Thanks Doug. You are correct that the cutting tools have been left up to the parents. However, our bears and webelos all have their whittling chips and we have discussed the ten essentials (they should, parents willing, have a good folding knife in their pocket). I probably won't have time to do the hacksaws before we initially put the kits together, but as this will be an ongoing project we can add these later. Any idea on a source for the striker strips? And the cheap paramedic shears as well? I need to check on whether the scouts will allow these as well. At the very least I will add them to my recommendations list, but as always their Akela (i.e. Parents) have the final say on what each scout can and cannot carry. Such is life. Fortunately we are in a rural area so most parents seem amenable to letting their kids carry knives (many of the kids already have bigger knife collections than I do). We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you all posted and post some pics when I can figure out how to do it.