Introducing kids to knife safety/skills

G

geohans

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Dec 24, 2013
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My twin 12yo boys and I will spend the summer together, including some camping.

I'm thinking about introducing them to knife skills and safety; fire starting, whittling, etc.

Looking at the Gerber Ultimate Pro, with flint, etc. Those might be a bit big for young hands, not sure, but I know they would both be THRILLED if we started the process with a gift like that.

However, I'm sure there's a great deal of wisdom and experience here. Any thoughts or links you'd care to share? Thanks!
 
Some tips based on my experience:

Look for a knife with small handles, something like a Bird and Trout sized knife.
Make sure it has guards.
The kids' first experiences with knives should be at home in a more controlled environment (and closer to the place that gives stitches).

Good Luck!
 
Mora Scout is pretty much perfect.. and designed to be a first knife, has good guard.
Cheap and not high RC that easily chips or shears completely both of which are dangerous.. so when they abuse it.. and being kids THEY WILL reduced chance of harm.

Kids should not get a knife at the start, only after they know how to handle a knife.
Teach the kids for a week about knife safety while you are using your own knife and they are watching and get them to help like boneing a steak, dont make up an actual knife safety lesson, try to make it natural.
They say people need to hear/practice something up to 5 times to remember something properly.
Also wouldnt mention you will give them a knife if they can learn the rules, counter productive, kids have a habbit of learning something just long enough to get what they want and then forgetting it for all time.
After a week if they remember everything, give them the knives.

Thats the way I would do it, im sure others have different methods.
 
That Mora Scout does look good. Comes with a blunted tip and guard and I think would be a good way to introduce the kids.
 
Swissbianco makes a Victorinox model with a built in firesteel, but they are a little pricey.
 
I have looked at he knife below for my child. It comes unsharpened so a child can learn knife handling skills. When they are ready, it can be sent in for free to be sharpened (or sharpened yourself)

I removed the link but it is a bear and sons knife
 
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That mora scout looks great. JMO, but an unsharpened knife might teach them something about knife skills, but then they're just relearning everything about handling and using the blade once the blade is sharpened, and that learning process may get messy... Easier to teach with a really usable tool, instead of a toy.
 
sunandsteel said:
That Mora Scout does look good. Comes with a blunted tip and guard and I think would be a good way to introduce the kids.
Click to expand...

I bought Little Bob one of those, similar, the week he was born. :D The sheath and handle of his are unfinished, so some day he can have a project that ends with a knife that's really 'his'.

In the meantime, he's wearing a KaBar Bird and Trout knife that Santa brought ($20). Stacked leather handle, narrow blade, guard, solid sheath. He's seven and a bit small for his age so it's like a full-size knife to him. He's been practicing sharpening on a ceramic stone, and learning to cut a few things, since it came. :thumbup:
 
The Mora Scout would be a good choice. Mine has the wood handles and guard and was very sharp. I feel at age 12, they are ready for pointy and sharp versus at a younger age. They have to learn and a dull knife is a dangerous knife.

The SOG Field Pup might be another consideration. Pretty good knife overall.
 
tiguy7 said:
Swissbianco makes a Victorinox model with a built in firesteel, but they are a little pricey.
Click to expand...

Any basic Victorinox would be great for a twelve-year-old. It wouldn't need to be one of the expensive heavy models, but something like a Recruit. The steel is easy to sharpen. The spring action is not too stiff and not too weak. And they might find the other tools fun and useful.

Since my kid is only seven, I'm very hesitant about him carrying a folding knife yet. The average twelve-year-old should do well with a basic folder.

Every kid is different though, and every parent is different with regards to the level of risk and responsibility. No one knows your kid better than you do. Some kids are coordinated, calm, and patient at a young age. While quite frankly some teenagers are spazzes and shouldn't be trusted alone with a spoon. :D

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I'd also like to give a thumbs-up to the AG Russell Hunters Scalpel. My kid has been carrying one for years when hiking. Although he hasn't actually cut anything with it yet, he can operate the sheath mechanism. The handle is just his size. Not only that, he thinks it's cool because it's the exact same knife I carry. ;)
I don't think there is a safer knife on the market. :thumbup:
 
Hard to beat a Victorinox swiss army knife if you want a folder. The Kabar Dozier folders are quite inexpensive if you want more of a modern design.

The Gerber Ultimate Pro is a pretty good knife based on the reviews. I just think it's kind of expensive for a first knife unless the kids have been handling knives for some time.

Another very vesatile knife is the Kabar Becker BK-16 or BK-17. Great knife for an adult too. One of my favorites.
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
For a folder, get a Spyderco Tenacious, or a Kershaw Thermite.
Click to expand...

You gave your kids liner locks and frame locks as first knives? How old were they at the time, and how did they do with the locks? Just curious, because personally, those styles/mechanisms would be my last choices for a young person's very first knife.
 
When I was a kid, all the other kids had SAKs. We all learned on slip joints that might accidentally close if you used them the wrong way. I guess starting with a fixed blade gets the basic idea of "cut away from your body" down first. I'd go fixedblade => slip joint, and forgo the locking folder. Excess reliance on locks is a bad thing.
 
My Colorado grandson is nine now, and has at least seven or more folders. His dad started him early. The kid shoots my son's 9mm Glock at the range, and does really well with a .22 auto handgun.
Heck, I had a .22 before I was twelve. Knives? Pretty tame, compared.
One word of caution. Do NOT get him a backlock he cannot open. Gave a mini-Lawman to my grandson, NIB, and none of the men could hardly operate the stiff spring.
I think Kershaw and Spyderco would be my preferred choices to start out a young lad; definitely less than a 3" blade.
...and the earlier poster that reco'd slipjoints was right on target.
 
Bob W said:
You gave your kids liner locks and frame locks as first knives? How old were they at the time, and how did they do with the locks? Just curious, because personally, those styles/mechanisms would be my last choices for a young person's very first knife.
Click to expand...

I'm 13. :D But I started handling and using kitchen knives when I was two, and bought myself a Kershaw Brawler (A/O and liner lock) when I was 12. I feel that liner/frame locks are the easiest to learn to use. Maybe not the safest to disengage, but hey, if you don't ever get cut, you don't learn how not to get cut.

As for those recommending nothing longer than 3 inches, why? For a bushcraft blade for use while camping, I use a 5 to 9 inch blade. (Swamp Rat Battle Rat and BK9 are my largest.)

A Mora is cheap, strong, large enough for batoning/bigger projects, but also still fairly sheeple friendly.
 
Got my 9yr old daughter a buck bantam for Christmas, and she can open and close that knife really well, heck I had a SAK and a .410 shotgun at age 6 or 7.
 
I bought my 8 year old a Mora 546. I wanted a fixed blade with a guard that wouldn't break the bank. My son loves the blue handle.
 
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