Mega Thread of Batoning Wisdom

[Mainsail]

I guess pointing fingers and making disparaging comments about those who have a different view is the order of the day.

There was nothing ‘disparaging’ in my post other than what your insecurities read into it. Like you, I have many hobbies and a background of various experiences. I do a lot of hiking and backpacking, and thanks to SERE school, I try to always have a blade of some sort on me.

I was addressing some of the comments about how using a knife this way is wrong, and that there are better tools for the job. Well duh. The problem is that for some activities, like hiking, backpacking, soldiering, climbing, etc, weight matters. You can’t just keep adding more stuff. That’s my beef, the useless advice to just add more gear. If you’re car camping, great, bring a chainsaw.

For the hiker, something of which I’m familiar, we try to carry items with multiple uses, and shun items with only one use (more so when that one use is a remote contingency). So for hikers and backpackers, we’re generally NOT going to carry a knife, saw, and an axe. I have in the past carried a very small folding knife with a hatchet; that makes a good combination. Nevertheless, a knife is (to me) an essential item, a saw is great but it cannot chop or slice, and an axe of any size a lot of dead weight.

Additionally, when hiking there are very few times when an axe or a saw are even needed. I’m not going to build a fire while out on a day hike. A saw would be helpful in a contingency situation, but it can only do one thing, saw. A knife can cut, split, chop, and using the batonning technique, it can chop material much larger than it could by itself. When backpacking, I might build a fire, although it is illegal to do so above 3500’ elevation; there you’re limited to stoves only. Around here, 3500’ ain’t squat, so most of the time a fire is for emergency use only. So for what would I use an axe or a saw?

For the activities you mention, “hunter, camper, and outdoorsman”, a saw might be just the ticket. Nobody is saying you’re wrong, I was only mentioning that the admonition that it’s foolish to use a knife this way, or that it’s foolish to go into the woods without a knife, saw, and axe, is bad advice for hikers or backpackers. It wasn’t a criticism; it was just a friendly observation. Don’t try so hard to be a victim; the county has more than enough of them already.

 

[PRM]

Anyone making the claim that going into the woods without a saw, axe, etc is is foolish is not a hiker. Weight matters. These are often the same people that advocate a shotgun for hiking in the lower 48; couch hikers who have seldom, if ever, actually put many miles and elevation changes that measure in the thousands of feet behind them.

I'm not reading into anything. Your the one who said that those who have a different point of view are foolish. Even go on to call them "couch hikers'.

Some of what you say has validity. You have your opinions based on experience, but so have others.

Don’t try so hard to be a victim; the county has more than enough of them already.

Since you seem to know me so well, I am curious as to what you feel I am trying to be a victim of?

 

[Mainsail]

You're reading:

Anyone making the claim that going into the woods without a saw, axe, etc is is foolish is not a hiker.

But it was more like:

Anyone making the claim that going into the woods without a saw, axe, etc is is foolish is not a hiker.

Anyone making the claim that going into the woods without a saw, axe, etc is is foolish is not a hiker.

Anyone making the claim that going into the woods without a saw, axe, etc is is foolish is not a hiker.

Don't be such a drama queen.

 

[Sam1911]

Wow.

"Dear Diary, today I discovered the 9,341st obscure topic of discussion about which folks can get so worked up that they'll insult each other ... "