Boy's Knife, child's first knife

GmpaJim said:
They need to know that knives are tools, not toys
Agreed. Toys, gives the wrong connotation, in a sentence concerning kids.
However..I think holding on to, tools, to tightly is isn’t entirely accurate either.
I constantly play with knives, I rarely play with my claw hammer.
Sorry for the rabbit trail, but I didn’t want folks to think, I don’t respect a sharp, pointy object.
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try a ballpeen instead. Your claw hammer is obviously not fun enough. Something about a nice well polished ball peen hammer that you can see your face in. Plenty worth playing with. :)
 
abbydaddy said:
I for one am a big proponent of the classic scout knife as a first knife for a kid. In fact, I do a GAW every year to give scout knives to kids. I've already done this year's GAW (you can find it here https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/scout-knife-memorial-gaw-2022.1830512/), but I encourage you to enter this next January when I do the next one. Unfortunately, these days, it is hard to find a BSA branded classic scout pattern knife, but I will probably be buying some of the Deluxe Scout pattern knives, as well as a Cub Scout pattern (and @willintheweeds has been donating made in the USA Bear and Son Cub Scout knives to my GAW for years now!). I am currently a little low on scout knives, I was hoping to be able to scour the OKCA show for good condition scouts this year, but once again the pandemic put off the show. Hopefully in 2023 we can get back to having the show here in my hometown.

There are certainly arguments to be made for a variety of different knives. I like the use of slipjoints for first knives because a) if the kid can't get them open safely, they are too young for the knife, and b) the lack of a lock teaches good safety habits (though those lessons can certainly come with a little blood). The scout knife is just a good all around knife that can be useful at all ages. I keep one in my backpack all the time (in fact I just changed my backpack knife from an old USA made Camillus to a Sheffield made scout knife given to me by @Johnnythefox).

As far as the right age, I think that depends on the kid. I felt fine letting my oldest daughter use a knife under close supervision at 3.5, my son is currently 5.5 and I still don't let him use a knife even under supervision. My oldest daughter is 8 now, and has her own small knife collection, and I don't worry about it. At the rate my son is going, I think he might be a legal adult before I am fine letting him have his own knives. We'll see how I feel about my youngest daughter having knives when she gets a little bit older. They are all very different people.
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I have a reasonably nice cub-scout (blue handled camilus) one. Unfortunately, it has lost its shield. Is there any way to get the properly licensed shield for them? I know it serves no purpose, and I can fill the void with anything, or nothing. But it would be nice to restore it if possible.
 
abbydaddy said:
My 8 year-old had an archery camp that included some whittling this summer, and they used Moras for that. She was thrilled to get to use a proper belt knife, and that she gets to borrow my Mora for whittling now. Moras are hard to beat for a no-nonsense, comfortable use, affordable knife.
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When you say mora all I can think about is my sloyd knife. I don't even let my wife near it. :) I assume you are both talking about the "camp knife" that has the guard? I have never held one of them. But it does look like a nice knife.
 
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BradleySmall said:
Honestly, even people who don't like knives in general, are still impressed with the F.Beltrame mechanism. There is something about it.. primal almost. I have a tiny little OTF double edged thingie at my desk that I play with from time to time. But I am not nearly as impressed with that as I am with the Italian style switchblades. That said, nearly as scary as the sound of a stun gun going off... is big loud old Spanish Navaja. I will probably make at least one of each of those some day. Just not quite yet. But definitely not for the kiddo :)
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Would love to see your navaja whenever you decide to make it. My son thinks the carraca sounds scary and doesn't like it. I picked this one up recently..... Definitely not a kids knife and there's a trick to closing it smoothly


PXL_20220812_002512183.jpgPXL_20220803_230809496.jpg
 
BradleySmall said:
I have a reasonably nice cub-scout (blue handled camilus) one. Unfortunately, it has lost its shield. Is there any way to get the properly licensed shield for them? I know it serves no purpose, and I can fill the void with anything, or nothing. But it would be nice to restore it if possible.
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I don't know any way to buy the shields separately. One option (kinda silly, but anyway) would be to go to Scout Shop and buy a Cub Scout knife and pop out the shield and glue it into your old one. The new ones are about $25, so not a big outlay. My daughter has one of the modern Cub Scout knives, and she really likes it. They are prety nice looking.

BradleySmall said:
When you say mora all I can think about is my sloyd knife. I don't even let my wife near it. :) I assume you are both talking about the "camp knife" that has the guard? I have never held one of them. But it does look like a nice knife.
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In my case, my Mora is a carbon HQ Allround, basically like a current Companion. Not a guard, but very positive grip.
 
5K Qs said:
In addition to the suggestions you get in this thread, you might find this thread to have some relevance:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/what-and-who-got-you-into-knives.1887271/


I had NO idea what "OTF" meant in the context of knives (or combs), so off to Google I went. Turns out that "OTF" has lots of meanings, depending on the context. Always good to learn some new stuff!

- GT
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Gary, no harm in not knowing what all these initials mean. I have to constantly Google them myself. In this case, it just means Out The Front. If you go over to BladeHQ ever, they actually separate the switchblades by that term. Fun to play with, but not very useful for me. Along with a butterfly knife, I feel like my collection needs at least one example.
 
I just went through making this same decision. My son is turning 10 in 10 days and we decided it was time for his first pocket knife. He actually got his first knife in first grade from school. They all made cutting boards and their teacher gave them small serrated paring knives that they learned how to properly use and then used in class to prepare snacks. At the end of the year he brought it home to use in our kitchen. I know, awesome school.

Back to the pocket knife. I suppose we waited until he will be 10 so he has the strength and dexterity to open and close it, the understanding that it is a tool and could be dangerous, and hopefully less likely to lose it at this point.

I ended up getting him a SAK pioneer x. He had recently looked through my knives with me and he said he liked spear blades the best and if he had a knife he would want it to have a screwdriver blade. That pretty much pointed me toward a SAK. I think SAKs are good because the springs are not too strong. All the tools should be fun to use and he should have uses around the house for scissors, awl, and screwdriver. It also gives him options of things to use/mess with rather than searching for questionable uses for the new knife blade. Also, my first knife was a SAK which I still have. We’ll see how he likes it in a few days.
 
Mr. Chips said:
I have written three books which can be found from the usual sources:
Classic Whittling - Best for beginner whittler
Whittling Whistles
Bushcraft Whittling
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Thanks for sharing. I’m certainly interested in expanding my skill set and helping my youngin grow into whittling properly.

Post script,
I had been eyeing the classic whittling book. Pretty cool to chat with the writer! I am interested in whittling whistles too, so that will be added to the “acquire” list.
 
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GmpaJim said:
They need to know that knives are tools, not toys
Agreed. Toys, gives the wrong connotation, in a sentence concerning kids.
However..I think holding on to, tools, to tightly is isn’t entirely accurate either.
I constantly play with knives, I rarely play with my claw hammer.
Sorry for the rabbit trail, but I didn’t want folks to think, I don’t respect a sharp, pointy object.
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I occasionally play with my claw hammer. Being a carpenter it’s always at hand.
 
M Mr. Chips When you advocate kids being 9 for whittling class, does that mean you think kids can’t safely use knives below that age for other things? Or is it whittling only?
 
BradleySmall said:
Yeah, I closed my kampking on my index finger digging woodpecker beads out of a tree. Still have that scar 50 years later. I loved that knife. Bandaid to the rescue. :) Perhaps some merthiolate or mercurochrome or iodine.... Don't remember. But I never used a slipjoint that way again. :)
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Bought my grandson a GEC 83 (small single blade lockback) for his first knife for that very reason. One of my most carried knives. Case mini copperlock isn't bad for the money either.

GEC83cocouser-1.jpg
 
BradleySmall said:
Why not?
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All the Sheffield-made Lambsfoot knives I own (which is all of them except the Waynorth #93) have quite stiff pulls. (I realized upon re-reading that I made a typo; meant to say that she couldn’t open them even if she wanted to.)

draggat said:
I'm going to start him off on a fixed blade for the kitchen, something not too pointy.
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I think that’s a good idea. Opinel makes a decent one, which I got for my daughter last year when she was 5. It has a rounded tip, a ring built into the handle for the index finger to keep their hand in the right place, and comes with a finger guard for the opposite hand. We’ve only used it a few times (she just hasn’t shown much interest in it using it yet), but it’s worked well the times that we have used it, and I think it will be a good tool for teaching her to use knives safely as she gets more interested in helping out in the kitchen.
 
I believe a multi tool knife like a sak tinker would be good because it prevents the blade from being used as a screwdriver and such. But I also think proper child education of tools and knives is in order. My kid sees me use tools, and he imitates that. I never use a knife for a screwdriver and I think he notices that. Also, my tools aren’t off limits to him. He has his own pliers, hammer, square, and other stuff. But if he comes and says he needs a screwdriver to fix his toy truck, I allow it.
 
My son and daughters received their first knives at different ages, really just depends on the kid, maturity, dexterity, and interest. I set rules and boundaries that, if broken, result in loss of the privilege. The ages were 7-9. Early on they were not allowed to use it without supervision, which actually worked quite well, but they are better rule followers than I was as a kid.

Victorinox cadet with name engraved is my recommendation. A pair of kids leather gloves came with it, which I think prevented some cuts when learning. Having tools in addition to the blade both saved the blade and made it more useful. The name engraved helped two of them get returned when lost (which kids are apt to do).
 
I'll join those who recommend some kind of scout knife or Swiss Army Knife as a first knife for a kid. I got my first knife when I was 9 or 10, and it was my only pocket knife from about 1960 until 2014. It was an inexpensive Colonial Forest-Master with a spearpoint blade, a punch/awl, a flathead screwdriver/bottle opener, and a can opener. I grew up on a dairy farm, and having that little "pocket toolbox" was perfect for a kid working on a farm - all of the tools got plenty of use.

Many posters have mentioned that a kid's first knife is likely to end up getting lost. I didn't lose my first knife, and I think it was a at least partly due to the fact that the knife had a bail/shackle (as I think every camp knife should - what's GEC thinking with their Johnny on the Spot?? 🤓 ), and I almost always had it attached to a belt loop by a 2'-3' lanyard of some kind: baler twine, cloth shoe lace, leather boot lace, etc.
(I think I was born a grumpy old man, and even as a little kid, was much more responsible about keeping track of my stuff, putting tools back where they belonged, not getting distracted while doing daily chores, and so on than my 2 slightly younger brothers were. I think that "OCD personality" also helped me keep that first knife all my life - so far.)

(spellcheck is really messing with me lately, and I often don't catch it until much later. :mad: "Johnson the Spot" ???)
f-m.mark.Vopen.backyard.jpg

- GT
 
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