Easy openers

T

The Kidd

Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
54
I’d like to get my son a new pocketknife for his upcoming 8th birthday. Ideally a single blade Easy Open Jack with a spear. An actual Boys Knife haha!

He’s responsible for his age and uses a knife regularly so I’m not too worried about that aspect. But…Seeing as he’s going to be 8 and I must have lost the first half dozen pocketknives I owned at his age I don’t want to spend GEC money. I also don’t want something super cheap that won’t hold an edge or has a bunch of wobble and poor springs.
Do you guys have any suggestions for something I should be looking for? Something decent on the off chance that he doesn’t lose or break it he can get good use out of it for a long time. I might even buy a matched pair and keep one for myself.

Thanks in advance.
 
I'll second the Rough Rider/Rough Ryder nomination.

I believe the Rough Ryder Reserve series has an easy opener in the line. Not sure if the "regular" Rough Ryders do.
On the "plus" side, all my Rough Riders/Ryders have a pull between "4" (similar to a USA Buck 301) to "5" (Swiss Army Knife) so the easy open notch isn't really necessary.

The offshore Marbles knives might be another option. The ones I possess have a pull about the same as my Rough Rider/Ryder knives.
 
$25 and 5 minutes with a sanding drum in a Dremel.

TpbM5iv.jpg
 
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Frailer said:
$25 and 5 minutes with a sanding drum in a Dremel.

TpbM5iv.jpg
Click to expand...
Frailer Frailer that looks fantastic!

T The Kidd , what a great idea! I still have the small Utica lockback my dad got me when I was young, and my wife still has the SAK Explorer she got from her dad.

All of my kids' first knife was a SAK Tinker. My youngest son (a couple years older than T The Kidd 's kid) probably loves his Case Peanut the most, but those Tinkers see a lot of action with our kids. My father-in-law also gave our son a really beat-to-hell SAK Spartan. Victorinox's warranty service was top-notch and it came back looking new with a blade replacement.

There's no warranty against loss, though. My son is Cub Scout and there's a boy we know who has probably lost a couple dozen SAK or SAK knock-offs.
 
Frailer said:
$25 and 5 minutes with a sanding drum in a Dremel.

TpbM5iv.jpg
Click to expand...
This is my vote, right here.

I just got one of these in the mail today and may just bust out the rotary tool tomorrow.

In related news, I had to stay at my dad's place for a few nights last week and was showing him some GECs and others -- he pops down into the garage and comes back up with, what we both believe to be, my first knife ever (circa 1985, IIRC): a Victorinox Super Tinker (at least it looks like a Super Tinker but it doesn't have a hook - it does have scissors), which proves, at least anecdotally, that kids are capable of not losing knives (although, I guess technically, I did lose it to my dad's garage 🤣). He says he uses it all the time, so I left it there - as much as it pained me to do so. 🤣
 
Frailer said:
$25 and 5 minutes with a sanding drum in a Dremel.

TpbM5iv.jpg
Click to expand...
I’m not much on SAKs normally but that looks really great. Thank you for the suggestion.

My son is a little fellow for his age and while he has the coordination to use a knife he doesn’t have the grip to operate a lockback most of the time and a nail knick doesn’t help him much with his little fingers. Hence my looking for an Easy Open. He does a good safe job at cutting the okra in the evening with one of my knives. And he did good dressing his first deer last fall under some watchful guidance and a little help.
 
birdsbeaks said:
This is my vote, right here.

I just got one of these in the mail today and may just bust out the rotary tool tomorrow.

In related news, I had to stay at my dad's place for a few nights last week and was showing him some GECs and others -- he pops down into the garage and comes back up with, what we both believe to be, my first knife ever (circa 1985, IIRC): a Victorinox Super Tinker (at least it looks like a Super Tinker but it doesn't have a hook - it does have scissors), which proves, at least anecdotally, that kids are capable of not losing knives (although, I guess technically, I did lose it to my dad's garage 🤣). He says he uses it all the time, so I left it there - as much as it pained me to do so. 🤣
Click to expand...
birdsbeaks birdsbeaks that's an awesome story about your first knife! How long has it been in the garage? Since you were a kid?
 
The Kidd said:
I’m not much on SAKs normally but that looks really great. Thank you for the suggestion.

My son is a little fellow for his age and while he has the coordination to use a knife he doesn’t have the grip to operate a lockback most of the time and a nail knick doesn’t help him much with his little fingers. Hence my looking for an Easy Open. He does a good safe job at cutting the okra in the evening with one of my knives. And he did good dressing his first deer last fall under some watchful guidance and a little help.
Click to expand...

Hey, your story about dressing his first dear reminded me of the knife my daughter used to dress her elk a while ago. Not exactly what you were thinking, but she jealously guards my opinel no. 8 that I sanded an EO notch into. She loves that knife, no spring to fight and locks up safe. I didn’t think to buy my kids opinels when they were younger, but my son and daughter both have them now and it would have been a good choice.

My daughter also has a case sodbuster Jr that she loves. No EO notch but she pinches the blade to open.
 
FranklinG said:
birdsbeaks birdsbeaks that's an awesome story about your first knife! How long has it been in the garage? Since you were a kid?
Click to expand...
Yeah, it was my only knife for awhile but I guess I started collecting early. Next, I found one laying on the ground on a school field trip. Had to hide it all the way home as knives were already forbidden in school - felt like a smuggler all day. Then, a petite rubber-handled, combo-edge dagger stuck in a tree while riding my bike.

It only gets worse from there. 🤣

I guess in my early teens, I convinced my dad to throw in on a spyderco dragonfly - one of those old weird ones with the molded-in clip. It's been a long, strange, and circuitous (and expensive!) route back to traditionals.
 
Kizer zipslip, known for the easy open, 2.8” so not to bog, nice forward choil so no chance of accidental closure.
 
I remember there being some cheap hawksbills for tradespeople. That were quite good.

And you get heaps of knife to grab to open.

Toledo technicians knife.
 
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The Kidd said:
I’d like to get my son a new pocketknife for his upcoming 8th birthday. Ideally a single blade Easy Open Jack with a spear. An actual Boys Knife haha!

He’s responsible for his age and uses a knife regularly so I’m not too worried about that aspect. But…Seeing as he’s going to be 8 and I must have lost the first half dozen pocketknives I owned at his age I don’t want to spend GEC money. I also don’t want something super cheap that won’t hold an edge or has a bunch of wobble and poor springs.
Do you guys have any suggestions for something I should be looking for? Something decent on the off chance that he doesn’t lose or break it he can get good use out of it for a long time. I might even buy a matched pair and keep one for myself.

Thanks in advance.
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20230815_105252.jpg
Rough Ryder Reserve, D2 steel, great knife overall. 20230815_115338.jpg
The one arm blade my add some to the safety factor, as you can't be poked to terribly bad with it. Also I want to add, though not a E.O. the halfhawk is easily pinched open imho.
 
I give Victorinox Classics to children around 8. They like the additional tools. It’s nonthreatening and acceptable to most adults. I put it on a paracord lanyard so it’s harder to lose hanging around their neck. If the boy does lose it, they are not too expensive to replace.
 
birdsbeaks said:
Yeah, it was my only knife for awhile but I guess I started collecting early. Next, I found one laying on the ground on a school field trip. Had to hide it all the way home as knives were already forbidden in school - felt like a smuggler all day.
Click to expand...
I love the image of some kid furtively sneaking a knife home on a field trip. That weird mix of anticipation, excitement, and fear of getting caught while everyone else is just ready to be done with the bus ride.

There are some great ideas on this thread and I wish I'd found it 4 years ago!
 
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