$40 survival knife???

Happyhunter,

I love the CS Bushman, but it has no guard and a metal handle, plus, it can slide out of the slip sheath easily.

If your son is already exprienced in the use of knives, it's fine. But it is wayyyy too easy for anyone (especially the inexperienced) to slip onto the blade from the handle and cut himself...probably more so than most knives. So, please be aware of this and teach him accordingly proper safety on the use of this knife.

With this in mind, it's the best $20 value on a survival blade out there, and you can beat it up nicely.

Best,

~Brian.
 
happyhunter said:
My 10 year old son wants a survival type knife. He has about $40 to spend.
Click to expand...

I have worked with a lot of kids of that age in the scouts as well as having a numbew of nephews around that old. Getting them a knife is very different from an adult for a number of reasons; they are no where near as strong, they are more impressionable, and they don't have a lot of forethought.

I would never give a ten year old something as large as a CU/7 to start with. Even though it is pretty light for a man, it is pretty big an awkward for a ten year old. As well, even though it isn't going to seem like it to most on this forum, to many kids (consider his friends as well) it looks like a "rambo" knife and this can have all kinds of bad results.

I would get him something simple like :

http://www.ragweedforge.com/511.jpg

and this :

http://www.tashirohardware.com/special.html

and a small coarse/fine combination stone with one side AO and the other SiC. You can pick all of this up for ~$40 and it gives him a very broad tool base to work from which can easily handle wood larger than he would be able to move.

You want to teach the kid to develops his skills first and see the knives and such as just tools which are supplementary devices only. For example among the first things I would show them regarding bushcraft is to pick apart the trees visually and which ones are best for which tasks.

Some trees are very easy to cut and burn, some work better for tinder, some work better for construction, some are *very* dangerous to try to fell, anything on a lean for example can be *deadly* unless you know how to notch to avoid splitting and back jumps, some trees like spruce are prone to "wideo makers", so always look up before you saw/shop.

You also want to give him the idea to minimize work, so look for fallen wood to burn, it not only is easier to gather, it is generally dead and dried so it burns better and is easier to make tinder from. As well look to construct a shelter around an existing piece of deadfall, again far less work and you can if you are lucky get 1-3 walls premade.

-Cliff
 
Brian Jones said:
Happyhunter,

I love the CS Bushman, but it has no guard and a metal handle, plus, it can slide out of the slip sheath easily.

If your son is already exprienced in the use of knives, it's fine. But it is wayyyy too easy for anyone (especially the inexperienced) to slip onto the blade from the handle and cut himself...probably more so than most knives. So, please be aware of this and teach him accordingly proper safety on the use of this knife.

With this in mind, it's the best $20 value on a survival blade out there, and you can beat it up nicely.

Best,

~Brian.
Click to expand...

Can't the Bushman be "de-tuned" enough to allow for a young man's use?
For instance take the the edge off and maybe blunt the tip a bit?
 
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