• If you have bought, sold or gained information from our Classifieds, please donate to Kitchen Knife Forums and give back.

    You can become a Supporting Member which comes with a decal or just click here to donate.

WTB: Childrens knife

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Anybody got a childrens knife they wanna part with?
I think it's time for my son to get something of his own.

Thanks

Robin
wondering about kid knives too. Drinky has a lot of them. I wonder what age is appropriate? Drinky, when did you get your kids started on them? Is the Misono I saw on Korin a good knife?
 
There is a great thread here somewhere about kids and knives... (sorry to hijack your thread Robin).
 
Karring is the expert. Most experts say 5-7 is knife skills age.

My daughter is two, she has a butter knife she pretend sharpens and cuts up garlic and carrots for our meals.
 
...Most experts say 5-7 is knife skills age...
Which experts are these? My 3 yr old also cuts some things up for me. I started her on a cheese knife, cutting peeled bananas into disc for crepes. She also "cut" lots of homemade Play-Doh food. These days, I have her using a Heiji or Carter petty to do things like cutting the tough part off of peeled garlic cloves. It's a little scary but I pretend to be calm, sit with her and talk her through it so she stays focused. It's the focus that is the main challenge.
 
Which experts are these? My 3 yr old also cuts some things up for me. I started her on a cheese knife, cutting peeled bananas into disc for crepes. She also "cut" lots of homemade Play-Doh food. These days, I have her using a Heiji or Carter petty to do things like cutting the tough part off of peeled garlic cloves. It's a little scary but I pretend to be calm, sit with her and talk her through it so she stays focused. It's the focus that is the main challenge.

Agreed. It's the focus that's the problem. I swear - the heads of kids that age are on swivels. They're so easily distracted, they'll turn their heads at even the slightest noise, sound or voice.

For what it's worth, I let my girlfriend's 6 year old daughter use a 120 mm Kikuichi petty. It's perfect for her.

The first knife that my girlfriend's seven year old daughter tried to touch and wanted to use - my 240 Kanehisa yanagiba.
 
Hmmm, the age question. Well, I gave my daughter the Misono at age 5 and she had a Kuhn Rikon serrated dog knife a year before that just for cutting table food. She wasn't the most dexterous in terms of cutting, she got better but now her attention seems to wander more. Knife safety seems to be a moving target.

With that said, I read that the Associated Press food editor gave his two-year-old a real knife, but he thought his kid was ready for it and he had to lay down really strict rules. For instance, the kid could only use one hand to cut. So at that young age he had to give up a little on teaching proper technique to ensure safety. It is harder to cut yourself using only one hand.

In the end, it depends upon the child. How much they are into cooking, how dexterous and precise they are, and their ability to focus and keep concentration. And then of course it depends upon the parent. A bad cook with bad knife skills will never IMO lead to a kid using a knife safely. And all parents need to monitor and set down rules that compensate for their kid's shortcomings.

As for my kid knives, if I were to rate them in terms of 'kid friendliness' I would put them in this order (1 being the best, 6 being the worst).

1. Masahiro. It has a nice light weight, has a nicely rounded tip and heel, and the handle is grippy. Good or bad, they also have critters printed on them.
2. Misono. It is good quality and the round tip is safe BUT it can be frustrating for kids as they like to stab with the blunt tip. Plus, Dave can rehandle it to make it sexy ;)
3. Tokoyuni. I like the concept of this knife the best, and I like the D-handle. It is a bit bigger and heavier, and the blade geometry is a bit weird. I am tempted to thin it, but when I used it on a cucumber it felt good. I haven't tried this one much yet.
4. Kai. It is pretty safe safe, but I don't like the handle. A lot of makers of knives for kids make anti-microbial handles, and they are pretty slippery IMO. It is also serrated. Yuck.
5. Suncraft. It has a very sharp tip and heel, and it was one of the sharpest OOTB (too sharp?). If I rounded the sharp bits it would move up in the list.
6. Konosuke. It was the sharpest OOTB (too sharp?), the tip on the nakiri top was unexpectedly sharp as well as the heel, and the balance was such that it spins effortlessly on the counter. If you set the knife down naturally it will spin on its own, likely prompting kids to grab at it or the knife to fall off the cutting board or counter. This one needs modification IMO.

My next kids knife project will be buying this tosagata from JWW and rounding the tip and heel.

And by the way, remember to tell your kids not to lick the knives ;) That image still makes me cringe.

k.
 
Back
Top