Helping Younger Scouts

Buck Vantage, Small, Buck 112. Buck something else. Something made in the U.S.A.
Lots of great knives made in lots of places. IMO A good knife when they are young can start them off right. Might as well get the brand loyalty started off right.
My son is in scouts, working on his Eagle. His EDC knife a Sm Vantage. His outdoor knife is a BK11.
 
Victorinox Swiss Army Knives - Pioneer, Farmer, Cadet, Tinker, Recruit. Any of those.

Opinel #6, 7, or 8 in stainless steel. Probably the #6 since it is smaller.

Buck 301 or 303.
 
22-rimfire said:
Scouts and swiss army knives go hand in hand. I like the Mora scout model. Of course, it probably isn't approved. The Companion is another good Mora. Fixed blades, I know.

Kids have to be kids and advance at their own pace based on their interests (including knives). You can't be a parent, but you certainly can be somebody they look up to. My grand kid thinks all knives are for killing. That is the kinds of things schools preach indirectly through their restrictions.

Do you do archery and rifle shooting at your camps?
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We do archery. At the camp I attend (Yawgoog, in Rhode Islane) there's a nice archery range (I'm an awful archer) and a kid there split an arrow-shaft in two like Robin Hood. There's a rifle range with .22 rifles, the range at which I was referred to as "a surgeon," but also got screamed at for the weird way I steady my rifle. There's also a trap range and I got an 8/10 shooting clays. I would've done better but my stance is completely off and I've only done three rounds of ten clays each in my life.

I went to the 2013 National Jambo, and that was a totally different story. We were the guinea pigs for the Scouts' new shooting sports program, which involved semi-auto Remington shotguns with three kinds of trap decks, both .223, .20LR and .308 rifles, 9mm and .22LR handguns as well as airsoft, powderball (paintball but with chalk) and black-powder rifles.
 
As a scoutmaster, I have the ability to go at things a little differently.

Upon ranking up to first class, I award each scout a Mora knife, which we allow at our camps. I've even gotten a couple of the summer camps to accept our rule.

For Totin' Chip, I have a vast assortment of refurbished boy scout knives, swiss army knives and some Opinels, that they use to earn the Chip. Then I give them the knife. Now that I think about it, though, I'll probably transition to only Opinels, for the locking feature.

By the way, one of the reasons why the scout knives get dull so quickly is also the reason why they are so easy to maintain. We keep a set of sharpening stones available for all scouts on all outings, left in a central place, to build in the discipline of keeping one's tools sharp. The lack of a locking feature should also be a minor thing, as I would expect any older scout to stop a younger scout long before the knife went towards the tennis ball... or both younger and older scout would be missing a corner on their Totin' Chip (or the whole card).

As for young scouts buying cheap knives at the trading post, we don't find that to be a problem, because all the older scouts carry quality knives that they maintain meticulously... and the younger scouts want to be like the older scouts. Yes, some of the older scouts get ridiculous tactifolders, but they usually move back to regular knives or the Mora after a couple of trips show them the flaw of the tacticool. And then it also helps that the adult leaders do just fine with a Leatherman Wave or a simple fixed blade.
 
Hey dude I'm a scout as well and I understand the frustration of the cheap knives, I highley reccomend opinel as well. On the other hand though most of the kids that go out and buy the cheap knives arnt buying th because they need a knife for practical reasons but because they look cool, half of them won't ever even cut anything with them, so id say just let them buy the cheap knives that they like and be happy instead of bursting their bubbles
 
I split an arrow shaft once.... by mistake of course. Arrows aren't cheap. Now I wouldn't be using wood shafts anyway.
 
A doctor friend of mine has been very active with Scouts for over 50 years...he says his kids carry a fixed blade.

Every year we donate 22LR for camp.
 
Id have to with an opinel, sak, and case xx. I know you can get sod buster jrs for under $20
 
whoever said Opinel before me took the words right out of my mouth. SAK is also a good choice. Not that I would ever carry one but kids in my troop get the bear gryles knives as well as gerber paraframes. They may not be great for knife snobs like us but they will at least hold up to abuse that we know scouts will throw at them, and are better than many scout knives. Also I have found that both through personal experience and watching other scouts use knives that accidently cutting yourself (not falling on a knife or slicing an artery or something) is a very good way to learn to use a knife. If you can prevent it do so, if not, then they learn quickly not to do whatever they were doing again.
 
I was a Boy Scout (from beginning Cub Scouts to First Class Boy Scout) and I have spent years in the woods doing real camping. The Victorinox Boy Scout Tinker or Explorer would be good folding knives. The Buck Paperstone 112 would be good for a locking knife.
For a fixed blade, I would look at a Kershaw Field Knife Hunter, or a traditional Buck 103 Skinner.

All of these are inexpensive and they work.
 
About the best thing you can do is lead by example.
I'm my troop's "knife and knot guy". A couple of months ago I taught the Toten' Chip course to the new Scouts. I brought several of my knives that I thought would be appropriate. Two things I stressed. A SAK, Camper, Pioneer, etc. would be fine for 90% of the tasks and that a bow saw is better and easier than an axe or hatchet for most of their jobs. So, went I went to the Summer Camp mid week, what did I see? The ax yard set up with no saw in sight and a half dozen new Scouts showing me the $15 Made in China knives they brought at the Trading Post. Camo and toxic green skulls and flippers! Oh my! Was I surprised? No. Neither was I surprised when I had to fix 3 of them because they jammed up nor at the end of the week they wouldn't even hack through the twine we used on pioneer projects. My Delica sliced through it like butter. There's the example I was tell you about. I didn't bad mouth their knives, telling them they were a bunch of junk and they wasted their money. They will find that out on their own. I had one Scout at the end of the week ask me about one of the knives I had at the course and where he would get one.
 
As a Scoutmaster I have seen the same issues you describe. For all that do not know, a scout can only carry a locking folder to official scout outings or camps. That being said, as a first knife I would recommend something low priced (they will lose it or destroy it guaranteed). Kershaw and Buck are typically my recommendations.
 
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