Old Hickory vs. Russell Green River?

OH calls it a butcher knife. Baryonyx calls it a machete. Ellstin Limehouse is the character from Justified who came immediately to mind when I first saw it.
 
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I wish I could find these Green Rivers in Canada. The single one I have found, the guy wants over 60 dollars for.

I do love the full flat, thin grind of the Russell
However, for me, the handle is just much too small and prefer to take an Old Hickory and thin out the grind. Both are soft enough to do so with a file if you have some patience.

So cheap in the states may as well try both!
 
Call me crazy, but the one I'm most interested in is the old hickory clip point parer.
I think it would be a nice little carbon steel EDC fixed blade.
 
Call me crazy, but the one I'm most interested in is the old hickory clip point parer.
I think it would be a nice little carbon steel EDC fixed blade.
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I thought the same. Rehandled and modded the blade to a drop point.
 
Here is the 14” OH and the 5” Russell. I can’t compare the factory edges. The OH came from Baryonyx, and had already been breathed on; it was quite good. The Russell edge was excellent out of the box, an excellent paper slicer, and needed only a couple of minutes on the steel to be about as good as I can get it with my meager skills.

Surprisingly, the blades are the same thickness, 2mm on my Snap-On metric crescent wrench, the closest thing to a micrometer close at hand. The Russell blade looks thinner at first, possibly because the texturing on the wider OH blade creates the illusion of greater substance, together with the multiple planes of the saber grind. The Russell also has a partial distal taper extending the last couple of inches, from the angle of the clip to the tip, that enhances the impression of thinness.

The Old Hickory handle came well finished, and looks original. It does not appear to have been sanded, yet the scales match up smoothly with the tang. The scales on the Green River match the tang pretty well, not as smoothly as the OH, with some sharp corners and rough edges from the coarse checkering. To avoid splinters, which seemed possible, I smoothed the handle a little with some 220 grit before applying some flame followed by beeswax. The handle of the Green River is quite a bit shorter than the one on the Old Hickory, but of course this is a much smaller knife.

I look forward to taking this knife to my son’s house for comparison with the 7” OH I gave him in August.

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Creaky Bones, Nice job on re-handling that Green River Sheep Skinner, and I like the GR logo better than I do the Old Hickory logo. John
 
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Old Hickory 6” came today. I have been curious about this knife for a while. I saw the price had come down most places to about twenty bucks, which triggered the impulse finger.

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The grind on the 6” blade is higher, and presumably thinner than on the 7” butcher knife. They look to be ground from the same embossed stock.

The Green River is shorter in the blade and in the handle than the 6” OH.

The 6” Old Hickory is the only one that comes with its own sheath. I think the leather on the Kabar sheaths is a little better, but the sheath retains the OH securely without a retention strap. It is also slim enough to drop into a pocket. The GR will slide right out if you hold it upside down without the strap.

The sheath for my USMC Kabar fits the 7” butcher perfectly, but I don’t need two of those. Since I will never carry any of these knives on my belt, the ugly workup of cardboard anf gorilla tape will protect it on the shelf or in a bacpack.

The conventional wisdom holds that the flat grind of the GR cuts better than the 7” Sabre grind. Presumably, the thinner grind of the 6” knife will improve its performance. I don’t know that I am qualified to make that judgment, certainly not until the weather gets better.

Of the three, the Green River is still the knife I would prefer to have with me, but I will continue to play with all of them. The little OH is a pretty appealing package, though. I really like the fit of that sheath. There are quite a few fixed blades I would pocket carry if their sheaths fit like that.


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Green river are made by Dexter Russel. D.R. knives were used in all the chicken and fish plants when I was young. These knives where inexpensive, took a beating and held up to abuse.
 
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Anyone else crigne when watching the BBQ Pit Boys stirring food in a cast iron skillet with their Old Hickory? Makes me want to send them a $1 spoon. I'm like WTF? dudes????
 
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