I confess to batoning with a folding knife.

[Laurentius]

I confess, I ought not to have done it m'lud but it was a means to an end.

I batoned with my Swiss Army Rucksack knife and it survived the experience, I only did so because it was all I had to hand. (that is a confession in itself, I do not carry a small armoury of knives around with me like an honest bushcrafter should)

Well you see I needed to split a piece of wood and it would have taken an eternity to saw through it.

Am I forgiven or do I go to penknife purgatory?

 

[Trotsky]

Is there a separate level of hell reserved for bushcraft "crimes"?

 

[Mesquite]

Well you see I needed to split a piece of wood and it would have taken an eternity to saw through it.

Am I forgiven or do I go to penknife purgatory?

Nowt to be forgiven for... you did what you had to do and no harm done

 

[nephilim]

I've done it, proving it doesn't break when doing do, it will be fine. May not be the best way, but if it gets you out of a crunch, then no issues

If you don't have a proper knife for it though, may be worth investing in one.

 

[Toddy]

It's a skill, and if the knife survived sound, and you didn't end up knackering your hands either, then I think that's a win

M

 

[Bishop]

Bushcraft is working with what you've got, not what you wish you had. No crime here.

 

[Toddy]

Bushcraft is working with what you've got, not what you wish you had. No crime here.

That's a sig line and a half

M

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

Did it once myself with an Eka Sweede 8 and it folded on me. No injury but made me think about what I was doing.
I stopped and carved a small wedge to do the job.

 

[Jared]

As long as it's your knife.

Though think the more proper technique would've been to carve a wedge, and baton that through.

 

[Toddy]

Well I generally do
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39163
but sometimes we all push the envelope, so to speak

M

 

[Leshy]

Needs must...
and Bishop nailed it spot on.

At least now you know how good you SAK is when pushed to the limit...

 

[Robson Valley]

Baton outside the lines. If your knife survived, nice quality to have learned about that knife.

 

[Nice65]

Needs must...
and Bishop nailed it spot on.

At least now you know how good you SAK is when pushed to the limit...

And reasonably easy to replace. I used to use my Super Swede for everything, ended up mashing the blade to the spring bar so often it got terrible blade play. But it worked hard for me for years.

If you need to baton a folder, try and do it with the blade not fully set against the spring. And be careful.

And as Bishop has eloquently alluded to, the best survival knife is the knife you have with you when you need it.

 

[Toddy]

Thing is though, if you do do it wrongly, and the knife breaks, then you've potentially destroyed (or at least created a much less effectively useful tool) one of your most useful bits of kit, especially if it's a 'survival' situation.
Jared's right to point out that the wedge making is more usual, and for a lot of sound reasons.

It surprised me at a meet up that no one else had ever made and used wedges to split timber. It's incredibly effective, and easily carved with a pocket knife or even chipped out with a sharp stone.

M

 

[passer]

Is there a separate level of hell reserved for bushcraft "crimes"?

No, just a spot closer to the fire.

 

[dnarcher]

Can I point out, there is a tool for splitting wood, called a froe (not the dodgy hairstyle, though personally I think using those to split wood would be an appropriate sanction).
So if you're considering using your fine edged bushcraft knife as splitting tool, just say froe.

 

[Toddy]

Aye, but a froe weighs a couple of kilos and it won't fit in my pocket

M

 

[Jared]

Froe is probably a bit overkill for what a 110mm Rucksack SAK could manage.

My earlier comment about a wedge probably ott in this case too thinking about it.

The Rucksack having a saw means sawing through half the diameter a ways down, and knock it about a bit would induce a split in it.

 

[Janne]

Chuck Norris uses his right hand when he batons a blade.

 

[Corso]

why did you need to split the wood in the first place?