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Personally I love the story of the Scoutmaster going on and on about how a knife greater than 4 inches has no place in scouting, whilst in the midst of a cooking demo (dont ask) and a scout asking why then the 10 inch butcher knife is OK... Match the tool to the task at hand

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OldGreyEagle

 

Funny you mention that. The utensils in our patrol box are mainly cast offs from families, and the two kitchen knives we have are 7 and 8 inches of blade.

 

During a dinner demo last night at our troop meeting one new scout did ask that to the SPL. The SPL said that "Because as the SPL I say its OK". The boys took him seriously. Bit my tounge to not laugh.

 

Ten minutes later the ASM took the last corner off his Totin Chip. The SPL took the kitchen knife and handed it to another scout blade first. His exscuse was that he didn't want to get his hands dirty, he also argued that Totin chips are just for pocket knives. All I said was that I would see him in the next Totin chip class. Laughed all the way home.

 

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I carry at classic swiss army knife on all scouting events. it has a 2.3" blade, nailfile with nail cleaner' scissors, key ring, tweezers' toothpick.

The only time I carry a bigger knife is if I am going fishing, than I carry a fillet knife.

 

Can Opener! I think soon we will see those only in museums? :)

 

I have found no reason to carry a big heavy multi tool or large knife.

 

At Philmont our guide said for the crew you only need 2 knives, the scouts had a real issue with this. I told them they could carry as many knives as they wanted. After the hike they understood why only 2 knives where needed, they where rarely used.

 

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>>At Philmont our guide said for the crew you only need 2 knives, the scouts had a real issue with this. I told them they could carry as many knives as they wanted. After the hike they understood why only 2 knives where needed, they where rarely used.

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Only two knives are needed or so they say. My knife was in constant demand by the daily cooks.

 

A knife is a piece of personal emergency gear just like a whistle and should be carried by everyone. My hiking knife only weighs 1.5 ozs, that's less than a bag of GORP.

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Personally, I like the Schrade Cliphanger with 2 partially serrated blade. The thumb stud and the linerlock make it very easy to open and close with one hand. I've lost a few over the years, but at under $10, the price is right. I have a Schrade leather sheath that fits on my belt horizontally.

 

The Code of Virginia prohibits the carry of dirks, switchblades and ballistic knives. Machetes are unlawful when carried on a person and concealed. Knives, except for "a pocket knife having a folding metal blade of less than three inches" are prohibited in school.

 

If the local schools have different policies, they aren't publicizing them.

 

Cam Shenandoah here in the Stonewall Jackson Area Council prohibits sheath knives.

 

Our troop guidelines are that personal knives must be folding and have a blade of three inches or less. Fixed blade knives used for cooking must have a sheath and may not be carried on the person.

 

Ed

 

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There was a similar inquiry on this forum a few years ago. When I became re involved with scouts as an adult leader, I too heard that fixed blade knives were forbidden, but that is not correct. I can think of two activities where a fixed blade knife is essential: SCUBA diving and white water kayaking.

 

Whenever I have taught adults knife safety as part of Outdoor Leader Skills we cover this issue. I recommend a folding knife or Leatherman type multi purpose tool, but tell them that a fixed blade knife is permitted.

 

The points made earlier about knives at school are well taken. Several years ago a scout in our troop used his school day pack for a scout outing. He left his pocket knife in the pack when he used the pack later for school purposes and was suspended. Be sure to remind your scouts and parents about this if they use the same pack for school and BSA outings.

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"How does one explain to the young scout that scout knives, either BSA folding or sheath are prohibited at scout activities? The same holds true for the BSA official hand axe."

 

An out of control assistant adult leader declares that the Scout knife is "prohibited". There is no written evidence presented to support such a comment. No updates to the Handbook or the G2SS that anybody's seen or heard of. 15 other people speak up and agree it's a bunch of hooey. Maybe the guy was talking about Scouting activities on airplanes?

 

It seems pretty clear that knives are still part of Scouting, axes too. Of course I could be wrong.

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