On Monday, January 9th, the Bears and Webelos began their annual Knife Safety training. This class is designed to teach knife safety and additional rules that must be followed. While this course is required for Bears and 2nd year Webelos Scouts who have not already earned it, the pack requires any scout who has previously earned their whittling chip to take the training annually.
Bears should immediately start reading the Bear Claws adventure which can be found on page 30 of their handbooks.
We started by covering the following: what the whittling chip is; the whittling chip pledge and what it means as well as how it pertains to safety; the basic parts of the knife; how to pass a knife to another; the safety/blood circle; the difference between a tool and a weapon; how the pocket knife is a weapon at schools; the no school rule; and an introduction to various bladed items with their differences and validity of their use.
On Monday, January 16th, we will continue our knife safety course by covering some more detailed parts of a pocket knife, the different types of pocket knives, how to choose a good pocket knife, the rules, safety, and the care of a pocketknife. This will reinforce what we covered last week and expand upon it.
On Monday, January 23rd, we will complete the whittling chip course by having the scouts practice what they learned with apples, bars of soap, and if time permits we may allow some of them to use other pocket knifes to try whittling a piece of wood.
- For Bears this course will complete the Bear Claws Adventure and allow your Bear to earn his Whittling Chip Card.
- For 1st year Webelos this isn’t a requirement for rank but the training is required to allow your Webelos to earn his Whittling Chip Card. The first year den leader may opt to skip the hands on portion of the training and work on other requirements.
- For 2nd year Webelos this is one of the requirements for the Arrow of Light Scouting Adventure.
- For returning Webelos who have already earned their Whittling Chip Card, this training is required by the pack in order to upkeep the privilege of the whittling chip.
- We may or may not have activities that allow the use of a pocketknife and having a whittling chip card is a requirement to participate in such activities.
Attached below are a parent letter describing the course, a copy of safety rules and care tips they can keep, and a parent permission slip. Your scout must sign the permissions slip to acknowledge the rules, and a parent or guardian must also sign the slip acknowledging the rules and giving the scout permission to participate and earn his whittling chip. This slip along *MUST* be turned no later than Monday January 23rd. Without this, your scout cannot earn his whittling chip.
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