What do you guys/ladies do to try & get your kids to appreciate Traditional Knives??

jkulysses

jkulysses

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Dec 8, 2010
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My son just turned 2 last week and from the time he was just a baby we have given him choices if we are torn between 2 or more items. In the beginning it would be which ever item he stared at the longest. Now he is very used to this and I think enjoys it. What I have been doing for the last 6 months or so is every morning before I head out the door to go to work I will grab 3 or 4 of my pocket knives and bring them over to him and he'll look them all over and say "that one dadda" putting his little index finger on the bolster of the one he has picked out for that day. Surprisingly he will usually pick a different one each day and it won't always be the shiny one with yellow bone or the biggest which I found interesting in the beginning. I absolutely love this little routine we have for several reasons. The first is it really melts my heart every single time and puts me in a great mood during my drive to work. The second is throughout the day no matter how bad my day is going every time I pull out my knife it makes me think of him and our little interaction that morning which then puts a smile on my face and all my troubles disappear. The last part is I have a feeling that these will be the memories that he will never forget and hopefully when he gets older he will remember them and will want to carry a knife just like dad carried. I would love to hear some of your stories and how you try to or did introduce your children to your collection, obsession, hobby or whatever you call it. :p Remember this is the Traditional Sub Forum so keep any mention of particular knives or pictures as such. With that said here is a picture of the knife my little man chose for today, Ebony White Owl!


 
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That's so cool. He definitely have fond memories looking back at your routine together. :thumbup:
 
Exactly how you do. Started with my daughter, getting her to pick, now it depends on if she asks or her brother asks to pick first!! It's great seeing what catches their eye. The "zebra knife" became my daughters after picking it way too often, new rule, can't pick the same knife on consecutive days. It starts by being a natural part of life!

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My son is not a collector but he does have about a half dozen knives that I have given him. He also bought a Canal Street Cutlery Half Moon Trapper after he saw mine.
Being that he did that, I took him to the CSC factory in Ellenville for a tour which opened his eyes to old world craftsmanship. He could actually see the process of how his knife was made and compare his finished knife to all the stages in the process. Definitely an eye opening experience.
 
Cool story, love it! That's a great idea and he will certainly remember this little ritual all through his life.
 
I don't have kids myself, but I've got plenty of nieces and nephews (ages 5-10). I make sure they see me using my knives, and I talk to them about what I'm using and why it's the appropriate tool for the job. They are usually very willing to listen and learn.
 
I don't have any kids of my own, so I have tried to get my little brother into knives. I have sprinkled some balis, one hand openers and old timey knives. I know if he likes a knife, because he tells me he'll get that knife as a gift soon enough. He worked on a forestry crew for a while, so he likes any axes or tomahawks I get in. I took him to a knife show once when he was a kid, he was smoking and unbeknownts to me, want to smoke a cigarette really bad and wanted to get the heck out of there, otherwise I think he might've stuck around. His passions at the age of 19 are cars and guitars. I am not a gear head like he is, but I appreciate pretty much any truck out there.

I was going to type that you could force it on them all you want, but force is the wrong word. I like knives as a genre. My little brother likes axes and balisongs. My brother in law likes machetes, he grew up on just Buck knives, and he practices Korean martial arts and likes most martial arts weapons. A buddy of mine only buys flipper knives. Another one only buys automatics. Some people get the itch, some don't. Gravitate towards what they show an interest in.

My little brother can't understand why I want to read about knives and knife history, but devours my knife and gun repair and smithing manuals. He is a very mechanically oriented, and intelligent, individual that sells himself short. I am sure he would be smitten if we made a couple knives together. Take the kids to a show, let them save up some money to get what they want, do some research with them. Lots of dealers out there want to keep the kids coming back, just because they have a good time talking knives. I'm sure everyone that goes to gun and knife shows has noticed that the dealers aren't getting any younger, at least not in Maryland.

Backwoodsman magazine has quite a few knife building projects sprinkled throughout back issues, try one of those kits with your kids. Also, a little bit of woodcraft practice will entice others to poke around and find out what you're doing.
 
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JK you might recall from one of chats that I had been showing some of my knives to my son. I have also don't this with my daughter separately. Most recently he was home sick when a knife arrived that had been out for repair. Well he really took to the knife so I allowed him to hold it and even put it in his pocket. Of course I was careful and instructed him not to try and open the knife. He obliged and after sitting with it for a while he handed it back to me. I then described the parts of the knife like the bolster, pins, shield, etc. He repeated what I said and then went onto the next thing like a typical two year old.
So yesterday I pulled out a different knife and to my surprise my son pointed out the bolster and told me the shield looked like a cloud. Just how I taught him. Well needless to say I was floored by my 2.5 year old son. Here's a pic of him with my half congress fresh from repair at GEC. (He was so sick and had pink eye. Poor guy. This really cheered him up)

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And I bought each of the kids one of these. So now they each have their very own "knife."

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I remember you sending me that very picture and what a cool story! He is very smart and the fact that a knife put that big of a smile on his face even though he was sick as a dog is pretty awesome! Who wouldn't smile with a knife like that in their hands though. :) When you told me about that plastic Victorinox knife I immediately added it to my wish list on the big river site but then kind of forgot about it until you just posted another picture of it up. I'm going to order it right now so I don't forget again as I think he would love it. Thank you for sharing.

Kamagong your kids are adorable and I love the pictures of them holding some knives especially your youngest now that is just a cool picture! You and Brian got me to thinking I don't have a single picture of my little man actually holding any of my knives..... That will be changing this weekend! :)
 
I only have one kid so far. Those are all pictures of her, from eight days to two-years-old. In the second pic she is carrying a toy Victorinox, same as the one Brian showed.

- Christian
 
My son and I built this together. It was a gift for his 5th birthday.



He's carried it in his pocket pretty much every day since. It was run through the washer and dryer a few times, and the last time all of the pins fell out. I went to a hardware store and found some stainless clasps that were just the right size. I cut them and smoothed them down with the Dremel and squeezed them in, of course we had to recolor it too. I'll have to post a picture of the rebuilt version.

He loves my pocket knives and wants to look at them almost every day. "Daddy, can we go look at your knives?" :)
 
I always introduced my kids to knives at an early age. When I had a package to open, or something to cut, they liked to watch as I slowly took out my knife and did what needed tone done. Cereal boxes, UPS packages, plastic wrap. But I downplayed it at the same time, telling them that this is what a pocket knife is for, a cutting tool that is handy to have. They all did scouts, and each one of them got a SAK when that time came. Sometimes it was amusing at how one of them would go look for a something that needed to be opened. My daughter would bring in a serial box, holding it out for me to open, and I'd have o tell her that there was already an opened box, so she'd go look for something else for me to use my knife on. I sometimes would supervise them closely and let them open something with my pocket knife. Of my three kids, my daughter Jess is the most knife savvy. My older boy john is a SAK fan, and since he travels a lot in his job, that makes sense. In the last 10 years he's lived in the Netherlands, South Africa, Philippines, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Spain. He's been through a few Vic spartans. My daughter carries a larger SAK in her purse, and a classic other keyring, from her mothers influence. It is Jessica's view that any knife she carries has to have scissors and nail file. My better half is a fan of the classic on her keys. My younger boy is a fan of the old scout knife pattern. He has my old scout knife dad gave me when I was 12, and he has got some more off the great internet auction site. Some Imperials, Camillus, Kamp King's. But none of them inherited my knife accumulation phobia. They have what they call "their" knives, and that's it. None of them have the knife bug. Except for my son Matt and his scout knife collection.

My grandkids have been exposed to knives, and just one is a bonafide knife nut. My grandson Ryan is a collector, and has made a collection of framed shadow boxes of the families knives. Dad's, granddad's and mine. It's tough to just borrow one back for a while, since he's bigger than me now as a teenage. I have to find out what their feeding the kids these days. But at least they all see the practical use of having a knife on hand, unlike many. So just stat them out early, and don't make a big deal out if, but just that it's important to have one.
 
I have 2 boys aged (almost)13 and 11. Both received a Victorinox Hiker as their 1st knife - after completing their Whittling Chip in Cub Scouts. The 1st fixed blade they received was a Martini M571. I also gave them an Opinel #8 in stainless with their initials on the blade when they got their Arrow of Light and moved up to Boy Scouts. They have a couple of modern one-handers (Kershaw & KaBar) that they bought with their own money.

My youngest will carry a pocket knife on Scout outings or hikes, otherwise he is usually knifeless - trying to fix that ;) He is my athlete and more into the iPod 4 he just bought at the moment. One reason he seems to go without a knife a lot is he lives in athletic pants and a lot don't really have pockets.

My oldest is my budding knife-nut. He snags my knife catalogs out of the mail before I even see them. He participates in Future Farmers of America and has started getting more into traditional knives lately. Currently his favorite knife to carry is the Case Mini-Trapper in pocket worn red bone I gave him. I also made a deal that if he gets his math grade back up to a "B" I will get him a Case Sodbuster in Chestnut Bone & CV steel. I've actually stopped him from getting any new knives until he uses the ones he has more. Also trying to teach him how to better sharpen a knife. Somewhere down the road I'd like to get him one of the old Schrades that were done for the FFA.

Both boys just seemed to gravitate towards knives due to my interest. The oldest has stayed more focused and I know he'll continue to appreciate them as he gets older. My youngest only time will tell, but I know he'll at least always have one available.
 
kamagong said:
I only have one kid so far. Those are all pictures of her, from eight days to two-years-old. In the second pic she is carrying a toy Victorinox, same as the one Brian showed.

- Christian
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Christian your daughter is really cute. I totally missed her holding the toy Vic until you said something.
 
I have a 2.5 year old and 4.5 year old. My son isn't the least bit interested in knives. His only interest at 2.5 is trains. If it were a train carrying a knife it might capture his eye, but right now, it's only trains. My daughter is a different story. She loves to watch my husband and myself use our knives and asks questions about them regularly. How do you do that? Why is that one a different color? What is that? Why is that on the knife? Which knife are you using to cut that? Why are you taking that one today? We try to teach her how to properly hold knives and when it might be a good idea to use one. She likes to carry her plastic VIC with her, but often gets frustrated that it doesn't "cut" like mommy and daddy's. She was with me at a local knife store when I picked up my first peanut. She chimed in saying she liked the yellow one. So that's the one I got. If we are browsing the forum or looking at knives she often sits beside us and voices her opinion about what looks good or doesn't. It's fun to see her interest and knowing she's watching us use knives makes us more conscious of how and when we use them. We want both of our kids to learn to use them properly and with care. I have no doubt that leading by example and including them in the some of the decisions we make about what knives we carry or use or buy will create a lifelong knife lovers. If we can just get past that Thomas the train...
 
jone - I hear ya. For my boys at that age it was getting past Veggie Tales.

You are spot on about including them in knife discussions.
 
Your doing it the best way. What has worked best for me it to involve them, be it fishing, sharpening, or just browsing pictures. By involving them all three of mine love the outdoors and the knives I carry when we are out.

Chris
 
Great posts & thanks for sharing! I haven't really started teaching my son safe handling yet since he's only just turned 2 but I will be in the future for sure. Right now i don't even want him to know how to open them & other than the one in my pocket at the time the rest are safely locked away. Like jone mentioned & I think a couple others, I definitely think about what I'm doing when I do have one out as he is always watching. I can't wait to take him to knife shows & shooting etc etc! Having a kid sure has changed me in so many ways but I love every second of it! Thanks again for sharing your stories. :)
 
I started my son Travis out when he was very young. I also started teaching him gun safety when I thought he was old enough to absorb it.
IIRC, he was about 5 years old.

At the time I had been collecting vintage Winchesters and Colts for quite some time. I explained to him the history of these old guns, and the pride and craftsmanship that went into making them. Much the same way as the old knives...

As he got a little older, he really started to appreciate that. I started him out with knives by teaching about the differences, and intended purposes for the various patterns, and allowed him to develop his own favorites, because as we all know, we have different likes and dislikes.

I wanted him to learn proper knife handling when he was young, and to not rely on a lock for safety. He is now almost 17 and has a varied collection of styles.
As he got to around 15 years old, he developed an interest in more modern style knives as well. He does like some of his modern style knives, but his favorites are still Traditional knives.
 
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