Shan of Tanith's First firelighting and knife lesson

[Man of Tanith]

Evening All
Well today was my weekend off work and having bought Shan her first bushcraft knife I thought it was time to teach her how to use it safely, also thought I ought to teach her about the might of spark sticks for fire lighting
First a pic of the knife I bought Shan nothing massive nothing too inappropriate in my opinion

we had a little chat about the things fire needs and what makes good tinder, fortunately I found a native cotton wool ball tree and harvested loads for Shan to practise with.
after a few trial runs and a few demonstrations

we have success!

Flush with the success we moved on to knife skills and worked on a tent peg. We used a bit of pallet wood as it was pine and the softest wood we had available.
Shan putting the point on

Me demonstrating champering(sp?) the top of my peg for shannon to see how its done

With a little bit of assistance from sam shannon gets on well

Bit of group battoning

Putting the cord holding notch in

Finished project and one happy shannon

Works!

and finally a collection shot of the knives used today

from left to right my shiney new SWC ray mears knife, lisa's frost mora, shannon's brusletto balder and along the bottom shannon's premier opinel.

Hope you've enjoyed the pic's as much as i enjoyed teaching the two most important skills in bushcraft to the next generation of bushcrafter

 

[JohnC]

That looks like she (and you) had a good time. Great stuff..

 

[ex-member Raikey]

enjoyed that very much,...

i have a lass a similar age,..10??., and she shows an interest too,..

she has a small folder and a fire steel and can light the trangia to make hot chocolate in the garden.

i,m going to show her this in the morning.

 

[JonathanD]

Brilliant. I'm all for this sort of responsibilty and sharing.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Shan's only 8 and is Lisa's daughter. She's been out overnight with us over summer. She wont be joining me over winter to sleep but i suspect she'll be visiting during the daylight With a bit of luck she will be lighting the fire for us then

 

[Man of Tanith]

Brilliant. I'm all for this sort of responsibilty and sharing.

Cheers Jonathan.
teach em young you teach the good practice and skills at a time when they take it in, thus not having to unlearn years of bad habits.
plus you can instill in them that knives are tools not weapons

 

[JonathanD]

Cheers Jonathan.
teach em young you teach the good practice and skills at a time when they take it in, thus not having to unlearn years of bad habits.
plus you can instill in them that knives are tools not weapons

Exactly. A good friend really frown upon me teaching the little 'un about knives and how to shoot and strip guns etc. But she has far more respect for them and what they can do than most adults. It is all about education and respect. I know guns fall under a different category, but I'm not having her grow up fearing an inanimate object, it's about context.

 

[Miyagi]

Exactly. A good friend really frown upon me teaching the little 'un about knives and how to shoot and strip guns etc. But she has far more respect for them and what they can do than most adults. It is all about education and respect. I know guns fall under a different category, but I'm not having her grow up fearing an inanimate object, it's about context.

I totally agree.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Very much with you guys on this,

Brilliant stuff the Mot, its great to see,

 

[Man of Tanith]

best of all i plan on using the lesson taught today as basis of a knife safety/skills talk/ demo with the scouts.
not that i'm experimenting on lisa's daughter honest

 

[maddave]

It's wonderful that a child is introduced to a knife as being a tool rather than being brainwashed by the media and police into thinking it's primarily a weapon... Good responsible parenting... WELL DONE!!

 

[malente]

Fantastic stuff!

Thanks for sharing, I think it's tremendous that she has this opportunity.

Looking forward to do this with my three boys...

Mike

 

[GordonM]

Nice to teach her Sam.

Good work, Shan of Tanith, the tent peg looks to be a useful one. What are your thoughts on what you learned? How did you like the fire starting tool? Two of my nieces (Rachel and Lizzie, they are twins) are seven and enjoy learning firecraft with their dad and me. They have done ferro rod and flint and steel.

Here is Lizzie helping her dad with bow drill firemaking.

Enjoy learning lots of outdoor skills,

Gordy

 

[Man of Tanith]

i think the main thing i learned is that kids will relish the trust put in them when allowed a sharp thing and something that makes fire.
i also learnt that eight year olds need to find an easier method of using sharps as they dont have the strength behind making cuts so they need good technique.
i also learned i enjoy teaching.

spark stick is good main fire lighting method for me when out and about and i suspect it will be for shannon when she gets out a bit more

 

[Barn Owl]

Good educational photos there Sam.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Cheers very much.
i tried my best to teach her something that was useful involved several cutting techniques and wasnt too hard

 

[drewdunnrespect]

looks ausome mate and well done so she will remember it for ever drew

 

[Man of Tanith]

Thanks Drew
i'm hopefully off camping weekend after this and although i think it will be too cold for shan to sleep the night i am hoping to have her to visit during the daytime in which case i plan on getting her to help with lighting the fire, reviewing the skills soon after learning them seems to reinforce them in the mind