There are a lot of community activities that offer an opportunity to educate others about the importance of knives in our every day lives. These include kid safety days, respect your law enforcement days, heritage days, civic programs, men’s and women’s groups and youth clubs.
General Guidelines:
- Be well prepared
- Have handouts
- Dress appropriately
- Demonstrations are very effective
- If possible, have a display where people arrive or leave
- Discuss the importance of use of knives in our every day lives
- Always stress safety, safety, safety
- Be sure to thank the group for their time and the opportunity to share
Demonstration Topics:
- Safe handling
- Safety in certain activities
- Sharpening
- Different types of knives
- Forging
- Grinding/Shaping
- or you can use a video or PowerPoint presentation on safety or knife-making
Hand-Out Possibilities:
- AKTI’s Safety Pamphlet – My First Knife – available only as PDF – can print two-sided
- Packets requested from various manufacturers
- Information from area knife collectors organizations
- AKTI membership information, decals and brochures – request from the Executive Director
- Community education materials
Ideas for Specific Talks:
Youth and scout groups
- Definitely give a hand-out on safety
- Hands on projects – carving soap, putting together a knife kit
- Questions they typically have: how are knives made? what are they made from? how much do knives cost?
- Stress the importance of them knowing school rules about carrying knives
Cooking knives
- Include information on the proper care of kitchen cutlery
- Present the basic techniques of proper sharpening
- Have information on where to purchase good cutlery
- Have information on where sharpening services are available
Adult groups
- A good opener is to ask what kind of knife they carry or carried as a kid
- Discuss the importance of the knife industry or economic impact of the cutlery industry in the area
- If possible, show an example of a fancy or custom knife with engraving or mother of pearl.
- Encourage them to visit AKTI’s website for more information.
Materials for Presentations
If you have developed any outlines, materials (hand-outs, PowerPoint Presentations, etc), or list of sources for information that would be helpful to others sharing knife education, we would appreciate hearing from you and having the opportunity to include your information on our website for others. Please contact us.