A good "beginner" knife for Bear Cubs?

[LauraMO]

After my Bear Cubs finish earning their badge, they will begin working on their Whittling Chip cards. The parents & I plan to present our sons with their first knife during a den meeting that will be dedicated to knife safety & use. We would like to present the same style of knife and, if possible, maybe have the Cub's name engraved on the knife.

 

It seems the sky is the limit in terms of knife styles, sizes, and uses. What do you recommend as a beginner-size knife that would comfortably fit into the palm of a 9-year old boy? The Scout catalog has several knives for sale, but are these necessarily the best product for these young boys? Some of have two blades (what's the difference??), others have assorted gadgets & then others just seem pricey. I definitely don't want a style that has a blade that is difficult to pull open or "snaps" shut.

 

 

 

[molscouter]

I'm not going to address knife types, but when I did the Whittlin' Chip two years ago, I required that one parent be present with the Scout for those meetings for safety reasons. That is the only time I have ever done that. I also emphasized ahead of time that there would be zero tolerance for misbehavior.

[Laurie]

I don't know what the best knife might be, but when our Bears learned to whittle and earned their Whittlin' Chip, the den leader gave each one a Cub Scout knife. The boys had such big smile just because they could use a knife, but when each was given his own those smiles were bigger than I thought possible I am not the den leader, but I help at most meetings. For this meeting, we had 4 adults supervise 6 boys--and we could have used 6 adults. The assistant den leader purchased a heavy leather glove--3 pair--and each boy wore a glove on the hand that wasn't wearing the knife. Since knives did slip, this was ended up saving the boys from cuts that night. Have fun!

[Twocubdad]

I'm not really a knife guy so I can't comment on quality and value, but I gave both my boys the official Cub Scout knife, mostly because they are just like the one I had when I was a Cub. They seem to be a good size for little hands, but just like my old knife, the can opener and leather punch are way too tight to open themselves.

[Fat Old Guy]

I have more than a few pocket knives and most are lockback knives. Why locking knives? A locking blade is far less likely to inadvertently close on your fingers.

 

Unfortunately, very few of the knives with gadgets like the Cub Scout knife or the Swiss Army knife have locking blades. I have found one Swiss Army knife by Wenger that does have a locking blade. Victorinox o made a Swiss Army knife with a locking blade but I believe it to be discontinued.

 

Most locking blades fall into two categories, lockback or liner lock. The lockback is the classic Buck knife that require a lock on the back of the knife (see where the name comes from). A liner lock's blade is locked in place by part of the handle liner which is in the slot where the blade rests when the knife is closed. Liner locks can be closed with one hand which is why they are BAD for youngsters. I'll say that again. Liner locks are BAD for youngsters.

 

Why are liner locks BAD for youngsters? The unlocking action puts part of the body in the path of the blade and an injury can result if the blade is closed too quickly and the thumb isn't gotten out of the way.

 

Lock backs allow you to unlock the blade with all fingers in a safe place.

 

At a training event a few years ago, the trainer espoused that lock backs were bad because they are weapons and that Swiss Army knives are good because they are tools. Say what? A knife is a knife and a I explained above, a lockback is a safer tool.

 

This same trainer didn't like buying kids good knives because he believed that if a knife got blood on it from an injury, it should be destroyed with other biohazard materials. Washing it never occurred to him.

 

Recommendations? I'd go with a lock back knife with 2 1/2 inch drop point blade. Buck makes a nice little knife called the "Buck Lite".

 

Avoid serrated blades, even partially serrated blades. Serrations allow a knife to cut through rope very easily but they can make nasty injuries. Serrations are also useless for whittling.

 

Bear in mind that you can get a good knife for $15 and a crappy knife for $25. Unless you are an expert, buy reputable brands from reputable dealers.

 

 

Decent knife brands are

Buck

Gerber

Camillus (they make the Cub Scout Knife)

Victorinox

Wenger

Benchmade

Spyderco

Boker

Kershaw

Opinel

 

Most of the big gun companies have knives with their names on them and they are usually pretty good. Examples are

Colt

Smith & Wesson

Beretta

Remington

 

 

There are others but they don't come to mind.

 

[silver-shark]

FOG

 

I agree with you about the lockback knives and have heard the same things from trainers. I still recomend them.

 

Case is the brand that I bought for my 2 scouts, but agree with the others that you list that I have heard of.

 

I generally carry a good pocket knife with one blade, and have a separate multi tool to tale care of the few other things that I need it for.

 

The worst thing a parent can do is skimp on the quality of the knife. That is where most injuries occur. This may run them $30 to $40 or more, but is well worth it.

 

Stainless steel blades are good for boys. They don't hold an edge as long, but are good for when boys put them away wet occasionally, and they will.(This message has been edited by silver-shark)

[sctmom]

The small cub scout knife at the scout store is a great size and a good price.

 

I noticed that my kid would try to cut things with his knife in such a way that it would close up on him. I know that was not the proper way to cut, but it happens. He prefers his small lockback.

 

They also make a nice knife holder to be worn on a belt. I like that so that you know that kid has his knife and smaller kids have a problem carrying anything in their pockets.