I ALWAYS Use This Knife Technique  

Since a lot of people are asking about the hatchet, here is a link to it. amzn.to/3JzFL8s

Finally, someone on the internet knows how to use a knife.

I learned a pretty simple trick when I was young. You take a hand and firmly grasp the stick, and then you take your other hand and do the same thing. Break the stick in half. You now have a stick.

In medicine, surgeons would call that "Langer lines."

I normally cut a large “v” notch into the “top side” where you said don’t chop, then a smaller one on the “underside”, then put the pressure on. There’s less chance of splitting. Get a clean break normally, if not you can ease the pressure off, tidy it up with a few cuts then apply pressure again. As they say, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Side note: It also leaves the top of the sapling pretty neat, which I like to do as some species of tree will be able to keep on growing, either as they were or new sprouting branches. I’m not sure which species can off the top of my head so I try to do it for all. Just in case.

If you wanna know why this is effective: Bending the Tree introduces shear force, compressing one side and tensioning the other. Since fiberous materials (such as rope or plant stem) are said to be far weaker when under tension by a load or force, the tree will be more susceptible to breaking at the center of force (similar to how snapping a twig will make it break in the middle almost every time). When he's rocking the Knife against the grain, it introduces another shear force perpendicular to the tensioned side of the existing shear force, which compresses the outer stem, but further adds tension to the inner stem of the tree, causing the stress to overcome the material's tensile strength and break through. Another thing to note is that the cut isn't clean because of the release in tension after he's cut the tree

it has a very good finish. I knew a variant that didn't look like this. it was twisting the trunk and pushing the knife in hard, but at 45° it cuts much easier, but it doesn't stay straight. It's good to know how to do both, one for speed, the other for staying straight

Accidentally learned this as a wee child in Florida while cutting palm fronds, still a very useful video for sure

Its amazing how i learnt this myself in the 1980s without the internet 😂

Nice tip. I’ll try it this weekend on my trip to the mountains. 👏🏻👏🏻

Figured this out as a teenager in the woods. Saves a shit ton of energy

Cutting at an angle of 45° makes it even easier

Actually if you bent it enough you can just push down with the blade and it will expose the fibers you’ll save a few minutes, tries it with a leatherman’s blade and it works like a charm

First saw this trick on Dual Survival. He used a little traditional mora neck knife. Good stuff.

I could have broke that without the knife 😅

I actually learned that as a kid just messing around in the woods when I only had a knife. Its a lot easier than trying to chop every branch you need.

Awwwww. So nice to see Mors Kochanski teaching .

‏أَكْثِرُوا مِنْ قَوْلِ : لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ ، فَإِنَّهَا كَنْزٌ مِنْ كُنُوزِ الْجَنَّةِ🌻🌙

You are the Mr. Rogers of frontiersmen

Write us the 3 models, please Knife , axe, and saw Thank you, sir Greetings from Athens Greece 🇬🇷 Europe 🇬🇷

The cutting method was pretty solid, but using the sapling base as a disposable camp brush is game changing.

I always use this trick when needed. Was gonna say "if it cracks bend the other direction," but this fella is just highly educated as is, and covered that immediately. Just wish he would have shown the double V notch method, where you make a bigger V cut on the top side where the tension is, doing the same type of cut so its all neat, then on the back side a smaller v, almost like upper case lower case respectively. Cut down the midde of that a little from the back then go through the front and it almost never splits, and lets the tree grow back easier so you dont actually even really damage the tree at all, they almost always live through that method. Effectively this works like a press cut, it only cuts few fibers at a time making it less work in a single action, effectively doing more work with less effort.

I learned this shit when i was a cub scout at 10

If you have a Cold Steel folder with a triad lock, shop away at your heart's delight. The knife will be fine.

I’ve done this with a utility knife. Nobody showed me. It just made sense to do it that way. I also do this when stripping the outer jacket off of a multi-conductor electrical cable, it helps to prevent cutting the insulation on the conductors inside.

I almost can hear that brench saying: at least get a proper chop....

I've been around the block quite a long time and just learned a new technique, thank you.

Guy actually went into a forest and did knife stuff. How innovative.

cleanly cutting the fibers slowly

One of the first bushcraft tips my old man ever taught me was this 👌

That was phenomenal 😮. Thanks so much for the info!

അണ്ണൻ്റെ കത്തി കൊള്ളാം കേട്ടോ

Sapling was just minding its own business

Brilliant!! This is a guy I would feel safe with, if stranded, or lost in a forest!

Only thing id add is instead of straight on go at an angle and it cuts WAY easier

The skrrtkkrrrrrttrrttt sound when it’s cutting in 🤤

Cut at a 45° to the bend towards the trunk and you’ll get a much quicker, smoother and cleaner cut.

Great tip

Awesome technique ❤❤

Thanks for Sharing

As a bushmaster first class master chief auditor 5000 4.0 Mk VII, I can confirm that the squeaking means it's working

"bend the sappling over" O-O

Ive seen and done this before, but making a brush sounds useful. Subbing

45 degrees brother

I feel like if you don't already know this its because you don't spend much time outside. Most of these "tricks " people make videos on are just common sense skills that you figure out for yourself out of necessity and a little frustration.

Come to think of it, that way you can get Wood without making to much sound

Bro just cracked the tree and tells us he cut it down by moving the knife back and forth lol

the squeaking noises hurt me 😭🙏

It works even better if you go at it on an angle, and use the same rocking technique.

That's an execellent technique, ty for posting this vid!

If you just cut diagonally once bent it works best. Way easier than. Cutting straight through the fibers of the tree

BlackJack?.... XD nice video

Use scandi bevel knife so you don't waste too much time for it and don't cut it straight through but with angle.

Useful for green wood mostly. I barely have a need for green wood when hiking or camping.

Apply this technique using a 45⁰ instead of a 90⁰ angle between the edge of your knife and the sapling you want to cut and the results will be impressive!!!

You can break it with bare hands

Kinda seems like paragliding should have an escape mechanism. Ability to ditch the glider and pull a reserve shoot when closer to the ground.

Now that is actually smart, thanks! I have always been of the "chopchopchop..." persuasion until now :-)

2nd best option. Try a slicing motion along the stress bend instead of rocking back and forth 👍

The cody lundin approach

Subscribed!

Us hillbillies been doing that forever

Awsome. Now what do you do with it?

That's what you call IN-"sizing" almost like an incision but round curricular motions feel like boys scout class

Thats awesome, thanks

You’d do a lot better if you carried a Swiss Army knife with saw. A lot better.

Magical

Why the hell do you need to do this?

Good technique

A much easier way is to bend it like you did, then "carve" with deep cuts. You make a sort of spear but it cuts it 3* faster and doesn't split the bottom out

Alternatively you can put your foot on the tree and use a stick to smack through the tree, only use if your knife is robust enough and you really need to.

Interesting, when you think about it, it makes sense why this works, but until someone points out it can be done, you probably don't think about it.

You’ll never find me in the wood without a full size axe

Just like cuttin insulation on a large diameter wire.

Pretty cool.

I use a stone hand axe for my clean cuts there easy to make and found everywhere so I'd invest in learning primitive technology

I do a similar technique, but instead of cutting square i do an angle push cut for about half and flip ut whether it's dplitting or not.

I must be a genius. I figured all this out as a child, who was born in the city and had some free time in local "woods"

Nice hat and trick

I’m not certain I’ll have to give it a try but it may be easier to cut at a 45 degree angle to the wood instead of perpendicular

Well, I prefer beefy knifes with a decent cutting edge, so I bend and chop. Only that it does not take a quantillion tiny chops like in the video, but like 2-3 normal ones and voila. If i have a thinner knife on hand, i simply cut diagonally down the sapling. Usually takes about 1 good cut on each side to take it down.

If it works for you good but you can also slice the wood instead of trying to cut it in half

I've learned depending on the wood if you use this same technique but turn the blade to a 45° angle to the wood it uses less force for a similar result I was inspired by the way Japanese swordsman cut tatami mats the angles the cut at are interesting to me especially when the mats stay standing after have been cut

Ive done it this way since Cody 20 Years ago.

I usually just use secutares

I want camping once and cut all my firewood with a Swiss army knife. Pretty much using this technique.

Me and my brother used to do that over 40 years ago.

Can’t help to feel that people who needs these instructions don’t need them at all.

Or you could just break it

I’d go at an angle

Even better, make a cut at an angle

Okinif soo good.

Pero si te doblas esa “ramita” y apoyas tu pie… la tronchas… y consigues hacerte con ello pues está verde

Its crazy that some people need to he taught this lol

You sound a little pit like Dutch Van Der Linde from Red Dead Redemption 2, you even look like his voice actor too; Benjamin Byron Davis.

Omg your brilliant 😢

Wait till this guy figures out how to angle his knife 😂

I swear we already did this. The name Hindenburg keeps coming to mind. 😂

What knife is that? Looks amazing

What kind of knife are you using, I have about four I have carried at different times and am thinking about getting an Esse 5.