Grade 7 student knife builds

R

Randydb

Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
1,108
Hello all,

I teach at the Maple Ridge Environmental School in British Columbia. We do place based, ecological hands on learning. Outside every day no matter what the weather holds. It's a blast and an incredible experience getting to work there. About three years ago I got interested in knives and started putting my own handles on blanks and learned from Shane Alexander to make sheaths. I year ago I decided to do knives with our grade 7 students as their "take away gift from our school." These are the finished knives. There are two more not quite finished.

The students find the handle wood out in the forest and hand cut it. I send it off to be stabilized. This year one of the kids spotted staining and most of them went with that...but to be honest I think the nicest looking ones are the unstained handles. The kids also did their own sheaths.

You should see the pride they have wearing their knives at school. They are pretty happy to have made these knives. I know wearing knives at school sounds off, but in my school half the kids will have a pocket knife on any given day. We have rules, and the kids follow them carefully.

I want to make a big shout out to Derrick at Triplex Knives on the east coast of Canada. He supplied us with the blanks for less than his cost. He has been wonderful to work with and super helpful. I plan to visit the east coast in the next couple years and I know I need to take him out for a beer and meal as a thank you.

Randy
 

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Those all turned out great, good job to all!

~Chip
 
Simply outstanding!

Made me smile - and those kid should be very proud of those beauties!

best

mqqn
 
Do you think any of them caught the horrible incurable disease that everyone on this forum has...? They look great
 
Now THAT is the type of projects we need more of in school these days. Those kids did GREAT! Good job teacher - you're what being a teacher is all about.

Ken H.
 
What an amazing project! These kids will probably treasure these ades forever. Something to truely pass down to their own kids.

Who ground the blades? Were they heat treated?
 
Very nice, great job by the kids and teacher!
 
jrrector said:
Do you think any of them caught the horrible incurable disease that everyone on this forum has...? They look great
Click to expand...
The big kid on the left and the girl in the middle both have ordered another blank each from K&G and talked me out of a bit more of my stabilized wood. They want to make presents for their dad's. They may have a touch of the disease.

We do a lot of carving at our school. We made 40 carving knives for our school with the help of Cariboo Knives from Abbotsford. They supplied the blades at cost and the kids made handles and sharpened them. They are great knives. In 5.5 years with the school I have had one kid cut himself for stitches. I was sitting about 2 feet from the kid talking to him and he turned the blade and took a pull towards himself and slipped before I could say stop. 4 stitches.

The students love the hands on aspect of it all and they are incredibly proud of their keepsake.

Thanks for all the positives.
 
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This is fantastic! Fundamental skills like this should be taught at every school. You and the kids should all give yourselves a huge pat on the back. They are sure to treasure not only the knife but the memory of creating it for a lifetime.
 
12345678910 said:
Who did the stag handle ?
Click to expand...

That was actually a moose shed that one of the students found when he was hunting. A big chunk of it was chewed by rodents but there were a number of salvageable areas. That took a bit of work and learning on my part but it was cool learning. He isn't in the picture....absent on picture day.
 
When I went to school, all the boys carried pocket knives. Things have sure changed. Now in NM if a student is found with a knife they will usually get expelled.
I taught school for 36 years and did a lot of crafts with my students. I would have been fired for having my students make knives.
It sounds there is more common sense where you teach. Congratulations!
 
I love the idea of this school and the real life skills it teaches. This program needs to be expanded to other parts of the province. Well done Randy and students:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Darcy
 
Great work, I too carried knives to school. A mechanical drawing teacher said one day if you don't want to walk
to the front of the room to sharpen your pencil use your pocketknife. How times have changed.
Ken.
 
kc custom said:
Great work, I too carried knives to school. A mechanical drawing teacher said one day if you don't want to walk
to the front of the room to sharpen your pencil use your pocketknife. How times have changed.
Ken.
Click to expand...
Probably half my kids have a pocket knife each day. We had a conventional school class visit us one day. Had to hold all my kids knives for the day...other teacher couldn't fathom that kids might be mature enough to have knives. My kids thought it was pretty funny.
 
Tom Lewis said:
When I went to school, all the boys carried pocket knives. Things have sure changed. Now in NM if a student is found with a knife they will usually get expelled.
I taught school for 36 years and did a lot of crafts with my students. I would have been fired for having my students make knives.
It sounds there is more common sense where you teach. Congratulations!
Click to expand...
I teach at a public school but it is an environmental school....hands on, outside every day, learning about our surroundings and their histories. Any other school in our district would suspend a kid for having a knife. They are just some of the tools that we use. There is a lot of work and relationship building and trust that has to be built before we let them use knives or carry them. They never get them out without asking a staff member to supervise. If they did they would lose the privilege for a long time.

This is the documentary about my school.
http://www.foundintheforest.com/
 
That's fantastic Randy. I really like the stag Handle with the bolster. That was fun helping out before
 
Great story and fantastic work by the students. We often forget because the world is so PC conscious that children/young adults are quite capable of being trusted and acting in a responsible manner. Coincidentally, adults when given half a chance, will act like children. :) Keep up the good work.
 
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