Your knife and its priority

[Toddy]

funnily enough Johnathon, i did think of your knife after writing that post



the only thing i cant do with a knife is saw, a knife is an Edged tool, so is an axe, billhook, parang ect. ive taken down some largeish trees with a knife and a batton, dug holes with parangs, ect.

Me too
Tbh I don't get this opprobium folks have about battoning
Do it right and it doesn't damage the knife, I've even done it with an Opinel and it was fine.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Siberianfury]

Me too
Tbh I don't get this opprobium folks have about battoning
Do it right and it doesn't damage the knife, I've even done it with an Opinel and it was fine.

cheers,
Toddy

i think when done correctly its fine with any knife pretty much. i think people get worried about breaking their new pride and joy bush knife, but we have to remember they are tools and its what they where designed for, to be used ect...

doesnt mean we cant look at them and go OOOOHHHH though

 

[Bushnoob]

Lol. Just for anyone on the thread that thinks I am fixated or in love with large knives, I'm not. My largest blade is the Rat-rc4, and I normally carry that or my Enzo. The whole light weight travel thing doesn't bug me, but it does for my friend, which is why he says he'd rather a large knife. He says rather than carry 2-3 tools why not just have 1? I don't know, but it really isn't my thing unless I know one way is more efficient...

My friend just kept proposing the idea that his Rat-7 could split logs to make kindling faster than a fairly decent hatchet. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it makes me wonder. We will go to test it soon but I still don't have a very good axe.

 

[Xunil]

...
Tbh I don't get this opprobium folks have about battoning
Do it right and it doesn't damage the knife...

cheers,
Toddy

You added the obvious caveat. Take it away and you have the case for the prosecution in a nutshell.

The whole " do it right" element is usually where it all falls down.

I've seen some folks baton who looked like they were trying to sledge hammer their way to China. Failure is all the more likely as a result and the potential for injury is greater. Not only that; if you a mile or two from home and break your knife you can go home and get another, but until you replace a failed blade you do no more knife work.

I'm not precious about knives, but I place a high value on the human condition and working safely and efficiently means a lot IMHO.

And from a knifemakers perspective all I can say is that anyone who expects a 60+ Rockwell blade to stay in one piece ought to give some thought to not belting it repeatedly. All it takes is for the blade to twist slightly and the next hard blow can easily snap any blade.

Digging sticks are more efficient than a knife and easy to make with one...

 

[Siberianfury]

My friend just kept proposing the idea that his Rat-7 could split logs to make kindling faster than a fairly decent hatchet. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it makes me wonder. We will go to test it soon but I still don't have a very good axe.

it probably can, i favour a lagre knife over an axe for splitting, but an axe is better for clopping, cleaving and carving.

 

[zorro]

I find this covers most eventualities.

And I've found that a chainsaw is best for dropping trees.

 

[rik_uk3]

Giving this some thought, my most used blade is one on a Leatherman PST or more often these days a Sanrenmu knife which is small enough for your pocket and very sharp and is the only blade I've used on recent trips; perfect for food prep, cutting cord etc.

Like this
http://sanrenmu.com/en/foldingknives/product/79.php

 

[JohnC]

....My friend just kept proposing the idea that his Rat-7 could split logs to make kindling faster than a fairly decent hatchet....

I'd say that this is the issue, it's perhaps not that his knife knife can split logs, its him using a knife and his skills... As folk have said, some appear to be skilled/happy to/prefer to use one blade over another. My son prefers using an axe to split wood for kindling, I like using a fixed blade knife and baton.

 

[Toddy]

Giving this some thought, my most used blade is one on a Leatherman PST or more often these days a Sanrenmu knife which is small enough for your pocket and very sharp and is the only blade I've used on recent trips; perfect for food prep, cutting cord etc.

Like this
http://sanrenmu.com/en/foldingknives/product/79.php

Those Sanrenmu knives are really excellent, and at the price they're brilliant. I've got two of them, but one has become HWMBLT's pocket knife of choice

cheers,
M

 

[Woodcutter]

Sure everything has been pretty much covered but for what its worth I'll chuck in my thoughts.

I own all sorts of knives, all sorts of sizes, a couple of GB axes, and a saw. Granted I only usually go out into the woods for 2 maybe 3 nights at a time but I tend to take a different knive each time just to enjoy using them, as covered they all do a similar job but I enjoy the aesthetics of my knives, different handle materials, grinds, sheaths etc. If I had to reach for one, it would be whichever came to hand first, I trust and use all my knives and know how to use them.

PS. always got a SAK in my pocket too.

 

[Pict]

Growing up in the woods of Pennsylvania I rarely carried anything but a SAK and a USMC Ka-bar knife and found the combination more than adequate for everything I ever had to do. Once I moved to Brazil I quickly found out the difference between a large knife and a machete. Adding a machete to the mix the large knife was rarely if ever used. My standard for many years has been a bushcraft type knife and a machete. Since spending 80% of my adult life here I find it very hard to ditch the machete even when back "home" in PA. There I just switch from my 16 inch Latin or modified golok Tramontina to a 12 inch Ontario.

There is a solid case to be made for learning the correct techniques to do whatever you need with whatever you have. There is also the preferred way you have developed for getting things done over the years. If you are subject to legal restrictions or social mores then that is just another layer of complication but having developed workable skills in that environment would you bother to change much if those restrictions were removed?

Back in Pennsylvania very few people carry machetes and I have had more than a few strange looks in the bush but only up to the point that people see what I can get done with a machete. If someone's concept of the tool has been formed by Jason, hockey masks, and zombie movies they are in for an education.