Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best knife for a 7 year old

Yep. They can get tendons pretty easy.

A knife should be sharp.

That's part of learning about knives, and how to maintain one.

Get a kid a whetstone along with the knife, and teach them the proper way to sharpen a knife as well.

More people are more seriously cut by "dull" knives than anything else.


If your kid isn't mature enough to own a pocket knife, then don't get them one. Just give them an old garage sale butter knife, and tell them to go play...

I'm aware of that saying, Barry.

I cut myself more and worse with the real sharp suckers.

Dad had my uncle teach me how to sharpen a knife and I learned well at about 9 years old.

Several times over the years since then when hunting or fishing or working he would borrow my knife and end up cussing about a kid having a knife that sharp. Mine would always shave the hair off an arm, still, they werent scalpel sharp.

Mornin gang, my two cents. If your teaching her to light fires why not get her a fixed blade & show her how to baton & make shavings. She's a girl, she's a lot more mature than a boy at that age. Buy an orange handled one. She'll have the knife when she's married later in life!!! Put it on a quick release teather or one of those retractable ones & have her just take it off when it's time to use it. We want pics later, no cuts. Wait, that's more than two cents worth??? Bill out. 🐾👣🇨🇦

Small knives are like small handguns. They're cool but not the best for beginners.

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Fire-F...amp;s=hunting-fishing&sr=1-7-catcorr

In my family nobody got cut but a lot of knives got lost...start with a smaller Swiss and make a big deal out of using the lanyard and hook it to a belt loop. Anybody who recommends a high dollar knife for a kid's first knife doesn't know much about the attention span of 7 yr olds. For my grandsons, 6 and 9, I sharpen the hell out of the rear half of the blade for cutting baling twine, and leave the front half pretty dull.

^ yep; can’t go wrong there IMHO.

Lock blades are nice later on but getting them closed early in life when coordination is lacking presents more danger than having the blade not locked in use. YMMV.

The first knives I bought my boys were rubber......They would have stabbed each other with a real knife...LOL

My first knife, when I turned 6, was a Davy Crockett jack knife my grandfather gave me.My mother and my grandmother were kind of nervous and there was a little worried clucking going on, but Gramps prevailed.

MORA...

My grandpa bought me my first knife when I was 8. I buck lock back. We got back to the house and he told me 2 things. "Don't tell Grandma and don't cut yourself." Took me about 30 seconds after he said that to cut my finger while closing it back up.

Sad you can no longer just go down to Sears or Montgomery Wards and get one of their branded moderately priced USA made camp knifes for your son or daughter anymore. Toss in all the locally owned hardware stores, gas stations, bait and tackle stores.

To add don't make their first knife some Mall Ninja Flipper China made BS.

Hundreds of thousands of USA made knives from former USA companies like Schrade, Camillus, Western, Imperial etc on fleabay for decent prices

Best knife for a 7 year old? IMHO it's one that you keep locked out of sight until the 7 year old is about 12.

Opinel #6 or #7 depending on how large or small her hands are.

They make those two sizes with multiple color option handles.

They are simple, sharp, and cheap.

www.opinel-usa.com

What is your metric for a child’s readiness to handle a certain tool or task? Did we not all learn a lesson or two early in life by suffering a minor injury?
I ask this with some sincerity as a parent raising a small boy but with some skepticism as a person who was shooting a 410 and 22 by age 5. My son is 4 but uses a 5” bait knife to cut catfish bait, under supervision of course, and shoots a 22 or BB gun while sitting in my lap. He ran the outboard on our boat for half an hour this past Saturday while we trolled for Saugeye, once again under close supervision on my part. I fully expect that by 7 he’ll be ready to carry a small knife in his pocket as I did.

Probably not what dad gave me. Dad and I were out in the car with him making industrial sales calls and me just staying in the car glad to be out of the house. We were at the sugar beet factory when the shop foreman caught one of the colored guys making what I think is called an "Arkansas toothpick" out of a file, took it away and gave it to dad. That knife is (yup, I still have it) a double sided 11" long dagger. Dad got it a sheath easily 2" too long, so wearing it on my belt as a child the thing hung down somewhere around my kneecap. I couldn't wear it at school, but I think I wore it most other places.

I'd start her with a cheap Mora knife.

First, it's easier to sharpen a slightly larger blade. Second, it's safer - no folding blade to slip and cut while closing, no chance of collapsing while used - just out of the sheath or not.

While big enough not to easily be lost (especially the orange handled one!), the handle is relatively small and fits a young person's hand well.

That's my 2 cents.

Barlo or Swiss.

Of course, some PC douche will see yer kid with the knife and call SWAT.

I'd get her the best quality, small, lock-blade you can find for cheap money (<$20?)

https://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Ultra...lade+knife&qid=1589228543&sr=8-2