Just a thought

[Lord Farquhar]

How about this. Save your nice expensive and pretty knife from being all bashed up by doing the batoning with another blade.

The blade is made from a Qualcast rotary mower and is a medium carbon steel so it should not be too brittle.

Its a small thing designed to be light and not cumbersome so you could in theory just add it to a sheath, one pounch for the knife and one for the little batoning blade.

I got a bit of black Cherry wood that's been seasoned for a couple of years and bandsawed it up and tried batoning it with the little blade, I used a small log to baton with and I used a hammer but that made little dents in the back of the blade as expected. I chopped it no problem and tried to feather the ends of some of the kindling and it worked no problem. It was sharp enough to bite me in the process. Thanks for looking.

 

[Draven]

Yknow that's a really good idea, and since there's no need for a wood handle, mainly being for batoning, you can thwack the handle all day long without worrying about anything being dislodged.

I like!

Pete

 

[sapper1]

A very good idea but I would expect any knife I bought to be able to withstand being hit with a lump of wood.

 

[Lord Farquhar]

A very good idea but I would expect any knife I bought to be able to withstand being hit with a lump of wood.

I agree.
Its not so much as a question if the knife will stand up but bashing your nice satin finished blade threw grit and slime will eventually scratch up your nice expensive hand made knife. Personalty I would like my £200+ knife to looks good for a long time. Also with a batoning blade you can carry a much smaller, lighter, thinner knife as it does not need to big and chunkey as you do the rough work with something else.

 

[sapper1]

This is where I seem to be different from most people .I buy a knife as a tool and expect it to work well.Use it and clean it when I've finished ,that'll do for me.I use a fallkniven A1 for most work ,it has even replaced my axe.For smaller more intricate work I have a small necker.I find these cover everything I need.Still I like the idea of a cheap piece of metal turned into a useful tool.

 

[malente]

T'is a good idea, I like.

However, any £200 knife should be up for the job, and scratches are character

Hope you're healing up ok!

Mike

I agree.
Its not so much as a question if the knife will stand up but bashing your nice satin finished blade threw grit and slime will eventually scratch up your nice expensive hand made knife. Personalty I would like my £200+ knife to looks good for a long time. Also with a batoning blade you can carry a much smaller, lighter, thinner knife as it does not need to big and chunkey as you do the rough work with something else.

 

[locum76]

Could a Frosts Mora take that kind of punishment? I've never stress tested one...

 

[JonathanD]

I love that there is blood everywhere. That I can relate too

 

[Toddy]

This is where I seem to be different from most people .I buy a knife as a tool and expect it to work well.Use it and clean it when I've finished ,that'll do for me.I use a fallkniven A1 for most work ,it has even replaced my axe.For smaller more intricate work I have a small necker.I find these cover everything I need.Still I like the idea of a cheap piece of metal turned into a useful tool.

Yep..........and I've never damaged, or even scratched a knife battoning with it yet, and I don't own any *big* knives.
I do use an axe at times though, but not often.

Locum if you do it properly, keeping it balanced, the Mora battons beautifully

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Tony]

they even bend sometimes as they go through and then come out all straight the other side

 

[sasquatch]

great idea! looks like it works a treat on fingers too!

 

[Asa Samuel]

Sounds like a good idea - having another blade for the batoning but I would want maybe a slightly longer blade and something out the other end for hitting, it looks to me like you would have trouble hitting the blade after the blade has gone fully in.

And the question everyone wants to know: Is that really blood?

 

[Shewie]

I witnessed a 740 snap clean in half whilst batonning on a course a few weeks ago. The girl who had it was mortified, so was the instructor, so was I and so was everybody else on the course.
I told her to contact Frosts when she got home but I've no idea what their response was.

 

[helixpteron]

I love that there is blood everywhere. That I can relate too

That was my thought too!

 

[Lord Farquhar]

And the question everyone wants to know: Is that really blood?

Yes I know its red and it should be blue but I must have some pleboid blood in me some where

If the look at the bottom photo you can see a tiny slice across my finger, when you work with your hands and tiny nic can really bleed for a short period of time.

The idea was really just to make a little back up blade, save the nice knife from the chopping tasks and batoning. I made the blade so you could lump it and not worry and because of its shape it can be used for food prep, scraping, delimbing etc. It was not designed to replace a knife but more as an accompaniment.

 

[320]

that is a clever solution to a riddle i can't solve.

why would someone pound on the spine of a knife unless it was a last resort?

especially a blade that isn't full tang.

using a mower blade is perfect.
the steel is softer than most, but takes a razor edge and doesn't shatter.

if you hammer out (without heat) the initial edge before you do the final grind. you will get a hardened section of blade to work with, almost like differential heat treatment.

i don't weld, so the froes that i've made are straight like yours. mower blades and car springs have been my raw materials. i made one for a friend out of a stanley wonder bar, just ground a chisel edge for 6-7 inches of the main shank. it splits and pries quite well.

i've tried regular and chisel grinds and can't really tell the difference in performance.

the fellow who said there should be a knob on the end for pounding is right.

i don't know what they are called in the uk, but i used use a "hacking knife" for cutting lead cable.

the older ones had a raised boss on the end for pounding on. the manufacturer also riveted heavy leather on the handle to absorb the vibration while you pound. some had a raised handle so you wouldn't knuckle out at the end of your cut.

it was servicable froe.

anyway...you did a fine job