Pocketknife Safety

Pack 144 Pocketknife Safety
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The pocketknife must be left at home unless you are asked to bring the knife to a den meeting or trip. Any infraction of the rules of pocketknife handling allows a corner of the Whittlin' Chip Card to be removed. If and when the fourth corner is lost --- so is the use of the pocketknife until you retake the Whittlin' Chip class and prove you can handle it responsibly. You will have to take a similar class as a Boy Scout to earn your Totem Chip. The same rules apply. A small pocketknife (3 ½" or less) is very functional. The boy should keep his Whittlin' Chip Card on his person to be able to show to anyone who asks that they have earned it.

To Open And Close A Pocketknife
To open a pocketknife, hold it in your left hand, and put your right thumbnail into the nail slot. Pull the blade out while pushing against the hinge with your little finger of your left hand. Continue to hold onto the handle and blade until the blade snaps into the open position.
To close the pocketknife, hold the handle with your left hand and with your fingers safely on the sides. Push against the back of the blade with the fingers of your right hand, swinging the handle up to meet the blade. Left the knife snap shut; "kick" at the base of the blade keeps the edge from touching the inside of the handle.

Ways To Use A Pocketknife
For course cutting, grasp the handle with your whole hand. Cut on a slant. Always cut away from you. You can cut brush with a pocketknife if you bend the stem until the grain is strained, then cut close to the ground with a slanting cut. Trim a branch by cutting twigs from the thick end toward the end. Push the pocketknife against twigs, or pull twigs against the blade.

Pocketknife Safety Circle
To establish a safety circle, grasp a closed pocketknife in your hand, extend your arm, and with the closed knife straight in front of you, rotate your body to either side while continuing to extend the closed-knife arm. No one or nothing should be inside the imaginary circle you have created. Also check your overhead clearance, as this is part of your safety circle.

To Pass An Open Knife
The person handing the knife should hold the pocketknife by the blade, passing the handle to the other person. In this way, the handler has control of the edge of the knife. The receiving person should say "Thank You" -- thereby telling the person handing the knife that this person now has control of the knife, and may let go.

Whittlin' Chip Card
After completing Shavings and Chip Achievement #19 in the Bear Cub Scout Book, and demonstrating knowledge of and skill in using a personal pocketknife, a Cub Scout earns the Whittlin' Chip Card which states he has earned the right to carry a pocketknife at Cub Scout functions.

Care Of Your Pocketknife
All Cub Scouts should learn that pocketknives are valuable tools and how to take care of them.

Pocketknives should be kept clean, dry, and sharp at all times.
Never use it on things that will dull or break it.
Keep it off the ground. Moisture and dirt will ruin it.
Keep it out of fire. The heat draws the temper of the steel. The edge of the blade becomes soft and useless.
Wipe the blade clean after using it. Close it carefully.

Knife Sharpening
A dull knife will not do its work. And even more, it is dangerous. Dull knives cut more fingers than sharp knives. A sharp knife "bites" into the wood, while a dull one tends to slip off. A camper should always carry a little sharpening stone in his pocket, along with his knife. The knife and the stone are partners and where one is, the other should be also. Such stones are called "whetstones" or "carborundum stones." One measuring ¾" x 3" is large enough and is a handy size to carry. A whetstone using water is more practical in camp than one requiring oil, for water is always at hand, but there ever seems to be any oil when it is needed. Whetstones are made to provide a grinding surface, and come in varying degrees of coarseness. Coarse stones are used for heavy tools, like axes; fine stones for knives or for finishing the edge. Rules for sharpening a knife:
        1)    Place the stones on a level surface.
        2)    Wet the stone with a little water or oil.
        3)    Place the blade of the knife flat on the stone, then raise the back edge about the width of the blade itself, keeping the cutting edge on the stone.
        4)    Push the knife away from you, or move it straight back and forth putting pressure on it only when you push it away from you. This is always better than moving it in a circular fashion.
        5)    Turn the blade over and repeat on the other side an equal number of times.

It will take half an hour to sharpen a dull knife, but once sharp, a minute a day will keep it in perfect shape.

Last Updated: 09/30/2005

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