Old Hickory Kitchen Knives

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kenk

Joined
Oct 5, 2004
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Does anyone use Old Hickory kitchen knives? I only recently noticed that they are made by Ontario Knife.

I bought a shorter Old Hickory butcher knife many many (25ish) years ago intending to use it as a cheap throwaway for use in digging up plants during a field botany course in college. I found a cheap sheath for it and used it a lot.

When I was done with the class I was stunned at how well it held up. It cleaned up and took an edge like nothing I'd seen before. My only experience with blades before that was a Camillus Boy Scout pocketknife, a Buck 500 folder (nice edge on that too), and a Buck Special 119 fixed blade (never really took a good edge).

It now sits in my kitchen. My wife won't touch it since I warned her that the carbon blade will rust of left soaking in water. No doubt it is the sharpest knife in the kitchen.
 
I got an old Ka-Bar butcher knife from my Grammy , it is old and doesnt look the best but it cuts like no tommorrow.
 
Congrats kenk- you've just entered the wonderful world of cheap carbon steel knives!

Old Hickory, Dexter-Russell, and Opinel are great cutters for any amount of money. For a real eye opener get one of the Opinel paring knives and make up a sheath for it and try that for a while. It makes a great patch knife, bait knife, utility knife...

Now, just for yuks get a Douk-Douk, an Olapi, and a German cat knife, and a Shcrade Old Timer 8OT. Once you use them for a while you'll most likely never be satisfied with the overpriced chisel ground stainless knife magazine wonder of the month knives again! ;)
 
I hear ya jackknife..

I still own my Mercator German Cat knife that I've had since I was a kid almost 30 years agon.. That knife was a real user and it still cuts and holds an excellent edge, I misplaced for years and recently found it and now it's my 'garage knife and it still a user. The handle looks like it's been through the ringer but the blade's still looking good with it's patina. This knife really opened my eyes to carbon blades and flat grinds..
 
Whitehorn-

Had pretty much the same experiance. I got one when I was a kid, it got put away when I started buying "better" knives, and got rediscovered about 10 years ago in an old cigar box on a basement shelf. It's so old it has the wood handle spacer. I used the heck out of it when young, put it back into service when I sold off all my "better" custom and hight end knives. I saw a new one in a catalogue and bought it as I thought they were not made any more. Same knife exept they now use a piece of red plastic for the handle spacer in the butt.

I love cheap flat ground carbon steel knives!!

Stainless? I don't need no steeking stainless!
 
I have more or less given up on stainless. Ats-34 and D2 are as stainless as I get and I still prefer 1095 or something along those lines.
 
I have several that I regularly use - a carving knife that my wife had when I met her, an old boning knife that I picked up used really cheap, and a 10" chefs knife that I purchased new (for all of about $10). They are great performers, and the ones that I have are all very well ground with very thin edges so they cut very nicely. Sometimes I have to get after my wife for leaving one laying in water in the sink, but they take a beating and come right back for more. I have some fancy kitchen knives by companies like Wusthof and Lamson, but the Old Hickory line performs as well for a lot less money. They certainly require more maintenance, but they develop a nice patina with use.

A couple years ago when my daughter got married she told me what she wanted me to get her for a wedding present - a set of German kitchen knives. I fulfilled that request with a set of Wusthof (better and cheaper than Henckels) but I also threw in a few Old Hickory knives for those times when she was doing rough work and didn't want to hurt her pretty knives.
 
I use "Old Hickory" in my kitchen as well as in the food production plant I work at. For a few dollars more, Dexter Russell is a little sturdier.
 
My Sister gave us a set of Old Hickory's when we got married 21 ( :eek: ) years ago. I enjoy keeping them sharp.
 
I used Old Hickory kitchen knives daily before I switched to Spyderco for kitchen duties. I gave my Old Hickory set to my mom several years ago. She still uses them every day.
 
I have a few Old Hickory kitchen knives, and they are great. The edges are rough from the factory, and take a little time reprofile. After you put a good edge on one, it becomes an amazing cutter.
 
My mother-in-law had one. Sharpened it a few times but it didn't hold an edge very well. Wasn't impressed. I do have a Sabatier French chef's knife which we bought 30 years (OK, 35) ago for $5 as it had a cracked handle, which I easily replaced. It is a superb cutter
 
My wife’s family moved to Fort Worth Texas from Italy to the U. S. in the 1930s. They went to work in the meat packing plants that were on the North side of town where stockyards were located. To make a long story short, I inherited some of my relative’s knives. One of the knives was a Dexter boning knife that is about a foot long. One day while talking about our family's history, I told my 16 year old son that I wanted to show him the giant boner that his grandmother had given me. He ran out of the room laughing and calling me a pervert.
 
i have 4 old hickorys that have been in my family since the '50s, they were old back when i was young lol, the smaller one that we use most has lost some width due to being sharpened so many times, mine have been great, i dont think they have ever been oiled, just wiped off, they look stained/etc but work fine, no complaints from me.......
 
My very favorite knitchen knives are old chrome-plated carbon steel chef knives - I have a couple by Case and one Kabar. They cut and sharpen like any other high class carbon blade, but they're lower maintenance. Not stainless-level low maintenance, but close.

And a great old forged French roast slicer - light as air, flexible as green willow, sharp as hell.
 
lambertiana said:
A couple years ago when my daughter got married she told me what she wanted me to get her for a wedding present - a set of German kitchen knives. I fulfilled that request with a set of Wusthof (better and cheaper than Henckels)
Click to expand...

Just curious, how are Wusthof better than Henckels??? I was thinking of getting a set of Henkels Pro S or 5 star one day. I also like the looks of Global knives if any one has some opinions. For now in the kitchen I either use a few Old Hickorys, my Chicago Cutlery block set, or my new Ron Popeil knives (don't laugh they're actually great for the money).
 
In my experience, Wusthof holds an edge better than Henckels. Also, the larger Henckels are not one-piece forged, they use separate tang, bolster, and blade that are welded together. Wusthof can be found for less money, too. I think they are also finished a little better. Other German brands that I think are better than Henckels are F. Dick and Messermeister.
 
I'm a little new here, but what do y'all think about the CutCo knives? My parents have a set.

And does anyone know what specific type of steel Chicago Cutlery knives are made of?
 
lambertiana said:
In my experience, Wusthof holds an edge better than Henckels. Also, the larger Henckels are not one-piece forged, they use separate tang, bolster, and blade that are welded together. Wusthof can be found for less money, too. I think they are also finished a little better. Other German brands that I think are better than Henckels are F. Dick and Messermeister.
Click to expand...

Let me disagree with part of this and agree with part of. Nowadays both Wusthof and Henckels are "pressure forged." That means the hot steel is placed in a die and sqeezed from each end to push the steel into the shape of the blank they want. This process has replaced drop forging in these two factories. The Henckels knives were sintered from about 1998 until earlier last year. But now they are forged in the manner I described.

Some say the steel used in F.Dick knives is a little harder. I haven't been able to detect this hardness personally so the difference would be subtle if it exists at all. Otherwise, the F.Dick forged line are like the others. I would consider them comparable.

I agree with the comment about Messermeister for one very important reason and that is the use of half bolsters. The bolsters in the Messermeister Elite series do not get in the way of maintaining the blade and that is a big deal. Despite this, the chef knives balance quite well. They are heavier, though, than the other brands.

Somebody asked about the steel used in Chicago Cutlery. If you can still find some of the U.S. made knives, they are made with 440A (same as Cutco.) Now all Chicago Cutlery are made in China and the steel used is anybody's guess.

Good cooking.
 
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