Quality Boy Scout Knife?

Hello, current and past Boy Scout and Cub Scout leader, and OA Brotherhood sash wearing Eagle Scout, here.

Swiss Army Knives make tremendous knives for Scouts and Cub Scouts. I carried multiple styles for many, many years. When I'm in uniform, I may have any of a dozen different knives on me, but I always have at least a SAK Recruit in my pocket as well. Anyone who claims differently has absolutely zero idea what they are talking about, end of story.

P.S. You aren't able to cut a simple circle out of moleskin to help out a heel blister with a SAK?

WEAK.
 
Dr Heelhook said:
I'm slightly confused by this thread. First of all:

Buck 110
A Buck 110 is a hunting knife. It says so in the name. Do boy scouts in America get to go on hunting trips? If so, that is fantastic and marvelous, forget that I said anything. If they don't, however, why would you specifically want a hollow ground hunting blade for cutting wood and building shelters in the forest?

Swiss Army knife
A Swiss Army Knife is very useful, but it's basically a pen knife with a couple of mini tools. Again, if you're bringing a knife into the forest to build shelters and make walking sticks, why not have a proper knife with a proper handle?

Maybe it's a cultural thing. Here in the Old World North we would always carry fixed blades on our belts when I was a scout growing up (30+ years ago of course). I know that Americans love their pocket knives, I'm just curious.
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I grew up using SAKs in scouts, but nearly every scout leader had a Buck 110, as did most older men that I've been around in the outdoors. Its a classic "outdoor" knife and not specifically a hunting knife. Lots of people still carry them for using outdoors and they do just fine. Most people dont baton with a folder anyway so the hollow ground blade performs fine and is easy to sharpen.
Its not what I think of when I think BSA, an SAK is, but it (110) does come to mind early on when thinking about the outdoors, hunting or otherwise.
 
By the way, to stay on topic, you can't go wrong with a Pioneer, or a Farmer if you so choose, although the red-scale models generally have a few additional things available that are usually useful. That said, don't sell the ALOX models short.

There's even the Pioneer X for people who have a really hard time cutting simple circles in moleskin with the tip of a well maintained blade. They have scissors. :)
 
Dr Heelhook said:
I'm slightly confused by this thread. First of all:

Buck 110
A Buck 110 is a hunting knife. It says so in the name. Do boy scouts in America get to go on hunting trips? If so, that is fantastic and marvelous, forget that I said anything. If they don't, however, why would you specifically want a hollow ground hunting blade for cutting wood and building shelters in the forest?

Swiss Army knife
A Swiss Army Knife is very useful, but it's basically a pen knife with a couple of mini tools. Again, if you're bringing a knife into the forest to build shelters and make walking sticks, why not have a proper knife with a proper handle?

Maybe it's a cultural thing. Here in the Old World North we would always carry fixed blades on our belts when I was a scout growing up (30+ years ago of course). I know that Americans love their pocket knives, I'm just curious.
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Buck 110 is jack of all trades for folding lock back knife. Plus 4 other models.

After all, what tool is more essential to an Eagle Scout than a knife? Buck Knives announces a new product licensing partnership with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), in which an American-made pocketknife model will serve as an officially licensed product for Eagle Scouts, parents and other individuals associated with the BSA.

The 500 Duke, one of Buck Knives’ more traditional pocketknives, is the current licensed knife and will be offered directly through Buck Knives. The Duke’s nickel silver bolsters can be personalized with each Eagle Scout’s name, troop number and Eagle date, along with the BSA logo.


“Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts have been carrying our pocketknives for generations,” said Chuck Buck, chairman of Buck Knives. “Once upon a time, I was a Boy Scout and learned a lot from it. As for Buck Knives, tradition is extremely important to us. It only makes sense to partner with BSA and help create knives and memories that will last a lifetime.”

The Duke will be Buck Knives’ first licensed, commemorative knife for the BSA. “We hope to introduce several models to BSA through the years. This partnership will allow us to play an integral role in teaching knife use and safety to America’s youth,” said Buck.

The Duke can be ordered directly through Buck Knives. It is $50, which includes engraving and shipping. For ordering information call 800-326-2825, option 7, or send an email to eagleknife@buckknives.com.
 
jackknife said:
He doesn't know the trick of simply folding it over and cutting a half moon. Unfold and you have a hole cut in it. :eek:

Takes a wee bit of forethought as well as a very sharp knife. The small blade of a SAK usually is good.o_O
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I mean, right? That's absolutely Tenderfoot, first campout level stuff.
 
jackknife said:
He doesn't know the trick of simply folding it over and cutting a half moon. Unfold and you have a hole cut in it. :eek:

Takes a wee bit of forethought as well as a very sharp knife. The small blade of a SAK usually is good.o_O
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Hence my post on medical shears. I’m thinking, “Why the heck are scissors needed in first aid other than for a dire emergency?!” Just relates to my particular experience, maybe, but blisters can be dealt with as you state. There are some bizarre propositions being made in this thread...

Dunno what it’s like in the US, but over here in the emergency services the general gag with new (super keen) people is that they turn up at the most minor incident going, “WHERE’S THE FIRE?! WHERE’S THE FIRE?!” ‘All the gear, no idea’ is also a thing. Sort of like needing scissors for moleskin dressings.
 
This thread is really getting in depth, I don't think it's that complicated. Get the scout a good inexpensive pocket knife.It's likely going to be lost/ damaged /traded any way.
First thing they learn is safety.
When they are a little older both of you can decide what they get next.
Buck bantam is the knife I give to new scouts.
 
Carl, I don't like Victorinox products because the half dozen or so that I've owned busted after about a year's use and because they don't hold an edge well due to their soft steel. I understand they've hardened up their steel in recent years.

A challenge for you and Pilsner. Show us a round blister donut fashioned with a regular sized SAK main blade. Remember, to stay on for a day's hike, you'll need nice clean rounded edges inside and out.

EDITED TO ADD: please do this in a manner that mimics trail conditions. No cutting board (unless you carry one in your pack)

Next, please show us how you'll drive a repair needle through two layers of webbing and heavy nylon.

These are simple repairs for a pliers based tool with scissors. But you all have great skills so let's see it.
 
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pinnah said:
Carl, I don't like Victorinox products because the half dozen or so that I've owned busted after about a year's use and because they don't hold an edge well due to their soft steel. I understand they've hardened up their steel in recent years.

A challenge for you and Pilsner. Show us a round blister donut fashioned with a regular sized SAK main blade. Remember, to stay on for a day's hike, you'll need nice clean rounded edges inside and out.

EDITED TO ADD: please do this in a manner that mimics trail conditions. No cutting board (unless you carry one in your pack)

Next, please show us how you'll drive a repair needle through two layers of webbing and heavy nylon.

These are simple repairs for a pliers based tool with scissors. But you all have great skills so let's see it.
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Those are easy tasks, and things I've done a million times. The fact is, no matter what, you wouldn't accept the results, so it's a waste of time. I mean, SAKs have only been carried by millions of Scouts, but clearly, they're all mistaken because you know better.

By the way? A cutting board? What? The bottom of a hiking boot (removed so you could apply the friggin moleskin) would do just fine, or a flat piece of wood*. Are you seriously saying that someone with a SAK couldn't cut a circle in a thin piece of moleskin? That it needs scissors? Wow, the level of delusion here is unreal.



* Crazy that I'd have to tell someone who claims extensive experience this basic trailside knowledge.
 
pinnah said:
Carl, I don't like Victorinox products because the half dozen or so that I've owned busted after about a year's use and because they don't hold an edge well due to their soft steel. I understand they've hardened up their steel in recent years.

A challenge for you and Pilsner. Show us a round blister donut fashioned with a regular sized SAK main blade. Remember, to stay on for a day's hike, you'll need nice clean rounded edges inside and out.

EDITED TO ADD: please do this in a manner that mimics trail conditions. No cutting board (unless you carry one in your pack)

Next, please show us how you'll drive a repair needle through two layers of webbing and heavy nylon.

These are simple repairs for a pliers based tool with scissors. But you all have great skills so let's see it.
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Bull hockey!

Your massive prejudice of Victoriox products are more than well known on this forum. It's to the point of infamous and obsessive. Your own posts make you well known of your dislike of anything Swiss.

As for SAK durability, I have a few SAK's that have been used hard and are in excess of twenty years old. You keep taking about how you break up SAK's. I'd think after the first one or two you'd just move on. Yet you talked in one post of breaking about ten classics. I call either BS on that or you're a very slow learner.

Your posts often are on the border of ridiculous and almost comedic if not so obsessively prejudiced. The world wide following of Victorinox speaks for itself in popularity with people from all walks of life in all climates and terrain. I've used Victorinox products on four continents and one war zone and I've never been let down yet. Apparently the milage you get is in a way different reality than mine or millions of other people. With your continued stretch of mis information, you're bordering on being as misleading as that guy Gaston who also spread his view of the world according to himself. Your entitled to your opinion, but that entailment stops when you try to keep justifying your disdain of a branded product that is popular all over the globe.

Do you ever stop to think about how everyone comes after you when you spout your Leatherman cheers and anti SAK rhetoric?

As for repair of gear in the field, it's something I've never had to do. Maybe I just have good gear that doesn't come apart on me? Or I just use some duct tape to hold it till I get home. I once had a S&W revolver get a bit gritty, and the small screw driver of my SAK let me take off the side plate and clean it out.

You try to reach too far. Give it a break. As for driving a needle through some material, just use the thumb nail nick in the screw driver of an alox SAK like a thimble to push it through. You don't need pliers for that! Or even take the tweezers out of the handle and use the handle notch for a thimble. Or take the awl you so scorn and drill a little hole in a piece of wood to use as a thimble. Oh wait, you operate above the Tree line so theres no wood. Eskimos and Indians didn't have pliers yet they drove bone sewing needles through deer and buffalo hide. Oh wait, they used a bone awl. Try using your imagination, if any. There's lots of ways to do something without the great God Leatherman.

I'm curious, do you drive a Subaru?
 
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jackknife said:
-snip-

You try to reach too far. Give it a break. As for driving a needle through some material, just use the thumb nail nick in the screw driver of an alox SAK like a thimble to push it through. You don't need pliers for that! Or even take the tweezers out of the handle and use the handle notch for a thimble. Or take the awl you so scorn and drill a little hole in a piece of wood to use as a thimble. Eskimos and Indians didn't have pliers yet they drove bone sewing needles through deer and buffalo hide. Try using your imagination, if any. There's lots of ways to do something without the great God Leatherman.

I'm curious, do you drive a Subaru?
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Oh look, more simple and immediately obvious solutions to the very basic attempts at discrediting the Swiss Army knife. UNPOSSIBLE!

(facepalm)
 
I don't get it. "This model SAK doesn't have the tools I want!"

So buy your kid a different one. Not a difficult problem to solve.
 
craytab said:
I don't get it. "This model SAK doesn't have the tools I want!"

So buy your kid a different one. Not a difficult problem to solve.
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No, no, shhhhh, don't mention the fact that there are literally dozens and dozens of models with tools that would actually do any task that Pinnah could name, no matter how he (as usual) tries to move the goalposts.
 
pinnah said:
Carl, I don't like Victorinox products because the half dozen or so that I've owned busted after about a year's use and because they don't hold an edge well due to their soft steel. I understand they've hardened up their steel in recent years.

A challenge for you and Pilsner. Show us a round blister donut fashioned with a regular sized SAK main blade. Remember, to stay on for a day's hike, you'll need nice clean rounded edges inside and out.

EDITED TO ADD: please do this in a manner that mimics trail conditions. No cutting board (unless you carry one in your pack)

Next, please show us how you'll drive a repair needle through two layers of webbing and heavy nylon.

These are simple repairs for a pliers based tool with scissors. But you all have great skills so let's see it.
Click to expand...
Oh please! The Awl on a sak is more than strong enough to pierce full hide or any canvas/webbing for anyone that can put a halfway decent edge on it & has finesse in operation .. Besides, those tweezers work great for any splinters I’ve gotten over the years gathering or cutting up firewood etc...
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Oh please! The Awl on a sak is more than strong enough to pierce full hide or any canvas/webbing for anyone that can put a halfway decent edge on it & has finesse in operation .. Besides, those tweezers work great for any splinters I’ve gotten over the years gathering or cutting up firewood etc...
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It is impossible to argue against those tweezers. And the models I have even have a needle. Splinters be dammed!
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Oh please! The Awl on a sak is more than strong enough to pierce full hide or any canvas/webbing for anyone that can put a halfway decent edge on it & has finesse in operation .. Besides, those tweezers work great for any splinters I’ve gotten over the years gathering or cutting up firewood etc...
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That tweezer that pinnah scorns has been a savior for me on a few occasions. The one, a thorn got lodged up between our welsh corgi's paw pads. I could see it but couldn't reach it. The tweezers from my tinker got in there and got a hold enough on the thorn to get it out. No more limping corgi.

The other time my son John, 12 at the time, was helping me with some work on the old shed in our backyard at the old house. He got a splinter up under his thumb nail. You could see that sucker under the nail and it was really in there. I asked him if he trusted me, and he said yes, and the thin tweezer of the SAK reached in there under the nail enough to just get a hold of the end of the splinter. Got it out. Saved a trip to the ER and some doc having to cut away enough nail to dig out the splinter. John has been a SAK fan ever since.

SAK's work.
 
jackknife said:
That tweezer that pinnah scorns has been a savior for me on a few occasions. The one, a thorn got lodged up between our welsh corgi's paw pads. I could see it but couldn't reach it. The tweezers from my tinker got in there and got a hold enough on the thorn to get it out. No more limping corgi.

The other time my son John, 12 at the time, was helping me with some work on the old shed in our backyard at the old house. He got a splinter up under his thumb nail. You could see that sucker under the nail and it was really in there. I asked him if he trusted me, and he said yes, and the thin tweezer of the SAK reached in there under the nail enough to just get a hold of the end of the splinter. Got it out. Saved a trip to the ER and some doc having to cut away enough nail to dig out the splinter. John has been a SAK fan ever since.

SAK's work.
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Yep! All of those little gadgets that someone here has such a hate for.. I’ve never broken the blade or anything else on a SAK.. the spring on the scissor did break on one.. that was the most requested replacement part when I worked the counter at a retail knife stop and did the sharpening work at that sold the full line, or almost the full one of SAK years ago .. they are a pain to replace too!
 
“Today, though, BSA Health and Safety team leaders announced a new knife policy that changes things a bit. For the first time in the organization’s history, the BSA is mandating a maximum blade length for knives used within Scouting.

The magic number: 60 inches. The policy is effective beginning today.


blade-length-600x330.jpg


So grab your tape measures, Scouters, because bladed objects used at the unit level now must be no longer than five feet. If you forget your tape measure, consider identifying a Scout who’s five feet tall, hold the blade vertically, and ask him to stand next to it.”

...On a more serious note here What I found on the BSA site.

“Cub Scouts are encouraged to learn safety rules and the proper use of a pocketknife. Bear Scouts and Webelos Scouts may earn the right to carry a pocketknife to designated Scouting functions by completing requirements for the Whittling Chip card. Cub Scout-age boys may not use sheath knives. Cubs should wait until they become Boy Scouts before they use any other woodworking tools

When Cubs complete the requirements they will be awarded a Cub Scout Whittling Chip Wallet Card and/or Patch. The Whittling Chip patch is worn on the uniform shirt, centered on the right pocket as a temporary patch, or on the boy's patch vest.

3921174.jpg
”

With this little table it`s easy to see what is considered more dangerous .
 
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