Cub Scout knife changes?

[silasm]

Has the "official" Cub Scout knife changed? The old knife with the blue stocks and brass side locks for the tools no longer shows up under Camping/Knives on scoustuff.org. The Cub Scout Utility knife is also missing. Both show up when I do a search for "knife", but are "not available for purchase from Scoutstuff.org at this time" when I click on them. Is this an out-of-stock issue, or does this indicate a change?

 

I DO see a new silver, single blade Cub Scout lockback knife. Personally, I prefer a lockback knife for safety, so I approve. (And let us not debate that here!)

 

To muddy things a little more... the printed "Winter/Gift 2009" catalog shows all three of these knives (p.26). Better yet, if you look close you will see that all three models shown are made in the USA. Are these old pictures, or have they switched back from having these made in China?

 

Has anyone got the true scoop? This is more than a hypothetical question for me; my Bears are going to start working on their Whittlin' Chip in January, so I an telling the parents that a pocket knife would be a good Christmas present. After looking at the build quality, I couldn't recommend the Chinese-made Official Cub Scout knife to them. So any changes for the better are welcome.

[ChaiAdventure]

I am not sure what the deal is with the CS knives, but IMHO, the best knife for a boy is a version of the classic 110 buck folding knife. If I were going to suggest a holiday present for the parents of the Bears, that would be it.

[trainerlady]

National Supply is under going a system conversion for their computer system over the past week and the week to come. As a result several items are temporarily unavailable. As part of the conversion an inventory had to be taken, while the inventory was going on in a particular department (knives, tents, books, etc)no items were allowed to be sold. So check back in a week or two and see if your favorite items are again on the sales block.

 

National stores are converting this coming week and will do inventory the week between Christmas and New Year's. Sorry no day after Christmas sales in National stores.

 

Happy Holloween All.

[Eagle92]

Ah yes the end of year inventory. Always hated those.

[boomerscout]

Has the "official" Cub Scout knife changed?

Yes, it has! In the interest of public safety, and because of possible dangers to the user, the new, official Cub knife will be issued without a knife blade. With every knife will come an interactive DVD enabling each Cub to do his whittling online with his own virtual blade.

[boomerscout]

Just kidding! It is devil's night!

[scoutldr]

Whittling? There will be an app for that.

[kenk]

You may be thinking of the Cub Scout knife made by the U.S. company Camillus, who went belly up in 2007 due to the cost competition from Asian manufacturers. They also made the Boy Scout knife and a really nice line of tough knifes under the name Becker Knife & Tool (BK&T).

 

Luckily, the BK&T line was purchased by Kabar. Sadly the same can't be said for the Scout knives.

 

BTW, a cool piece of trivia ... Ethan Becker - designer of the BK&T knives was a co-author of the classic cookbook "The Joy of Cooking".

[silasm]

Must be old pictures in the catalog, then. You can see "USA" stamped on the blade.

 

At least the lockback Cub Scout knife is made in the US, and is designed a lot like the aforementioned Buck 110. I think that is the one I will recommend to my Den parents.

 

I'm trying to get my hands on a Camillus-era Boy Scout Whittler for myself...

[eghiglie]

The local scout shop told me that because Camilus went under and some sort of legal action the trend is to now use lockbacks. Not sure if this is all accurate.

 

As a victim of a getting a folding knife on my knuckles lockbacks are better, my opinion.

 

Buck makes a great product in the USA

[AlabamaDan]

I've started seeing some cub scout knives around that look the same as the ones from the last couple of years, only they say BAER (or something) on the blade instead of China. After doing some checking I heard those were made by a compny here in Alabama! Very exciting.

 

I still don't like the cheap looking plastic handles these things have on them.

[silasm]

The ones in the Winter 2009 Catalog have "Colonial Prov.R.I. USA" stamped on them. I can live with cheap handles if they have good steel and, ideally, come from either Rhode Island or Alabama! Some things I am fine buying from China, knives are not among those things.(This message has been edited by silasm)

[Basementdweller]

Chai......

 

Your gonna recommend a 8 year old carry a knife like that???????? Way to big.

 

I am going to respectfully disagree. That knife is way to much for an 8 or 9 year old. Most young men in scouting are either in urban or suburban settings and that knife will cause problems.

 

I have a number of Gerber and Buck knives all very nice. But I carry my original scout knife when in uniform. Setting an example for the boys to follow.

 

I would caution a den leader on recommending a knife. It isn't like recommending a sleeping bag or canteen.

 

My Bear son carry's a standard issue cub scout knife. Nothing fancy. When he gets older he can purchase what he likes. It isn't like a knife is $1000.

[Stosh]

My parents must have been nuts or they didn't know much about liability insurance when I was a kid. I got my first scout knife (Cub blue) when I was 7 years old. (I got my first .22 rifle when I was 12, too.) And I've gotten multiple stitches in my left index finger all caused by fixed blade knives, so that knife folding logic is out the window.

 

I've carried a folding knife in my pocket for over 50 years. When I go out in the woods I carry a second sheath knife, and the only thing that separates me from the rest of the herd is I know how to use them and work extra hard on being safe.

 

My first Cub Scout knife was the camp model with the same blades as the regular scout knife. Actually the only difference was the color of the handle. Yes, it was big and clunky, but it was big enough to do the job when needed. I may carry the whittler in my pocket every day because of its weight and size, but I find it totally useless in the woods. Give me my camp knife for that. I've whittled with my camp knife and it's clunky, but it can be done. Having too much knife is better than not having enough.

 

I had a buck knife once, the lock wore and it became untrustworthy as to what it was going to do. I know what a fixed blade will do, it ain't gonna close up on me. A folding knife if not properly handled will. A buck knife is a crapshoot. Anyone who has handled a number of weapons with a half-cock safety knows what I'm talking about.

 

Newer knives have a tendency to have stainless steel blades to make sure they look nice longer. Well, I don't have knives in my collection which serve a looking nice purposes. Stainless steel is very soft and will lose it's sharpness very quickly. Get a old knife with a black/rusty blade and clean it up. That's high grade carbon steel and will hold the edge a lot longer, but will rust and stain easier.

 

E-bay is always selling old scout knives at rather nice prices. I don't care if you're urban or rural, when you head out into the woods, take the proper equipment, and like the uniform shirt, some boys will need to grow into them if they start out a little big.

 

Stosh

[Basementdweller]

Blake

 

We grew up in a different world. I was running the woods with a bb gun at 7.....and grandpa's hog gun at 9. I had a sheath buck knife at 10 skinned many a wild critter with it. Black handled and razor sharp, still puts a smile on my face to this day.

 

But I was a country kid, I took that knife to school a bunch of times by accident in the pocket of my jacket. I hunted and trapped, bought my volkswagen beetle with money from coon and muskrat pelts.

 

But again, I had a father, multiple uncles and two Grandfathers educating me, sometimes with a leather belt. I had years of knife training from multiple instructors (male family members), Not one or two sessions with an untrained volunteer. MOST of the whittle chip training programs are really inadequate. Carving a bar of soap with a plastic knife for half an hour does not train a young man to handle a pocket knife let alone a heavy lock blade.

 

In all of the knife training I have witnessed The trainer was more worried about how the soap fish looked as opposed to how the result was achieved.

 

opps, rant off.

 

I would trust my son with any of the knives I own, I won't trust most of the boys in his den with a butter knife.