In the "How would you survive?" thread I see a lot of emphasis on finding dry firewood, keeping wood dry and even stripping off the wet outer layer of wood to get to the dry part.

In my experience, as long as I have dry tinder and some 1/16" to 1/8" kindling that is fairly dry, I don't care how wet the rest of my wood is, the fire dries out its own wood.

Am I wrong?

- Tom Scarince

No, you're right. Once you have a fire going, the fire can dry out the wet firewood, so it doesn't matter if you put wet wood in the fire. However, getting the fire to that point is that part that requires dry wood.

You are not wrong. But the scenario in the "How would you survive thread" specifies that all you have with you is your PSK. In my outdoor romps I always carry a knife capable of splitting wood. My current one is a Becker BK10 Crewman. But in my "PSK" I only have a 2" Swedish blade sans handle from Ragnar--hardly the stuff for splitting or batoning. Thus my emphasis in the given scenario on gathering dry wood and keeping it so. If the scenario allowed me my Becker, or better yet, my Wetterling hatchet, I would not have worried about wet wood so much.

I never said a mini or micro PSK! I was thinking about whatever it is you normally take with you as a PSK when you go out for a day hike. My PSK is a Camelbak and I have a lot of stuff in there that I will describe using as soon as I can get to it. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, I misunderstood you then. I thought you were trying to get people to comment on using their stand-alone PSKs only. But that brings up a good point. Even with my Becker or hatchet, I still might forego splitting wood if possible in order to conserve energy and daylight.

Would a Benchmade Griptilian model 151 fixed, straight-edged knife be adequate to split wood? (this is one of the newer Benchmade models, as reported by Doug in the SHOT 2006 article).

I have no idea as I have never actually split wood with a knife. Just wondering....

Bee,

I have split wood with all of my fixed blade knives. They all worked good. I think the blade has to have some thickness and the handle has to be strong enough to survive an accidental whack. Do you have a friend that has a camping or hunting style fixed blade knife? Use a rubber mallet or a piece of wood and give it a try. I know I was surprised at how easy it works. The nice thing is that it is easy to place the edge of the knife exactly where you want the split to start. With a hatchet it is risky business.

Just for anyone that might not be sure: Hold the handle with your non-dominant hand. Hold up the piece of wood to be split and put the edge where you want it. The knife edge is now holding the wood upright. Place the blade on the wood so that on the handle side it is where the edge starts. This way you have the most leverage/length sticking out the other end of the wood. Place the edge on the wood so you can take a reasonable slice off. Don't try to spit a log in the center of the log and expect it to work. Split on the edge and work your way in. Take your battering stick and hit the knife blade where it is in contact with the wood. Hit it until it is sunk all the way in. Now while still holding the knife handle with your non-dominant hand hit the knife blade where it is sticking out of the wood. You should be able to tap and split until it close to the bottom and then the split wood will just let go and fall off.

It's fun! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I prefer something with a thicker blade for a lot of splitting, but from the looks of it I'm sure it would do the job in a pinch. Are you considering getting one?

Doug Ritter's soon to be released (?) RSK MkIII fixed blade knife (see http://www.dougritter.com/DR-Aeromedix_survival_pak_faq.htm and scroll about 1/3 of the way down the page for the picture and description) looks like it is using the fixed blade Griptilian as its base design. BUT the RSK MkIII is described as having an S30V blade that has a nicer (for me) shape that is quite similar to its smaller folding brother and a bit longer blade length. I'm also hoping that the handle shape is slightly modified to remove the edges that Doug describes in the SHOT report.

Ken K