The Sacred knife

    Use the right tool for the job! How often have you heard or read that statement? I see it pretty frequently on message boards and youtube. There’s other gems too like, “don’t  ever baton your knife” or “ a knife is for cutting and that’s it” and “That‘s knife abuse!” (like it‘s a child or something). Lots of ‘em and I hear them over and over and over again.

     I don’t understand it. I could possibly understand it if we were living in something like the early 1900’s maybe but I can’t figure out why so many people insist on sticking  to such a narrow view of knives in today’s world. We have a glut of steels today that will take a beating and come back for more, we have precise heat treat methods and metallurgy that makes a knife even more useful than ever before for many different tasks. We have makers who understand how to make a knife both tough and efficient in cutting. Today, right here and now (and for some time), we have knives being made that are THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB.

     Almost whatever job you need a knife to do (keeping it’s realistic properties in mind. It won’t fly you to the moon no matter how good the heat treat) a knife can be built to do it. Cutting, batoning, prying, chopping etc. All doable and many knives will have more than one of those abilities built into it. (some properties exclude one another of course. Like a needle sharp piercing tip isn't going to be a good prying knife. More on that in a later blog post.)

     I don’t say that because someone I love and trust told me, I say it because I build knives like that nearly everyday. And I’m not alone, many makers do and there are even some very fine knife manufacturers that make knives to do many jobs including “hard use”.

    We all love our granddads and those who taught us about the woods when we were young, I get that. But I’m gonna say something that I hope you know isn't meant to be disrespectful to anyone, especially my elders. Here goes: Sometimes, grandpa didn't  know what the heck he was talking about. There I said it. And it’s true. Just like sometimes I don’t know what I’m talking about and sometimes you don’t know what you’re talking about. It happens.  We’re human and imperfect.

     Many grandpas, from what I've read countless times on forums, it seems have told their young grand sons to “never abuse your knife”. I’d say that’s good advice. But what is abuse? Is it abuse to baton with a knife that’s made to do it? I doubt grandpa was that closed minded. So how come we are? How come there’s such a large contingent of knife people out there who get near fighting mad when they see someone baton a knife?

   Maybe it’s because they've seen one to many young whippersnappers take his brand new knife and try to bust it through an 8” knotty piece of red elm. Which usually takes said whippersnapper five or more minutes to do and after the deed is finally done he proclaims it a good knife. I've seen those videos too and I agree, it’s less than a good advertisement for the practice of batoning with a knife. But does that mean it’s knife abuse in and of itself? Of course not. It just means the whippersnapper doesn't know anything about wood selection or he’s intentionally trying to push his knife. So what? Why does anyone care enough to get mad about it? It’s ridiculous.

    It’s like we can’t just be middle of the road on anything these days, we have to stick to one extreme or the other. Or we have to find some little nit picky thing to argue about. Why is that? Why does the grandpa knife guy get red in the face and start throwing insults when he sees the whippersnapper beating on his knife? Does it affect the grandpa knife guy in any way? Nope. It makes no sense.

    I’m getting off track. Back to the point. Knives today can be made for very hard use, not be overly thick, be excellent slicers and still keep on going. It’s a fact. Undeniably so. If you don’t believe me just check out my youtube channel. Turley knives on youtube

    So that leaves us with knives that aren't made for hard use. There’s a lot of them, even in today’s day and time. Lots of factory knives just won’t hold up to prying and batoning. Why? Because they aren't made for it. It’s not because they can’t be made for it, it’s because they are not made for it. They are made for other reasons and tasks. Some of those reasons and tasks include, to look cool, for skinning and gutting, for meat cutting, for kitchen work etc. All of which are viable reasons in my opinion.

  If you’re using one of those knives to beat through some twisted Osage orange then I’d agree with the grandpa knife guy, you’re abusing your knife and it’s probably gonna break. (But I wouldn't get red in the face mad and call you an idiot). But that doesn't mean that ALL KNIVES are to be laid on a pillow and only unsheathed to cut some cordage in camp.

    Many of these knives can still be used to baton if you use your head. I've used a hollow handle Ka-bar , built before ww2, to baton with. I've even used a pocket knife to baton with and neither broke. How come? Wood selection. Straight grained, knot free wood generally splits if you look at it mean. Check out some of the videos by my buddy Mr. Black at Operational Extras sometime to see what I’m talking about. He’s a master wood selector.

     In bushcraft/woodcraft we often proclaim the need to have multi use items. A piece of aluminum foil for a signal device and to mold into a container to boil water. A psk tin to hold your items, boil water in and to signal with when you shine up the lid.
We do that with nearly everything….except knives. Why do we stop short and refuse to use our knives for multiple tasks?

    I honestly don’t know what makes people tick and why the grandpa guys react the way they do. I’ll venture a guess, keep in mind it’s just a guess and worth pretty much nothing. But it’s still something worth trying to figure out.

   I think they get so personally hurt by it because they feel attacked or that grandpa is being questioned. Let me ‘splain, Lucy.

   We all (probably most of us anyway) love our grandpas and those who took the time to share knife skills and the woods with us. So when grandpas rules (whether real or perceived) get ignored or attacked then it’s the equivalent of attacking grandpa in some people’s minds. They freak out because Grandpa was a good man (and of course a “bushcrafter before he ever heard the term“) and it’s seen as an attack on him. (It’s either that or they’re judgmental jerks who think it’s their way or the highway and I prefer to think that‘s not the case. )

 It’s not an attack on grandpa. It’s got nothing to do with your view or my view being attacked in most cases. It’s just a person doing what they enjoy with their own knives. I don’t see any rational reason to get mad at a guy for doing what we all want to do, having fun using his knives. I bet grandpa would smile at that.

  A couple of videos if you're skeptical.
Here's the Hollow handle Ka-bar I mentioned:

Here's a pocket knife split wood fire

Here's some knife true knife abuse

See you next time if you're still reading.
God bless, Iz
Romans 10:9

The Bushcraft check list

This was an article I wrote for the first issue of Bushcraft U.S.A. magazine. Hope you like it.

                                                 

  Photo by: Xmp. A very cool dude. 

     



      Never heard of the bushcraft checklist? That’s because it’s not really a tangible thing. There’s nothing of it written down anywhere, you can’t send off to Ray Mears and get one to hang on your wall or stick in your pack but it does exist. You've probably seen evidence of it and may unknowingly use it yourself at times. It usually goes something like this:
1. Learn to build a fire. 2. Learn the chest lever knife grip, the hammer grip, the reverse super high energy chest grip and all other conceivable knife grips 3. Learn the bow and drill friction fire method 4. Learn the bow and drill using natural cordage. And on and on up the mythical bushcraft skills ladder.

     It’s the unwritten list that some feel they have to follow in order to be taken seriously, to be respected. You can see this phenomenon displayed in internet posts and youtube videos at times, it’s subtle but it’s there. Every skill that is learned is posted up in still or moving pictures for posterity’s sake and then checked off the list. Once all the skills on the list are learned (not necessarily mastered)  then the person feels like they have arrived at some peak that has eluded them until this point. They’re at the top of the skills and knowledge ladder in the bushcraft community and now all is well, they will be looked at with respect. All this usually happens without the individual even knowing it.

     In my opinion that list is worthless. Plain and simple a waste of time and energy. Not the skills themselves but the perceived or real peer pressure that created the list in the first place. Everyone wants to measure up and be accepted in their chosen hobby or profession and bushcraft is no exception. I don’t look down on anyone who is on the journey of checking off all the skills on the bushcraft list. I do feel bad for them though, I feel bad that they might be missing the entire point of it all. Missing what probably brought them to these skills in the first place; the woods and the love of being there. I’m afraid that they are concentrating so hard on completing the list that they’re missing the trees and the forest all in one smooth pass and that’s a tragedy.

     I’m not a list teetotaler by any means myself, I don’t want you to come away thinking that. I have my own list and it goes something like this:

1. Go to the woods. 2. Have fun. That’s about it. Any skill I practice is for fun or what I consider a requirement for myself because of the area I live in. Not because it‘s on the accepted, official bushcraft list. And when I practice those skills I have fun. I won’t practice something that does me no good or that I see as unnecessary for having a good time in the woods.

 Here’s an example: The hand drill would be a skill that is high on the bushcraft list but near the bottom of mine. Why you ask? First of all because I’m lazy and the hand drill method looks like to much work and secondly because I always have cordage or can make cordage for the bow and drill method. Yeah, yeah, I know there’s always a chance I’ll get dropped buck naked (nobody wants to see that) into a wilderness that has no cordage plants whatsoever but I don't rely on the friction fire method in the first place. Once again it's for fun.

     I guess what I’m saying is this: Don’t let your lack of mastery of the bushcraft list keep you from feeling valuable to the bushcraft community. Don’t let that feeling of not knowing the proper reverse lever, back fist, super duper knife grip make you learn something that is useless to you and worst of all, not fun. Don’t do it for acceptance. Do it for the love of doing it.

     For example, I host a set of challenges called the Hardwoodsman challenges on bushcrafusa.com.
You can check them out here if you're interested in them:
Hardwoodsman challenges
  Those of you who already know about those challenges are probably thinking, "hey Iz, you're a hypocrite because those challenges are nothing but one big list". That's true, they are. But I did those challenges initially for myself because they were fun. That's what I hope those who participate get out of it also, a good time in the woods.
    The last thing I want is for someone to follow that list, complete it, think they've arrived at some bushcraft milestone and look back and realize they had a miserable time doing it. Or worse yet, think they're all that because they did some cool stuff on video.

   That "list" isn't there to encourage people to do what I do or get some sort of qualification or credentials. It's there to encourage others to get involved, much like bushclass on that same site. Don't do it for acceptance (because it won't get you any more or less than if you don't do them), do it for the love of doing it.

 Now it could so happen that you feel that every skill on the bushcraft list is truly essential and fun, if that’s the case then proceed as planned. That's what I'd hope and love to see, so forget all my blithering because it doesn't apply to you.

     On the opposite side of the coin, if your ego is so big that your head can’t fit through the door because you've checked off all the skills on the list then I’m glad for you. I don’t want you coming through my door anyway.

God bless,
Iz