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Old Hickory as Kitchen Knives

kgd

kgd

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
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Okay, my wife is getting tired of the 3 star Henkels and wants to upgrade the butcher, small butcher and pairing knives. I got to thinking about how, if we bought some Old Hickery's I could, well, kind of use all that extra cash to buy some safe queens or other less used but highly prised outdoor knives :o. Then again, I don't want to cheat my wife out of a good set of knives cause when she likes her knives, that means she respects the knives I like.

I've heard good stories in the past about well seasoned Old Hickory's and their legendary ability to take an edge. I'm asking fellow forumites who uses Old Hickory's regularly for kitchen fair. What are their ergo's like and do they stand up to daily kitchen use with a little patina help?

Or should I just bite the bullet and get her a set of Mac knives (seem to be a great price/performance chef grade knife).

Thanks for your advice.
 
I've got an old hickory with the blade stamped Case XX. Picked it up at the army surplus for $9. Sharpest knife in the kitchen, but it is pretty crappy looking and does rust. Great value though and will save you some dough!
 
I've used old hickory knives as well, good knives. They don't rust if you take care of them, and you could polish up the wood. Oiling the wood~taking care of them is important, but not that hard to do.
 
Let me get this straight.
Your wife wants to upgrade from Henkels and you have the b*lls to give her Old Hickory knives as a replacement?

Hope your couch is comfy....
 
"Sharpest knife in the kitchen, but it is pretty crappy looking and does rust."

Amen. They cut real nice but look like crap, cheap thin stamped carbon steel and cheap wood handles. Your wife will NOT regard this as an upgrade! What I suggest is you go to Bed Bath & Beyond & check out their knives, then see what you can do on Ebay. I found I really liked the Calphalon Katana series of damascus blades, and picked up several for $30-40 each on the bay. Those knives are sweet!

Seriously, if she can actually tell the difference in kitchen knife quality, you should get her something that looks nice & cuts like a laser. THEN when you want to spend money on your knives, which you probably use less frequently than she does hers, well she'll be more appreciative of why you need to spend those bucks on quality. Get her some Old Hickorys and you'll be buying chinese $5 folders for the next couple years . . . . .

[I should add that my parents have an Old Hickory butcher knife that is several decades old, and it is of noticeably higher quality than the new ones - I just bought 2 a couple months ago and was disappointed].
 
Okay, these responses make sense to me and thanks for your input. I guess from past posts praising these things I wanted to know if they were the 'mora' of the kitchen knife.
I understood that they needed extra care being carbon, but was also drawn to the fact that they are carbon and would be so easy to touch up and keep razor sharp. Perhaps I will try out a couple of paring knives just to see if I like them.

I will probably go with selected Mac knives or something from A.J. Russell.
 
I use Old Hickorys in the kitchen plus some other non stainless knives. The Old Hickorys are ok for the money but the workmanship matches the price. They sharpen easy and take a good edge but don't hold an edge well in my experience. Maintenance is not a big issue. I sanded the scales flush with the steel in the tang and gave the grip a good coat of epoxy and this has stood up well. The blades need to be cleaned after use but I don't find rust to be a major issue if you take a little care. The Dexter Russell knives are still available in the traditional line and in my view are much better quality, both in terms of initial fit and finish and edge holding.
 
Comparing Mac knives to Old Hickory knives is akin to comparing a Lexus to a Saturn. The Japanese make the best kitchen knives in the world. Don't settle for less.
 
Well, there is no doubt that Old Hickory knives have been getting the kitch work done for a 150 years or so. I have quite a few of them and as stated, you have to take care of them to keep them looking good.
 
Get her a nice set of Wustofs or Upgrade to Shun. Old Hickory is NOT an upgrade. They are very funcitonal but suck to look at. You have to be a function over form type person to appreciate them, and even then . . .
 
get her a victorinox kitchen knives. they have been rated very highly by culinary web sites check them out you wont be sorry.
 
+2 on the Shuns. Take from me it, Nice kitchen knives are gateway drugs for the women. I bought my wife her own BRk@T Kitchen utility knife and had her sit with me while I polished the Convex edge. The Showed her the ritual of using and cleaning a Nice kitchen knife. She was less than impressed..... then she used it... The change was instant. She is into it now. She wants to learn how to sharpen, and Her Cooking has imporved as she is finding joy in beautiful knife work. She actually reminded me the other day...the right tool for the right job.

Your wife deserves the best tools as she toils everyday to cook for you. Love begets love.

By her Some Shuns or look at the expanding Line of BRk&T Kitchen knives.
 
You might try a Warther kitchen knife too. They're a wee bit more than Old Hickory knives but still very inexpensive and, from what I've ready, quite high quality.

BTW, nothing wrong with getting her ONE cheap (but good) Old Hickory or Warther and seeing how she likes it. If they're not her thing, what are you out, $15 tops? :rolleyes:

Lastly, regarding the rust factor ..... the rust you will get on these knives if you leave 'em wet (lying in the sink, for instance) comes off easily with the green scrubby side of the sponge. It's really not a big deal. I have an old carbon Dexter boning knife that was my grandfather's and it's my wife's go-to knife whenever there's some serious cutting to be done in the kitchen. The other knives in our block? German Henckels.
 
I suggest letting the lady try a bunch of different knives for fit to her, and what she likes, and getting these.

I am old school, "fit" to user is very important, whether it be firearms or knives or anything else be it tools or other.

User has to like "tools" , and ladies are not dumb or stupid.
Ladies have a right to have "pretty" , "cute" , "neat" or "handsome" tools of their own.

Trying some various knives to see if they fit her hand, and the balance fits her is just smart.
After all, ladies do allow guys to try before they buy, and get "tools" they want.

Ladies, already know to NOT go out and try to pick out some items for others, be they ladies or gents.
This lessens arguments and disappointments.

Relationships, are in my opinion , should be open and honest, and none of this behind the back to save money for selfish reasons.

--

Old Hickory I like, I grew up with these, and these knife sets were used not only in the Kitchen, also on the property for gardening and other work, hog killing time, field dressing game and fish.

Still are in my neck of the woods, Heck I am a guy and take Old Hickory's out to do these same duties.

Sure some ladies have tried some nice knife sets, either those of friends, or attending a cooking seminar or whatever.
Some have bought a knife, or even a whole set.

Honest to goodness, sure are a LOT of Old Hickory's still being used in conjunction with the nice knife sets in my neck of the woods...
 
Thanks for all the suggestions folks. I've been keeping my eye on the gorgeous Barkies, but dang wouldn't I be jealous if I got a Barky in the kitchen before I had one in hand! Then again, perhaps this is the way to get the collection going!

I personally like the damascus of the Shun's, but my wife doesn't. She took one look at them at Cabellas (believe it or not they had a set on display there) and was weirded out by the 'cracked knife that costs $200.00'. I tried to explain what damascus steel was but she just wasn't taking to it whatsoever. I'll try to research some of the other suggestions as well.

Also, yes I think I will by a couple of Old Hickory's and test them out, even if they end up going to another home later on. Part of me just likes the idea of a thin sharp carbon kitchen blade and I guess I just want to put it to practice to see what it is like.
 
You don't give the cook second rate tools so that you can have expensive toys. On the other hand I wouldn't waste money on hype (Cutco) or fancy names.

I see no reason to even own a butcher knife (large or small). What you need are chefs knives. For a woman it depends a bit on her preference, but she needs one with an 8 to 10 inch blade which can dice or chop a load of veggies as well as push cut through a whole head of lettuce or a melon. For utility work something like a 6 or 7 inch santoku is good to have. A 4-inch utility knife (still shaped somewhat like an undersized chefs knife) is great to have. A real slim paring knife is also a must. A boning knife is good to have, but women often use these for the wrong jobs so I tend to leave them out of the mix. The 4-inch utility knife will do most of the job. A pointless Usuba (vegetable knife) is nice to have.

I would take her to some good cutlery store or Williams Sonoma to see and handle the knives. The handling and the look of the knives will be very significant to her. She probably won't appreciate the subtleties of the blade designs as much as the feel and look of the handles. Her hands are smaller than yours and she doesn't have the same arm strength so you need to fit the knives to her.

This is a chance to make points with your wife and help her to appreciate knives more. Use it as an opportunity to do the right thing.
 
Another approach is to give her a sample of a knife to try and see if she would want others from the same maker. I would get her a MAC Original-series starter set and see if she likes them. When I let women try these at the soup kitchen they consider all other knives as defective: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=10129 These are my two favorite models. The utility knife is particularly thin and slices like a laser. The back-tilted paring knife works well on a cutting board or held in your hand. It does a nice job of peeling potatoes for example. These knives fit a woman's hands particularly well.
 
Could you clarify the grade of your Henckels,I have never heard of three star. Four star,Five star, Four star II,but not three star. How many men on the blade and where were they made.
 
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