least stressful way to batten a knife
- Thread starter laurens ch
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Andy said:
Better still, use a good quality knife that you know and trust, then you'll know that you won't break it. I was battening my Fallkniven A2 into maple logs of about 6" diameter earlier in the week.. No worries, no damage. Big batton and lots of bashing = split logs.
P.s. The only time I saw someone try to batton with an Opinel they managed to snap the tip clean off the blade with the batton. This left the rest of the blade buried in the wood where it simply did NOT want to come out from. I made a wedge with my Buck 110 and hammered that in to free the knife. The guy took one look at the state of his Opinel and decided that he shouldn't have done that... Opinels are, in my opinion, far too thin and brittle to safely batton. (and thats without getting into a discussion on whether or not I'd trust the pivot pin and/or lock ring!)
Could you actualy walk out into the bush with a cheap knife you felt would likely break under hard use and be comfortable with that thought?
Did someone mention batoning an Opinel?
I may be able to give some definite input here.
I've done it. My only knife at the moment is an Opinel no. 8 in carbon steel.
I've mainly used it for cutting small twigs and cutting in around a bigger bit of wood to allow me to snap it over my knee.
About a week or so ago I was splitting a hearth board to try a bowdrill.
I didn't go all the way with the knife - I have a blunt, rusty cleaver I'm going to be cleaning up soon and used that as a wedge for the actual splitting, but just batoning the opinel in to blade depth I caught the back of the locking rind and bent it a tiny bit - can hardly see it, but the ring now spins further than it should, and is very much stiffer than it should be.
Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to baton with one again - but ONLY hitting the back of the blade in to blade depth and then following up with a wedge.
I've never had any problem with the ring coming open under normal use...
...well, apart from that one time - but that was "user error", I didn't close it properly.
Lovely knife - I'd have another if the courts hadn't decided to ignore the letter of the law and I could carry it as EDC.
As it stands I'm in the market for a Mora/Clipper or some such.
I may be able to give some definite input here.
I've done it. My only knife at the moment is an Opinel no. 8 in carbon steel.
I've mainly used it for cutting small twigs and cutting in around a bigger bit of wood to allow me to snap it over my knee.
About a week or so ago I was splitting a hearth board to try a bowdrill.
I didn't go all the way with the knife - I have a blunt, rusty cleaver I'm going to be cleaning up soon and used that as a wedge for the actual splitting, but just batoning the opinel in to blade depth I caught the back of the locking rind and bent it a tiny bit - can hardly see it, but the ring now spins further than it should, and is very much stiffer than it should be.
Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to baton with one again - but ONLY hitting the back of the blade in to blade depth and then following up with a wedge.
I've never had any problem with the ring coming open under normal use...
...well, apart from that one time - but that was "user error", I didn't close it properly.
Lovely knife - I'd have another if the courts hadn't decided to ignore the letter of the law and I could carry it as EDC.
As it stands I'm in the market for a Mora/Clipper or some such.
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