Battoning a Woodlore

[Daniel]

Agonising lately about which of two knives to buy (an AW Woodlore when they start taking orders again, or the new Bearclaw knife when that's ready), I was thinking about the brass butt on the Bearclaw one so that one can batton the knife on the butt... I was wondering how the woodlore is for doing that?

Anyone tried this on a woodlore?

Cheers,
Dan

 

[shinobi]

I've not seen a woodlore being used for hitting like this but the BFK (Bearclaw field knife) hilt can be used to soften nettles etc for corgage removal and for breaking open nuts with no problem. Also due to the shape of the blade, all the force applied to the hilt is transferred to the tip as opposed to the asymmetry of most other blades. This looks like being a real bushcraft multitool !! (without the hollow handle and SAS survival kit)
By the way, I have no financial gain from writing this. I've seen one in action and am waiting for my place in the queue

Martin

 

[stevec]

hammering the butt of the knife into a tree is a sweedish method of taking down small trees, i heard it mentioned by the then owner of falkniven, which is one of the reasons that the butt of those knives has part of the tang sticking out.
sc

 

[MartiniDave]

I wouldn't fancy battoning on the end of the handle of my woodlore, the handle (micarta in my case) would be sure to suffer damage. I'm not familiar with the bearclaw knife, but Gary usually seems to know what he's on about.

Dave

 

[sandbender]

I've been whacking the back of my AW Woodlore for years, however I have made a point of only striking the back of the blade and have avoided hitting the handle which I think would eventually break. I wouldn't baton the butt of the knife for the same reason.

Perhaps more importantly if the handle bacame chipped or lumpy from this kind of abuse it would be more likely to rip my palm up during hours of heavy usage, so I wouldnt recommend belting away at any of the wood parts.

(You can also use the back of a AW Woodlore to open beer bottles)

 

[tomtom]

can someone explain to me how you take down a tree driving a knife blade in to it by battoning the butt?

 

[Daniel]

(You can also use the back of a AW Woodlore to open beer bottles)

How does that work?

 

[Paganwolf]

put the back of the knife blade under the lid of the bottle with your thumb under the blade then push down on the handle and twist the back up at the same time, err or so i am told im T total my self
taking a tree down with a knife is tought by the swedish/norwegean army (if i remember rightly) the blade is hammered directly in at 90degrees to the tree and pushed back and forth removed and the process repeated around the trunk till it is sufficiantly weakend as to be pushed over, the trees will only be wrist,arm thick enough for shelterbuilding i wouldnt suggest it for felling a giant redwood

 

[Goose]

put the back of the knife blade under the lid of the bottle with your thumb under the blade then push down on the handle and twist the back up at the same time, err or so i am told im T total my self
taking a tree down with a knife is tought by the swedish/norwegean army (if i remember rightly) the blade is hammered directly in at 90degrees to the tree and pushed back and forth removed and the process repeated around the trunk till it is sufficiantly weakend as to be pushed over, the trees will only be wrist,arm thick enough for shelterbuilding i wouldnt suggest it for felling a giant redwood

I use a bic type lighter for opening my bottles, hold bottle in left hand tight at neck,put base of lighter under cap, use yuor index finger knuckle as a pivot and twist! Should work in a similar way with a knife, I cant afford a woodlore but I will try with the mora later.

 

[sandbender]

How does that work?

I have no pic to demonstrate, holding the bottle neck in your fist you kind of lever the lid of with the back of the blade using the flat of the blade resting on your 2nd nuckle of your thumb as a pivot.

(don't try this at home kids)

I learned the technique from a Namibian bush guide, one of the guys that Stuart and Woody were down there with recently.

 

[mojofilter]

Opening bottles of beer, now thats my kind of thing!

 

[sandbender]

Exactly right Mojofilter, although I place the knife on my thumb knuckle with the blade facing me, I have long fingers and they might get chopped otherwise

 

[mojofilter]

Ive always done it with my first finger. The broader the blade is, the less chance there is of cutting a finger off, although I regularly open bottles this way with a trapper or stockman, and I've never cut myself yet. To be perfectly honest, its probably far safer to do this with a ciggarette lighter

Also, just because you dont cut your finger off opening your first beer, doesn't mean you wont cut it off by the time you are opening your twelfth beer!

 

[Marts]

Also, just because you dont cut your finger off opening your first beer, doesn't mean you wont cut it off by the time you are opening your twelfth beer!

And that's exactly why it's a bad bad habit to get into

 

[JFW]

It's better than breaking your teeth..........

Cheers

JFW

 

[sargey]

i wouldn't recommend batonning on a wooden handled knife, but i teach my scouts to baton on my micarta woodlore, spine and pommel. they haven't managed to break it yet

micarta is plenty tough stuff.

cheers, and.

 

[Chopper]

I have two cases of Newcastle Brown here, I will try and do a tutorial later.

I will demonstrate all of the methods on here and we will see which is best

 

[Daniel]

Opening beer with a knife... is there nothing these bushcraft knives can't do?

So the recommended would be then, don't batton a woodlore anywhere on the handle at risk of damaging the wood?


On a side note, sandbender (i'm asking you directly because I know you have one...), would you say your AW Woodlore meets all your knife needs? and cost aside, would you say the AW Woodlore is worth buying? (I'm still undecided on the whole Bearclaw knife / Woodlore thing).

Hope you don't mind me asking !
Cheers,
Dan

 

[sandbender]

Hello Daniel

I talked about this on an earlier thread 'Knife advice please' this is what I said...


"I have one of those Woodlore RM knifes but I'd have to agree with Venger and Magikelly, you should buy a Mora now and get to work on those 'skilz'...

I would also suggest that you leave off spending any serious money on a knife until after you've attended one of the many BCUK 'meets' where hopefully some kind folks will let you actually do a little work with their knifes. Choosing a knife from a picture on the internet is always a gamble and even if you can hold a potential purchase in your hand you will never know if it's truly the tool for you until you have spent two or three hours making feather sticks, pot hangers, spoons etc. etc.

As for Woodlore knives, I'd happily recommend them, I have been using mine for years, its scratched, stained and with daily sharpening now has quite a different blade profile from the one it was delivered with. I fully expect to hand it on to my grandchildren.

That said I've traveled and worked with people who have the Wilkinson Sword Woodlore and I'm not convinced that there is that much of difference between mine and theirs, same blade shape and style, minor differences in handle shape and I know that these guys are giving them some hard use. So one hundred and twentyish for a micarta WL which is available right now seems like a better buy than two hundred and fifty for something which you will see in two years."


Check out the thread to see what others had to say...

As far as Bearclaw vs Woodlore goes, I have had superb service from both companies, I think that some folks were given/lent prototypes of the Bearclaw knife to try out, sadly I wasn't one of them, however I'm hosting the BCUK Scotland meet in a few weeks so maybe I'll get to see one then.

Knife ownership has a 'viral' 'meme' type thing going on, folks who have one particular type of knife appear to be more inclined to egg others on to buy the same type of knife.

My thoughts as I mentioned in the earlier thread are that if this is a major purchase for you and you are hoping to buy that one working knife that will be your faithfull and trusted companion for life, then read the many different opinions on the forum, but make your decision based on two or three hours of using other peoples knives.

My Woodlore knife has had daily use for close on five years, I have 'yet' to find one better and if you are ever in Scotland I'd be happy for you to borrow it for while.

 

[Daniel]

Cheers sandbender thats helped a lot!

I've been using a mora for about 6 months now and am continuing to practice with it before using any expensive knife! I'm hoping to be able to get to a meet sometime this year, and will at your advice be trying out some different types of knives!!

Thanks,
Dan