My thoughts on sheath knives.

[Fat Old Guy]

Now that I'm done ranting and being rude to people, I'll get back to the issue at hand.

 

Forget the Swiss Army knives unless they have a locking blade. As a Boatswain's Mate told me about 30 years ago, "a pocketknife is no good unless the blade locks. If it don't lock it's going to close on your fingers."

 

As for the weight thing, that's hogwash. I can't find my current Buck catalog but I know that the Buck 110 folding knife is heavier than most of their sheath knifes.

 

A good sheath knife is a great and useful tool, especially in an emergency. You can cut saplings to make an emergency shelter with a sheath knife. You can dig a hole with a sheath knife. You can pry rocks with a good sheath knife. No Swiss Army knife will stand up to the abuse and even good locking knives won't.

 

The real reason that sheath knives have fallen into official disfavor is that the public and especially moms don't like them. Knives, like guns and good cigars have become icons of evil in today's society. "What!" cries the soccer mom, "let my son carry an evil knife? Well, maybe a cute little but nearly useless Swiss Army knife because he can use it to clean his fingernails."

 

We have the added problem that knives are novelties because the boys don't carry them on a regular basis. Like wearing a tuxedo or driving a car, you need to carry a knife on a regular basis for quite a while before it becomes "matter of course." As it stands now, the knives are attractive nusiances which makes the boys want to flip them out and play with them when they shouldn't. Sheath knives would make matters worse and we'd see Scouts playing Erol Flynn vs. Basil Rathbone with their Bowie knives.

 

 

[packsaddle]

Hello Al, I wasn't intending to use psychology but if that's how you view it, OK. (Does Redbook still exist?) Actually my son keeps a really neat room, does his homework, stays on the honor role and is generally responsible without any nagging or similar treatment, and yes, that's close to how we achieved that status. By clearly explaining the behavioral connections, he could never claim not to understand the consequences of his actions.

 

Our toop is small. When a parent comes with a concern about schedule or uniform, etc., if I or another leader dismiss them with a 'too bad, tough luck' response, it will tend to become an even smaller troop. Often the parent has noticed a school event or similar conflict of which we are unaware, or may have a useful suggestion to help avoid future problems. Leadership doesn't automatically endow us with superior knowledge or wisdom. I even find it instructive to the parent when they try to intervene regarding their son's advancement. It is an opportunity to understand why they think they need to do this and to clearly explain that it is their son's responsibility to do these things, not theirs. Everyone wants special treatment, is this a surprise to anyone? Rudeness aside, I believe that problems and conflicts are rarely resolved through poor communication.

[Fat Old Guy]

Everyone wants special treatment, is this a surprise to anyone?

 

Not everyone. I don't. I expect that I will have to abide by the same rules as everyone else and I studiously avoid using my position to gain and advantage not permitted by the rules.

 

As for your kids, you've been fortunate. I have a neighbor who raised his children, believing that their viewpoint was important and that all issues needed to be discussed. All of the kids wound up in therapy and have remained there for years.

 

Leadership may not imbue us with special wisdom but we are put into leadership positions because someone believed that we have special wisdom. An effective leader seeks counsel when he needs it but he has to make the decisions and the others need to abide by them.

 

 

 

 

[12Points]

Back to the sheath knives.........

 

I carry a pocket knife when scouting, and have gotten used to councils prohibiting sheath knives, but I prefer a small sheath knife. My personal preference is a skinning knife, it's small and sturdy. Sheath knives on the whole are sturdier, accessible when you have one hand occupied, have finger guards to prevent your hand from slipping onto the blade, and won't accidentally fold on your hand. On the whole, I feel they are much safer than pocket knives, especially the cheap knives most of the younger scouts seem to carry. I agree with earlier post, it's a matter of PC, not safety or utility.

 

YIS,

JJ

[willysjeep]

Even if it's not a utility issue, there is no way to justify it as a saftey issue so there is no point to making a rule aganst them. Besides, I like to get a tool that will serve under abuse ten times greater than I will ever give it, not one that will get the job done only if used mildly. Everything has it's place and I think the outdoors is the right place for sheath knives. By the way, I don't dig with mine, I make a digging stick. I really don't want to dull the edge on a big chunk of rock. One big plus of a sheath knife is it fills the gap between pocket knife and hatchet quite nicely. You can use a sheath knife to split small pieces of wood that wouldn't yield to a pocket knife. A hatchet on a hike is too heavy unless you do a lot with fires, but a pocket knife is usually too weak to prepare firewood, but a sheath knife strikes a balance between the two allowing smaller fires without carrying a hatchet. Sheath knives are not a saftey hazard, and that is the main premise of my argument, it doesn't matter if they were totally useless to me they shouldn't be banned.

[evmori]

temp_changed,

Did you use to be Al Lundy? Why the name change?

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[packsaddle]

Ed, Yeah, I was scratching my head over that too.

willysjeep, I think you basically had it right in the first post. BSA just discourages large ones. This leaves a large opening for judgement. I'm not sure how I would define 'large' either. I do flinch, however, when I think of anyone using a knife to dig with, no matter the size. Just a personal preference.

[Fat Old Guy]

Ed asked:

temp_changed,

Did you use to be Al Lundy? Why the name change?

 

I still have that name but I'm not allowed to use it. It seems that another member has that name as well but chooses to lurk behind a pseudonym. He doesn't use his real name but he doesn't want me to use my name. I guess that he complained and I was shut down. To use my own name, I was asked to provide a copy of my DL and I'm not comfortable sending my DL to some internet weenie who has no accountability. Evidently, the other Al is special and didn't have to prove that he is him. So now I'm like many others and lurking behind a pseudonym.

 

 

[evmori]

Thanks for making that clear as mud. So are you Al Lundy, temp_changed or Fat Old Guy???

 

We all have pseudonyms. Some of us chose to sign our posts with our real name. Nothing to hide, so to speak.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Fat Old Guy]

I'm like the dog who thinks his name is "Down Boy!" My wife has been calling me "Fat Old Guy" for so long that I think its my given name. :-)

 

 

[packsaddle]

I didn't know it was possible to change the username. My wife wants to know how "humorless WASP with thin NAZI lips" sounds. I don't suppose anyone has that one yet.

[OldGreyEagle]

ROFALMHO

 

 

[dsteele]

FOG -- just a thought on the following quote from you:

 

"Evidently, the other Al is special and didn't have to prove that he is him. So now I'm like many others and lurking behind a pseudonym."

 

The other Al (I'm not him) is a well known and respected participant of the forum. His pseudonym has been around for a while. Your post actually cleared it up for me. I have to admit I was a tad (okay very) confused for a few hours. I can also see why the administrators were more than a little curious.

 

For the record, my name really is Dave Steele. But after seenig how easy it can be to information on the internet, I may live to regret not having my own pseudonym.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Dave

 

 

[packsaddle]

10-4 on the info, dsteele. I am just a hack (not hacker) with computers and I am amazed at how much of our personal info is freely available out there. Five minutes of looking will be a sobering experience. I'll continue to delude myself with anonymity.

[Fat Old Guy]

The other Al (I'm not him) is a well known and respected participant of the forum.

 

So well known that a search of the forum going back to 1997 (the earliest year available on the search page) didn't turn up a single post with his name in it. That's what I call fame.

 

Why didn't this Al say "hey, what are you doing with my name?" Why hasn't Al come forward instead of hiding behind the moderator's metaphorical skirts?

(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)