Carry a sawYou can fall bigger trees with it than with a knife and it weights almost nothing
But why, when I don't need to.
the versitility of a small knife and batton
- Thread starter Siberianfury
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
But why, when I don't need to.
Btw if you are referring to his method from the book I believe it did not involve batoning
cheers
No this was actually from a discussion I had with him two or three years ago. Mors has a number of methods for doing anything and if batoning will prove to make things easier he'll use it. A burly great bloke may be able to take things down without baton, but someone weakened, of small stature or low physical strength may have to adapt any method to his / her own situation and capabilities.
In the forces we had people who are classed as force multipliers ie; a sniper can hold up a complete company whereas normally you would be working your behind off as a company to hold off a company.
A baton is the same thing, it allows the individual to do things that normally they would not be able to do, it provides extra leverage and force.
Why waste 4 or 5 cuts trying to achieve something you can achieve with a baton in a single strike, it saves time and effort (calorific expenditure).
hey
you are absolutely right. but from an energetic and practical point of view batoning is inefficient compared to using an axe or a saw, especially if you need to cut a lot of wood.
besides I usually plan ahead if I go in the bush. if we go just for a day, for a walk then I dont need anything beyond a knife to feel comfortable. I would even say from my own experience that in summer if you plan well you can be quite comfortable for a week without an axe or saw and no need to baton (pick good places to build shelter where nature already provided the materials and structures). But if I know that i go for a 3 day trip (or longer of course) i would take a saw in the summer or an axe in the winter, just in case. The weight in that case is not an issue since the advantages clearly outhweigh the extra load (which is almost non existent with a saw). This is why I never had to baton (except for trying it out once and for fun another time) and would like to understand why other people do it so much
cheers
Likewise Rob, it'll be good to see you as long as Neil and I can make it.
This is why I never had to baton (except for trying it out once and for fun another time) and would like to understand why other people do it so much
cheers
It's a skill like any other. If you find yourself having to use it then it's normally better to have done a bit of practice before. It can be handy when doing some things, creating cooking jigs, wood joints, when used with stop cuts it's quite effective when making spoons and it can be quite a timesaver in many respects. If you need to split wood and haven't got an axe (to access the dry wood on the inside) it's very handy.
As I say batoning is a skill like many others, some prefer it to using an axe as it's safer (a short axe is more dangerous than a long one and a knife in conjunction with a baton is in all likelihood safer still, especially if you have little experience of using an axe). When tired many things can go wrong when using an axe, when exhausted even more so.
I carry a folding saw, I also carry a small axe, a bow saw blade and a knife, not all the time when out and about, but on occasion I will have all on me. I don't necessarily need to carry them, but I like the practice of using them as much as anything else.
Think of it like fire, there are many different methods of starting fire, magnifying glass / burning lens, hand drill (which I ain't that good at), strike-a-light (traditional flint and steel), bow drill, use of battery and a few others, the point is that a lot of us will try many of them, some will settle on the method that is most successful for them, others will continue to try and become proficient in the use of as many as they can learn.
The broader the knowledge base the greater the number of solutions present themselves to a given situation. Some of those solutions will suite the situation to a better degree than others.
Josh, sorry for taking things a little off topic.
i had a saw in my bag, i used the knife to demonstrate its capabilitys when applied to this particular task for the sake of the video.
Last edited:
Well it would have been daft if you made a video demonstrating batoning with a knife and then used your saw. I can't believe so many people are picking it to pieces like it's an episode of CSI. There are many people that have never seen how effective batoning can be, this video does exactly as it says in the title.
He could have used the saw to coppice the stump afterwards, it was a demo of the knifes capabilities.
Early in the year I experimented felling a relatively big Eucalypt tree (hard wood, made tougher by the fact that it had been burnt to a crisp in the bushfires from a year ago) with a Ka-bar Becker 2. Not necessarily a small knife, but I was surprised by its ability to perform the task without the slightest hint of blade degradation. No baton was used, took about 10 minutes. Decided it's the ideal knife to replace an axe on outback motorcycle trips.
When I'm processing wood for a fire, I'll split logs for kindling by batoning, as I feel it's safer than using an axe, especially in low light conditions.
Interesting thread & i like these cross-over skills such as here where you use a knife to do some of the things you can do with an axe. I have not tried this yet but may give it a go this afternoon. I was watching a video last night where the guy was using a batton on 1" thick sticks, while resting it all on a fallen tree, which is another application for battoning that I for one had not thought of. The vid of basic knife skills is here; the battoning bit is about 8 mins in:
http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters#p/search/5/MVh8X1fckN4
If you are not careful you can mentally get stuck in a rut, so to speak, so that you only use a batton to split wood for example. These kind of threads show you what else you can do, which is great. Most of the time it would be out with the laplander for this type of work but practicing these knife only skills makes sense to me.
http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters#p/search/5/MVh8X1fckN4
If you are not careful you can mentally get stuck in a rut, so to speak, so that you only use a batton to split wood for example. These kind of threads show you what else you can do, which is great. Most of the time it would be out with the laplander for this type of work but practicing these knife only skills makes sense to me.
Last edited:
G'day Josh.
I've viewed the video & re-read your posts a couple of times.
Can you point out to me the section within your video where you reckon this is the only way to fell a small tree?
Have I missed this?
Or, are all the naysayers reading something into this post that doesn't exist?
I might be wrong, but I took your original post as simply a demonstration of just one way to fell a tree, without excluding other viable methods.
If this is the case, I take my "hat of to you" for taking the time to share a different technique.
BTW, I sincerly hope everyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
Kind regards
Mick
I've viewed the video & re-read your posts a couple of times.
Can you point out to me the section within your video where you reckon this is the only way to fell a small tree?
Have I missed this?
Or, are all the naysayers reading something into this post that doesn't exist?
I might be wrong, but I took your original post as simply a demonstration of just one way to fell a tree, without excluding other viable methods.
If this is the case, I take my "hat of to you" for taking the time to share a different technique.
BTW, I sincerly hope everyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
Kind regards
Mick
Last edited:
Hate to think what you would call a large knife
Well, Jonathan - between small and large there used to be something called "normal"..... I'm sorry, but I can't see anything small about the knife in the original post (and niether is there anything large about it). A few posts down is a pic of a small knife though.....
/K975
Similar threads
