Young Mans First Blade

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coaldigger

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Jan 27, 2007
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My nephew is 10yrs old & has an interest in pocket knives. I have been packing a pocket knife around since I was about 10 also (31 yrs old now). His parents will not let him carry it unless they are with him & I guess thats a good thing until he learns Safety First. What would be a good starter for him, maybe a Vict. SAK -my first knife ? Any ideas ?
 
coaldigger said:
My nephew is 10yrs old & has an interest in pocket knives. I have been packing a pocket knife around since I was about 10 also (31 yrs old now). His parents will not let him carry it unless they are with him & I guess thats a good thing until he learns Safety First. What would be a good starter for him, maybe a Vict. SAK -my first knife ? Any ideas ?
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I think you are right on. An SAK is a perfect beginners pocket knife.
 
I gave my Son and Daughter "my first victorinox" series swiss army knife. It has a rounded tip so they cannot stab each other with it. :D

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My first knife when I was 12 was a SAK Huntsman. I still have it 25 years later.
 
Little kids like alot of tools on their sak So you should just buy him a ranger, camper, Super tinker, Huntsman etc. and round the tip off. They will like it alot better than my first vic. I got my first knife (vic. classic) when I was 4 and my older brothers had swisschamps or something like that and I was hella jealous. Make sure not to get one too thick or he wont be able hold it and will ditch it because it is too heavy. (no thicker than 5 layers)
 
I would pick a Victorinox Tinker model. It is basically a Boy Scout Knife with a practical set of tools, yet not too bulky or clumsy (it has 6 blades yet is only two spring channels thick). If you think that it would make his parents more comfortable you could grind the tip of the larger blade into a bit of a sheepsfoot shape. One of the advantages of this model is the secondary small knife blade. That is really handy for whittling. The tool blades let a kid work on things and fix them without hacking them up. Show him how to start a wood screw with the awl blade and a screwdriver blade. This model has a philips head driver.

You can even get one with a Boy Scout logo on it to make it more palatable to the parents:

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and you know what the best part about those victorinox blades is? The first time he tries to pry with it it'll snap. After my second swiss army knife (does the swiss armyactually carry these?) I've never pried with a blade.
 
I like the Tinker for a basic knife.

Funny about prying. I was at a surplus shop with a box full of old Vic German Army knives. Every knife blade had been used to pry, bent and crudely bent back. Despite having a saw/can/bottle opener blade that would seem much more suitable. I've wondered if prying-with-the-knife-blade is part of German Army training.
 
If he's already ten, he should be OK with any small-midsize SAK without modification.

Many traditional patterns would be suitable for a young person too (how many of us started with an Old Timer or similar?), although I bet most kids would rather have a Swiss Army Knife for the 'cool' factor.
 
I don't see an issue with a sharp pointed knife for a 10 year old of average maturity. A multitool would probably be most interesting for him. Leatherman or Victorinox.
 
Jeff Clark said:
I would pick a Victorinox Tinker model. It is basically a Boy Scout Knife with a practical set of tools, yet not too bulky or clumsy (it has 6 blades yet is only two spring channels thick). If you think that it would make his parents more comfortable you could grind the tip of the larger blade into a bit of a sheepsfoot shape. One of the advantages of this model is the secondary small knife blade. That is really handy for whittling. The tool blades let a kid work on things and fix them without hacking them up. Show him how to start a wood screw with the awl blade and a screwdriver blade. This model has a philips head driver.

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+1 on the Tinker. I've bought a few boys their first pocketknives and that's what I get. I think the fact that it has screwdrivers, bottle and can openers, tweezers, etc instills a sense that a knife is a tool instead of a weapon. If the lad goes camping a lot, the Hiker might be even better. That's a Tinker with a wood saw added.
 
PS. With a SAK show him that if he needs to pry he should use the large screwdriver blade. That actually works pretty well for light prying.
 
The Victorinox Pocket pal or bantam are decent. They wont rust, and are small enough to be carried and used by smaller people with smaller hands. I wouldn't worry about the sharp tips too much, even a rounded tip can cause quite a bit of damage and reduce the usefulness of the knife. Joe
 
Kaizen1 said:
I don't see an issue with a sharp pointed knife for a 10 year old of average maturity. A multitool would probably be most interesting for him. Leatherman or Victorinox.
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gerber makes the best multitools, and the one hand opening is a slick bit the kids would love.
 
SAK will be easier for them to use than a multitool and easier to carry.

Also, every kid seems to have this "knife ideology" where the SAK embodies all that is good. It's a great starting point.

My first knife was a SAK my father got for me. Unfortunately my teacher took it one day (forgot to take it out of my coat pocket in 2nd grade), and she said i could come in and get it with my mom the next day. well...we forgot!!! :-(
 
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