Old Hickory for Bushcraft?

E

engle's-wilder

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Nov 18, 2010
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I've heard that Old Hickory knives will give Mora's a run for their money... My question is would an Old Hickory be any good for Bushcraft? How thin are the blades of those things? Would it really hold up like a Mora?

thanks!:D
 
Back in the days of the old frontier, the explorers and cowboys and buffalo hunters and mountain men used knives similar to the Old Hickory line. Look up "trade knives" and see what they remind you of. They were wood handled, high carbon, thin bladed, and meant for cutting rather than prying or other tactical use.

Old Hickory would do fine for camp knives, butcher knives, skinning knives, or bushcraft. That's what they were designed to do. We had someone recently cut down an Old Hickory into a Nessmuk. :)
 
old hickorys are fine for most light activities. i would'nt try any batonning with them. it's always nice to acquire tools as economically as possible but persons spending extended time in the sticks should'nt cut corners too much on some of the most basic important equipment in rural areas.--dennis
 
The Old Hickory knives are great ones to experiment with and they are cheap enough you won't feel bad about trashing one. One of my favorite butchering tools is an Old Hickory paring knife I reground into a mini-boning knife.

I would think they are comparable in quality to the carbon steel Moras...with the added bonus of full tang construction...so they may be better in a way. Because they are kitchen knives they won't have sheaths, so you'll need to either buy or make one. Personally I like making my own sheaths, so that's not a big deal for me.

Hmmm...I feel a project coming on. :)
 
I've got a set I've been using in the kitchen for years and I like them a lot for that puspose.

FWIW, the paring knives that would be roughly the same size as a Mora are not full tang. Also thinner than the Moras I've had. But I'm not a bushcrafter, so I can't comment on whether they'd be suitable.

The larger ones are full tang, and, as Esav pointed out, are pretty close to the trade knives used by frontiersman back in the day.

Also, you might want to check the reproduction trade knives Ragnar carries.

http://www.ragweedforge.com/HistoricalKnifeCatalog.html#trade
 
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Bushcrafting must be a very exacting thing, because apparently it can only be done with a very specialized knife meeting an exacting set of specifications. At least that's the impression I get from all the posts I've read over the past couple of years asking if certain knives are suitable for it. :)

I would think almost any reasonable knife would work, but for some reason it seems to be that if you don't have a guardless knife with a Scandi grind them you're just not equipped to survive in the wild. Forgive me if I don't understand. :)

Thicknesses (spine measured one inch from the handle):

Old Hickory paring knife (well worn) 0.062"
Old Hickory chef knife (relatively new) 0.075"
New Mora Clipper (carbon) 0.085"
Traditional birch/laminated Mora 0.104"
 
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I don't have a micrometer, but Ragnar says the 3 and 1/4" and 4" Old Hickory paring knives he sells are .052.

I think bushcraft means going out into the wild and carving wooden spoons--you need a dedicated 4" scandi-grind speerpoint blade in O1 steel with a sheath that has a ferro rod holder for that! ;)

Seriously though, you might want to ask in Wilderness and Survival--surely there are folks there who've used OHs on the woods. I just know they work to carve turkey.
 
KeithAM said:
Seriously though, you might want to ask in Wilderness and Survival--surely there are folks there who've used OHs on the woods.
Click to expand...

Good idea. I'm going to move this there for more input from a different forum.

I just know they work to carve turkey.
Click to expand...

Stayin' alive means gettin' down -- in the kitchen or the wilds! :D
 
elkins45 said:
Bushcrafting must be a very exacting thing, because apparently it can only be done with a very specialized knife meeting an exacting set of specifications. At least that's the impression I get from all the posts I've read over the past couple of years asking if certain knives are suitable for it. :)

I would think almost any reasonable knife would work, but for some reason it seems to be that if you don't have a guardless knife with a Scandi grind them you're just not equipped to survive in the wild. Forgive me if I don't understand. :)

Thicknesses (spine measured one inch from the handle):

Old Hickory paring knife (well worn) 0.062"
Old Hickory chef knife (relatively new) 0.075"
New Mora Clipper (carbon) 0.085"
Traditional birch/laminated Mora 0.104"
Click to expand...


Don't confuse surviving in the wild with bushcrafting. They are not the same thing. ;)
 
Pretty sure that they are now discontinued from Ontario so buy what you can now.

They make great woods blades. Put one on a belt sander and thin out the edge and they cut pretty darn good.

If you get them cheap and want a project ... you can cut down one of the thicker butcher knives ... some have over 10" blades ... and make a pretty stout 4" to 5" field blade.
 
Old Hickory's are still very much in production. I love them for the woods.

But, not all Old Hickory's are suited for hard use. I prefer the 10" Butcher cut down a bit and rehandled. I have been beating on the same one for over a year, and yes batoning it quite often thru some nasty stuff. And it keeps going.

Here are some side by side shots for thickness.

From left to right, and older Old Hickory skinner, a Modified 10 incher, an 8 inch butcher, a modified 7 incher, and a Green River sheath knife.

DSCN2928.jpg


DSCN2926.jpg
 
I've batoned my Old Hickory with no problems. But I was batoning 1" diameter sticks in half to get a fire going. Not batoning logs in my backyard as a survival test duuuuuudeee.... :)
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Back in the days of the old frontier, the explorers and cowboys and buffalo hunters and mountain men used knives similar to the Old Hickory line.
Click to expand...

The trade knives, or at least some of them, were called "Green River" because of that being stamped on the blade by the maker. Green River knives were made in Greenfield, Massachusetts by J. Russell. The factory was started in 1832-34 to make butcher and kitchen knives. Close to 60,000 Russell Green River knives per year were shipped to the West for several years. Ultimately it gave rise to all of trade knives being called Green Rivers, just as some today call all tissue "Kleenex" or sodie-waters "coke".

It also led to the saying of "Give it to him up to Green River" meaning stab all the way to the hilt.

See pictures of some of the styles at
http://www.crazycrow.com/green-river-knives

The style that I associate with the mountain men trade knives is on the page as the "Buffalo Skinner."
 
As Scab pointed out, they are the quintessential kit knife for modifying. There must be thousands of nessy's cut from the 7" butcher out there. They work great, they baton great. Just don't pry with them.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
We had someone recently cut down an Old Hickory into a Nessmuk. :)
Click to expand...

I'm one of several who have done this. It's one of my favorite knives. It is a little thinner than some people like, but it really helps the cutting geometry...it's a heck of a slicer. And after all, the Nessmuk knife was designed to be paired with an axe and folder for other work. Old Hickory knives are great! :thumbup:
 
Go to lots of garage/yard/rummage sales. I have picked up every imaginable type of kitchen knife. A lot were $.50-5.00. CAUTION------this could be an addictive practice!!!!!! Hello,i'm Henry. I'm a Hickory-holic. CAUTION, my car brakes for garage sales!
 
elkins45 said:
Bushcrafting must be a very exacting thing, because apparently it can only be done with a very specialized knife meeting an exacting set of specifications. At least that's the impression I get from all the posts I've read over the past couple of years asking if certain knives are suitable for it. :)

I would think almost any reasonable knife would work, but for some reason it seems to be that if you don't have a guardless knife with a Scandi grind them you're just not equipped to survive in the wild. Forgive me if I don't understand. :)

Thicknesses (spine measured one inch from the handle):

Old Hickory paring knife (well worn) 0.062"
Old Hickory chef knife (relatively new) 0.075"
New Mora Clipper (carbon) 0.085"
Traditional birch/laminated Mora 0.104"
Click to expand...

nah, even my Spetsnaz shovel can perform "bushcraft"........you DO NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM need a "specialized bushcraft" knife. Anyone that says so is just MARKETING a cliche.
 
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