Old Hickory Knives Customized

U

utah_fish

Joined
Oct 21, 2011
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877
Bought an old butcher knife and an old carver and shortened them based on some photos that others have posted; then had some nice sheaths made for them. The butcher knife is now 10.50 inches with a 6 inch blade and the carver is 10.25 inches with a 5.50 inch blade. I REALLY like the way they came out and how balanced they are. Next trip I'll be trying them out. The sheaths are great but I'm going to dye them dark brown as the red is a bit much for my tastes. Comments? Got any photos of ones you've done?

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Just be careful when you get busy working on something, lay it down, then go to pick it up again. There is no way to tell by feel if you are edge up or edge down. I have almost laid my thumb open by putting it on what I thought was the back of the blade, but it was flipped the wrong way, edge up. :rolleyes:

Beyond that, they will take a real nice edge and sharpen up easily. Good job.
 
Simple Man said:
Just be careful when you get busy working on something, lay it down, then go to pick it up again. There is no way to tell by feel if you are edge up or edge down. I have almost laid my thumb open by putting it on what I thought was the back of the blade, but it was flipped the wrong way, edge up. :rolleyes:

Beyond that, they will take a real nice edge and sharpen up easily. Good job.
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That's good advice regardless of the knife. My hands both bear some marks from "learning." Nothing too severe but I have gotten a lot more careful over the years with my knives. What I like about these is the spine thickness. As others have mentioned, many of the blades now are so thick because of the "tacticool" and batoning movements. I admit, I have done some batoning, but I always bring a small saw and an axe and what I really use a knife for is slicing and cutting. Anything up to 3/32 is cool with me. Probably going to sell some of my thicker bladed knives. The vintage fixed blades are almost always thinner. Not all, but most.
 
Yup. Most my users are "directional" handled, but I grabbed an old one similar to that last night doing some landscaping so it is still fresh on my mind.

The thin knife works much better in many situations, I was splitting a 16' roll of straw erosion matting to two 8' sections and a thicker knife would have bound up much more.
 
Look great. I was eyeballing one of the new big butcher knives to rehandle. But so far, I have been able to rsist.
 
Those look really good. I'm looking for a similar belt knife actually. I like the clip point quite a bit. I may have to play with some this winter.
 
Old Hickory has a 6" butcher knife (I've seen it called "cabbage knife") that's a pretty good belt knife already. I straightened and sharpened the top of the point for dis-articulating joints and such.
I like that cut-down carver though.
 
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I have an eight inch butcher that I use around the yard and in the woods to clear brush (I originally bought it to clear the brush around wild blackberry bushes) and I'll probably pick up a ten inch or so one to grind down into a Rezin Bowie type knife and rehandle it.
The thing clears brush like there's nothing there, you can't do that with a thick blade. It sharpens up very well also, nice thin edge.
 
I believe it was Tim Stetzer did an article in Backwoodsman about turning an old Old Hickory into a camp knife. Shortened the blade, and put stripes on the handle. Did a really good job too. I got some great deals on Carvel Hall and Tramontina kitchen block sets, have some Victorinox kitchen blades, two Spydercos and some other name brand knives, but none can match the heavily patina'd Old Hickory sitting in the drawer. A buddy of mine is a world famous chef who has lost more kitchen knives than most would probably dream of, but swears by old carbon steel knives for use.
 
Here's a set I made up. The knife is an old hickory skinner with the impressed "forge work" ground off. The sheaths are rawhide over veggitan with Lakota symbols. These knives take a wicked edge.

Regards

Robin

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Robin
I have probably said this before...your leather work ROCKS!! so do your sharp artworks
 
Pipeman said:
Here's a set I made up. The knife is an old hickory skinner with the impressed "forge work" ground off. The sheaths are rawhide over veggitan with Lakota symbols. These knives take a wicked edge.

Regards

Robin

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Outstanding work!
 
Thanks guys, here's another, this one with leather scales.

Regards

Robin
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Pipeman said:
Here's a set I made up. The knife is an old hickory skinner with the impressed "forge work" ground off. The sheaths are rawhide over veggitan with Lakota symbols. These knives take a wicked edge.

Regards

Robin

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Great handle on that skinner- I like the curve on it.
I never thought of grinding off those hokey hammer marks.
 
I really want to get a set of Old Hickory knives to use in my kitchen because that's what my mom has used for over 35 years now. She got a set as a wedding gift and still going strong to this day. I've read that the new ones are not the same as the old ones though so I've been searching and searching for a set of the old ones but no luck so far. Are you guys finding them at garage sales or online and what am I looking for to know they are the older thicker ones? Love what the OP has done with those two they look great!
 
I cruise the estate and garage sales buying all the O.Hickory and other carbon steel knives I can find. Great investment at .50 to $3. I like to put Axis antler or mesquite scales on them.
 
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