Tag Archives: fire starting

Batoning – “You did WHAT with your knife?!?”

by Woodsbum

How long are people going to argue about the viability of using a knife for fire preparation? It makes NO sense to me why this is still an argument……..

Let me being with the back story before my rant:
I was down in Texas for the better part of last week. My plane landed a little after 1800 (6 pm) and I got home around 1900 (7 pm). The son, the daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend were outside. A fire in our fire pit was in the works. Like usual, my son was out there with his Primitive Edge bushcraft knife batoning and feathersticking away. Some jerk had stopped to give him hell about using his knife in such a “disrespectful” manner. This guy then felt the need to start in on me about how ill taught my son was and how I should have put him in the Boy Scouts so that expert outdoorsmen such as himself could have taught my son correctly……….

Again, I ask why people argue about the use of knives in fire preparation. When you go online and do a search for using a knife to baton wood, you will get tons of results where anyone that batons is called names. These same people will quickly turn around and use the same knife they won’t baton with for making a feather or fuzz stick, however. This makes no sense. If you can use one knife for cutting and stripping wood, why can’t you use it to make smaller strips of wood by batoning? Better yet is when they pound the wood onto the ground or a rock with the knife being used as a splitting maul. When the wood splits, they quite effectively slam their knife into the rock. Again-again, I wonder why that is a fine use of a knife when careful batoning is not.

For those of you who do not know what batoning is, please let me explain. Instead of using an axe to split wood, a knife is used and another piece of wood is used to hammer the far end of the knife so that the blade travels down the length to split it. This is most commonly used in split wood fires to make very small pieces of wood for kindling. Once the small pieces are done, you use the same knife to make feather/fuzz sticks.

Many of these self proclaimed “experts” in outdoors “survival” have a tendency to use military survival training as the basis for everything that they know about living in the bush. They will buy those mylar emergency blankets and expect that to keep them warm if a situation crops up where they get stranded. They will also carry some Rambo knife that is not even full tang and think that this fighting knife is a survival knife. What really needs to happen is that they need to understand that “survival” and “bushcraft” are two completely different things. If you can thrive in the woods, you don’t need to “survive” in the woods. You can carry less and be comfortable for the wild will provide.

Maybe they need to research this guy:

Mors Kochanski

Mors Kochanski

The picture is of Mors Kochanski. If you don’t know who that is and are spouting off about batoning a knife, you have serious issues……..

Here are some links to an interview with Mors.

As you can see from the interview, he is considered the modern “Grandfather of Bushcraft.”

Why do I mention him? He teaches and preaches the importance of being able to baton with your knife. It is one of the many lessons that he harps on as a basic skill for outdoorsmen.

If you are not as well versed in bushcraft and believe people like Dave Canterbury more, even he batons his knife.

If you don’t believe them, then how about this?

The reality is quite simple. People use tools to complete tasks. A good bushcraft knife is simply a tool. Just make up your mind as to which tool you like best. Whether you use a knife, hatchet, machete, cleaver, axe, or any other tool you choose, the final result is really the only true way to evaluate the effectiveness or value of the tool. In the case of a skilled woodsman using any of the previously mentioned tools, they are all effective.

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The Beauty of the Twig Bundle

by Woodsbum

Most people love a good campfire. The problem is that there is an art to the whole “fire building” thing. If you don’t know how to make feather or fuzz sticks, gather tinder and kindling, know the difference between green or dried wood, etc., you can be stuck using one of those fire starter logs on your next camping trip. What I am going to do is start adding a few fire starting techniques and instructions to help you along if you do want to start a fire on your next outing.

The first series of instruction is on the “twig bundle.” It is also known as the “Apache match.” All it really consists of is a gathered bundle of dried twigs that range from the width of a pencil lead to the size of a disposable pen. These puppies get very hot, very quick and burn long enough to get some bigger split wood burning. They are quite effective and I personally use this technique about 1/3 of the time I am out in the woods.

Your first step is to gather as many twigs as you can find. They should be very dry and range in size from pencil lead diameter to the diameter of a disposable pen. When gathering these twigs it is imperative that you only gather those that are very dry. To test to see if they are dry enough you should bend them and see if they snap. If they tend to bend more than snap, the twigs are not dry enough. Gather enough to be able t make a bundle about 8 inches in diameter. To judge this size you can look the length of a United States Dollar. It is about 6 inches long. Get a group of twigs together that create a bundle farther across than the length of that dollar.

Once you get your twigs gathered, break them into 12 – 16 inch chunks then separate them by diameter. The thinner pieces need to be in the middle of the bundle and the thicker pieces need to be towards the outside. This allows the thinner pieces to catch on fire and get the thicker pieces going after it gets hot enough. You pile of twigs should look like this.

Pile of twigs

Pile of twigs

After you get them sorted and built into a good, organized bundle you should find yourself some sort of cordage to tie the bundle together. Twine, inner tree bark, fresh tree branches, stalks from weeds, blackberry vines, etc., all work well. In this picture I used a fresh bough I cut off a tree that kept poking me as I worked.

Tied twig bundle

Tied twig bundle

As you can see, it doesn’t have to be perfect. All you are going to do is start it on fire, so generalized “organization” is more than perfect. As long as it is relatively “organized” you will be fine.

Once you get your bundle ready to be lit, you then need to decide how you are going to light the bundle. Some common methods include the use of cotton balls, dried cat tails, jute twine, dried grass, inner bark of a dead tree…..  The list can go on for days. The important thing to remember is as such: Get some easily combustible material to nestle into one end of the bundle and get a different pile of materials to get your actual flame. You DO NOT want to fight the twig bundle as you are trying to get an actual flame started. Get the flame and then start the bundle on fire. If you pack one end with something like dried grass, the whole end of the bundle will take off in a matter of seconds.

If you are wondering what I use, you might be a little scared. I tend to use flint and steel to get a piece of charcloth going, then blow a “nest” of dried materials into flame. Once I get that going I get the dried material I packed into the end of the bundle started, which in turn make the bundle burst into flames. I use this method because of the extremely wet environment in which I live. You might not have as many issues if you don’t live in a rain forest type environment.

Once your twig bundle takes off, it will get hot and burn quickly. Don’t forget to have yourself some staged firewood ready in various sizes that range from the diameter of a dime to the size of a quarter to begin with. You will take your brightly burning twig bundle and use that as a way to get your other materials going.

Twig bundle burning

Twig bundle burning

These bundles burn for several minutes and get a good set of coals started. It is a great method to start working with as you progress in your fire starting skills. If you look at the next pictures, you can see how setting the bundle on end will get you a fairly high and hot fire going. This helps you get split wood burning quite effectively. Again, make sure you are using dry materials. Green wood and materials do not burn very well.

Twig bundle set ablaze

Twig bundle set ablaze

In this next picture you can see how I just added bigger twigs and branches to build a good set of coals with which I could cook. The better the bed of coals you build, the easier and better it is for cooking. It also makes it easier to keep the fire going all night long if you have a solid bed of coals going. We will get into stoking fires for a full night’s burn and the different types of fire lays in another post. Just remember that you need to have a bunch of small pieces of wood burning before you add bigger pieces. Also keep in mind that you need to step up the pieces and not drop an entire tree on a new fire without a coal bed. If you do move up in size too quickly, the fire will go out. Again, this will be touched upon in later posts.

Twig bundle with larger branches in a modified tipi style fire lay

Twig bundle with larger branches in a modified tipi style fire lay

I hope that this helped some of you that are new to building campfires. As I remember to take more pictures, I will show several more fire building methods to include the use of metal matches/firesteels and flint/steel. There will also be posts on making your own charcloth as well, so keep checking back for more fire building tips and instruction.

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