I wanted to try and document the few knife techniques I use a lot of, in the following pictures I am using a simple Frosts knife, the 740 in carbon steel and the C223, big chopper! That is also carbon steel and so far holds an excellent edge, even after a fight with the flagstone floor in my cellar whilst taking the pictures! 
This is not a definitive be all and end all, I’d rather the thread was used as an instructional thread, so if others can add to it with pictures then please do; otherwise it gets gummed up with chatter.
Before trying any of these methods, make sure you have a number of things:
1. A sharp, strong capable knife.
2. A First Aid Kit and the knowledge of how to use it in an emergency.
3. A clear area without distractions. Always ensure your follow through is safe and not moving towards yourself or others. Keep well away from the inside of the groin, apart from us guys having what we think is pretty important there, everybody has a very important main artery there that if cut will bleed out and you’ll die in no time. Be careful.
That’ll do for now. If you want to know more about knife safety, check out this thread:
General Outdoor Cutting Tool Safety
First of all, a grip I use which is called, I believe, the Chest Lever Grip. Holding the knife in the normal hand, rotate the knife so that the edge is away from you and your thumb rests on the flat of the blade. The piece of wood to be cut is in your other hand. This can be used to take shavings off of a piece of wood or to cut a piece of wood in to two at an angle. It is also good for making the points on tent pegs.
The blade is biting into the wood, hands are on the chest and the lungs are empty. Draw in a big breath and slightly move your elbows towards your spine, you are pivoting your wrists on your rib cage. The blade will slice off a nice piece of wood. Sorry about the out of focus shot, my wife took the pics and obviously had other things on her mind!
Here is the piece that came off.
Next is a Power Cut. Quite simple really, the knife is held in the conventional way in a firm grip, the work piece is held in the other hand. The knife bites into the wood and pressure is applied with the cutting hand. Some people keep the knife hand still and pull the work piece towards them, find what suits you.
As cutting pressure is applied, a nice curl of wood comes up.
At the end of the cut, the wood chip flies off and the knife enters my free space or safe follow through area.
A view over the shoulder. Notice the wood chip on my wife’s rug, she is so happy!
For a more controlled cut, place the knife in the gap just below your knee cap. Make sure you put the spine next to your flesh or you won’t have a knee cap for long! The work piece is held in the other hand and this is pulled against the blade. The knife hand controls the angle of attack and holds the knife steady, this is good for controlled use of the blade and also as a make shift plane of sorts.
You can see the curl of wood getting bigger as the work piece is drawn back.
For finer curls and detailed work, use your thumbs. Dunno the name, Thumb Push Cut, maybe? Who cares, it is quite obvious how it works, you can see the thumb nails whitening as they push on the spine of the knife.
Next up is battoning a knife. Now, if you have an axe, there would be no need to do this, but it can get you out of a pickle if you don’t have one or the haft has broken and you are miles form civilisation. (Not gonna really happen in Britain!)
First off, set the knife on top of the piece you want to batton. You need a good stout piece of a branch to hit it with, only a foot or so long.
Wallop the blade above the stick you want to split with the batton. The knife will now be in the wood up to the spine.
Now you hit the spine of the blade just as it protrudes from the wood. I have been told it is best if you can keep the point of the knife higher than the handle; it supposedly stops a lot of stress on the blade and stops the fixing into the handle from failing at a critical moment. Dunno how true that is though, just pretend it is your bank manager and wallop it!
Once the split is fairly large, drop the batton, pick up the work piece and twist the knife in the work piece. This widens the split and lets it carry on to the end.
If it doesn’t split all the way, release the twist, move the knife down the split and repeat the twist.
Another method for splitting, one more often used with an axe than a knife, is the method that follows and that I know no name for. Of course, I could use the baton, but you could do this without one on a large log or whatever to protect the edge of your knife. This will work with large knives, smaller knives stick to the batton.
Set the knife up with the work piece in the other hand.
You bring them both up together and bring them sharply down onto a chopping block or log. The knife will split the work piece, then apply a twisting motion similar to before to split the work piece in two.
The large knife can also be used to create feather sticks, I had to try after a recent discussion on a large bowie failing at this. I reckon I was wrong, it must have just been my Dad that is no good! They aren’t perfect, but they were quick and done just to show that a big knife can do the job. The curls move according to the angle at which you tip the knife. Tip up or tip down and they shoot off left and right, knife parallel with the floor and they curl straight down like a tongue!
Tip down, the curls are going off to my right.
Tip up, they go left.
Straight on, you get a flopping tongue of wood!
If anybody can add by way of photgraphs and an explanation, then please do.
This is not a definitive be all and end all, I’d rather the thread was used as an instructional thread, so if others can add to it with pictures then please do; otherwise it gets gummed up with chatter.
Before trying any of these methods, make sure you have a number of things:
1. A sharp, strong capable knife.
2. A First Aid Kit and the knowledge of how to use it in an emergency.
3. A clear area without distractions. Always ensure your follow through is safe and not moving towards yourself or others. Keep well away from the inside of the groin, apart from us guys having what we think is pretty important there, everybody has a very important main artery there that if cut will bleed out and you’ll die in no time. Be careful.
That’ll do for now. If you want to know more about knife safety, check out this thread:
General Outdoor Cutting Tool Safety
First of all, a grip I use which is called, I believe, the Chest Lever Grip. Holding the knife in the normal hand, rotate the knife so that the edge is away from you and your thumb rests on the flat of the blade. The piece of wood to be cut is in your other hand. This can be used to take shavings off of a piece of wood or to cut a piece of wood in to two at an angle. It is also good for making the points on tent pegs.
The blade is biting into the wood, hands are on the chest and the lungs are empty. Draw in a big breath and slightly move your elbows towards your spine, you are pivoting your wrists on your rib cage. The blade will slice off a nice piece of wood. Sorry about the out of focus shot, my wife took the pics and obviously had other things on her mind!
Here is the piece that came off.
Next is a Power Cut. Quite simple really, the knife is held in the conventional way in a firm grip, the work piece is held in the other hand. The knife bites into the wood and pressure is applied with the cutting hand. Some people keep the knife hand still and pull the work piece towards them, find what suits you.
As cutting pressure is applied, a nice curl of wood comes up.
At the end of the cut, the wood chip flies off and the knife enters my free space or safe follow through area.
A view over the shoulder. Notice the wood chip on my wife’s rug, she is so happy!
For a more controlled cut, place the knife in the gap just below your knee cap. Make sure you put the spine next to your flesh or you won’t have a knee cap for long! The work piece is held in the other hand and this is pulled against the blade. The knife hand controls the angle of attack and holds the knife steady, this is good for controlled use of the blade and also as a make shift plane of sorts.
You can see the curl of wood getting bigger as the work piece is drawn back.
For finer curls and detailed work, use your thumbs. Dunno the name, Thumb Push Cut, maybe? Who cares, it is quite obvious how it works, you can see the thumb nails whitening as they push on the spine of the knife.
Next up is battoning a knife. Now, if you have an axe, there would be no need to do this, but it can get you out of a pickle if you don’t have one or the haft has broken and you are miles form civilisation. (Not gonna really happen in Britain!
)First off, set the knife on top of the piece you want to batton. You need a good stout piece of a branch to hit it with, only a foot or so long.
Wallop the blade above the stick you want to split with the batton. The knife will now be in the wood up to the spine.
Now you hit the spine of the blade just as it protrudes from the wood. I have been told it is best if you can keep the point of the knife higher than the handle; it supposedly stops a lot of stress on the blade and stops the fixing into the handle from failing at a critical moment. Dunno how true that is though, just pretend it is your bank manager and wallop it!
Once the split is fairly large, drop the batton, pick up the work piece and twist the knife in the work piece. This widens the split and lets it carry on to the end.
If it doesn’t split all the way, release the twist, move the knife down the split and repeat the twist.
Another method for splitting, one more often used with an axe than a knife, is the method that follows and that I know no name for. Of course, I could use the baton, but you could do this without one on a large log or whatever to protect the edge of your knife. This will work with large knives, smaller knives stick to the batton.
Set the knife up with the work piece in the other hand.
You bring them both up together and bring them sharply down onto a chopping block or log. The knife will split the work piece, then apply a twisting motion similar to before to split the work piece in two.
The large knife can also be used to create feather sticks, I had to try after a recent discussion on a large bowie failing at this. I reckon I was wrong, it must have just been my Dad that is no good! They aren’t perfect, but they were quick and done just to show that a big knife can do the job. The curls move according to the angle at which you tip the knife. Tip up or tip down and they shoot off left and right, knife parallel with the floor and they curl straight down like a tongue!
Tip down, the curls are going off to my right.
Tip up, they go left.
Straight on, you get a flopping tongue of wood!
If anybody can add by way of photgraphs and an explanation, then please do.
