>>1278779also the temperature some steels especially high carbon steels lose most of their ductility at zero degree and below. it's serious shit a knife you would never break at room temperature can snap in two out in the snow from the same shit.
so know your steel know your geometry know physics be thoughtful of resonance and stress fractures and heat treat.
general rule of thumb: it's unreasonable to split thick logs with a knife not designed for it. you would do better creating a wooden wegde with your knife and baton that shit. you can also use batoning to create the wedge obviously without causing it undue stress and if you only have a knife you may have to.
batoning is not about finding the nastiest dry knotted hardwood and hammer your knife twisting and hammering the tip into it. it's about doing some shit normally you would need an axe for with a knife much less efficiently and much more slowly if you really need to.
