Did You Ever Encounter a Tote N Chip Nazi?

redsquid2

redsquid2

Rockabilly Interim Pardon Viscount
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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When I was about 13, and my brother was 16, we were both in the same Scout troop. There was a boy down the street, about the same age as my brother, who was also in the troop. This guy was a "By-The-Book" Scout. Let's call him Bill. Bill would inspect your uniform, and make sure every patch was in its proper place, and all the merit badges were perfectly lined up on your sash, etc. If there was a color guard, he would making sure it was perfectly formed, that all the flags were held at the correct angle, and that every step was synchronized. Since he was older than most of the boys, I guess he thought it was his place to do all that stuff. He wore big black-framed glasses, and he was as skinny as a rail, so we all thought of him as a sort of nerdy Nazi, and we made fun of him behind his back.

Back then, B.S.A. had a card called the Tote N Chip, which they would issue to any boy who had demonstrated sufficient ability to care for, and safely handle knives and axes. It was like a "permit to carry." Somebody tell me if they still have this. I think it is an excellent idea.

Quite often, as a a way of asserting his "authority," the Regulation Nazi (let's call him Bill) would threaten to revoke someone's Tote N Chip. Don't get me wrong -- safety is essential to any Scouting activity. However, I didn't like the way he would act like a Scoutmaster sometimes. He was actually stricter than any Scoutmaster I ever had.

I'm 49 years old now, and my brother is 52. I recently went to see him for the weekend. As we were sitting around one evening, just shooting the bull, I asked him if I could have a closer look at his pocket knife. He held the knife out, and as I took a hold of it, I noticed he was holding it tight and wouldn't let go. Then I remembered the proper procedure, and said, "Thank you," at which point he released it. It's not just for courtesy, you know. It's for safety. It keeps cutting tools from being dropped as they change hands from one person to another. Bill would have done the same thing.

So me and my brother just exchanged a sly grin, and shared a few memories of Bill.
 
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I'm confused! Are you saying, in retrospect, Bill was right to be such a stickler for details?
 
I do remember those days. Too often while looking at a knife in a retail store, the person flips the knife around and presents the knife while holding the blade. I always close the blade and put it on the counter when returning it. Don't these people realize that these things are usually SHARP and they could be CUT???
We had a Totin' Chip Nazi at our district camp outs- he would confiscate knives from those that demonstrated poor handling skills or had a personal knife without the card. The Scoutmaster would be the recipient of the knife and it was up to him to give it back to the user or to their parents.
 
I spent 24 yrs in the Army and every Sergeant Major I had was a verson of that. Was not always a bad thing either.
 
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It's much like when you're passing around a handgun to fellows to look at. So many times they rack it and check the bore, and then proceed to point it at every person in the vicinity. There is no such thing as an empty gun.
 
1) Some details need to be stickled. But not all of them.

2) If Bill hadn't been such a prick, the lesson might not have stayed with them so well.

3) The perspective of a 12 year old boy is not the same as a 42 year old man. Bill's teaching methods may have seemed Draconian at the time, but 30 years later, they were easy to laugh at.

4) Marcinek is also a stickler for details.

Fill in whichever one fits.

And remember that I hardly ever use smilies, but I'm usually laughing.
 
We didn't need a knife nazi, we had our scout master, Mr. Van. He was a retired WW2 marine, and was strict as the Corps on wall regulations to include the Tote N Chip rules. Whoa to the scout who was careless with a knife. We loved and worshipped Mr. Van and were grateful for his guidance. Sometimes the best lessons are those that are hard taught.

Carl.
 
Shorttime said:
4) Marcinek is also a stickler for details.
Click to expand...

But I never got a Totin' Chip! Or was allowed a pocket knife! :D I probably would have sharpened the pocket knife on the curb when I was a kid! And then tried to throw it into a tree.
 
In my troop if you had an infraction they would cut off a corner of your card, when the last corner was cut you could not carry a knife anymore. I still have my card somewhere with 3 corners still intact. One of the test was as the OP mentioned to ask to borrow another scouts knife and see if he would hold until "thank you" was said, I fell for it once and lost a corner. Also, any higher ranking scout could demand to see your totin' chip if you had a knife on you. We had a couple "Bills" in our troop too, but when kids/young men are handling knives, saws, and axes it is necessary to keep the rules fresh in their heads.
 
Sonnydaze said:
It's much like when you're passing around a handgun to fellows to look at. So many times they rack it and check the bore, and then proceed to point it at every person in the vicinity. There is no such thing as an empty gun.
Click to expand...

OMG! Let's just say no one would ever do that to me twice!
 
marcinek said:
I'm confused! Are you saying, in retrospect, Bill was right to be such a stickler for details?
Click to expand...

Not saying he was right or wrong, just different.

The Tote N Chip thing is a good way to keep kids safe. With some of the other regulations, it's not so important to be a stickler. With Tote N Chip, it's better to be safe than sorry. Bill probably saved some younger kids from injury.
 
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Sonnydaze said:
It's much like when you're passing around a handgun to fellows to look at. So many times they rack it and check the bore, and then proceed to point it at every person in the vicinity. There is no such thing as an empty gun.
Click to expand...

That is truly insane. From the time I was big enough to walk around squirrel hunting with my dad, he told me guns were invented for one single purpose: to kill. He showed me how to carry a rifle, how to cross a fence with a rifle, and just exactly what you said: There is no such thing as an empty gun.
"There is no such thing as an empty gun."

I had a cousin who was always itching to shoot any weapon he could get his hands on. When he was 12 years old, he begged and begged our grandmother to get the Luger out of the closet and let him "play" with it. Then out in the back yard, he told her to stand against the house, so he could pretend to be a German officer executing her. That's sick. Neither of them knew that another relative had been sneaking the Luger out to shoot it, and had left a round in the chamber. Granny took that round under the left shoulder blade and had to spend a week in the hospital.
 
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redsquid2 said:
Not saying he was right or wrong, just different.

The Tote N Chip thing is a good way to keep kids safe. With some of the other regulations, it's not so important to be a stickler. With Tote N Chip, it's better to be safe than sorry. Bill probably saved some younger kids from injury.
Click to expand...

Cool. It would be interesting to see what ol' Bill is doing these days. Probably the same stuff to his coworkers or children! :D

"Son, that not the way you make a sandwich. You take a slice of bread, then you put the cheese on it, then the meat on the cheese, then the mustard on the another slice. You can't put the mustard on, and then put cheese on it."
 
marcinek said:
Cool. It would be interesting to see what ol' Bill is doing these days. Probably the same stuff to his coworkers or children! :D

"Son, that not the way you make a sandwich. You take a slice of bread, then you put the cheese on it, then the meat on the cheese, then the mustard on the another slice. You can't put the mustard on, and then put cheese on it."
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Woah, Woah, Woah. I thought it was an established rule for the cheese to be on top of everything else so when it's melted it holds the majority of it together. :p

I recently left my old Scout troop. Still holding true to the tote'n'chip. and the Fireman's Chit. Though I still have a feeling a lot of the scouts are bound to cut themselves. good reminders for safety etiquette I suppose. Though the direction of scouts in general has become something more of a "how-to" on being a good citizen then proper camping techniques, but that might have just been my troop. I mean sure we went camping relatively often (at least once a month, more often then not, two) but it was a time to enjoy being a kid and letting the adults enjoy the outdoors, drink in hand around a fire, and some dutch ovens cooking away. (One of the dad's was even a professional Chef for a living, which made all the kids jealous.)
 
redsquid2 said:
When I was about 13, and my brother was 16, we were both in the same Scout troop. There was a boy down the street, about the same age as my brother, who was also in the troop. This guy was a "By-The-Book" Scout. Let's call him Bill. Bill would inspect your uniform, and make sure every patch was in its proper place, and all the merit badges were perfectly lined up on your sash, etc. If there was a color guard, he would making sure it was perfectly formed, that all the flags were held at the correct angle, and that every step was synchronized. Since he was older than most of the boys, I guess he thought it was his place to do all that stuff. He wore big black-framed glasses, and he was as skinny as a rail, so we all thought of him as a sort of nerdy Nazi, and we made fun of him behind his back.

Back then, B.S.A. had a card called the Tote N Chip, which they would issue to any boy who had demonstrated sufficient ability to care for, and safely handle knives and axes. It was like a "permit to carry." Somebody tell me if they still have this. I think it is an excellent idea.

Quite often, as a a way of asserting his "authority," the Regulation Nazi (let's call him Bill) would threaten to revoke someone's Tote N Chip. Don't get me wrong -- safety is essential to any Scouting activity. However, I didn't like the way he would act like a Scoutmaster sometimes. He was actually stricter than any Scoutmaster I ever had.

I'm 49 years old now, and my brother is 52. I recently went to see him for the weekend. As we were sitting around one evening, just shooting the bull, I asked him if I could have a closer look at his pocket knife. He held the knife out, and as I took a hold of it, I noticed he was holding it tight and wouldn't let go. Then I remembered the proper procedure, and said, "Thank you," at which point he released it. It's not just for courtesy, you know. It's for safety. It keeps cutting tools from being dropped as they change hands from one person to another. Bill would have done the same thing.

So me and my brother just exchanged a sly grin, and shared a few memories of Bill.
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I'm surprised you didn't threaten to revoke your brother's Tote-N-Chip card for not letting go of the knife!;):D
 
Now they are called "Whittling Chips". My boy just got his and I got him a Victorinox Tinker. The corners being cut off for safety violations is still there as is handing a knife to someone and holding it until they say "thank you" and then letting go and saying "you're welcome".

The card and Tinker:

scan0001.jpg


Backside of the card:

scan0002.jpg
 
Hard H2O said:
Now they are called "Whittling Chips". My boy just got his and I got him a Victorinox Tinker. The corners being cut off for safety violations is still there as is handing a knife to someone and holding it until they say "thank you" and then letting go and saying "you're welcome".
Click to expand...

The Cub Scout version has always been a "whittling chip", and the Boy Scout version has always been Totin Chip. Both version still exist.

My local troops used to cut off a corner for every time a scout did something reckless or half witted with a knife/axe/saw. If you had no more corners you had to re-certify yourself to get a new card.

I cut the corners off my own card once for smacking my knee with a hatchet. :D Good set of rules, and the saying "thank you" when receiving a knife stuck for life with me, and a bunch of my BSA friends.
 
Wow, I cant believe you guys had national socialists in your scout groups, did they only hand out the Tote N Chip permits to the aryan kids?
 
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