Dont batton with your knife

[Ivan...]

I was going to give my take on this in a serious manner, but seeing as i would not be going off subject.

A lot of years ago, i worked at a eucalyptus plantation, and the best and easiest way to weed around the base of saplings/young trees was with a claw hammer! Two semicircular sweeps and the job was done.

Ivan...

And that was on a 1 in 3 slope.

 

[Humpback]

Yes a claw hammer would work for a 1 in 3 slope but anything steeper you would of course need an egg shell blue small forest axe


Alan

 

[SJStuart]

Actually I'm quite good at sharpening knives. Free hand using stones. You're entitled to your opinion but I use the knives I own and sharpen them when required. I choose not to batter a 4 inch blade through 4 inches of wood because I value the edge that I put on there. Do what you like with yours, I don't care.

The whole debate is pretty pointless really as it all depends on the size of the wood and the knife in question.

Should one batton with a knife, yes or no, is dumb. That's just my opinion.

I wasn't talking about you specifically... I was saying that people worried about dulling the blade need to learn how to (and when to) sharpen them.

 

[santaman2000]

Look, you can batton with a butter knife, and not damage it. Really, you can Battoning does not knacker the edge of a sharp unless you hit dirt or stones. The sharper the knife the easier it'll go in though.....like a decently kept axe will cut better, cleaner and with less effort if the edge is sharp and true.....

Yep. Ironically though, when splitting firewood (as opposed to cutting across the grain) a dull axe works better. I know there are those on here who prefer a different bevel for splitting (rearding axes only) but few farmers I knew had different axes for different tasks.

 

[Toddy]

Santaman2000 I am not touching that one with a ten foot barge pole.
I grew up with coal fires in every house. The 'hatchet' sat outside rain, hail or snow, and was used to smash coal and break up kindling.
The revelation that the hatchet could actually be sharpened, and become a ten times better tool for splitting and not skiting off the wood, was a true lightbulb moment

Profile is a whole other ballgame.

M

 

[santaman2000]

Santaman2000 I am not touching that one with a ten foot barge pole.
I grew up with coal fires in every house. The 'hatchet' sat outside rain, hail or snow, and was used to smash coal and break up kindling.
The revelation that the hatchet could actually be sharpened, and become a ten times better tool for splitting and not skiting off the wood, was a true lightbulb moment

Profile is a whole other ballgame.

M

We didn't have coal here (not in the south anyway) and never used a hatchet; always a full sized axe. Nobody ever wanted a sharp axe for splitting (nobody here knew anything about profiling either) they'd sharpen it for cutting but use it dull for splitting. My best guess is that was the closest to a wide profile. TBH I still don't "profile" any cuttint tool (apart from drill bits and chisels) I just sharpen it by rubbing it against the stone (or file in the case of axes) as if I were trying to slice into the stone at about a 30* angle.

 

[petrochemicals]

here's a knife you can batton with, with a hammer.

www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Bahco_2448_Wrecking_Knife.html

 

[ozzy1977]

I have one of those, a lot cheaper on amazon though, got the knife shaped one too.

 

[British Red]

here's a knife you can batton with, with a hammer.

www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Bahco_2448_Wrecking_Knife.html

Heres the same knife afterwards!

Bahco wrecking knife by British Red, on Flickr

 

[santaman2000]

I like that! Perfect for a tool box.

 

[British Red]

That's where it lives !

 

[The MAX]

I'd like to have a nice pretty full tang knife, but the fact of the matter is I'm probably not that great at sharpening and a $200-$300 knife would be wasted on me save for drooling over it. So, what I have is a Mora Bushcraft Black HD, a $40 knife that seems to be mostly indestructible, along with a GB or Wetterlings axe and folding saw.

Sometimes if I'm having trouble with my axe due to no good place to split, I'll baton, quite successfully. I figure if the Mora does somehow break, I'll buy another one.

 

[petrochemicals]

Heres the same knife afterwards!

Bahco wrecking knife by British Red, on Flickr

I'm assuming that this has been on here before then.

is there anything you don't do/tools you havn't bough/photos you havn't taken ? I shall try to test you.

 

[British Red]

Many, many things I don't do - cos I can't or don't know how

 

[ozzy1977]

I have found the heat treat on ym bahco chisel knife far too hard, it managed to chip when removing resin off a spruce the other day

 

[HillBill]

Pine/ spruce resin can destroy a GB axe. Its very, very hard.... thats why you add ash to temper it when making glue... it stops it being so damn hard and brittle.

 

[Parbajtor]

So a knife would be easier to explain than an axe? Odd logic that.

But certainly less obvious to a passer by at 30 yards, so they'd be less likely to phone the police about a mad axe wielding suspicious person hanging about in the woods

 

[Parbajtor]

I completely agree it's not going away. But neither is drinking and driving.

Ever since they found out that talking on your phone while driving carried the impairment equivalent of being twice over the limit, drinking and driving has virtually disappeared. The new fad is texting while driving. Way, way,way more exciting than DUI.

 

[Parbajtor]

Not many people actually carry a froe when out camping.

Only soul brothers talkin' jive can carry off a froe.......


oh, and Samuel Jackson.

 

[petrochemicals]

Only soul brothers talkin' jive can carry off a froe.......


oh, and Samuel Jackson.

A froe being a double handled splitter?