Congratulations Jake!
Last night, Jake and six of his Tiger Scout buddies learned the rules of proper knife safety, sharpening, and knife handling.
They satisfied all of the requirements in the Bear Handbook to earn their Whittlin' Chips and I was happy to award them two years ahead of schedule.
Ragnar, of Ragweed Forge, and I have worked together to surprise the boys at our May 22nd Campout with their first knives.
I chose the Opinel No. 7 and 8 in Carbon Steel and will hand them out in front of the rest of the pack with the understanding that the boys are to use these only in the presence of their parents until such time as their parents feel they're trustworthy enough to have the knives with less supervision.
I brought two Opinels with the edges ground off last night to cover the proper opening and closing of a pocketknife so all the boys have been instructed in the operation of the lock ring and safe use.
After the meeting, Jake sat in the back of my van and said, "I like knives."
You can't get much better than that...
Thanks for reading,
B
posted by American Bushman @ 7:11 AM
6 Comments:
i love my kids and although i miss your words of wisdom,i appreciate and highly applaud the time you spend with your kids,its an awsum thing to b a great dad,chris from alabamer
Well done Brian! I remember that exact seem feeling when 2 of my own sons received their first knives and the "proper paperwork" to go with them. Keep the faith and keep driving them onward and upward. Thanks for the post and tell Jake "congrats" from me. Jeff aka Bushpuukko--Asst Scoutmaster Troop 214
Great attitude and action man,im sure boys will be greatful as they grow up,for your knife lessons.
I got my first knife at age of seven and few days after that i got my first stitches too :)
Nice one B,
Although mine are grown up, I can;t wait until my Grandson comes of age and gets his fisrt knife.
Can I ask what you covered? I run a wolf (now bear) den. And we're letting the scouts use paring knives in a cooking project this week.
I've also volunteered to run the whittling chip session at this summer's family camp. I want to make sure the boys do everything to actually earn the chip. In past years, the session was just a 45min lecture on knife safety. The boys weren't allowed to touch the blades.
I'll be offering to run a bulk purchase of opinels from ragnar for parents who are interested. If I had complete control, I'd get them the Mora #440 sports knives (fixed blade) instead.
Thanks,
mac
Mac,
Drop me an email and I'll send you the presentation I put together.
There are four activities required to earn the chip and my presentation and activities took us an hour but the boys were hands on most of the time.
Thanks,
B
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