I came across this post by cliff stamp over on blade forums wilderness forum. It describes how to batten a fixed or folding knife in the least stressful way to the knife. Its a bit technical but I thought some of you may find it useful all the same.
least stressful way to batten a knife
- Thread starter laurens ch
- Start date
Any chance of asking the guy who wrote it if you can post it here? I'm not a registered member there and cannot access it.....
Ed
Ed
ah, the old "correct" batonning method 
this rubbish has been kicking round for a while now, it sort of migrates from forum to forum. like alot of info from similar sources, it sounds ok in theory.......
what all that mumbo jumbo actually means is this:
in normal wood splitting with a baton, you place the knife across the piece of wood to be split, and hit it with a stick.
when the knife has sunk into the wood, hopefully there will be enough of the knife tip sticking out. so the normal practise is to hit the tip and push down on the handle.
some people suggest that this method puts too much stress on the knife. it's never been a problem for the likes of mors kochanski, cody lundin and all the bushcrafters who use these sorts of techniques on little dinky plastic or wooden mora knives.
it could potentially be a problem if you use a folding knife. i have broken the locks on a couple of side lock swiss army knives doing this sort of thing.
so let's take a look at the proposed idea to solve this problem.
you place the knife across the piece of wood to be split, and hit it with a stick.
when the knife has sunk into the wood, hopefully there will be enough of the knife blade near the handle sticking out. so you can hit the knife just in front of the lock/handle junction, and your hand, hopefully with out landing a direct hit on either. you're supposed to pull up on the handle in order to direct the "rotational torque" into forcing the blade down into the wood.
what usually happens to me is that, all the immediate shock goes straight into my hand holding the knife, very hurty, and you get nearly no where with the splitting. this proposed method is much more difficult to control and not nearly as efficient, 'cause you have much shorter levers.
so what should you do? before you irretrievably jam your knife in a gurt big lump of wood, cut a couple of sticks from a couple of branches. whittle a slight bevel on one end to help prevent it splitting, and cut a screwdriver like profile on the other end. mechanical engineers call this tool a drift. bushcrafters tend to simply call it a wedge.
wood splitting with a baton, you place the knife across the piece of wood to be split, and hit it with a stick.
when the knife has sunk into the wood, lie the thin end of your drift or wedge up with the spine of the knife and hit the fat end of the wedge. as the wedge is driven into the split, the split opens up enough for you to retrieve your knife. you may find it very useful to have more than one wedge.
the method that mors' was demonstrating at the moot was simply to split a thin wedge off the side of your log and use that in a natural crack or "check" in the wood to be split.
learn not your bushcraftyness from knife knuts grasshopper, for they know the ways of steel, they know not the ways of the woods.
cheers, and.
this rubbish has been kicking round for a while now, it sort of migrates from forum to forum. like alot of info from similar sources, it sounds ok in theory.......what all that mumbo jumbo actually means is this:
in normal wood splitting with a baton, you place the knife across the piece of wood to be split, and hit it with a stick.
when the knife has sunk into the wood, hopefully there will be enough of the knife tip sticking out. so the normal practise is to hit the tip and push down on the handle.
some people suggest that this method puts too much stress on the knife. it's never been a problem for the likes of mors kochanski, cody lundin and all the bushcrafters who use these sorts of techniques on little dinky plastic or wooden mora knives.
it could potentially be a problem if you use a folding knife. i have broken the locks on a couple of side lock swiss army knives doing this sort of thing.
so let's take a look at the proposed idea to solve this problem.
you place the knife across the piece of wood to be split, and hit it with a stick.
when the knife has sunk into the wood, hopefully there will be enough of the knife blade near the handle sticking out. so you can hit the knife just in front of the lock/handle junction, and your hand, hopefully with out landing a direct hit on either. you're supposed to pull up on the handle in order to direct the "rotational torque" into forcing the blade down into the wood.
what usually happens to me is that, all the immediate shock goes straight into my hand holding the knife, very hurty, and you get nearly no where with the splitting. this proposed method is much more difficult to control and not nearly as efficient, 'cause you have much shorter levers.
so what should you do? before you irretrievably jam your knife in a gurt big lump of wood, cut a couple of sticks from a couple of branches. whittle a slight bevel on one end to help prevent it splitting, and cut a screwdriver like profile on the other end. mechanical engineers call this tool a drift. bushcrafters tend to simply call it a wedge.
wood splitting with a baton, you place the knife across the piece of wood to be split, and hit it with a stick.
when the knife has sunk into the wood, lie the thin end of your drift or wedge up with the spine of the knife and hit the fat end of the wedge. as the wedge is driven into the split, the split opens up enough for you to retrieve your knife. you may find it very useful to have more than one wedge.
the method that mors' was demonstrating at the moot was simply to split a thin wedge off the side of your log and use that in a natural crack or "check" in the wood to be split.
learn not your bushcraftyness from knife knuts grasshopper, for they know the ways of steel, they know not the ways of the woods.
cheers, and.
I feel pretty embarrassed now when I tried it with my f1 I did notice I was battening pretty near the handle so I needed to use a smaller batten.
edit I deleted the link and the copy and pasted information
when I tried it with my f1 I did notice I was battening pretty near the handle so I needed to use a smaller batten.edit I deleted the link and the copy and pasted information
sorry, that wasn't the idea.
the main thing is that you try these ideas out for yourself, as you're obviously doing, and not taking anyone's word as law.
cheers, and.
the main thing is that you try these ideas out for yourself, as you're obviously doing, and not taking anyone's word as law.
cheers, and.
Funny - I've heard that battoning near the handle is the worst thing you can do, in terms of risking breaking your knife.
Personally, I would avoid trying to batton through anything that's less than about an inch shorter than the knife your using. So with a 6" knife, the maximum size would be 5" - and even that's pushing it a bit. Wedges are definitely the way to go for splitting bigger stuff.
Personally, I would avoid trying to batton through anything that's less than about an inch shorter than the knife your using. So with a 6" knife, the maximum size would be 5" - and even that's pushing it a bit. Wedges are definitely the way to go for splitting bigger stuff.
If unsure, batton the knife into the wood to be split blade depth and pull it out.
Make a rough wedge shape like this and batton this into the split you have made.
Banm bam bam!
If its nasty wood that will not split easily, use another piece of wood that protrudes from the log to the split and beat on that like you would usually beat on the tip of the blade.
Wooden wedges are incredibly tough, dont be afraid to beat the bejesus out of them
Make a rough wedge shape like this and batton this into the split you have made.
Banm bam bam!
If its nasty wood that will not split easily, use another piece of wood that protrudes from the log to the split and beat on that like you would usually beat on the tip of the blade.
Wooden wedges are incredibly tough, dont be afraid to beat the bejesus out of them
Thanks I have used wooden wedges before, but it was nice of you to provide a tutorial have some rep. Simon how you finding the northstar Ive been tempted by it for a while but I always hear differing opinions on it.
Thanks Laurens, Its actually a Highland Special (now discontinued) I find it to be excellent for most tasks. The closest thing to it now is a Fox River. The sheath is 'El-sucko' but I use a Fallkniven F1 full cover sheath for mine.
I only have medium sized hands so this is a perfect fit, the Northstar I think would be a tad too small. The Fox River though is larger than the Highland Special so its probably the one to get.
I only have medium sized hands so this is a perfect fit, the Northstar I think would be a tad too small. The Fox River though is larger than the Highland Special so its probably the one to get.
I'm still using the first Mora I ever used for batonning so maybe it isn't as stressful as believed. And much of my batonning has been across the grain to shorten lengths of wood to bring in to make a fire - or to make a heavier baton to use with wooden wedges.
If the blade sides are convexed and polished, intead of being factory concave, and the top shoulders are slightly rounded and polished - then a cheap Mora is highly effective, and stronger knives will be more so. The advantage of bothering to do this is that if big pieces of wood are going to be split with wooden wedges, best to shape them with knife and baton - it goes faster. A person can need lots of wedges with splitting logs.
The big warning I'd have for people with batoning involves dropping green saplings, or even trees. The knife will be fine, but a sudden split up (springboarding) can do physical damage to the user. A man here lost an eye in such an accident with a small sapling. That being noted - it's amazing just how big a green tree can be dropped in short order with knife and baton.
If the blade sides are convexed and polished, intead of being factory concave, and the top shoulders are slightly rounded and polished - then a cheap Mora is highly effective, and stronger knives will be more so. The advantage of bothering to do this is that if big pieces of wood are going to be split with wooden wedges, best to shape them with knife and baton - it goes faster. A person can need lots of wedges with splitting logs.
The big warning I'd have for people with batoning involves dropping green saplings, or even trees. The knife will be fine, but a sudden split up (springboarding) can do physical damage to the user. A man here lost an eye in such an accident with a small sapling. That being noted - it's amazing just how big a green tree can be dropped in short order with knife and baton.
Simon E said:If unsure, batton the knife into the wood to be split blade depth and pull it out.
Make a rough wedge shape like this and batton this into the split you have made.
Banm bam bam!
If its nasty wood that will not split easily, use another piece of wood that protrudes from the log to the split and beat on that like you would usually beat on the tip of the blade.
Wooden wedges are incredibly tough, dont be afraid to beat the bejesus out of them
:You_Rock_
thanks mate!
i'd still recommend making the wedges where possible, before jamming the knife in the wood.
another point that might be worth noting, steer clear of wood with too many knots in. i once out a massive dink in my old highland special attempting to baton through a knot that i hadn't spotted. it was agreat little knife.
cheers, and.
Sage advice - but it's so easy to be in a hurry and forget this... Luckily when I did it was with a hatchet, so It was easy to make a wooden wedge with a knife and open the crack... As I remember I had three cracks and was just tapping the hatchet in gently to which one would open most easily..
To be honest I have never had the need to use wedges, my Brusslettokniven copes just fine on its own I have yet to try battoning with my new opinel yet though.
A word of caution when using wedges. Yesterday i was splitting some quite wide logs using my GB mini hatchet and wooden wedges.
I very foolishly used the hatchet poll as a hammer for the wooden wedge without putting the cover back onto it first. As a result i have a two inch cut in my lower left arm
My advice - hammer in the wedge with a nice safe stick and always pay attention to where your other hand is - three inches closer to my hand and i'd have had a big problem!!!
I very foolishly used the hatchet poll as a hammer for the wooden wedge without putting the cover back onto it first. As a result i have a two inch cut in my lower left arm
My advice - hammer in the wedge with a nice safe stick and always pay attention to where your other hand is - three inches closer to my hand and i'd have had a big problem!!!
Similar threads
