First Knife for my 8 yr. old son?

B

BaltoTriumph

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Mar 10, 2014
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So my son recently turned 8 and I think that he is ready for his first knife. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I definitely want it to be a folder, and no more than $30. I am unsure as to whether a lockback would be better as that feature would reduce the possibility of it closing on his fingers.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian
 
I actually bought a small flipper liner lock for my son.
He does not get the flipper, but when it opens up, the flippertab act like a finger guard.
Also when he closes the blade, the tab will stop the blade if he get his fingers in the way.
Buck Vantage Small will fit an 8 year old hand really good..
 
Take a look at Opinel. Thin, no spring, which means no snapping closed. Also not hard to open. Light, and they can be sharpened up to be laser slicers.
If you are worried about rust/maintenance, get the stainless.

I'm a grown man, with expensive knoves, including customs and I still carry and use Opinel a lot.
 
My standard recommendation is a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife (sak); a simple one like the Bantam or Tinker. Both are small enough for young hands, but big enough to cut stuff and learn about sharpening and so forth. Victorinox makes a "first knife" sak which has no point. I have one that I bought for a grandkid and my wifie nixed that great idea in the bud.

I see someone beat me to that suggestion. Mine however is blue. :D

They have to learn about blades and locks and not to depend on them for safety. So, a regular SAK will help them learn about those things. You can expect that they will cut themselves. I still do....
 
If he's in Scouts, get him a Boy Scout or Cub Scout knife. He'll probably want something that doesn't say "Boy Scouts" in a couple of years- but having that as an "heirloom" of his childhood will be pretty cool when he gets to be an adult.

If he's not a scout, then I think the SAK is an excellent idea. Cheap, lots of fun tools, well made, won't break the bank if he loses it... Plus, teaching him to use a slipjoint when he's only using the knife under your supervision as a kid will teach him not to rely on a lock that can fail (and hurt him) when he's older and you aren't there to supervise.
 
Leatherman just came out with a new model meant for younger users called the Leap. Cool option for a kid. Get a knife PLUS all of the other tools. The knife blade itself can also be taken on and off... just in case it turns out he's not quite ready for the responsibility.
Leatherman-Leap-Multi-Tool-Open-Blue.jpg
 
I would highly recommend a Swiss Army knife. The Cadet model would be an excellent starter/ keeper.
 
Leatherman sidekick or Cold Steel Recon 1 Mini. The tri-ad lock on the recon is incredibly safe and the sidekick also has locking mechinism on the blade and other tools. As much as i like slipjoint knives i cut myself with them plenty. I personally would give a kid something with a good strong lock instead of slipjoint unless it had sentimental purpose.
 
Another one to possibly consider is the Cold Steel Tuff Lite with the wharncliffe blade. It runs around $30, clip, frame lock, and is in AUS 8 steel. It is not a $150 knife, so they are a little "rough around the edges", but a good cost effective knife. It is big enough for an adult to comfortably use, so you can always keep it if you like it.

Added: It might be too much knife for an 8 year old.
 
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I suggest getting him a swiss army knife. Whatever model you think would fit his needs. Or if you wanted to get him a folding knife, maybe look into ontario rat 2, kershaw cryo 2, kabar dozier, cold steel mini recon, or a spyderco ambitious. Out of these, I think the one that's best for him would be the spyderco ambitious. You can get it on amazon for around $30, it has a small handle so it will fit his hands nicely, it's super smooth and easy to deploy with the spidey holes so it won't take too much effort to open, and 8cr13mov is a good steel to learn to sharpen on if you want him to be able to. But for an 8 year olds needs, it will be perfect. I honestly think he will be happy as well as yourself. It's a good quality blade out of china. (Not everything from china is crap-this is a high quality blade)
 
When I was 8, the measure of a good folder was how many tools and blades it could unfold. It's not like I ever needed a corkscrew or a pair of mini scissors, but by God, if a knife didn't have those, what good was it? If I were to get a boy a knife, it would have at least a dozen "functions!"

The trouble with the Swiss Army Knife and similar folders is that they don't lock. The closest I ever came and the closest I ever saw any other Cub Scout come to hurting himself was having the knife close on the fingers. Never actually happened as a kid, but I came so close to that happening as a teenager. I had some super sharp Uncle Henry (might have been a Boker) or something more than 15 years ago that didn't lock. Man, I came close to cutting myself once with it that way. I thought about actually getting rid of it. Then, one night, I handed it to a friend. I explicitly warned him that it didn't lock and to be careful it didn't eat a finger. Well, we had to go to the ER. Blood everywhere. He was turning white.

I walked outside and threw the knife across the road into the woods right then and there. Probably still laying out there.

He still brings that up every now and again. Anytime I hand him a knife, more than 15 years later, we chuckle.
 
You specified a folder, but I'm gonna throw the Mora option out there.
SAKs do have a certain coolness factor, with all the different blades and stuff, but a small fixed blade, like a Mora, will never close on little fingers.
I bought my daughters a couple of pink, stainless Companions at the beginning of the summer, (they are 7 & 9), and while they aren't their first knives, they are their favorites.
They used the heck out of them all summer, helping with food prep, fire prep, making "spears", you name it.
Next year it'll be Beckers :-)
 
I have the first SAK my Dad gave me. I passed it to one of my kids at 8 years old. I believe it is a Tinkerer.
 
I had a small SAK around your son's age. Carried it all the time and thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

Then, one day I was lightly poking my bed frame with the blade while watching TV and it closed on me, taking off the tip of my middle finger. Blade was probably dull as butter too as I had no idea about sharpening at the age of ~10.

Never really trusted slipjoint again after that. From then on until I was a little older I carried a small Gerber lockback.

Take that info how you will, I love the fact that you trust your young son with his own knife just as my father did, but kids often do stupid and careless things.
 
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