WV,<br><br>I'm not an expert on the subject, and what I allow my boys to own/carry/use on our own outings has been purpose-specific until recently. When we are hunting, they each have a Schrade Sharpfinger (in addition to personal SAK). Collectively they have a few other knives for other purposes. The eldest is flapping his wings pretty hard, and I've tossed a few things his way (gear), but he's an ASM now, not a young Scout. I have discouraged my boys from carry on the belt but that reflects my prejudices - you should pick your own <grin>. (I hope Chris and others jump in here with some ideas...)<br><br>Maybe it would be helpful to read through Doug's discussions on the site. My opinion is that until boys are full-stature, they are better served by "scaled down" knives for the most part, so I guess I lean towards somewhat smaller blades and overall size. And I've become an instant fan of (well made)Kydex/Concealex sheaths VS leather.<br><br>If you are considering the Bushman, I suggest strongly that the Mini-Bushman is "less large". I've some reservations about them, but Piet has reported great success with Bushman in his unit in Holland - you might ask him.<br><br>I thought the Barnekniven that Chris mentioned would be a great unit-level resource for new scouts as they first learn about knives. Gee, we stick the boys right off the bat with the most "difficult" knives; the ones most likely to bite the user - non-locking folders. (And locking ones have other quirks). Starting them off with supervised use of a small fixed blade and then graduating to a folder seems to make more sense to me.<br><br>I don't have any suggestions on specifics for you because I'm really not an expert; sorry. I'm hoping to hear some good ideas from folks myself.<br><br>Addendum: Just read Chris' post - I was kind of thinking there might be something suitable there - I spent some time wandering that site and they look useful. <br><br>A few of random thoughts that might be worth considering: Forget letting the boys chop anything other than veggies with a knife. It's a grown-up skill and hard on the knife to boot. Along those lines, various meal and food preparation chores account for a LOT of fixed blade use in MY outdoors - maybe there's something to that... Fixed blade knives (of suitable general-purpose shape) just beat the pants off any folder for shaping wood (I'm not talking minor whittling) - with care, they are fair drawknives, for example. That's an uncommon skill today but sure would be useful for scouts - even dressing a stave to use for a hiking staff can be excruciatingly frustrating with a conventional "scout knife". Another observation - middle ground on blade thickness. A Gerber Bird & Trout (if they still make them) is so useful that I have to retrieve it from my wife's kitchen whenever I want to take it out for some air - but it is much too thin for a general use knife - a boy would bend the blade sooner or later. At the other end, a fat-spined blade like my older Kershaw can be a real beast to properly re-sharpen sometimes - after many sharpenings, the blade needs to be re-profiled and that's a lot of work by hand. Something in between those extremes would make good sense, I think. Can it be used to split small (say, up to 2" diameter) wood for kindling? It would be nice if the knife was up to that task - and they could ding a knife up pretty easily unless they were taught well. <br><br>Biggest drawbacks I've seen with scouts and their knives are 1) Cheap junk knives that someone bought for them 2) Dull because they do not have anything personally or at home to sharpen them with. I think we should take a lot more direct control over the initial knife choices the boys "make" AND ensure they get an appropriate sharpening device at the same time. I vote for a small diamond sharpener - lots of good ones to choose from. (Hate lugging stones and oil out to campouts). Wet-or-dry sandpaper glued to a small piece of flat 6061 T-6 aluminium scrap would be quite servicable, too - and those are cheap to make if you visit a local metals recycler for the aluminum.<br><br>Be Prepared!<br><br>Tom<br><br>