Fire!!

[thunderbolt]

I make my children start the fire in the morning (We only have wood heat) they beg to not have to!(we started training them when they where for years old!)

 

as for gifts for scouts I have given small pocket knives and I have given flint and steel in a metal box. they have to make there own char cloth.

parents were present when gifts where given out so no complaints have been received as of yet;)

 

[Tampa Turtle]

My wife was taken aback this Christmas morning when at gift opening time me and my 2 boys all whipped out are knives. It looked like a knife fight.

 

I used to always carry a pen knife and used it everyday. But I come in and out of government buildings at work and they threaten to confiscate them...I even had my P38 can opener taken away at a County Commission meeting.

 

To get back to SMT224 I do not think it is out of line. She probably would pull her kid out for something else...she may be over-protective or he may be immature. Maybe she is right and he is a real danger and needs help...in which case the change in priorities may not be scout.

 

Fire and Knives. We do those things in scouts; yes it may "feed the fire" (no pun intended) of future miscreants but once discovered provides an opportunity for education and redirection. A real firebug should be directed to the local Fire Department education program. I was a bit flip but I do take that seriously. All of us probably have been badly cut with our first knives--who wants that for their children? In 6 grade one of my classmates started a fire across the street with a borrowed can of gasoline; several kids were badly burned.

 

To step back if it really bothers a person a compass or bottle is cool. I know my sons are fond of things given by leaders.

 

Basement, thanks for the wrench link. I had no idea there were that many kinds of wrenches! Talk about evolutionary niches. Anybody read Henry Petroski? He wrote the cult book "The Pencil" and "The Development of Ordinary Things". Kinda like a Stephen Jay Gould of forks, pencils, and paper clip evolution.

[Engineer61]

"Perhaps gifts knives, guns and firemaking kits ... should best come from the parents."

 

I would say, " ... should ONLY come from the parents."

 

But more so with the weapons ... I would be pretty ticked if anyone gave my kid a weapon without my prior knowledge and approval.

 

 

[Eagle92]

But more so with the weapons ... I would be pretty ticked if anyone gave my kid a weapon without my prior knowledge and approval.

 

So your kids don't get any presents? I hate to say it, but just about anything can be used as a "weapon." A baseball bat, baseball, forks, pencils, ad nauseum. The remote control helicopter's battery can be used as a bomb to explode. Name something, and it can be sued as a "weapon."

[Tampa Turtle]

My son was almost blinded by a C-cell battery. Tried to open one up to see how it worked. Turns out it was under pressure.

 

Same boy had 12 stiches from falling on a 3 wheeled walker used by his Grandma.

 

Hardly dangerous objects those. Stuff happens.

 

On second thought --why did I give him a knife! :0

[perdidochas]

Eng61,

 

I would agree if they gave out weapons and not pocketknives.......

 

In the state I live in, pocketknives with blades under 4 inches aren't legally considered weapons.

[SMT224]

Here's what I got my boys (15 yr twins) for Christmas.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003R0LSMO/ref=oh_o00_s02_i01_details

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00503E8S2/ref=oh_o00_s02_i04_details

 

Which one is more dangerous...?

[Tampa Turtle]

Hey SMT thats what my boys got!

 

(They already got MW3 for b-day)

[SeattlePioneer]

I have a serrated edge on my Ka-Bar knife and it's a waste of edge, in my opinion.

[BartHumphries]

I agree. I never saw the point of a serrated edge, given my typical activities. I suppose if I was using the knife to stalk, pounce onto, then kill game with just my wits, human muscles, and the knife, or if I was trying to cut down trees with just the knife, then in either of those cases a serrated edge would be handy, but otherwise it's just a waste of space.

[Tampa Turtle]

I hate the serrated edges to. Occasionally they are handy for cutting rope a little faster. I always look at them as something that if one accidentally cuts themselves will make a jagged wound. I have yet to go to the trouble of sharpening one.

 

My older boy wanted a KA-BAR or a SAS type stilletto and I had to say no. Knives are handy tools but some are made for killing people. Who are you planning to kill on this trip?

[Engineer61]

"Name something, and it can be sued as a "weapon."

 

Correct, but most of the items you describe are not "intended" to be weapons, are they?

 

In my state, there's no designation on knives. All are considered "deadly weapons".

 

 

[Eagle92]

So resteraunts, school cafeterias, your own home ad nauseum, all have "deadly weapons" in them?!?!?!?! I hope you have permits

 

I'm sorry that society has come to this ridiculousness. Knives are tools, just like a baseball bat, screwdriver, fork, pencil, chairs, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tampa Turtle]

No forks!

[Eagle92]

Well doing a quick lit search i found this in regards to AZ

 

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2011/01/04/20110104arizona-law-standardizes-knife-regulations.html

 

Apparrently anything with a sharp blade used for cutting is a knife, and is legel irregardles of size. So that two-handed Scottish claymoe is a knife under AZ law and is legal.

 

What I found is this interesting stat near the bottom of the article

 

 

Ritter's statistics show that knives are used only occasionally as a weapon. Fewer than 1 percent of crimes involved knives, he said. And most of those knives come from the kitchen, he said.

 

"They usually stem from domestic-violence issues, and what is available in a domestic-violence situation?" Ritter said. "Oftentimes, it is the kitchen knife."