Le-Loup wrote:From what I have observed over the years, batoning is something that was invented by the bushcraft enthusiasts in an attempt to add another bushcraft skill. I find the practice pointless & impracticable. If a person does not know how to acquire dry kindling without batoning a knife, then they can hardly call themselves experienced & they have some learning to do. Keep your blades for the purpose they were intended for traditionally.
With respect, I can see the merits of your point without necessarily agreeing with it completely.
Batoning, to your credit, I've never encountered in an historical context. Point taken.
Not being able to acquire dry kindling without batoning a knife = inexperienced? Here in the midwestern united states, it can rain for days.
Weeks. ANY time of year, for that matter. There is literally no chance for things to dry out most of the year, and the humidity in the air gets under rocks and into caves. There is no readily available dry material without being willing/capable of splitting. Batoning, then, serves a purpose for those who choose to carry a functional and utilitarian anglo-saxon or Norse Seax instead of an Axe, as an example. I, for one, felt that an Axe wasn't at home in my own Dunedain impression, as useful as they are.
Never had to cut wood for a fire? Can you unpack that thought a bit? Are we saying you've never felled a tree for wood, or you've never split wood for a fire? If it's the former, I'm with you...deadfalls are always to be found. If it's the latter...then I'm going to have to chalk your information and experience up to seasonal and climatic differences between Australia and Western Europe/N. America.
Now, the trick is, I think the "hunting knife" you're referring to is significantly smaller than the Seax I'm describing. What most consider a hunting knife nowadays is something I would never baton with...it's not a wood processing implement. Still, writing off batoning entirely seems a bit forward, when in many areas throughout the year the only way to acquire burnable wood is splitting. Calling it pointless and impractical is excessive; my seax was designed with the technique in mind, and is
very efficient at processing large (relative) amounts of wood for maintaining a heating fire through a long night.
Bear this in mind: I'm a bushcraft-user without being a bushcraft enthusaist. I don't study youtube, and I don't go into the woods to practice carving notches on sticks...so I'm not defending
that group of people; I'm here solely in defense of what I consider a viable skill.