've got no intention of spending hundreds on a knife that can take that either.

Horses for courses innit. Hey I've heard of some mentalists who faff around in the rain trying to get a spark. I use a lighter myself.

 

[John Fenna]

That's it all sorted then! Perfect.

What else would you use to open a can of paint. I've even got a special screwdriver I use for that purpose and never use to take screws out

I use a knife...

 

[CACTUS ELF]

Quote Originally Posted by Monikieman View Post
That's it all sorted then! Perfect.

What else would you use to open a can of paint. I've even got a special screwdriver I use for that purpose and never use to take screws out

I use a knife...

Can the BG Ultimate Pro do that as well then?

 

[Humpback]

Bushcrafters who baton with their knife fulfill the golden rule of bushcrafting in having kit that serves double duty:-
1. Batons wood.
2. Drives those who don't to distraction.


Alan

 

[John Fenna]

Quote Originally Posted by Monikieman View Post
That's it all sorted then! Perfect.

What else would you use to open a can of paint. I've even got a special screwdriver I use for that purpose and never use to take screws out



Can the BG Ultimate Pro do that as well then?

No .................. I use a special knife that is not likely to fail in the attempt - got it from a charity shop

 

[CACTUS ELF]

No .................. I use a special knife that is not likely to fail in the attempt - got it from a charity shop

..........

 

[tom.moran]

some good replies here, but if your worried about taking the edge off your knife then get one of these http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/special-offers/hultafors-heavy-duty-bushcraft-knife.htm at 5.95, you really wont mind batonning the b-jesus out of it.

 

[SJStuart]

some good replies here, but if your worried about taking the edge off your knife then get one of these http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/special-offers/hultafors-heavy-duty-bushcraft-knife.htm at 5.95, you really wont mind batonning the b-jesus out of it.

Or... alternatively... learn to sharpen your knife.

Face it: chopping wood with an axe will take the edge off in just the same way as it will a suitable knife. The whole "but it'll dull my blade" excuse is just a cop-out by people who'd rather show off their knives than actually use them imho.

 

[demographic]

No .................. I use a special knife that is not likely to fail in the attempt - got it from a charity shop

Just recently a bloke I was working for picked my freshly sharpened half inch chisel and was just putting it into the lip by the lid of a tin of paint when he was so rudely interrupted by me shouting at him at about 120 dB, poor bloke bricked himself and was quite put out by the experience.
Still he learned that just because he was paying me didn't mean he could dick about with my tools.

 

[Monikieman]

Auch you guys have got me converted.

That's it. Knife away and no more batoning with it.

I'm off to the charity shop to get an old screwdriver, sharpen it on the grinder and use that instead.

 

[AntMan232]

Just to add my opinion to the pot, I am very happy to baton my penknife, it just happens to be a fairly sizeable khukuri...

(I maintain that my khukuri is the single best tool I have ever bought, from a man in a village in Nepal, for about £8. It is seriously epic at chopping through 4+ inch branches, splitting the resulting logs down to pencil sized, and then shaving them into firesticks.)
Ant

 

[JoshS]

Ray Mears batons with his knife: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osxfQkz104A That is good enough for me. Tools are for using, and batoning isn't abuse if done with common sense.

 

[JoshS]

Alot of the arguments on this thread are about using an axe- so what axe are you all using that is really the "proper tool" for splitting compared to a knife?
If its a gransfors bruks small forest axe or similar I got to say that is not a good choice of axe for splitting- the blade is too thin. Its more like a mini felling axe. That thin blade is more likely to stick in the wood -great for slicing fibres though. So where is your splitting maul? Too heavy to carry right?

 

[santaman2000]

That's it all sorted then! Perfect.

What else would you use to open a can of paint. I've even got a special screwdriver I use for that purpose and never use to take screws out

Maybe one of these:



They come free with every can of paint sold.