John McCann: Stay Alive: The Best Knives and Top Tools for Survival

I could go on, but you can see that common sense and staying aware of what you are doing will help prevent unwanted injuries that can make any survival situation worse.

The thumb assist is a means to control a knife blade when trying to push a knife blade or when doing delicate work. It works especially well when cutting notches, such as for traps. With the thumb assist, you use your knife hand only to hold the blade of the knife in position in the area of the piece of wood where you want to make a controlled cut. You then use the thumb of the opposite hand, placing it on the spine of the knife blade, and wrap the fingers of that hand around the work. Holding the knife in place with the knife hand, the thumb of the opposite hand pushes the blade of the knife forward in a controlled manner. Again, don’t push with the knife hand since, if you slip, you will take the desired notch right off the end of the stick.

If you need to cut through a stick, but you want a reasonable blunt cut, you will need to make a series of small cuts around the stick. Hold the stick in the non-knife hand, above where you want it cut. If the stick is long enough, support it under the arm pit of the non-knife hand. With the knife hand, start cutting in at a slight angle, using the thumb assist, and continue making cuts as you spin the stick. Once you are all the way around, you can continue in the same manner until the stick is cut through.

The initial cut for a notch can be cut with a small saw, or by gently batoning. Once the initial cut is made, use the thumb assist to complete the notch. As previously stated, don’t push with the knife hand, just hold the knife in position. The thumb of the non-knife hand will be providing the forward pressure.

The technique for cutting down a sapling with a primary knife blade is quite simple. With your non-knife hand, bend the sapling so it bows toward your knife hand. Then take your knife and start a cut at an angle in towards the tree, at the point where the sapling is bending. Holding the knife securely, with downward pressure, rock the knife back and forth while keeping pressure on the sapling. When the cut is almost finished, start to release pressure on the sapling with the left hand, or it will break, causing additional cutting. It should only take several seconds for this process to be complete.

As with most aspects of knives and their use, batoning is fraught with controversial opinions. I baton and I stand by that position. I have heard people say that they have never batoned and have never had the need to. Others do so all the time. Even though some say that anyone with common sense would never baton, I have usually learned my own lessons and based my decisions on those lessons. However, I do tend to listen to those more experienced than myself, and there are some experts who firmly recommend batoning. Some of those experts, whom I respect, are Ray Mears, Mors Kochanski, Chris Janowsky, Christopher Nyerges, Cody Lundin, Dave Canterbury, Jeff Randall, Les Stroud and Alan Halcon. After reading this section, you will ultimately make the decision for yourself whether to baton or not baton.

Okay, so what is batoning? It is simply splitting wood by pushing a blade through wood by hitting the back of the blade with a wooden baton. It’s that simple. So, whay would you choose to baton?

When you baton, you normally keep the blade of the knife perpendicular to your body. You then tap the back of the blade with a wooden baton, which can be any piece of wood. Control the blade and, if the blade does go through the wood quickly and unexpectedly, it will not hit your body. I always recommend batoning over a piece of wood, and usually use a short sump if available. The blade, after going through the piece of wood being batoned, will stick into the stump or wood, and not into you or the ground, which definitely is not good for the blade of your knife, or you!

You can split wood with a hatchet or axe, but this requires swinging and energy. A hatchet and axe will never be as accurate as placing a blade on a piece of wood and tapping the back of the blade. I have known people with a pretty good aim with swinging an object, but even the best have had a hatchet or axe miss the target or, worse, bounce or glance off target. It is difficult to control where the edge goes once you follow through with the swing, and the blade takes off in an undesired direction. This is when accidents occur and the injury from the blade of a hatchet or axe can be severe to say the least — the last thing you need in a survival situation. If you are splitting wood in the back yard, that is one thing. But if you are trying to split some wet wood to extrapolate dry pieces from the center for kindling, batoning is a safer bet. Also, the energy expended by batoning is much less than with swinging a hatchet or axe.

Another reason batoning may be preferred is the accuracy of the cut. You may want to cut a spindle off the side of a board being shaped into a fireboard for a bow and drill. You can more precisely split a piece off the side while controlling the blade. That would be a difficult move with a swinging hatchet or axe.

Another reason for batoning is less stress on your body parts. I have often sat on a stump in front of another one and batoned for hours. In a survival situation, I would not want to be swinging a heavy sharp object that long. You can also baton while kneeling.

One last factor to consider is the weight of a hatchet or axe versus a knife. In a survival situation, you will probably only be carrying a knife. A hatchet maybe. But an axe, probably not. So for the weight of a knife, you will still be able to split larger pieces of wood into smaller pieces.

The bottom line is you must make the decision yourself, not listen to the opinions of others.