The Totin' Chip shows you know how to use a pocketknife, ax, and saw safely and responsibly. It's a trust card: once you earn it, you're trusted to carry and use woods tools at Scouting events. Learn it well, and you'll use these skills on every campout.
Why it's worth it
Totin' Chip is a trust card, and it means something: adults are trusting you to carry and use a knife, ax, and saw safely around other people. With it you can shave tinder, split kindling, and cut firewood on campouts. It's also your first step toward bigger tool work, like trail crews, pioneering projects, and the Paul Bunyan Award.
Start this week
- Read the woods-tool safety section of your handbook this week.
- Ask your patrol leader or Scoutmaster when the next Totin' Chip session is.
- With a parent watching, practice opening, closing, and passing a closed pocketknife at home.
- If you have a pocketknife, ask an adult to show you how to clean it and check whether it's sharp.
Stay safe
- Always clear a safety circle, cut away from your body, and close a knife before you walk anywhere with it.
- Use axes and saws only with adult supervision, and keep a first-aid kit nearby whenever tools are out.
Requirements · 6
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).
Note: Show your Scout leader (or someone they choose) that you understand these responsibilities; your Totin' Chip rights can be taken away if you don't keep them.
- Requirement 1
Read the woods tool use and safety rules in the Scouts BSA handbook and show you understand them
Tip: Read the woods-tool safety rules in your handbook and talk them over with an older Scout or leader.
- Requirement 2
Show how to handle, care for, and use a pocketknife, ax, and saw properly
Tip: Practice with each tool while an experienced adult or older Scout watches. Learn how to pass, sharpen, and store them.
For example: Show that you can pass a knife closed or handle-first, check your safety circle at arm's length, split kindling with an ax on a chopping block, and saw a log that's supported so the cut doesn't pinch the blade.
- Requirement 3
Use a knife, ax, and saw as tools, never as toys
Tip: Treat tools with respect. Only use them for real jobs, never to show off or play around.
For example: Tools as tools means real jobs: shaving tinder, cutting cord, sawing firewood. Throwing knives at trees, carving on picnic tables, or chopping to show off are toys, and they can cost you your card.
- Requirement 4
Follow every safety rule that protects other people
Tip: Always check your safety circle and keep others out of it before you use a tool.
- Requirement 5
Respect property: cut living or dead trees only with permission and a good reason
Tip: Never cut live trees or carve on property without permission and a good reason.
For example: A real example: your patrol wants poles for a lashing project. Instead of cutting saplings, you ask the camp ranger, who points you to a pile of downed wood you're allowed to use.
- Requirement 6
Commit to following the Outdoor Code
Tip: Learn the Outdoor Code and think about how it applies when you're using tools outdoors.
For example: Talk about how the Outdoor Code's promise to be careful and considerate applies to tools: no carving names into trees, no cutting live branches, and no hacking at stumps around the campsite.
Ask yourself
- Why do you think adults trust Scouts with knives and axes, and how will you keep that trust?
- What's one safety habit you used to skip without thinking?
- How would you speak up if a friend was using a tool unsafely?
- What job at camp are you looking forward to now that you have your card?
Good questions to ask the leader teaching your Totin' Chip
- What's the most common tool injury you've seen at camp, and how could it have been prevented?
- How can I tell when a knife or ax needs sharpening?
- What should I do if I see someone breaking the tool rules?
Helpful reads
For leaders & parents
- Hold a Totin' Chip session early in the year so new Scouts are ready for their first campouts.
- Model safe habits yourself and treat the card as a real sign of trust.
People & places that can help
- Scoutmaster and older Scouts — Can teach and sign off Totin' Chip.
- Scouting America (opens in a new tab) — Official safety guidance.
- Guide to Safe Scouting (opens in a new tab) — Scouting America's safety rules for activities, including woods tools.
- Scouting America Outdoor Ethics (opens in a new tab) — The Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace, which your Totin' Chip promises to follow.
- Scouting America Safety Moments (opens in a new tab) — Short safety talks you could share at a patrol meeting.
Pairs well with
Helps you earn
Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.