CS Bushman takes a pounding

[justme]

One thing that I had to do this weekend, while at Hanging Rock, (our
last trip there before they turn on the water to the bathrooms and the
place gets overrun by tourists), was make kindling out of 20" oak logs
varying in diameter from 6-10". All I had with me was a CS Bushman, a
small Estwing camp hatchet and a Wenger SAK. The Estwing hatchet
couldn't do much more than get stuck in the wood on the first chop or
two, and I wasn't having any luck banging the hatchet into the wood
with a rock, so I took to using the Bushman as a sort of 'splitting
wedge' , by pounding it through the logs with the hammer end of the
hatchet.

I fully expected that I might break the Bushman. Instead, it survived
splitting 1/2 doz. logs into quarters, with very little noticeable
damage to the knife. What was even more surprising to me, was looking
at the hammer face of the hatchet. It's covered with 1/16th and even
1/8" gouges and nicks, indicating that the hatchet steel is MUCH
softer than the steel in the Bushman. I knew that it had to be softer,
to avoid chipping, but didn't expect this level of damage to the
hammer side. Guess I wouldn't want to pound much of anything harder
than tent stakes with it. Funny thing is, I've abused the ever- loving
hell out of my Estwing hammers and never seen the slightest indication
that they couldn't take anything that I could give them. Guess they're
not heat treated the same.

This all brings me to believing that yet another thing a proper
"Camping/Survival" knife should be able to do is split firewood.
Either by itself, or when used as a 'splitting wedge'. Kinda makes one
wonder about those sawtoothed and double edged ones. Might wanna bang
on the spine someday. Or just force it through something by putting
both hands on it.

Later,
Mike P. Swaim