What age?

[GmpaJim]

My brother who is a year older was cutting strings off of hay bails with his non locking boy scouts knife unsupervised around age 10( maybe younger?) and used the spine accicenlty on one cut. Blade closed on finger and cut him pretty good. Wrapped his hand in an old rag and went home.

Should have seen the look on my moms face. Late 70s was a fun time to be a kid but not necessarily a safe time! I remember when my mom would stop the car real quick she would hold out her arm to (at least try) to stop the foward momentum of whichever one of us was in front seat as there were lap seat belts only Bike helmets for kids were not a thing back then either.

My favorite spot to ride was laying on the rear window deck.
It had everything, view, solar heat, wind if windows were down, tobacco high if windows were up, wasps..
Only the strong survive.
You realize he’s going to want to sleep with it? And will at some point.

 

[Rob47]

For you folks harping on the safety of locking blades over simple folders like SAKs, may I remind you:
ALL guns are loaded. NO folding knives have locks.

 

[y53p]

I got my first sak at 8, first fixed blade at 10. I’m still alive but I did cut myself on accident several times. Almost chopped a finger off once (I was 12), but that was with a hand hatchet.

I would say it’s sort of a tough bet, I wouldn’t feel safe giving my kids knives tbh, but if they wanted they would end up getting their hands on them without me knowing it, so I would probably start them out with pretty basic and fairly safe to use knives, nothing too big nor too sharp. Once they start understanding the limitations of what you can/can’t, should/shouldn’t do with a knife, and in general how to handle one, I would get them something nicer.

 

[oldrifleman]

I got my first knife at 7, lost it at 7 and 3 months. got another. kept it a while after learning to take care of things, never been without one since. My daughter got her first knife at 8, my son got his about that same point. they got their first rifle (supervised of course) at 9. my daughter has lost most of her knives over the years but still has one or two, son has a few more. Neither has ever seriously cut themselves. point is they will lose one or two and if you make it a nonviolent teaching moment all is well. Still having trouble teaching them about maintenance on carbon steel, but that is another story

 

[000Robert]

My dad gave me the speech and my first knife when I started first grade. We didn't have kindergarten back then. But I was the type of kid that didn't have to be told to clean my room and we did a lot of hunting. You will just have to ask yourself if you think that your child is mature and responsible enough to carry a knife safely and responsibly.

 

[Backslider]

I started around 8, with all non-locking folders. I didn't have my first locking folder until I was 11. And I have no memory of cutting myself, much less closing a knife on my fingers, and certainly no trips to the hospital.

There is a school of thought that if a child starts with non-locking folding knives, learning knife safety with non-locking folding knives, that they will grow up treating all folders as non-locking folding knives, which is not a bad policy to practice. I was one of those children.

I think if a child is unable to avoid closing a non-locking folding knife on themselves then any sharp knife would likely be unsafe for them as well. After all, the sharp edge is the real danger.

I was also around this age when I started. I was in Cub Scouts and I had to hustle selling popcorn door-to-door until I earned the classic non-locking Cub Scout folding pocket knife. Prior to the popcorn hustling though, I had to earn my Whittling Chip card which is basically a bunch of safety lessons. I don't recall ever having any major accidents with that knife, so I must have been taught well (or been lucky).

Whittling Chip Card

U.S. Scouting Service Project

usscouts.org

 

[emjay]

Best way I learnt to keep my fingers away from the sharp end of the knife was when I was about 8 and my SAK slammed down on my finger when I closed it. Bled, a lot. Difficult lesson to forget. Locks can break if abused, and kids abuse things, so if it were me I'd rather give kids a non-locking folder first so that they learn to treat any folding knife like it doesn't have a lock and keep their fingers away from the blade. Just my opinion. Hard to go wrong with something as useful as a SAK, plus they are more likely to carry and use it since they are easier to carry, which let's them gain even more respect for the tool.

 

[brownshoe]

Hello fellow blade enthusiasts.

Just looking for thoughts and or experiences I can compare against my own.
I'm new to knives myself, actually researching and making educated purchases instead of cool "mall ninja stuff". Keep in mind I'm on a budget!
I have 3 kids, 16, 12 and 8. I got the 2 older kids some 4" fixed blades made of 440c with G10 handles for cheap at my local Canadian Tire. On sale they seemed like a decent purchase. Just to get them familiar with proper use and safety while camping and what not.
The big question here is for my 8 year old (who's been begging me for his own knife), what age would be appropriate? We're not farmers or rural dwellers but live in a nice suburban area. Not sure if that matters or not.
Would you start a young kid at that age with a folder or fixed?

Swiss Army classic. Put it on a lantard so they can carry it around their neck and not lose it.