i have 2 boys that I want to start teaching how to utilize a knife safely and have them carry on them when we are hiking/camping. My boys are ages 5 and 7. What would you recommend for a start up knife for those ages? i wa concidering the Mora Allaround craft knife or the Ritter RSK MK5. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

I personally would avoid a fixed blade for boys of this age. I would go with a folder first. This helps them to understand that they need to thing about using the knife before just whipping it out. I know there are dangers with folding it back up, but I think I like the idea of a non-exposed blade for carrying purposes. You may want to consider a SAK-type also. Kids like all the gizmos. Also, it will allow you to teach them the limitations of the tool.

My $.02 worth

Never really thought of that. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have a look see.

What is the difference between Victorionox and Wenger SAK's? Any recommendation between the 2?

Personal preference: Same ownership; different approaches to design.

Not the MkV- the skeletonized and short grip are points against it. Of course, their hands are small and everything is going to be oversized to them.

There are points for and against folders, most having to do with opening a folder. I might almost suggest one of the smaller Opinels, just because you'd really have to be sleepy to have it close on your fingers.

For a fixed, I'd say check out some of the smaller Moras, or a decent kitchen knife. Every so often I see paring knives w/ decently thick blades that have little snap on sheaths for something like 5, 10 bucks.

edit: those paring knives look like this:
http://www.centralchef.com/storefrontpro...amp;i=244078609
I'd buy a couple, but I've already got knives, knives and more knives. :P

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I think my mind is made up now.

Having had two wonderful kids go through Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, we started knife use at about the same age as your kids. We tried a LOT of knives to find the right one.

We finally settled on Kabar Dozier Spears.

The #1 think was it had to have a lock - and the Dozier locks are the typical kind.

It had to be low cost because we figured it would get lost soon enough (amazingly one ALMOST was lost, but both are still around) - the Dozier costs about $20.

It also had to be easy enough to open that the kids could open it. When they were younger they had to open the Doziers two-handed, but now that they're young teenagers they can open them one-handed using the thumb stud.

have a look at Ragweed Forge,Mora and Jarvenpaa both have fixed blade knives made for kids.smaller handle and a guard to keep fingers from slipping onto the blade.i would think a fixed blade would be better because there is no problem with opening and closing.also the entire idea of a knife is the blade and not a tool set that happens to come with it.fixing attention to the blade and how to use and care for it might be better than playing with add-on gizmos,who really uses a can or bottle opener these days?

I use bottle/can openers quite often actually. Especially my P38. I see what your saying though.