Appropriate age for first folder?

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Nov 13, 2001
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My stepson will turn eight this summer. The topic of discussion between his mother and I is whether he's ready for a pocketknife. Obviously I'm biased :D.

Jack is a great kid. I couldn't have wished for a better situation. He and his sister both are thoughtful, funny, smart and just all-around great to be with. For someone who never thought he'd have kids, this is about as good as it gets. My wife owes me for some very painful surgery :eek:.

I got my first knife, a Camillus scout model, when I was about eight. I still have it. My grandfather taught me that a gentleman is never without a pocketknife and a handkerchief. Never been without one since. But things are a little different now. He won't be able to carry it to school to show off to friends, he doesn't have the woods that I grew up in where he can whack on trees, we don't fish or camp so that I could call him over and ask him to cut or whittle something for me (as my dad did for me -- making me feel as important as I've ever felt). In short, I don't know what he'd do with it, but I feel it's important that he have one. A right of passage, if you will.

Of course I also carved my initials into the bannister and did all sorts of other stupid sh*t that caused my parents great anguish and me great gluteal pain ;).

I realize that a first knife depends on the maturity of the child, but how old were you when you got your first pocket knife, and -- most importantly -- how old were your children when you gave them theirs?

Thanks,
Chad
(edited for spelling of gluteal)
 
I got my first one when I was about 12. It was the smallest size SAK. The one with a tiny pen blade, file, scissors, toothpick and tweezers. I loved it. I think any responsible kid could handle one of those, as they needed to use a slicing motion to cut thread. I doubt a Buck 110 is a good choice, but a smaller slipjoint would be a great idea if you think the kid is good enough to use it properly.
 
This is a great question, and as the father of 3 kids, 2 being boys of 15 & 9 years, I will be watching the response carefully. I believe I was 9 when I got my "Cub Scout knife". To me it reflected that my parents trusted me with my very own "sharp tool". Sure I did some dumb things with it, but it also taught me some vital lessons. I learned respect for the tool (as well as those things I stupidly damaged with it), I learned the importance of maintenance for safety & dependability, and thru use I learned it was one of man's finest inventions. I still have that knife, somewhere....

As I order knives for myself, I wonder which ones I should give to which son later in life. I ponder what would be a good knife to get them now - and then the realities of today's society come crashing down. As my 15 yr old said, "Where would I carry it Dad?" I can't take it to school, I'll get kicked off the team if I take it to practices or games, and I don't know when I'll use it." Society has managed to take one of man's first tools and turn it into something evil. I don't know about you, but in my day we never imagined pulling out our knives during a fight. I don't think our children have changed that much that they don't recognize the consequences of using a knife as a weapon. On the other hand, how many of them have had their slightly dulled, rarely lubed Cub Scout knife bite them and learned what that feels like. There is no pain experienced when using a game console controller, but plenty of fake blood. Darn I digress, sorry...

My oldest boy was given a small swiss army knife at age 8, and later at age 10 a cheap lockback. My 9 yr old *uses* one of my cheap lockbacks, but I retain possession, and he knows where ("Dad, can I get my knife? Whatcha' gonna' do with it?" and so on). They may carry them wherever it is legal, but I prefer to know when they do and to be with them. They know what a "sheeple" is and that a knife is a tool. Their knives are required equipment for outdoor, non-sports activities (hiking, camping, fishing, plinking, etc.). If an opportunity presents itself to cut something, I ask them to do it, and perhaps offer a demo and some advice & direction.

Whether they grow up to be doctors or soccer players, contractors or rock stars, or whatever, I feel they should know how to use basic tools, and that one or two should eventually be with them always. In my family that was a knife and a source of fire (even though we don't smoke). Nuff said, hope it helps. Lets see what the other comments are!
 
I got my first knife when I turned 7. The double bladed coca-cola knife was a present from my dads friend. I grew up around my dad and his knives so I knew how to respect them. If you've shown your son how to correctly handle and respect a sharp edge like my father did, then there should be no problem. Just make sure you make it clear that under no circumstances should he ever carry it to school. I remember briniging a nail clipper with a 1 inch foldout unsharpend "knife" to pick under your nails once in 5th gradeand almost got in serious trouble.
 
I was in the 7-9 range when I got mine. A real crappy pocketknife--more like a keychain knife than anything. I like the idea that Terrapin Flyer had about his kids using it in his presence. If you see how they use it in the beginning, you can get a better idea of how responsible they will be with the blade and you can also guide them in the beginning stages.
 
Personally, I can't remember ever NOT having a knife.
However, one of the first ones I remember was my Italien switchblade that I had at around the ages of 7 to 10 years. Perhaps, looking back now at 23, a switchblade was a bit much for a 7 year old kid, but nothing ever happened. I was very responsible, even when showing it off to my friends. I never let anyone else screw around with it.
Anyway, then at 10 or 11 years of age I had my trusty Western Cutlery bowie. I still have that one.

Well, I can't see why age should be a barrier to having a knife. Maybe not a switchblade like I had, but still, if the kid can grip it-open it-and use it safely enough then there's no reason for him/her not to have it.
And a Strider GB is another one that is prob. not the best choice for a small kid, but maybe something like a Buck ranger or even Spyderco Delica? Endura? or one of the smaller CRKT knives?

Just my 0.2 shekels
 
I was eight when I got my cub scout model. I lost it in the woods behind the house a few months later. My dad replaced it with an Uncle Henry stockman. Man, I would give anything to have that old scout knife now !!:(

Anyway, I bought my brother a SAK Tinker when he turned 10 and then got him a Spyderco Delica for his eighteenth birthday.
 
First folder after the child can use fixed safely.I think that a child can handle his/hers first fixed between 5-7. I got my first real knife (swedish mora) at even younger age. I wasn't allowed to carry that unless we were in woods, at our summer cottage or generally off city and adults were somewhere near.
 
My first knife was a Cub Scout poscketknife when I was 8 and a few monts into scouting. Since then I have always had a knife except when in restricted areas, like government building or airports. I always had one at school, but that was before the zero-tollerance bastards got their idiotic laws passed.

The only stupid thing I did with them was lose them, including that Cub Scout knife and 3 Boy Scout knives, though looking back on it most of the lost ones simply "disappeared" from my room, indicating this one neighbor who's mom was one of those Zero Intelligence scum who did not let him have knives. I caught him stealing toy guns before, but for some reason never suspected the knives. A microcosm of gun control :rolleyes:

I'm pretty sure I sharpened a pencil with one during a test when the sharpener was broken, and the teacher had to have seen it, since she was on the lookout for cheaters. Fights were always settled with fists, and although all the country boys and many who lived in town carried knives, they stayed in people's pockets during fights.

Anyway, when a kid is responsible enough he or she should be alowed to have one. A few months ago I helped my 10 year old nephew select his first knife, which is a Victorinox Recruit. I do think it is important to get them a quality knife for safety reasons. If I ever have kids I won't let them carry any POS knives but on the other hand I won't buy them something like an Emerson, Benchmade, Microtech, etc., especially if they are prone to losing knives. :D
 
I guess I was around 8 when I got my first knife. I really don't remember. I owned, and lost, a whole bunch of knives when I was a kid. As others have already noted, times sure have changed. I don't want to go into the old fogey routine about how great things were when I was a kid (I'm now in my mid forties), but, back then, carrying a pocket knife was considered absolutely normal. I miss that.

Anyway, my boy is 14. I don't remember when I gave him his first folder, but he was probably 5 - 6. He now has a Spyderco Rescue Jr., a Buck 112 and an alox SAK. Of course, he's always bugging me to give him more knives (he has his eyes on my SOG Tomcat, at the moment). Which I surely will do. He's in scouts and uses his knives
for scout related activities. I have two girls, too (ages 9 and 10), who have recently started scouts, so I'll be giving them SAKs soon.
 
Thanks for the responses. I'm leaning toward a small SAK as a first knife for Jack, but then there's this: http://www.agrussell.com/agrussell/rus-1996.html
which looks too cool to pass up. I may have to get two :p.

What I'm reading here is that it is important as a right of passage to get your first pocketknife, whether or not you can carry it these days. I know I think it's important. Convincing his mom might be a little tougher ;).

Chad
 
the rule at our house is "two digits." I defer to my wife, a teacher and all-round authority on child development, on this issue. For his 10th birthday we recently gave my son a SAK Tinker, one of the newer ones with the cool see-thru blue handle. He clearly sees it as a rite of passage and has treated knife ownership with appropriate respect. Would the same have been true earlier? Dunno. But we're happy with his reaction.
 
I am 21, and I recieved my first folder at about 7. My older brother had one and I was jealous so I got one soon after. :eek:

I still have my well used tarnished red boyscout folder, and my brother still has my fathers black boyscout folder. They both are on my fathers shelf of old knives wiped down with CLP for posterity.

Throughout grade school mom had to pat me down before going to school for "weapons" :rolleyes: . She knew that they were tools, but teachers dont understand how effective a ballpoint pen is in a fight and how relatively ineffective a slipjoint is...wont digress...

I think any SAK or Boyscout knife is a good one. BTW, get him a good knife, but remember that it will probably be lost or stolen. I have had a few stolen, and one lost.

(2 years ago, CS 4" fully serrated Voyager, well used lots of personal meaning for such a sterile knife, left it in a car in a garage I was working at...outch)
 
I think if he's a responsible 8, then he will be fine with a pocketknife. I would take the time to show proper safety, and maybe sharpen it for him until he's a bit older. Expect a few cuts here and there, but that's part of the experience.

I received my first knife at 8, an Old Timer stockman, and still have it 22 years later. It's the pride of my collection :)

My stepson received a SAK from his grandfather when he was 10. I'm going to get him his first single-bladed folder for his 13th birthday this year.
 
I think I was eight or nine years old. Still have a few of the very early ones...

I'd recommend a small SAK or Camillus; they're sheeple-friendly and that might be usefull in the light of not getting the knife confiscated by overtly-concerned teachers, for example... :rolleyes:

You're the best judge! From what you wrote, just get him a knife. You can't start too early... :D
 
In the scouts, we typically start teaching knife safety at the cub scout Bear level, which is 3rd grade, or age 9. Most of the kids are pretty attentive then, and can handle the information.

I would not trust a scout that age, if in a group with other kids, unsupervised with a knife. Individually kids can be very responsible, but end up acting goofy in a group.

A cub scout type knife is a good option, or any relatively heavy, solid, slipjoint or lockback. No linerlocks, and no "tactical" looking knives. Too much of an "oohhh" factor.

Bludgeon into them that they CAN'T take them to school. Most schools have zero tolerance for knives anymore, even though I and everyone I knew had a pocket knife back when. I don't think my 12 year olds have slipped up yet, but my older son is currently 18 and a senior in high school, and he has several times forgotten it was in his pocket. He knows that it's a mistake, and hides it when he does.
 
Would you believe that I am only 18 and can't remember what my first knife was, or when I got it? I know it must have been around age 7 or 8, and I think it was a Buck 110 knock off.

Did I ever do something stupid with it, or the others I bought? Sure, I even carried them to school at times, but never did something that got me in real trouble. I think that the stupidist thing I did back then was test sharpness by running the edge along a finger, and seeing how easy it was to cut myself.

Erik
 
Originally posted by folsom
In the scouts, we typically start teaching knife safety at the cub scout Bear level, which is 3rd grade, or age 9. Most of the kids are pretty attentive then, and can handle the information.
.snip

The pack I was in started a little later (age 10). I remember moving up to the Scouts, where you were expected to carry a knife to the meetings. I'm trying to remember what was on the checklist for inspection
1)Your Uniform a)Pants, b)Shirt, c)neckerchif, d)hat
2)Shined SHOES, or boots (NO sneekers)
3)Knife
4)Some nominal amount of money (I think it was $1), plus 10 cents for the phone
5)A pen or pencil
6)Notepad
7)Handbook
 
I think that an SAK or one of the keychain Buck knives would be a great choice. SAK used to (or still does:confused: ) make a single bladed knife that was also relatively inexpensive. Check it out! I know that I got my first knife, an SAK when I was about 8 or 9. It has proven to be invaluable!
Matt
 
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