What makes For A Good First Knife?

Ontario RAT 1 AUS8 good size, good basic knife......good for a beginner.....easy to Sharpen.
Although I do agree a fixed blade could be useful. I chose a folder because he can keep it in his pocket. A fixed blade on his belt could be a problem leaving the property and forgetting you have it.
 
Mora, my pick is the mora robust because that thing is impossible to break.

+either a folder or multitool. Wave+ is the best all around. Folder, I mean for woods I'd get something tough and stainless. Non-knife people tend to gravitate towards assisted and knives with half serrations (personal experience anyway). Try a kershaw blur, benchmade griptilian, spyderco manix, the usual. No wrong choice there.

Age of Mythology Zeus? What's up with that Arkantos?
 
shane45-1911 said:
Not to move off topic too badly, but for the love of God, at least get a folder with a lock as a kid's first knife. Kids do stupid things with knives no matter how well you think you've taught them, and it's really easy for a non-locking blade to snap back on a child's finger.
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Huh ... My first knife was a Demo knife, in 1961(?) 1962(?) ... My uncle gave it to me while on leave between Viet Nam and Germany. I was 6 or 7 at the time.
As far as I can remember, I never cut myself with it - or any other slipjoint or friction folder since.

Both my younger brothers received their (I'm the most ancient of us) first knives at a young age. Multi-blade slipjoints.
As far as I know, neither have amputated a finger or toe, or cut themselves with their knives. Slipjoint folder, lock back, or fixed blade.

Only one of my childhood friends ever amputated any parts. He was playing mumbly peg with his daddy's Ka-Bar (likely without his dad's permission to have the knife, or knowledge he had it, and removed 2 of his toes.
That friend was .... "strange" .... His mum told of the time he repeatedly burned his face with her lit cigarret (Pal Mal red) when she answered the phone in the other room, one afternoon ... she couldn't figure out why he was going "waa" (long pause) waa" (long pause) "waa" (long pause) until she saw him poking his face with her cigarette. ... He enjoyed whizzing up close on the hot wire of actvated electric cattle fences. ... He held the bag at least 15 times "Snipe Hunting" overnight in the woods ...

His nickname in Jr. High was "Bullwinkle". We changed it to "Rocky" since between the two, Bullwinkle was the more intelligent, and had more common sense. (True. Neither were all that intelligent, and have about as much common sense of a door knob or a rock...)

I gave my nephew (with his parent's permission) his first few knives, starting with an Opinel Number 7, when he was 7, followed by a 1960's Ulster official BSA 4 blade Scout/Camp knife with a nice belt pouch and leather fob, as his "good knife" for Church, and going out with his folks, and a Buck 389 Canoe for his knock-around knife, when he was 9.

He hasn't cut himself with them yet, and yes, he does carry and use them.

He got his first lock back, a SK Blades "Lil' Jack" Buck 112 from me for his High School Graduation gift, at age 11.
(Yes. Smart kid, and home schooled. Aced every school district test to advance a grade, and to graduate. He 14 now, in college, and still getting straight "A's" in all his subjects. I don't know what his Major is. Something to do with advanced math/physics, I'm sure. Since Calculus, Physics, and Geometry were his favorite subjects in Highschool. Maybe some Engineering Major?)
 
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It sure seems as if Bullwinkle,/Rocky would have been to follow around... from a discreet distance!
About that whole peeing on the electric fence thing: that takes a special kind of foolishness! 🙃
 
Sounds like you hunt, I would get your son a good deer knife like a Buck 105, 110, or a Grohmann #1. That way when he gets tired of being outside again you can borrow his knife when you hunt his land. While you’re at it, get him a good chest freezer and a vacuum sealer.
 
He's not a hunter... that's my sole suspicion I have; for thinking that he isn't mine..
.
 
CPK Kephart. Looks like an old school but thicker kitchen utility knife so pretty non-threatening (though, once you're around knives long enough - which really, most people should be since everyone has to cook food - it just feels normal). Obviously can be flexed into other roles (such as hunting/skinning, though, I mean, what serious knife can't be used for anything that needs cutting?).

Pair that with a Leatherman Supertool 300 and that really should cover mostly everything one would encounter around the homestead.
 
I have two thoughts. One is a fairly light lockback with a 3" blade. something he can abuse and use hard. The second thought is a bit more practical. Something he will carry daily. If he works behind a desk, something non-threatening. As far as SAKs go, an 84mm model (small tinker) vanishes in the pocket, if you want to be fancy, a benchmade Propper, or maybe a non-aggressive flipper like the civivi elementum.
 
Bob Denman said:
He's not a hunter... that's my sole suspicion I have; for thinking that he isn't mine..
.
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I barely know you and can list a lot more than that.🤣

Jokes aside if a dude’s 34 and has got by thus far gnawing open packaging, gouging open Amazon packages with a key, and tearing open mail… probably not gonna carry whatever you give him.

Alox SAK might get carried. Maybe.
 
It's funny that you mention CIVIVI. I have an Odium gathering dust. D2 steel, and about a 2.65" blade...
 
Bob Denman said:
The backstory:
My Kid (Aged 34); has never been much of an outdoorsman. In fact: he specializes in being an indoorsman! :eek:
But now that he owns 30 acres of field and woods (GREAT hunting!): he should have at least one knife.
What would you suggest for him?
Chores might range from picking sliver out of a shrieking Wife: to cutting the rope used to secure his firewood.
I'm thinking Dragonfly 2: Are there any other knives that I should consider?
Thanks!
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For a non-knife person, half serrated Delica is a good choice. Proven design, long enough to useful, disappears in the pocket, serrations for rope, plain edge for peanut butter, VG10 for edge retention and no rust.
 
Since he is 34, just give him a Buck 110. He will recognize it, and it will do a lot of work for him without a lot of maintenance.

If he were seven, my answer would be very different.
 
shane45-1911 said:
Fixed blade.

Nothing to go wrong, no finicky locks to worry about and less chance of injuring himself opening and closing a folder (since you did say he was a knife noob).

Suggest looking at anything from Becker (KaBar). The BK18 is my current favorite Becker. It does all things well (except tree felling, perhaps....) It's affordable, easy to sharpen with tried and true 1095, has great heat treat and is relatively maintenance free. A wipe down with some oil now and then and that's it.

My experience with folders in the woods and for general outdoor use, is they get full of crud and crap after a day out, and that can easily compromise any locking mechanism.

EDIT - Or SMATCHET. :p
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Probably be better off with a folding knife.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=180210666267865

Wait. Has that made it to the tacticool thread?
 
Bob Denman said:
The backstory:
My Kid (Aged 34); has never been much of an outdoorsman. In fact: he specializes in being an indoorsman! :eek:
But now that he owns 30 acres of field and woods (GREAT hunting!): he should have at least one knife.
What would you suggest for him?
Chores might range from picking sliver out of a shrieking Wife: to cutting the rope used to secure his firewood.
I'm thinking Dragonfly 2: Are there any other knives that I should consider?
Thanks!
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The Dragonfly was never of my interest because it is too tiny. If he is going to be working with gloved hands, that scalpel is impossible to manipulate. If he has land, I guess he will be doing something on it, farm stuff I believe... For doing so, a fixed blade is the best choice and if you are worried he will not be carrying that, get him a decent sized folder. Anything between 3 to 4" should be plenty. In my opinion, of course!

Lots of good suggestions in this thread. The RAT 1, Spyderco Endura, Cold Steel Recon... something along those lines. No need to go to the fancy models and expensive steels.

Mikel
 
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