Folding knife for my kid.

Sigsog226

Sigsog226

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So I have 2 little ones. My youngest, 3 year old boy, has been interested in my pocket knives since the start. I used to let him handle some that are hard to open, but now he is getting pretty strong and pretty smart. He's over the, sticking stuff in his mouth/wanting to play with light sockets, kind of crazy stuff now.

So I thought it would be a great time to get him a pocket knife to play with. I've seen a couple out there that might work, but wondering if anyone got their little ones anything or know of any that would be a good fit.

He is not ready for an edge yet. I was thinking of the wooden Spyderco Dragonfly or maybe one of those kid Opinels if I dulled the edge well.
 
Check out the wooden knife kits made by Jameson woodworks. They have several different knife styles available. I suspect they make the Spyderco and Case wooden knife kits, because they sell replacement parts for them. There is nothing wrong with giving him the Spyderco kit, I'm just trying to give more options.

I bought two of the JJ knife kits to give away for Christmas this year. If you get one, you should probably figure on assembling it yourself. I don't know of any three year olds that would be capable of doing it. The holes for the pins are a very tight fit. They need to be so that it doesn't fall apart. But the piece that acts as the spring has to be bent slightly. (Otherwise it wouldn't be a spring.) This means getting all the holes and pins aligned requires some patience and fineness. Trying to force things could easily lead to a split piece of wood. They do work like a folding knife when all assembled. I used a rasp and sandpaper, and tapered the cutting edge of the blade almost to an edge. It makes it look more realistic.

O.B.
 
A friend of mine always gave his kids knives from a pretty young age, but ground the edge off until they were able to show they were responsible enough to handle them sharp. When they were able to, he’d sharpen them. His kids turned out just fine.

I personally didn’t give my older son his first knife until he was an age that I didn’t feel I had to worry about it. I think he was probably about 9 or 10. I started him with a SAK and some Case traditionals. Now at 18 and enlisted, he’s got a pretty nice collection of all kinds.
 
Yeah those all look pretty good. I was planning on doing the build, he's not quite there yet. I think he mostly wants to fiddle around with it, open/close it.
 
I got my first pocket knife when i was in kindergarten. A Case small stockman. It was the late 70's but still.

Since this is 40 years later, things have changed a bunch. I can imagine that a kid with a knife in todays world would be weird to some.
 
VicAlox74 said:
I got my first pocket knife when i was in kindergarten. A Case small stockman. It was the late 70's but still.

Since this is 40 years later, things have changed a bunch. I can imagine that a kid with a knife in todays world would be weird to some.
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Definitely weird to me, but not uncommon I imagine. I plan on getting my son a knife when he's old enough to use it for some kind of work like Scout activities.
 
lieferung said:
Definitely weird to me, but not uncommon I imagine. I plan on getting my son a knife when he's old enough to use it for some kind of work like Scout activities.
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My son got his first knife when he was 8 in Cub Scouts. It’s a BoyScout Case lockback. He earned a “Whittling Chip”, demonstrating safe manipulation and use and is allowed and encouraged to carry it at Scout activities.
He’s 10 now and we forged his first fixed blade together, just gotta finish some scales with him.
 
3 is a little early for a live blade. CRKT makes a good, economical wooden knife kit. The kids can paint it and mess with it until they’re ready for supervised use with a real blade.

That’s exactly what I got my own daughter a few years ago. She loved painting the wooden knife and showed it off to all of her friends.

image.jpg


Last year I let her choose a knife from my favorite knife shop (Knives Plus in Amarillo, by God, Texas). With some slight guidance and whittling down of choices, she settled on a Byrd Meadowlark with blue scales.

I let her use it under very close supervision, training her for safety and technique. She’s 8 years old and mighty proud of her knife.

D93519-E5-9-F91-4465-A5-A0-E4-B456090-FBE.jpg
 
Sigsog226 said:
So I have 2 little ones. My youngest, 3 year old boy, has been interested in my pocket knives since the start. I used to let him handle some that are hard to open, but now he is getting pretty strong and pretty smart. He's over the, sticking stuff in his mouth/wanting to play with light sockets, kind of crazy stuff now.

So I thought it would be a great time to get him a pocket knife to play with. I've seen a couple out there that might work, but wondering if anyone got their little ones anything or know of any that would be a good fit.

He is not ready for an edge yet. I was thinking of the wooden Spyderco Dragonfly or maybe one of those kid Opinels if I dulled the edge well.
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Get the plastic my first Victorinox.
 
A Delica trainer would be great.

When you follow up with an actual Delica later, the mechanics are all the same.

Delica is a fabulous EDC, and there are a bunch of versions, so finding the perfect one will be fun.
 
My only reservation about giving a wooden or blunt knife to a person that young is that it will likely teach them bad habits.
They will quickly learn that they can play with it without actually getting hurt...like playing with a toy cap revolver.
We had cap revolvers as kids and we played cowboys and Indians and we "shot" each other all the time...which did not teach us safe firearms handling practices to say the least!

Just be patient and wait until the kid is older...at least 7 or 8.

And, IMHO, those "my first knife" blunt or safe knives are really just to make the manufacturers more money.
 
allenC said:
My only reservation about giving a wooden or blunt knife to a person that young is that it will likely teach them bad habits.
They will quickly learn that they can play with it without actually getting hurt...like playing with a toy cap revolver.
We had cap revolvers as kids and we played cowboys and Indians and we "shot" each other all the time...which did not teach us safe firearms handling practices to say the least!

Just be patient and wait until the kid is older...at least 7 or 8.

And, IMHO, those "my first knife" blunt or safe knives are really just to make the manufacturers more money.
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I grew up with loads of toys guns and knives, and I never had a single issue when moving into airguns and real knives.
And when airsoft came around me and my brother knew the difference between firing plastic bb's at each other to firing steel bb's and lead at small game and cans.

The key is for the toys to just be toys, and for supervision and training to be given when you hand them the real deal. You don't go from rubber to steel without training first.
 
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Id suggest real also, just a cheapy byrd or sak like above mentioned and just grind off edges temporarily and kidos will feel like big stuff
 
Sigsog226 said:
He is not ready for an edge yet. I was thinking of the wooden Spyderco Dragonfly or maybe one of those kid Opinels if I dulled the edge well.
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You are more likely to cut yourself with a dull edge than a sharp one.

Why do you say he is "not ready" for an edge? Is he going to ribbonize the upholstery and/or drapes and/or those around him?

Please forgive my asking, but if "he is not ready for an edge" is he truly ready for his first real knife?
 
If there is no sharp edge, it's a toy and not a knife.

I'd get the Vic "first knife" and hold it until you think he's ready.
 
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