Ontario Old Hickory knives, Garbage, or Gold?

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buck110boy

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Sep 29, 2015
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Hey everyone I wanted your opinion on Old Hickory knives, especially the 7" butcher knife, as a bushcraft/camping knife? Please state why you think the knife is garbage or gold. Feel free to share your personal experience with the knives. Thanks for helping me out guys.

Buck110boy
 
I had one of those in my tool bag for years, and it worked fine on a large variety of tasks. But it rusted if you looked at it crosswise near water, so you would need to make a special effort to keep it clean. Frankly, I would rather put that sort of effort into my stripped BK 15, because the Old Hickory is just not a beast like a Becker. It was from my Broke college years and I have since lost track of it, so I can't give you a thickness comparison or anything like that. My ancestors would have loved to have one for "bushcraft," but I think it would only be worth carrying as a retro thing with a backup in my pack.
 
I use an Ontario field knife almost daily in the kitchen. I use the butcher's steel o it before use so I only sharpen it every couple of months. Old Hickory and Ontario are on my good list.

Ric
 
Ontario Old Hickory knives are a great value. they are typically 1095 tool steel, tempered back to about a 52-55 Rockwell. Their thin stock makes them very keen cutters and the softer steel makes them very tough. In my experience, they do not hold an edge nearly as long as my Beckers, but the Beckers are much thicker stock, tempered much harder, to a 57-59 Rockwell (I highly recommend both the BK5 and the BK15, if you can find them now). The Old Hickory knives can also be sharpened in very short order, with simple stones, and their low cost makes them a almost perfect "beater". I would say buy the old hickory and use it hard! Even if it breaks, you are not out that much money.
 
If you want to see one in use, there's a guy on youtube who's done an entire series of videos called "The Adventures of Old Hickory and Me" featuring a 7" Old Hickory butcher knife as his outdoors/bushcraft knife.
 
What is really cool is the modified knives from Old Hickory, where they make a Kephart from an old one.
 
Garbage or Gold? Neither. I have enough regular knives that I really wouldn't consider carrying a kitchen knife unless it is for boning/processing a deer or something. They aren't bad knives for the money, but they tend to be rather soft and dull quickly.
 
I just got one. They are easily sharpened and resharpened with nothing but a butcher's steel. They begin taking a patina, within minutes, if you leave them in contact with food. Just wash and dry them after use and they are a fine kitchen knife that can be had for $11 to $12 shipped.

Joe
 
I love mine and use them every day, but I did modify them to my liking.
These photos are from when I had just finished them and they were still pretty shiny about a year ago. They both have an excellent paint now.
One sits on my butcher block and one sits at my table for ready use.
They stay extremely sharp with a few swipes on the leather strop each day.













The one with the lighter color handle is more like a Kephart.
The darker handle one (Macassar ebony) has a blade shape I like better.
They both started life as Ontario 7" butcher knives.
The original handles were too small in my hand. These fit nicely now with these fatter handles.
 
We like to think the frontiersmen and mountainmen carried a big'o thick Bowie knife. Come to realize an Ontario Butcher knife is exactly what was carried and preferred with either a tomahawk or hatchet.

It's very cool that a over 200 year old design is still being made to the same specs.

I don't have a need for the design.

It's really for processing all the game that feed these early explorers


But I appreciate its rich heritage

The Eskimos modify theres with a longer Handle and use it as a "snow knife"

Very cool
 
Hawgsnawt said:
..... need to see pictures of that please!
Click to expand...

12360412_10207302224049160_4905893298398369641_n.jpg
 
My mother-in-law had one that I frequently sharpened for her. It would go dull cutting through soft butter. Nostalgia aside, there are a lot better kitchen knives available that actually hold an edge.
 
Gold all the way. They're great steel. You can get them scary sharp, they hold an edge well, and are easy to resharpen. I have five vintage ones (4 butcher and one boning) that I'm in the midst of modding and rehandling:

View attachment 643345IMG_0110.jpg
 
It's ironic I find this thread now, as less than an hour ago I found an Old Hickory butcher knife at the local thrift shop.
 
My dad was a butcher (not meat cutter) Old Hickory is all he ever used. I have 5 of them, from 6" boning and 6" skinner to 14" butcher. All have patina so dark they look like they were painted black. Great knives if you actually wanna cut stuff. I'll never Let'em go
 
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