Old Hickory Modification Ideas

[Triquetra]

Ok, I ordered some OH knives to do some modifications. I was going to wait and post pictures but decided that before I get too far that I would get a little advice. I bought 3 of the paring knives. My goal is to make 1 neck knife for myself and 2 starter knives for my kids. My kids (11 yr old daughter and 5 yr old son) haven't handled my knives much so I wanted to start letting them do some basics to get used to them. This will be totally supervised. The only modification that I have done so far is to cut sort of a choil in one and round the edges a little. Is this a sufficient enough safety to guard against fingers slipping up on the blade? Are there any other suggestions as to how I should shape the handle? For my neck knife I think that I am going to mount it in an antler tip to match the firesteels that I posted a while back. The butcher knife I am considering putting stag handles on. Anyone know of a good source? I don't plan on cutting or modifying the blade on this any. As a side note, what kind of edge should they have. The current ones are horrible. There is no bevel. It's almost straight like a scandi grind. I don't think this is intentional but I may be wrong. All 4 blades have what I would call a bur all the way down one edge. Sharpening is going to take some work. This ended up being a longer post than I planned but I would appreciate all ideas and suggestions. I promise to post pics when I'm done.

 

[1whitefoot]

Interesting project...:thumbup:

May I suggest picking up a few of the other paring knives also,

703 - 3" Paring Knife

I really like this design,
just round off the sharp corners on the handle a little.

I have several of these and use them quite often.

One thing,
If you might be getting the knives wet,
than you might want to seal the area between the wood and metal.
Big rust problem there.
If you take the handle off than it's easy to do,
if with the handle on then maybe some sealer stuff dribbled in around the cracks, or dip it in varnish,
or even some silicone window sealer for autos.

As for the edges, no problem there, just use a file to rough-shape the edge you want than sharpen as you normally would.

 

[Mitchell Knives]

I think sealing the area between the handle and the blade is a good idea. I've modified several Old Hickory knives, and I usually just round the handles slightly and convex the edge. I think the butcher knife would look nice if you ground the top flat.

 

[Fiddleback]

If you're willing to remove the scales and add some new ones you can add a real guard to the paring knives making them much safer for your kids. Or, just get them Moras to start off.

As to projects with OH knives, they're like modeling clay. Just have fun. The steel is top notch! If you're willing to remove the handles you can really make a beautiful knife.

http://images27.fotki.com/v996/free/85de0/1/1214808/5352835/eb32-vi.jpg?1188913474

 

[Blue Sky]

Sharpening them won't be too hard and in the end you'll have a razor. I have a 6" butcher's knife in the kitchen and it pretty much has taken over all my cutting duties. When I can get it away from my wife, that is. I filed off the bump on top (like EZ suggested) and it looks much better. One of the best knife values going.

How about taking one of the paring knives and turning it into a sheepsfoot, one of the most useful blade styles going IMO. That would make a great user, might just have to do one of those for myself.