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| Scoutmaster Podcast 192 |  |
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| In This Podcast | |||
| In this edition of the Scoutmaster podcast we get an update on a previous podcast’s advice, discuss evaluating Scout Spirit, and answer questions about knives, Scouts getting credit for camping with Cubs, and helping the patrol leader’s council address a concern about their calendar. All this and your messages in the mailbag. | |||
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| Scoutcircle.org Podcast 189 |
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I’ve used a variety of knives, and while I agree totally with a large knife being a very specialized tool that really is not best for scouts, I have found a small fixed blade knife (therefore a “sheath knife”) to be the most useful of all the tools I carry. I use it for everything, from cutting my apples to making feather sticks, to cleaning fish to carving a spoon.
A Mora Companion is an excellent example. Less than four inch blade, sharp as can be, easy to maintain, sturdy, and with a good handle to hang on to. On top of that it is not expensive so most people can afford one.
This is what drive nuts about the no tolerance. There is a big difference between a small bushcraft blade and a rambo inspired military knife.
One of our council professionals has told me that our council has a “No Sheath Knife” rule for council sponsored activities like Camporee and Webelos Woods. Does the council have the authority to make a local ruling on an issue like this for council property?
It is my understanding that Councils can establish rules that are more restrictive than national policies for their properties. The Guide to Safe Scouting explains the minimum required procedures and rules, if local laws are more restrictive, they must be followed. I don’t have chapter and verse on this, perhaps someone will offer a reference for us?
Your comments on behavior standards were “right on.”
As to knives:
B.S.A. on knives is not “pretty simple.” The policy is a confusing compound of legend, codified ignorance, vague language, and institutional contradictions.
To show how the policy is far from “simple,” consider that even such an experienced person as yourself, after correctly stating what was in the G2SS (and Handbook), say (towards the end of your comments) “but we want to avoid sheath knives.”
On the contrary, B.S.A. encourages the use of some sheath knives. The June, 2008 Boy’s Life states that the “best” camping knife is “a short, fixed-blade knife with a beefy handle” (a description of the sheath knives sold by BSA for fifty years) That statement is in accord with the great weight of authority of writers on camping and outdoor life.
Moreover, G2SS was amended in 2011 to include specific recognition of our duty to teach proper use of “legally owned [sic] knives.” The only way I can read this change is that “Zero Tolerance” for legally-owned fixed-blade knives is contrary to BSA policy.
The example from BSA of a knife used to clean fish as an exception to the discouragement of “large” sheath knives because “heavy and awkward” adds no clarity because a filleting knife is typically anything but “heavy and awkward.”
These sheath knives are not, however, to be worn “at the waist” due to safety concerns. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/healthandsafety/gen_faq.aspx
Is wearing a sheath knife “on the hip” it as advised by BSA for over 80 years also “on the waist”? Is wearing a sheath knife in the boot, at the shoulder, or on a lanyard around the neck or attached to a button approved by negative implication?
And what of folding knives carried in a sheath – a very common thing these days?
Much more troubling are the statements (and pictures) in BSA books on wilderness survival (B.S.A. “The Complete Wilderness Training Manual,” 2d. ed. rev. and BSA “The Survival Handbook,” ) advocating very large knives – kukuries and bolos – in effect short swords. (OK since swords in scabbards and not knives in sheaths?)
(Then we have the continued approval of a tool far more dangerous than a typical knife – the axe.)
We have statements — and local rules — being made by people who don’t know much about the subject, and no one seem to be responsible for insuring a consistent and coherent message.
Thank you again for your service, and best of luck in your educational calling.
Tom
‘Avoid large sheath knives’. There are certainly times when a sheath knife comes in handy, they just aren’t the best option most of the time. I don’t find that contradictory to the instances you stated, I find it quite consistent advice. Simple, really.