Living On Earth – Batoning Logs To Make Fire Kindling With A Knife Is Silly

In my life, I’ve started thousands of fires. I started doing bushcraft as a child growing up in the 1970s. Back then we called it playing. I trapped my first rabbit when I was 10, and ran away from home when I was 13 to live in a teepee that I made in a small patch of woods across the street from my school. I’ve traveled 90 thousand miles through 39 states and Mexico on my motorcycle, camping under the stars the entire time. I’ve spent a lifetime outdoors camping and hiking. I’ve heated my home with a wood stove for 25 years. In that time, I’ve literally started thousands of fires. Never once, not a single time – ever- had I needed to baton a stick of wood with my knife. Never. Not once.

And yet, almost every knife review on platforms like YouTube starts with how well a knife can be pounded through a log, as if this were the ultimate test of a knife. Modern “bushcraft” has become quite silly to me. So many arguments about silly things by people who really don’t know what they are talking about and have spent very little time out under the stars. I know many of you will agree, and others will insist on the absolute necessity for batoning a knife. For me, I use the right tools for the job. I need to know how well a knife stays sharp, how easily it hones up in the field, and how well it fits in my hand. I’m a sourdough now, with a lifetime living the lifestyle. I just find so much “bushcrafting” to be seriously silly. What are your thoughts?