Grandson's First "pocket knife"
- Thread starter SF VET
- Start date
"Next time you use a cheap folder, to cut out your Halloween pumpkin, please call after the emergency room Docs sew up your hand".
"Roger that Pop" was the 17 year old boy's reply.
He bought some good folders and gave me this one as a gift.
Putting on some new slabs.
My parents gave me a Swiss Army and my music teacher gave me a reed knife around age 12.
Still have and use that reed knife.
Mom was the Den mother with the Cub Scouts.
Moguls and snowboards are for dummies and downhill is for skiers is something he learned without injury.
Ski Patrol, maybe this year, if Colorado gets some powder.
"Roger that Pop" was the 17 year old boy's reply.
He bought some good folders and gave me this one as a gift.
Putting on some new slabs.
My parents gave me a Swiss Army and my music teacher gave me a reed knife around age 12.
Still have and use that reed knife.
Mom was the Den mother with the Cub Scouts.
Moguls and snowboards are for dummies and downhill is for skiers is something he learned without injury.
Ski Patrol, maybe this year, if Colorado gets some powder.
Attachments
Last edited:
Sistema1927
US Veteran
"Totin' Chip"
Man, it has been so long ago that I almost didn't remember this. However, I do remember many of the lessons that I had to learn in order to win that award. To this day I will close a folding knife, or expect it to be closed, when giving/getting from another person. I will hold a fixed blade knife by the blade and only release it when the other party says "thank you". I will never try to catch a dropped knife. I will carry an axe or hatchet with the cover secured, and will always carry it by the head in order to avoid being cut during a slip or fall.
Man, it has been so long ago that I almost didn't remember this. However, I do remember many of the lessons that I had to learn in order to win that award. To this day I will close a folding knife, or expect it to be closed, when giving/getting from another person. I will hold a fixed blade knife by the blade and only release it when the other party says "thank you". I will never try to catch a dropped knife. I will carry an axe or hatchet with the cover secured, and will always carry it by the head in order to avoid being cut during a slip or fall.
Locking folders are MUCH safer.
I had an old timer as a kid as my first pocket knife and I sliced and diced my hands up with that stupid thing. I still have scars to this day.
Look at the Case 041 or the Spyderco Ladybug. Those are small locking knives.
I had an old timer as a kid as my first pocket knife and I sliced and diced my hands up with that stupid thing. I still have scars to this day.
Look at the Case 041 or the Spyderco Ladybug. Those are small locking knives.
Last edited:
First Knife
My first knife was a multi blade Boker, with a cork screw, screw drives, an al, 2 flat blades and one or two other tools. I was in Cub Scouts and probably about 9 years old. Scout week was in Feb and I was so proud wearing my uniform and knife to school for the week. This was in the mid 1950's. Don't think its legal for a student to bring a knife to school in Pennsylvania now. I still have that knife. My son used it and I gave folding knives to my three grandsons when they joined the scouts.
My first knife was a multi blade Boker, with a cork screw, screw drives, an al, 2 flat blades and one or two other tools. I was in Cub Scouts and probably about 9 years old. Scout week was in Feb and I was so proud wearing my uniform and knife to school for the week. This was in the mid 1950's. Don't think its legal for a student to bring a knife to school in Pennsylvania now. I still have that knife. My son used it and I gave folding knives to my three grandsons when they joined the scouts.
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2021
- Messages
- 628
- Reaction score
- 1,123
I had a Cub Scout pocket knife which had a locking blade. I had a variety of knives after that and have the scars to prove it including stitches from a jamboree. Made it to Eagle. I now include edged weapons as an instructor, a far cry from whittling. I had a spyderco knife engraved for my nephew when he made Eagle. He'll probably cut his fingers off. I think it's awesome that you have the opportunity to share a knife and a story or two.
And yeah, totin chips. We had hatchets, half axe, full axe... we used to see who could light a strike anywhere match by splitting it with an axe on the first shot.
And yeah, totin chips. We had hatchets, half axe, full axe... we used to see who could light a strike anywhere match by splitting it with an axe on the first shot.
Last edited:
Scars
All of us pick up some scars as we grow up. And a few burns, hopefully mild ones. One of those "rights of passage" things we hear about and usually experience. I have a few, plus several surgical scars, which really don't count.
Two of my grandsons live about an hours away, in Columbia, SC, and in fact we are driving down for dinner later today. The lads and I are just close as can be, they climb around and ride in my '52 army truck, always urging me to do some off roading. Had to help me winch out of a muddy creek a year ago. They are learning to "tuff it out, shake it off" with their scrapes and bruises.
Not long ago, one of the boys put a deep scratchy on an arm, and when He showed me the bleeding wound, and wasn't sure if he should show the pain or not, when I cleaned it I told him with luck, it would leave a scar, and showed him my own scars, expelling how I got them, and how it was important for a man, and a boy, to have a variety of scars. In the ensuing days, he kept asking me if it would indeed leave a scar, hoping it would do so. Weeks later, he proudly showed me his new small scar on his arm.
I suspect like his grandfather, and his dad, he too will gain a few worthy wounds when he gets his first "pocket knife'.
Looking forward to the evening with the family. The ladies are going out to a violin concert, us guys will go for burgers or pizza, maybe drop by a gun store and browse around.
Being a dad, and a grandfather, is just the best thing ever.
Be Prepared!!! SF VET
All of us pick up some scars as we grow up. And a few burns, hopefully mild ones. One of those "rights of passage" things we hear about and usually experience. I have a few, plus several surgical scars, which really don't count.
Two of my grandsons live about an hours away, in Columbia, SC, and in fact we are driving down for dinner later today. The lads and I are just close as can be, they climb around and ride in my '52 army truck, always urging me to do some off roading. Had to help me winch out of a muddy creek a year ago. They are learning to "tuff it out, shake it off" with their scrapes and bruises.
Not long ago, one of the boys put a deep scratchy on an arm, and when He showed me the bleeding wound, and wasn't sure if he should show the pain or not, when I cleaned it I told him with luck, it would leave a scar, and showed him my own scars, expelling how I got them, and how it was important for a man, and a boy, to have a variety of scars. In the ensuing days, he kept asking me if it would indeed leave a scar, hoping it would do so. Weeks later, he proudly showed me his new small scar on his arm.
I suspect like his grandfather, and his dad, he too will gain a few worthy wounds when he gets his first "pocket knife'.
Looking forward to the evening with the family. The ladies are going out to a violin concert, us guys will go for burgers or pizza, maybe drop by a gun store and browse around.
Being a dad, and a grandfather, is just the best thing ever.
Be Prepared!!! SF VET
cyphertext
US Veteran
Been a few years since I was involved with Cub Scouts with my son, mid to late 2000's, but back then they had a "Whittlin' Chip" for the Cub Scouts. They earned this when they were Bears (third grade). Not saying your grandson is too young for a knife, just that this is when the scouting program lets them earn the chip and use a knife.
I appreciate the above advice, his mom and dad will be sure to do this safely. I just found an unsigned Toten Chip card, so perhaps in a few years, he can carry it or the more modern Whittlin' Chip.
If they need to identify my body, the forensic's experts will look at my left hand, and see the scar on my index finger, and comment "..., this guy was right handed by the perfect cut on his left index finger, from wacking with a dull hatchet while holding the stick in his left hand."
I just looked over my Scout rank cards, and my blue merit badge cards, dated 1957 and into 1958. Some were pretty predictive, others, not so much. One for marksmanship, that one has stood the test of time. One for citizenship, that one too marks I hope my life. But the one for art, no way that one was actually earned. And one for scholarship, it wasn't until I went off to college that that trait showed up, just in time. I took first grade twice.
Anyway, as always, be safe and Be Prepared! SF VET
If they need to identify my body, the forensic's experts will look at my left hand, and see the scar on my index finger, and comment "..., this guy was right handed by the perfect cut on his left index finger, from wacking with a dull hatchet while holding the stick in his left hand."
I just looked over my Scout rank cards, and my blue merit badge cards, dated 1957 and into 1958. Some were pretty predictive, others, not so much. One for marksmanship, that one has stood the test of time. One for citizenship, that one too marks I hope my life. But the one for art, no way that one was actually earned. And one for scholarship, it wasn't until I went off to college that that trait showed up, just in time. I took first grade twice.
Anyway, as always, be safe and Be Prepared! SF VET
kamloops67
Member
Haha … I forgot how important scars were when we were boys
That's pretty funny , we were all trying to be warriors
cyphertext
US Veteran
The Totin' chip is still around, but it is for the Boy Scout program, after Cub Scouts. If I remember correctly, the Totin' chip covers pocket knife, axe, and wood saw use.
It used to be if a boy couldn't be trusted with a pocket knife by the time he was eight or nine years old he was considered a wastrel by adults and a failure among his peers.
I have been carrying a some variation of the classic Scout knife for better than 60 years, mostly a GI Camillus.
