First Knife as a Child

The first knife I remember was Swedish knife of their typical design. Leather sheath, handle made from some kind of wood. It had very good blade - we used to cut our smallest coin in half with it.

It was when I was about 10. No rules imposed.

David
 
Got my first when I was 3(almost 4). A tourist POS wiht edge (5 cm) of worst possible steel in earth. I found it later and tried to sharpen it - It can't be made sharp. Got my second - first real one - when I was 4. It was a small classic mora - plastic sheat and red handle.

I was only allowed to use it if my father or grandf was near. No real benefit of that. I am right handed so my left thumb is still covered with scars. Later the rule was that I had to ask if it was alright to take the puukko with me. Circumvented that rule by taking a letteropener and a whetstone to our secret lair.
 
I was 8 years old when I received a boyscouts knife. Who knows what brand. I would have had to light a kerosene lamp to see. Strange knife, it seems to have evaporated over the last 40 years. All our kids have some more or less modern equivalent for their scouting activity.
 
First knife was a very small souvenir nicker from bavaria with plastic stag handle at age of 3.
First REAL knife was a 7" Solingen bowie at age of 7.
No rules.

Achim
 
I forgot how old I was, but it was one of those G.I. all steel pocket knives with the bottle opener equipped with a short peg for easy opening. It also had a U-shaped attachment for securing a lanyard. Almost cut the tip of my finger off with that knife. I remember that I chucked it when the springs that kept the blades in place broke.

-Greg
 
Cub Scout knife, at whatever age one begins whittling in the Cub Scouts. The only thing that I remember by way of a rule (though there surely were several) was that about always cutting away from oneself, and I noted that this rule was routinely "honored in the breach".

Although I owned and used many knives as a child, I had almost no knife injuries.

Most boys took their pocket knives to school with them back then, with no thought of them as weapons. Whoever had the most whatzits in his Swiss Army knife was the winner.
 
I may have had a Boy Scout knife of some sort but the knife that I do remember was an Old Timer stockman that my parents let me choose, in about the 4th grade. Learned about rust, oil, not stabbing with a slipjoint, and different ways of sharpening. I flat ground one entire blade as I wanted it to cut like a straight razor that I had found in my mom's stuff and had experimented with. It had been her dad's, and boy did it cut things. I got it stuck in a large branch on a rosebush that I was slicing pieces off of and ended up breaking out a piece of the blade when I pried it out. I don't remember my parents asking about a chipped straight razor, probably something that neither would have a reason to open, but I do remember being scolded about the rosebush. For a short while I also had a stainless handled pocket knife that a friend of family had given me, it cut nicely as I remember, and I also remember watching the sunlight sparkle off of it as it sunk into the depths of a lake that I was fishing in.
 
---QUOTE-----------------------------------
Silverwing; you think YOU had problems? DC was at a Catholic school, in her white blouse and jumper, when this pregnant cat got hit by a car. She did an emergency Caesarian section with her SAK in an (unsuccessful) attempt to save the kittens. While I think that this was courageous and commendable, the penguins did not. Most decidedly did not.
--------------------------------------------

LOL, Walt!

i don't know who DC is but i sincerely hope that by now she has been given her own set of scapels to use in the hospital emergency room. . .

we girls have it kinda bad when it comes to things you guys take for granted. i can't believe the number of you who say your dad bought you your first knife, spent time with you teaching you about it. . .lucky dogs... probably taught you how to use a hammer, too...

one year my sister, who knows me pretty well, gave me a brand new toolchest with some nice tools in it for christmas. my parents were shocked speechless...my dad said, but dear, what do you need all THOSE for?

those tools are now the first thing i unpack when i move to a new house (not my dishes, sorry mom).

[watch out: soapbox ahead!]

so men: please pass on your love of tools and knives to your daughters as well as your sons. give your granddaughters pocketknives, show your nieces how to sharpen a blade. and for heaven's sake, help your wives and girlfriends to learn not to be afraid of sharp shiny things. it's not fair for us girls to be raised to be afraid and helpless. those attitudes are learned from adults, so all us knife folks have to try extra hard to hand down our love of the blade to *all* kids, not just the boy kids.

humans are tool users--ALL humans, female humans too.

okay, okay, i'm getting off my soapbox now...

silverwing
 
I hear ya about making sure that your daughters not only know about tools, but hopefully can appreciate them too. My oldest is my daughter and she received her Swiss army knife before my son did, and she'll get her carbon steel stockman before my son does too. If the kids learn the basics of caring for a carbon steel knife I figure they've learned the basics of caring for tools. I try to get them interested in hammering nails, sawing, etc., and soon will show them some basics on sharpening a knife.
 
My first knife was probably a Boy Scout folder, although I don't really know if I actually had one. The first knife that I have a solid memory of was some sort of Bali-song. Unfotunately, the knife is gone and I don't know who made it. I got it when I was around 12 or 13 and the rule was that I couldn't carry it at night (makes some sense, I guess).

A year or so later I somehow got a hold of a butterfly knife book written by Jeff Imada (I believe that's his name, although I may be slightly wrong). Strangely, I didn't cut myself as much as you might expect. In retrospect, my pathetic sharpening skills were probably working to my advantage.
 
I got my first knife at the World's Fair (NYC 64-65) I was 8 and the knife was a fixed blade mini (and I do mean mini) bowie, about 5" OAL. It had a compass in the handle & the sheath had "indian" beadwork and a 1/4 fringe. I just HAD to have it and put up quite a stink for it. The rules were "Don't hurt yourself or anyone else with it. & "Don't carry it in the street" It was the coolest. I still have it.
 
My first knife was an Impeerial the one with the black scals.Had four blades thought it was cool. I was about seven. The rule was not to carry it to school. I remember sharpening it on the curbs eeeekkk!!! sorry didn't know any better at the time.Grew up in the country so a knife was important when you were in the woods or fishing.
 
MIne was a Kamp King given to me by my parents on my 8th birthday. The one rule I remember was not to take it out of my pocket at school.

AJ
 
I think I was born with one
smile.gif

Actually, my first childhood memory is of hunkering down in the backseat of the family car and sawing at my arm with a die cast blade.I can't remember what make it was, but I do remember the musty smell and the grey interior, as well as the bright red handle of the knife. It was a small folder that I got from a vending (Bubble gum-like)machine at age 4 for about a dime. It was confiscated by Mom on the ride home from the supermarket cause I managed to cut myself with it. At least I didn't have to put up with the "You'll put your eye out lecture" that came a couple years later when I discovered slingshots.

------------------
(!)

[This message has been edited by Hal (edited 27 October 1999).]
 
I think my first knife was a cheap, souvenir knife from the USS North Carolina battleship. Single clip blade, but of pretty good steel, I think (not stainless, at least). I remember it could get really sharp, as I demonstrated on my thumb once, IIRC. I think I was about 5 when I got it. It was either that knife, or some Camillus handed down from my father after he broke the tip off. Again, not stainless.

------------------
Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug.
Outlaw_Dogboy


 
Silverwing,
maybe it is a little bit off the topic, but i MAKE knives for the children in my family. My nephew got one at the age of four, a fixed blade, hand forged 440c, two inch blade, stag grip. They are designed for children, with rounded tip. They can whittle, but not stab someone. The daughter (5 y.o.) of my other sister-in-law saw it and wanted one, too. But with the "beautiful waves" on the blade. She got one, blade handforged damasteel, grip stag. I think they will be great knife people later on.

Achim
 
my first knife that i ever head was a 6" survival knife with a hollowed out handle for storing stuff. My dad gave it to me and he got it somewhere way before i was born. i bet i have it laying somewhere around the house.
 
johno and achim:

sounds like your kids are extremely fortunate. our comments might be off-topic or they might be dead-on bull's eye--in listening to stories about the past, we come to recognize what is important enough to pass on to the future...

with this in mind, after reading all the responses to this thread, i'm headed to my knife catalogs to pick out christmas folders for my nephews (i don't have any nieces, nor children of my own). . .maybe years from now they'll tell stories of their first knife: a gift from their AUNT!
smile.gif


silverwing
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top