Weekend Open Thread: Knife Abuse and another Fight’N Rooster giveaway

H. Clay Aalders
Fight'N Rooster
·9 Comments··13 views

Howdy Folks. We have made it through another week, for better or for worse. The current unrest is not nearly as memeable as was the WuFlu, so I led off with one of the best debate points in the knife world. To baton or not to baton? That is the question.

Our buddy David Andersen wrote this great defense of the practice, back when we were both at TTAK…

In Defense of Batoning

Personally, I am in the pro-baton camp, in that I do feel that it is useful when you don’t have a more specialized tool. On the other hand, the term shows up exactly never in Horace Kephart’s Camping and Woodcraft. Where do you stand?

In other news, I built a new knife-throwing block this week. I will be writing more about it soon.

How many of you fling steel?  I have never formally studied it, but am comfortable with full turn throwing. Half and No-turn still baffle me.

 

We are between formal sponsors for our Weekend Open Threads, so we have reached back into our vault for the second Fight’N Rooster One Armed Tall Boy, this time the one at the top. The “Outlawed” one is on its way to Jason K. out in Oregon. He said he was having a bad week, hopefully this picks him up a bit.

This week we are giving away the “Unrestricted” model. The rules are the same as always, up to 5 comments or replies count as entries. Jason has to sit out from an entry perspective, but the rest of you have at it. You can talk about batoning, the “Capital Hill Autonomous Zone”, the unhunkering, or anything else that suits your mood.

Remember, if you are a first-time commentor, your comment will be held in moderation until I have a chance to clear it. Be patient, I will get to it as soon as I can.

That is about it for tonight. I will leave you with one final meme to sum up the world right now.

Be well everyone.

Here is last week’s post, which has been temporarily back-dated to clear it from the homepage:

Weekend Open Thread: How is your Bingo Card? (and would you like to win a Fight’n Rooster?)

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H. Clay Aalders

H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.

9 Responses

  1. i don’t understand the debate as it applies to fixed knives. you’re not going to hurt 1095 with wood. i remember what happens to leeks tho- good customer service.
    i’m carrying a baton worthy bk24. i like those minimalists, but the girls always grab them for purse duty (there is a spew as well). of the rotating folders, the fastball is in pocket. haven’t had it long; good steel, nice blade shape (could be a fraction longer) and hard to set down flippy action. i gotta figger out how to split it so i can smooth out the liner (there is only one) edges. my concern is getting the detent back correctly.
    the tuna cored a lot of strawsberrz this weekend. not sure why the handle diminishes towards the rear, it reduces gripability. but i like the metal on one side/ fiber on the other thing. the blade has great (point) droppage, a little tall for me. a snap to sharpen after all these uber stahls.

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  2. Worked in the yard this afternoon. Had my faithful Opinel stainless No. 9 with me. Later, I harvested a few tomatoes with my Opinel garden knife. Clay, I re-read your intro.. True, Kephart never used the term. He had a mini-hatchet that he dearly loved. I’ve not had any luck finding a photograph of it. I’ve often wondered why no one seems to make one anymore. Given how much he raved about it, I imagine several folks would find it a handy tool.

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  3. What knives and tools are everyone carrying today? I decided to go full on victorinox with a hunter pro alox, farmer x alox, and swisstool spirit.

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    2. Working in the nursery planting. Carrying a Kershaw Blur and my EAGTAC light. Although not carried, the blade most used today was a Hori Hori.

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  4. I prefer baton to make extra small kindling. It’s just way easier then trying to use a hatchet or ax. That being said, anything bigger than about wrist diameter I take a hatchet or ax to it first.

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  5. Jason- I’ve been working from home (have not been in the office) since mid March. Zoom is my friend! My secretary’s husband works in our IT department, and brought the box Clay sent home for safe keeping. She’s giving it a workout in her garden and around home. She’s 45 miles north” out in the country” of an adjacent county. I hear it’s a devastating dandelion slayer! I’m hoping to get the green light to head back in by the beginning of July. Hopefully I can reclaim it and play with it some….sigh…My best friend’s father was an assistant Scout Master. He taught us batoning with his KA-BAR. That knife survived WWII, and hoards of 12 year olds learning knife safety and just kept on going!

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  6. Finally some good news! Thanks Clay, I’m pretty excited about this knife. Mark, I’ll spare you the details, but no, definitely still riding the poop river. How you likin’ that CRKT? I don’t have a lot of experience batoning, prolly because I have so many wood splitting tools I love to use. I have used my KA-BAR USMC Fighter for the task and had fun doing it. Last time I threw a knife I was prolly 11 or 12. Throwing stars and knives were my favorite carny prizes when the Rodeo and Carnival would come to my small IA town every summer. I have thought about giving it a go as an adult with an adult blade. Wash ya hands.

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  7. Congrats Jason, I hope you had a better week! Clay, I’m with you on batoning! I think it is a safe fire prep method, especially after it’s rained. It’s a simple way to get to the dry wood inside to start a fire. And I’m terrible with an axe- just average with a hatchet. I have never had any success knife throwing. I admire those who have mastered the skill. If I’m throwing a knife, the safest place is at the target!

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