Ontario Old Hickory knife

J

joepa150

Joined
Mar 15, 2010
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350
Today I was expecting to receive a knife in the mail but the company accidentally shipped me an Ontario Old Hickory Cabbage knife. Since it is about a $8 knife, they told me just to keep it. At first it looked like a crappy knife that I could maybe use for camping. The wood had a few rough spots, the grind on one side only ran 75% of the length while the other side was about 98%,the top of the blade had several rough spots, and it just wasn't sharp.

I just sharpened it, smoothed out the rough spots, sanded the wood, and oiled the wood with mineral oil. It looks like a new knife. From a distance, it looks nicer than my German or Japanese knives in my knife block. They wood is smoother and 3 shades darker without a dry look. Also it is sharp enough to have hair.

Anyone have any experience with these knives?
Also what the heck is a cabbage knife used for (besides the obvious)?


It just seems strange to make a knife just for cabbage. I am going to use it for cutting veggies and fruit.
 
Pictures please! IIRC, they use 1095, a simple but great steel in the kitchen, finely grained, easy sharpening.
 
it's a knife developed to manually harvest veg in the fields.

there's a good following of people liking old hickory knives, especially the vintage stuff since they're usually heat treated much better than the newer stuff, they're harder rockwell wise. made of 1095 which is a tough steel. they take a licking and keeps on ticking kind of thing. people buy the butcher knife and actually use that as a machete. they're that tough. they're light and tough, what's not to like?

=D
 
I have the 14" butcher and it gets used as a machete! It's chopped up to 4" branches without a single bit of damage and very little loss of edge sharpness. A wipe down and a minute on a strop and you wouldn't know it had been out of the sheath.
 
As any one that lived in the Puyallup valley in the old days will tell you, it's for harvesting cabbage in the field. They were mostly sold by the dozen to truck farmers. Funny thing, the rhubarb harvesting knives looked exactly the same but only the box they came in said "rhubarb knives."
 
I bought an Old Hickory cleaver almost 20 years ago. Has been used to cut everything in the kitchen; meat, veg, fish, frozen foods, winter squash. A blade to cut the head off a 3 pound catfish then slice a tomato. IMHO a winner in the best blade for less than $20.
the old sailor
 
My favorite kitchen knife is my 12" Frenc Chef Old Hickory. Scary sharp, very thin and with a few modifications it now is a solid performer. I almost never pass up any decent OH knives I find at the flea market, they're handy to have around and not care too much about abusing.


-Xander
 
The vegetable pickers use it to cut the cabbage off the root to harvest the head of cabbage.
 
I diced a few onions with it yesterday. It cut well but the blade shape wasn't ideal for that task. Still a great knife though.
 
my mother has what I can only assume was once a complete set of old hickory knives, now days I only see the largest, carving knives and such. I'm actually surprised at how well these knives hold up, my parent's don't take care of the knives at all, no oiling, always washed and then tossed in the dish drainer to drip dry, often left in the sink for 24 hours after being used. they have a crazy dark brown patina but they just keep on kicking
 
I have a bunch of Old Hickory knives. I look at them as the Opinels of the fixed blade world. They're cheap and can be a little rough OOTB, but they clean up nicely, are super tough and functional, and are fun and easy to customize. Conga rats on getting your first one as a freebie. :thumbup:
 
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