Knife Safety - How did you learn it, or how did you/are you teaching your kids?

Captain Airyca

Captain Airyca

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Jan 23, 2011
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Hey everyone, I had a question for y'all.

Context: Recently my husband and I purchased a small SAK for our 7-year-old niece. (Her parents said it was ok in advance!) She's pretty bright and being the knife nut in the family I was excited to get it for her. After we'd given her the blade on christmas her dad asked me to teach her a little knife safety. He said that she'd be more apt to listen closely to me than him because he's dad and is constantly teaching her stuff, while I'm the aunt, therefore cooler. haha!

Anyway, suddenly I was like oh snap, I have a chance to influence a young mind and really teach her how to be safe with knives for the first time. I don't have kids yet, so I thought back to myself and asked "how the heck did I learn knife saftey anyway?". Well I've had knives since a very young age, but my first official training that I can actually remember happened at girl scout camp. So I decided to teach her some knife saftey based on those rules. They're pretty basic, keep everyone an arms distance from you while using the knife, cut away from your body, close the knife to pass it to others, keep the blade sharp, don't use it as a pry bar, etc. I think I did an okay job, but I wanted to ask you all about your expeirrences and what you think is important.

So here's the question: How did you learn knife saftey and what did they teach you, and/or how are you teaching/going to teach your kids?

I don't have kids yet, but I have 7 nieces and nephews that are growing up, and I'd love to be the cool aunt that teaches them stuff like this. I would also love to teach my kids someday. Whatcha think?
 
alot of what I learned came from my time in cub scouts as well as from my dad. a couple good things to teach IMO are

Blood circle- your blood circle is the area around that the blade of you knife can reach when your arm is outstretched. when you're first learning, never cut anything when some one is in your blood circle

always be aware of where the blade of your knife is

never cut towards yourself

always say thank you when some hands you a knife, this let's the other person know that you have a good grip on the knife and arnt going to drop it or accidently cut something

it's good to teach them the difference between a dull knife an a sharp knife, and how a dull knife can be more dangerous

also, since the knife you gifted her is a slipjoint, it might be good to teach her how to safely close it and how to make sure it doesn't close on you when cutting

hoped this helped
 
I taught myself. It is mostly common sense. Start with small folders so they can't hurt themselves as easily and choose larger folders as they they larger hands and experience. The golden rule is cut away from yourself. As best I can remember, I purchased my first knife when I was in the second grade. That was a big deal for me. Learned something larger worked better as I got a bit bigger (hand size). Lived in the country, so we were always cutting sticks and so forth.

The only other rules are > no knives in school. no fighting with knives. Always hand your knife closed to someone else or handle first. These should be common sense even to a elementary school aged kid. All kids will do stupid stuff with knives and cut themselves. I still occasionally cut myself.
 
be sure to stand by with lots of band-aids.

One of my earliest memories of an actual knife safety lesson :
I was cutting cardboard with an exacto knife. I was seated. The knife was pointing down. I pulled blade across the width of the cardboard; when it ran off the end of the cardboard the blade stuck in my thigh "to the hilt".

I made a mental note NOT TO DO THAT AGAIN.

:)

Oh and my partner known here as "The Chef" . . . she would say to either prepare food with a knife or carry on a conversation but don't try to do both
and especially
I would add doubly true if the subject of discussion is emotionally charged.
Don't ask me how I know. (Good thing my thumb nail partially stopped the forward progress of the shallow angle Japanese blade).

Oh . . . and my Mother told me NOT to ever leave scissors on the seat of a chair. I actually listened to that one so who knows ; your niece's Dad may have a go as well.
 
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kids will do stupid stuff with knives and cut themselves. I still occasionally cut myself.
Click to expand...

I never cut myself any more.
:D

Oh . . . wait . . . I'm lying again.
 
Excellent thread!

I don't think I was taught much knife safety as a kid other than always cut away from yourself, don't walk around with an open knife, always pass a knife by the handle (or as Homer Simpson would say "handle first, handle first, d'oh!), and never leave a knife open.

Over time I picked up others including what others have called the blood circle, if you're using or holding a knife give it your full attention, never cut anything on your lap or near your legs (femoral artery) and maintain it in good working order.
 
I think all this stuff is on the right track. The main one I remember was sitting down, and you do one thing. Knife or something else. otherwise knife goes away. a lot of times it was simply time to put the knife away.

I work with kids a lot, and part of keeping them safe is just knowing when its time to go burn energy somewhere else. If other things are going on, its not knife time. I think a lot of people get too trapped into trying to get little kids to be as responsible as adults. The reality is, you're the adult, your job is to do 90% of the thinking. So while having a few rules is good, kids are still going to be kids, so just think two steps ahead and everyone is fine. Hopefully then by the time she is 12-14 she can be making more of those choices herself. But it will be through emulating the adults, rather than just having a list of rules.
 
Told my wife more than once, always cut away from yourself. She pays more attention now, after opening her thumb with an Endura.
 
Such a cool Aunt! :thumbup:

It sounds like you've got the bases mostly covered. I'd say some kitchen prep tasks are a great place to start. Certainly helps build awareness of other apendages when slicing, but teaches something practical so they can see where they need to imporve and builds those culinary skills early.
 
Awesome Cap!

When I was younger I remember my father just giving me his knife and telling me to cut away from myself, and to not cut myself lol!

There is nothing like passing along useful skills to the next generation! I started with my children pretty early (4 for my oldest son seen in my avatar, and 3 for my daughter). For me, it was judging their listening skills and ability to follow direction. If they listened, and did what I told them to do we kept having fun, if they didn't we would stop.

I started with all the basics that are in this thread so far. I gave them a twig and had them sit in my lap with their hand in mine, and we went over the motion of cutting away from ourselves (and away from our legs while sitting). I always stressed the importance of making sure that nobody was in arms reach wile working with the knife, and it started by the visual of drawing a line in the mud and setting a boundary. After I was confident enough, I would sit aside and have them practice. I would always be behind them to supervise, make correction, or help them through a tough cut. I started them with small fixed blades (BK13, BK11, and a Gerber mini survival). After sticks, I brought them into the kitchen. Peeling carrots by hand with a knife I've found shows them the control of only taking off the top layer of skin. Teaches them there is time to use light pressure, and time to push cut through things.

Now when we go for walks, both of them ask to put a knife on their belt :) (like daddy lol)

Here is a picture of my daughter from this summer when we were going for one of our walks. Weekends she dresses herself, and most of the time its a Disney princes outfit. If Anna had a BK11....
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Both them them and their practice sticks
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From when I first started working with my son
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Keep rocking being the cool Aunt!
 
Good thread, Cap. I think you've probably given your niece more good advice than most of the kids got when I was young; I know it's WAY more advice than I got, but then again, I taught myself a VERY IMPORTANT lesson before my folks had a chance....I opened up my finger when I was 4 (trying to cut my sister a piece of celery (that she didn't want) so the story goes), curious boy that I was. Gave myself 3 stitches which, though I don't remember much about the incident (now that I'm in my 50's), is a constant reminder to PAY ATTENTION. I see those stitches every day, and they are (hopefully) the last time I ever gave myself stitches (seriously, the only other stitches I have are from a couple surgeries). Simple as that - basics and, it bears repeating, PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Teaching my girls to use knives has been pretty scary for me; I don't like to see them injured and have a hard time letting them learn by the "Braille" method....but I'm trying, especially because, well, cooking. Even non-knife people use a knife every day, and I'd like them to have the skills to be comfortable in the kitchen, if nothing else - 'cause they're gonna need them.

upnorth said:
Told my wife more than once, always cut away from yourself. She pays more attention now, after opening her thumb with an Endura.
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My wife, OTOH, is too, ah....knowledgeable for me to teach her anything. I keep the kitchen cutlery sharp - perhaps one day....but probably not. I just shake my head and move on, though I did have to speak up after she used the nakiri I made on a salt "cutting board" (a misnomer, since you should not use kitchen knives on rock) and pretty much took the edge off. She's cut herself pretty good a few times....which brings up an important part about knife safety: make sure whoever you're teaching knows what to do if they do slip - basic first aid instruction should go along with any sort of knife lessons, IMO. Everyone makes mistakes....
 
There are times you do in fact cut toward your body or hands, but that is for more controlled precision cutting such as peeling a potato. That takes some practice for the young who usually aren't as coordinated with their hands. The most important thing there is PAY ATTENTION as mentioned above.
 
I was taught the basics, but I have a lot of scars from a youth of learning from my mistakes.
 
Learned on my own very young..with band-aids.. :p John :thumbup:
 
Dad gave me a barlow at 6 and taught me to gut and gill fish and safe woodwork. He was our cubscout leader as well so the teaching continued.

At 8 he had me tailing him on the trapline and slowly learned gut/skin/fleshing skills

At 15 he had me working full slaughter on the killfloor and pork cut line(he was the foreman)

Gave my 11 yr nephew a 3in linerlock(snapon) for christmas out of a knife/flashlight/multitool combo I bought just for the multi.

5 minute safety lesson on closing,passing and cutting away at xmas with a promise to show him basic carving and cutting on the yearly family camping trip this summer
 
Brad "the butcher";15624973 said:
Dad gave me a barlow at 6 and taught me to gut and gill fish and safe woodwork. He was our cubscout leader as well so the teaching continued.

At 8 he had me tailing him on the trapline and slowly learned gut/skin/fleshing skills.
Click to expand...

I skinned many a furbearer for my uncle who trapped A LOT. I trapped too (muskrats, mink and so forth) at around age 12. You learn knife skills skinning hundreds of animals.
 
Like Spike, I learned knife safety in Cub Scouts (a long time ago...35+ years) and I don't think they've changed since then. I think using what you learned in Girl Scouts is a good approach and is all that's needed. Now it's time for her to practice!
 
I learned knife safety as a Cub Scout and with my dad, in his workshop.

I've also learned from my own mistakes, with a lot of blood.
 
Lots of good advice already and I too learned in boy scouts and from my grandfather and band aids, I don't think I saw these

When cutting never elbows on the thighs always on the knees
Always think about where the knife is going to go when it slips
After you're done cutting put the knife away before you move or manipulate what you're cutting
 
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