What age did you give your child their first blade?

Joe Duder

Joe Duder

Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
3,003
I have two children, my boy is three and my daughter is five years old. I know they are still too young and immature for a knife. But, someday they will be handed down some nice blades from Dad's collection.
So basically I just wanted to get some input on how old your child was when you gave him/her their first knife.
What kind of knife was it? How sharp was it? Did you let them handle it only around you or was it a "Here you go kid... ...don't cut yourself." situation? My uncle basically gave me my first knife this way. It was a razor sharp SAK. Only cut myself once and once was enough. I don't intend to just throw them a knife, I will teach proper handling and respect for their tool.

Let's have some input. Thanks.
 
I got my first knife from my dad when I was five (almost 19 years ago now). It was a Schrade Old Timer 12OT (USA made). I think I cut myself with this knife the day he gave it to me even though he might have told me not to (he let me learn some stuff the hard way). I still have this knife, but I no longer carry it even though I did for years. It's now just a display piece.

Edit: It was BNIB when I got it and very sharp.
 
I havent given a knife to my child yet. She is only four. But she has shown some interest. I know I was 7 when my father first let me have a pocket knife. It was a piece of junk trapper from the sabre cabinet at my local ace hardware. First thing he did was take its blade and file the edge off to where it would have a rough time with softened butter. Knowing how irresponsible I was I understand. And if my child is anything like me she will be at least 13 or 14 before I will give her a useable knife for her to have on her own. But really to me its all about the individual person. If you have a grounded child who is an outdoors fanatic and/or hunter and has a real need for a knife and is responsible then I could see giving one to them younger. If they are a video game addict who sees a knife as nothing more than a weapon then i would say not to give them one until they reach the age of never. Bottom line, I really dont think there is any set age where such a move is appropriate and should be based on a child by child basis.
 
I need to discuss this with my wife, but I plan on giving my soon to be 8 yr old one for his birthday next month. It will be a Swiss Army Knife, either a Cadet or Tinker. As he is a Cub Scout I plan on teaching him the same rules as he'll follow to get his Whittling Chip, plus one additional: "I will not take my knife to school or any where without my parent's permission". He has a younger brother and we have even younger kids who live next door. As such, I'll give him an ultimatum: he can permanently keep it it so long as we NEVER see it in the possession of anyone but him. If he thinks that is too risky, we'll keep it for him.

I think there are some 5 year olds that can maturely handle and keep a knife. I think there are some 18 year olds that can't. The right age is really up to the parent and the child.

I'd really love to hear more insight on this from others too. Thanks for asking this question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totin'_Chip
http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Whittling_Chip
 
I was around 7 or 8 when my dad and I were out on a fishing trip and he picked me up a small knife on the way up. I cant for the life of me remember what brand it was and sure enough when we got home from the trip my mom saw it and took it away never to be seen again. Since then Ive had several cheaply made knives and about 3 years ago really got back into collecting, buying up BM's kershaws spyders etc. My wife and I are planning to start having kids in the next year or 2 and we have already had this very talk of our kids having knives. She is pretty much against the idea altogether where as I would do the same thing my dad did for me. Im slowly warming my wife up to the idea of knife collecting so who knows maybe she wont care when the time comes. The "don't take it to school" talk is a given, everyone has that talk at some point. when the time comes and I feel that my kids are mature enough I will either pass down one of my favourite knives or take them out and let them pick one for themselves.
 
I was probably 7 or 8 when my Dad gave me my first pocket knife. I had been showing a ton of interest in his various pocket knives and he finally gave me one. I still remember the knife quite well. I'm pretty sure it was some old stockman, no idea what brand it was. I remember struggling to open it, and nearly bending my thumb nail every time I tried to open the smaller blades. I used that knife for everything, I think that was the first thing I owned that I was truly proud of. I think I only cut myself a couple times, but I made sure to never complain about being cut or show my parents that I had cut myself. I didn't want them to take it away! I loved that knife!

To answer your question though, I think you will know when the time is right. Nobody knows your kid better than you do. I'm sure they will really enjoy it when you decide the time is right. It's definitely a big deal for a kid to get his first knife.
 
I gave my daughter a small SAK when she was around 8. I showed her all the basics of how to open, close, and cut. She cut her thumb within 30 minutes, and has had much respect for the cutting edge since.
 
I don't have kids yet but I plan on teaching them the importance of knives and how to safely use them at a young age. My grandfather gave me my first knife early on and I feel like those lessons we invaluable
 
My son is 10 and I've given him a half-dozen knives over the years starting when he was about 5. Some of them are pretty sharp too. He's only cut himself once and it was with a really crappy fake swiss army knife (when he was probably 5). My 8 year old daughter shows no interest in knives.
 
I'd recommend some of the wood kits that are out there, like the Spyderco Dragonfly and CRKT kit. They are a great kit, and it teaches safety. When they can use them the right way, you can get the real thing.
 
The-Stig said:
I was probably 7 or 8 when my Dad gave me my first pocket knife. I had been showing a ton of interest in his various pocket knives and he finally gave me one. I still remember the knife quite well. I'm pretty sure it was some old stockman, no idea what brand it was. I remember struggling to open it, and nearly bending my thumb nail every time I tried to open the smaller blades. I used that knife for everything, I think that was the first thing I owned that I was truly proud of. I think I only cut myself a couple times, but I made sure to never complain about being cut or show my parents that I had cut myself. I didn't want them to take it away! I loved that knife!

To answer your question though, I think you will know when the time is right. Nobody knows your kid better than you do. I'm sure they will really enjoy it when you decide the time is right. It's definitely a big deal for a kid to get his first knife.
Click to expand...

That SAK was one of my favorite things and I was truly proud of it as well. When I sliced my finger open with it, I too hid the cut from my parents (good thing I didn't need stitches). Man I still remember the feeling I got when I carried it around. The red was so true, the cross seemed to almost glow. I would take it out not to use it, but to secretly admire it as I still do some of my nicer knives. I loved that thing, it definitely contributed to my knife addiction.

Thanks for the input guys! Really interested in reading more.
 
I have two kids who are a little less than two years apart. They are great friends and older brother couldn't/wouldn't ever say no to his younger bro so when it came to knives I needed them both to be responsible. I waited until my youngest boy had been 7 for a couple of months and bought each of them a Mora Scout.
morascoutphoto.JPG

My mom (their "Mimi") had been teaching them knife safety with little Schrade pocket knives when they would stay over there so a lot of the preliminary work was already done. The Mora's are real tools so they command an inherent respect from the kids -- they certainly don't feel or perform like little toys or envelope openers. To start we have just been sitting on some rocks and whittling Harry Potter wands. Of course those eventually just turned into spears, darts, skewers, stakes and some writing utensils. We are also now working on fire craft and food prep. My oldest is taking an interest in some woodcraft so I will be getting some Mora wood carving knives soon for "buschcrafting" projects like spoons. The Mora's were a good choice in my mind since they have the guards, you can do "real" things with them, they are inexpensive, come with a sheath and lanyard hole and have a reputation for quality. My primary rule is no walking or free-standing with an unsheathed knife. I have a Mora Bushcraft Black and a Companion that I use.
 
My kid is still a baby, but I got my first knife, a SAK classic rip-off, when i was about 7-8. My first real knife was a medium sized lockback that i still have.
 
All four got Mora for children fixed knives and as You probably know they are as sharp as the regular Mora's.
Age varied between 4 1/2 and 11.

Now when they are adults I see them still use their childhood knives as working tools.
They did get a few cuts, but I learnt them the hard way.
I got my first 3 stitches in my finger at age 6, but that was no big deal.

At first I let them use the knives under my supervision, but soon they could be left alone at the workbench.
The knives weren't the main thing for them even if it was of great symbolic importance.
The fun of it was to make things and use as many handtools as possible.

I let them also use hammers,screwdrivers,hand-drills,planers,saws and chisels.
I didn't let them use axe's without me being with them, but I know they used them anyway...
The boys even took my Bowie and used it to chop off nails with - Aaaurrgh!:sorrow:
Ah,well... they learnt pretty good and today they aren't afraid of using tools to fix whatever they need to do.

Regards
Mikael
 
I recieved a small pen knife from my grandfather when I was 6-7 years old..It was put up and I wasn't allowed to carry it anywhere...Then, when I was in Cub Scouts we had a huge meeting before we became Weblos...The head scout master talked about scouting , being prepared , boys turning into men and every boyscout should have a scout knife..How it was such an important tool to always have on you...One of my greatest memories,,my dad actually showed up when I became a Weblo (he wasn't around too much)..The next week, BAM, he bought me a scout knife that I could carry everywhere...I think I was around 11 yrs old at the time..

My oldest daughter wasn't into knives at all but my youngest one is..I bought her a small Gerber EZ-out last year when she was 12.. Taught her everything I could about safe knife practices..Shes 13 now and has 3-4 smaller size pocketknives in her jewerly box..
CD
 
My daughter is 6 and she'll be getting a mini peasant knife in about a week. I'll be holding onto it until she shows me she is responsible enough to use it properly when I'm not watching but she'll still get a kick out of carrying her own knife when we go camping and hiking.
 
I gave my son a Delica at age 9 and my daughter a Byrd Crow at 9 also. My son's 11th birthday is in a week and he'll be getting an HI khukuri with a bone handle from me then. My daughter has outgrown her Byrd and has taken to whittling so she will either be getting a Scrapyard Scrapivore or a Delica next month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top