james terrio
Sharpest Knife in the Light Socket
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2010
- Messages
- 22,618
If you're one of those folks who's convinced that batonning a knife through wood is just plain dumb and pointless, you should probably click on the little red "X" right now, and save us both a lot of trouble.
Like it or not, batonning knives is part of our culture. There's no sense hiding from it... it's going to happen. People like to bash knives through wood for various reasons, and I am not offended by that.
As a maker, I have no choice but to embrace this fact, and I design and build my knives with that in mind. Geometry, alloy selection and heat-treat all play significant roles.
Perhaps more importantly, as a knife user I know from much experience that processing wood by batonning a good knife can indeed be done with great effectiveness and efficiency. It requires a modicum of common sense, though.
Before I go any further, let's get one thing clear... do I warranty all my knives against damage from batonning?
NO!
If I did that, some nitwit would surely grab a cinder block and a sledge hammer and proceed to destroy a THK chef's knife, inundate the interwebz with a lot of mean words about me, and expect a freebie for his efforts. I have zero patience for that.
So, baton a THK at your own risk. I test my knives abusively so you don't have to, and I have a tremendous amount of confidence in their resilience. A person has to try pretty dang hard and/or be pretty thickheaded to break one of my knives, and at that point, it's on them.
Coming soon... How to Baton a Knife Through Wood Properly...
Like it or not, batonning knives is part of our culture. There's no sense hiding from it... it's going to happen. People like to bash knives through wood for various reasons, and I am not offended by that.
As a maker, I have no choice but to embrace this fact, and I design and build my knives with that in mind. Geometry, alloy selection and heat-treat all play significant roles.
Perhaps more importantly, as a knife user I know from much experience that processing wood by batonning a good knife can indeed be done with great effectiveness and efficiency. It requires a modicum of common sense, though.
Before I go any further, let's get one thing clear... do I warranty all my knives against damage from batonning?
NO!
If I did that, some nitwit would surely grab a cinder block and a sledge hammer and proceed to destroy a THK chef's knife, inundate the interwebz with a lot of mean words about me, and expect a freebie for his efforts. I have zero patience for that.
So, baton a THK at your own risk. I test my knives abusively so you don't have to, and I have a tremendous amount of confidence in their resilience. A person has to try pretty dang hard and/or be pretty thickheaded to break one of my knives, and at that point, it's on them.
Coming soon... How to Baton a Knife Through Wood Properly...
