Old Hickory hunter - first impressions.

H

Houlahound

Joined
Aug 2, 2017
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2,996
Firstly I ordered this knife and it was cheaper than the buying a no name junk grocery store knife.

It came with a leather sheath that appears to be internally reinforced with a plastic liner. The sheath is a good a quality as I have seen on much more expensive knives that are looped stitched leather vertical belt danglers.

The handle is very attractive wood attached with two brass rivets. The shape is simple rectangular with rounded edges and with a slight taper thicker at the rear. For such a simple handle it feels very ergo.

I would have preferred some contours to aid grip as there is no handguard or jimping or scale texture. Not sure how slippery the scales could get.

The steel is a high carbon shaving sharp out of the box. I am a fan of basic high carbon steels and do not seek anything higher spec.

The knife is balanced slightly toward the handle which makes it easy to use. There is a heap of belly to cut with and swedge that finishes in quiet a sharp drop point.

The thin stock and belly makes this a very slicey knife.

Would highly recommend, this is a nice, easy to handle quality knife with a good sheath.

I can't comprehend how it can be manufactured and shipped at such a low price. Makes me think we pay too much for comparable production knives.

Hard to explain, the combination of wood, brass, leather, high carbon steel simple drop point design just works for me, I want to carry it with me and make memories together with it. The modern high spec materials and angles somehow alienate me in contrast.

Happy as a pig in poo here.
 
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Well, you've got a knife that probably is as good as what the old mountain men and buffalo hunters carried. I can't see why it wouldn't do anything you need a hunting knife for. Good steel in a plain but versatile design.

As for paying too much for other production knives, most definitely. The more hype behind the brand, the more you've paid too much. Theres a point of diminishing return on stuff. With knives you reach that point pretty fast. Knives like your Old Hickory, Mora number 1's, Opinels and SAK's keep the rest of the 98% of the worlds non knife nuts going.
 
When my wife and I got married back in the mid 70's, I bought a couple of Old Hickory knives from work, a carving knife and a paring knife. When we moved to our current abode, the two knives disappeared. A few years ago, (when I put in a dishwasher) I found them at the bottom of the kitchen cupboard under the drawers. They must have somehow fallen out of the drawer and laid on the floor all that time. The handle on the carving knife was in bad shape, so I threw it out (I really wish I hadn't done that), the paring knife was in a bit better shape, so I kept it but soon forgot about it again. Unfortunately, Old Hickory knives are rather hard to get up here, as I would like to get some new ones at some time.

A few months ago, I found it again and did a little restoring of it and now, when I get some more leather, going to make a sheath for it. The hunter version looks like a good "cheap" fixed blade, but would make a stellar slicer I would think.

Oh and BTW, this baby is sharp.

SdnEese.jpg
 
Everything I've seen on the Old Hickorys are 1095 and listed at 55-57.

I've seen quite a few but never owned one.

Congrats on your new knife.
 
H Houlahound Good choice. :)

The "old fashioned" 1095 with riveted hickory (or maple) grip Old Hickory and Russell Green River hunting and skinning knives (along with their cleaver and "kitchen" knives) are difficult to improve upon for functionality.

Considering that most of their patterns (the buffalo and sheep skinners, "butcher knife", "sheath knife", and 3.5 inch paring knife (which makes for an exceptional Bird & Trout knife, by the way) and double edged "pig sticker" come to mind) have been in production and unchanged since the 1820's/1830's they must have gotten and are doing something right.

Could the "modern" hunting and "bushcraft" knives be a solution looking for a problem that does not exist?
True, a Old Hickory and Russell Green River are not really suitable for batoning, full tang or no ... then again, most people didn't use their knife to fell a tree, build a cabin, or split firewood until decades after World War Two ... (why they want to use a knife for those tasks, which makes a for a lot more work (and takes a lot more time) than using the proper tool, not to mention taking a huge chance on breaking the knife, I'll never figure out.)

I admit my days of hunting and other fun stuff out in the boonies and sticks, are probably over. (blasted no good hip and knee joints. :( ) But even though I'm unlikely to be skinning a buffalo (or Elk, Moose, deer, boar, bear, goat, antelope ...) or be sticking any wild or "domesticated " oinker any time soon, (can oinkers truly be "domesticated" like a bovine, horse/donkey/mule or goat and sheep, or are oinkers like cats, chicken, turkey, duck, swan, goose, and other fowl, and cannot truly be "domesticated"?) I still want a "Buffalo Skinner", "Pig Sticker", a butcher knife (to transform into a Kephart) and a couple other Old Hickory/Russell Green River "old fashioned" patterns.

Thanks to that "stimulus package" (to me) windfall money, I might have enough left after getting the stuff I really need, to get a few "I want but don't really need it" things. :)
 
I can tell you there is a reason they've been around for almost 200 years (not sure when Ontario Knife Co. started making them). They are good TOOLS. They work for what they were designed for and they work well. AND, the thing I like about them the most is that they are fun to modify and "pimp" as the younger generation of knife knuts likes to say. Here's a few I modded for myself and others. The one that looks like a Nessmuk and has a nice patina started is my personal skinning knife. It started out as a Hop knife or the Cabbage knife. I can't remember. I've skinned a few whitetails and wild hogs with it. I've essentially replaced my $150.00 hunting knife with one of these. Highly recommend them as a slicer and skinner. The other one without handles is one I'm taking the 7" butcher knife or Cabbage knife and making a skinner for my son. You can see it's been reprofiled by me for purely skinning tasks. There's a Kephart in there too I made for a customer. 046.JPG 053.JPG 059.JPG Custom Camp Knife (3).jpg Custom Camp Knife (24).jpg Custom Camp Knife (1).jpg I'd love to see more pics of these if anyone has done mods.
 

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Houlahound said:
Firstly I ordered this knife and it was cheaper than the buying a no name junk grocery store knife.

It came with a leather sheath that appears to be internally reinforced with a plastic liner. The sheath is a good a quality as I have seen on much more expensive knives that are looped stitched leather vertical belt danglers.

The handle is very attractive wood attached with two brass rivets. The shape is simple rectangular with rounded edges and with a slight taper thicker at the rear. For such a simple handle it feels very ergo.

I would have preferred some contours to aid grip as there is no handguard or jimping or scale texture. Not sure how slippery the scales could get.

The steel is a high carbon shaving sharp out of the box. I am a fan of basic high carbon steels and do not seek anything higher spec.

The knife is balanced slightly toward the handle which makes it easy to use. There is a heap of belly to cut with and swedge that finishes in quiet a sharp drop point.

The thin stock and belly makes this a very slicey knife.

Would highly recommend, this is a nice, easy to handle quality knife with a good sheath.

I can't comprehend how it can be manufactured and shipped at such a low price. Makes me think we pay too much for comparable production knives.

Hard to explain, the combination of wood, brass, leather, high carbon steel simple drop point design just works for me, I want to carry it with me and make memories together with it. The modern high spec materials and angles somehow alienate me in contrast.

Happy as a pig in poo here.
Click to expand...
Hows the tip? I recently bought the 7" butcher knife and it had major issues, the biggest of which was that the full thickness of the blade went all the way to the tip. Useless for any sort of piercing cuts. Also, the primary and secondary grinds were all over the place (primary was super bad on one side) and the handle was loose out of box. Steel seemed good but the rest was not worth the ~$12 I paid.
 
craytab said:
Hows the tip? I recently bought the 7" butcher knife and it had major issues, the biggest of which was that the full thickness of the blade went all the way to the tip. Useless for any sort of piercing cuts. Also, the primary and secondary grinds were all over the place (primary was super bad on one side) and the handle was loose out of box. Steel seemed good but the rest was not worth the ~$12 I paid.
Click to expand...
Don't be too hard on them. At $12.00 you're pretty much paying for that steel and that's about it. Those are compression rivets. Easy to tighten up with a few light taps of a hammer. The edge always needs touching up on these but once you get it done right, they get super sharp and hold a great edge for a $12.00 knife. And the best part; MADE in the U.S.A.!
 
Hale Storm said:
Don't be too hard on them. At $12.00 you're pretty much paying for that steel and that's about it. Those are compression rivets. Easy to tighten up with a few light taps of a hammer. The edge always needs touching up on these but once you get it done right, they get super sharp and hold a great edge for a $12.00 knife. And the best part; MADE in the U.S.A.!
Click to expand...
It would have taken significant grinding to make that knife usable for me. I mean, the tip was full width of the tang. Not even close to worth my time. I kind off felt ripped off in fact. All the hype I had read about these. Oh well, live and learn.
 
jstrange said:
Is that a photoshop or a new model?
Click to expand...

A new model.
Theres also a mini fillet ( waiting for BHQ to get it, knife center shipping is more though they already have it ) and a few others in the old hickory outdoors line that are coming out this year.
 
Hickory n steel said:
A new model.
Theres also a mini fillet ( waiting for BHQ to get it, knife center shipping is more though they already have it ) and a few others in the old hickory outdoors line that are coming out this year.
Click to expand...
Old Hickory "Outdoors Line". Sounds good, Better blade shapes and easier to just put new scales on them. I hope they have a Kephart.
 
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