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Old Hickory knives?

#1
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9/26/09 at 8:03pm
  • Joined: September 2009
  • Post Count: 13
I'm a big fan of carbon steel knives. Currently, I have an old Dexter chef's knife and Chinese vegetable cleaver. I use these two knives for most work, but would like to add a paring knife and maybe a utility or boning knife.

Since I wouldn't use them as often, I don't need anything special, just something that will take an edge and is relatively easy to touch up.

I've seen Old Hickory knives while searching for carbon steel on that big auction website. Prices seem pretty good - are they decent knives?

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#2
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9/27/09 at 2:05am
  • Joined: August 2000
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I've used a few older O.H.'s and they seemed to perform well.
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#3
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9/28/09 at 10:56am
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They're made very cheaply from what's usually an excellent steel, 1095. The edges are almost always very poorly ground, and will require substantial work to get them right. 1095 is ordinarily quite tough, OH usually heat treats in a way that accentuates toughness over strength -- which can make the knives extremely difficult to sharpen. This is more true of newer OH than older. But not always true in either case.

The handles are crude at best, but you can make them a lot better with a good oiling.

Over the years I've owned or tried a few OH that were just awesome, some that were usable after a lot of work, and some were junk. Pig in a poke, but they're so cheap you really have nothing to lose.

On the other hand, if you're looking for dependable, professional use cutlery at a good price you aren't going to get better value than Forschner Fibrox or Rosewood(!), or one of Dexter's professional knives. Dexter's carbon knives are very inexpensive and are light years better than OH in terms of knowing what you're going to get.

Hope this helps,
BDL
De gustibus aut bene, aut nihil. Chekhov
www.cookfoodgood.com
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#4
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10/3/09 at 2:10am
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Thanks BDL. That was the kind of info I was looking for. I was thinking about suggesting Old Hickory knives to my friends/family who are interested in upgrading their cutlery, but aren't knife nuts.

Sounds like the quality/materials are a little hit & miss, but the prices are reasonable for a beater/backup knife. I might get a few to practice/experiment with and maybe stick in my roll for cooking away from home.
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#5
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10/3/09 at 3:01am
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I strongly recommend rubbing TUNG OIL into the handles. Real, pure TUNG OIL can be gotten at any quality paint store and not Home Depot which carries a Formby's product containing just a little T.O. Get the pure stuff.

Rub several coats into the handle and the final coat should be a 50 50 mixture of T.O. and minieral spirits for hardness.
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#6
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12/22/09 at 1:15pm
  • Joined: December 2009
  • Location: USA
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I knew an Army Ranger, who was a meat cutter, and he said that the Army used Ontario Old Hickory knives. Ontario has the contract with the Army to manufacture the M-9 bayonet. The last I had heard, was that he became a Ranger again, and is deployed to Iraq. I do not have the Old Hickory line cutlery. I bought another knife by Ontario, and it was a decent knife, but since it was not a kitchen knife, I will refrain from stating anything further.
I have not used tung oil on my wood-handled knives, but I have used boiled linseed oil. Boiled linseed oil is flaxseed oil with chemical solvents to accelerate the drying/evaporation process. I have heard that either tung or boiled linseed oil would suffice. I thoroughly rub the oil into the wood over a few days in order to saturate the wood, but not to the point, in which it becomes gummy or tacky.
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