National Knife Collectors Association Inc. ©
As NKCA Members, we strongly encourage our Youth to get involved in knife collecting at an early age. We want them to understand that knives were originally used as tools, not weapons, and should continue to be used as such. We by all means do not want our children or teenagers to misrepresent the use of cutlery at home, in their schools, or in their neighborhoods. Knife collecting, as with any other type of hobby, can be a fun, rewarding, and interesting adventure for children of all ages.
Here at the NKCA we have a Youth Committee consisting of several NKCA Board Members, all of whom have children and/or grandchildren of their very own. They are continually experimenting with new ideas, programs, and services to interest our youth. As previously mentioned, knife collecting is an interesting and enjoyable hobby for people of all ages!
If you have ideas you would like to share with our Youth Committee, please e-mail Youth Committee Chairman, Chuck Bunce at cgbinal@aol.com.
• NKCA Youth Members receive FREE ADMISSION to all NKCA Sponsored & Sanctioned Knife Shows!
Produced by American manufacturer, BEAR & SON, is a 2-bladed Barlow Pattern, with brown jigged bone handles. Each knife has the NKCA shield inserted into the handle and is etched, “2009 NKCA YOUTH KNIFE, 1 of 400.” You must be an NKCA Youth Member to order this knife and only 400 have been produced. These knives are sold on a first come, first served basis.
Garrett Hensley taking a closer look at his newest knife purchase!
Sign up your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or anyone under the age of 18 for only $5.00 and we will send them an NKCA Youth Membership card and a special Youth Membership Button they can wear with pride to all knife shows, events & functions!
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Katie’s Custom Knife Lanyards & Bracelets
At a recent NKCA Show in Tennessee I learned of an NKCA Youth Member with a very interesting and creative knife related business. Her name is Katie Roberts, she is eight years old and lives in Northeast Tennessee.
Katie’s Dad is Custom Knife Dealer Vincent Roberts who owns Fort Henry Custom Knives. Katie came to him earlier this year asking about an “allowance”. Now at eight years old we might wonder what in the world she would spend her money on, but that’s another story. Vince saw an opportunity to teach Katie not only about earning money, but also about business in general.
Katie’s Mom Marie remembered learning to Macramé at a young age. Vince immediately saw a way for Katie to do something similar using MilSpec Paracord, an accessory Vince became very familiar with while serving in the United States Marine Corps.
They purchased a children’s book of knots for Katie and some Paracord and left it to her. At first Katie made one style that Vince hesitantly offered for sale on one of the knife related Forums he frequented, not really knowing if there was any interest in this type of product. To everyone’s astonishment, not only did Katie’s first efforts sell, but when the new owners reported back to the Forums about the quality of Katie’s work she soon had a backlog of orders.
Katie’s parents proudly helped her open her own Savings account, worked with her to establish basic spreadsheets for accounting purposes and helped her create some homemade business cards. Katie’s business has continued to grow and she now keeps a wall map with colored stick pins showing all the different cities and countries where she has shipped her lanyards - from Fort Worth to France and from South Central LA to South Africa, she proudly marks them all on her Map.
Katie later learned to tie several different kinds of knots so that she could offer more styles of lanyards for car/house keys, cell phones and she has now added a very nice survival bracelet to her lineup – all made of colorful U.S. MilSpec 550 Paracord.
For more information visit us online at Fort Henry Custom Knives or call 423.782.9920.
