Old Hickory and Ontario knives

[alaskanativeson]

I just bought several Old Hickory and Ontario knives off ebay and really had mixed results. I got another Rat 3 D2 which is a fantastic knife, remarkable edge, great sheath, and high quality feel. I also got a Rat 5 D2, this is my first one of these. It's remarkable how much bigger it feels in the hand than the Rat 3. I think I'm going to take a wheel to the micarta slabs and round them out a bit to custom fit them to my hand, but this knife also has a super edge and the feel of a knife that I'll have and use till my death. I am a little disappointed in the sheath, it looks a lot like the Eagle sheath that came with my Kabar Extreme D2 fighting knife, but it's far less quality. If anyone knows where I can get a good nylon sheath like the Eagle, let me know.

The Old Hickory knives are a completely different story. I was buying 2 sets of 5 knives for each of my sisters for Christmas. They still haven't gotten their knives because I wouldn't give a knife to anyone in this condition, I may not give them at all. The handles have a really poor quality feel to the wood, the blades are poorly mounted in the handles, and worst of all every single knife had a rolled edge over to one side. I have used my ceramic rods to straighten out one of the blades. It really bothered me, I guess I'm just spoiled by the quality of the Old Hickory knives I inherited from my mom, who got them from her mom. I wanted to get my sisters matching sets since these are the knives we grew up with in our homes, now they all need immense work to get straightened out. Maybe I'll just send them all to the Tourist (did he disappear around here?)

Is this getting to be normal for Old Hickory? The Ontario Rat knives and the Air Force survival knife I have gotten from them recently are fantastic. It's a shame if this is going to be the case.

 

[Valkman]

I bought a set of Old Hickory a while back and like you I was appalled at the quality - or lack of it. Very poorly made and extremely dull - I had to take them to the grinder to get them sharp.

 

[Myles]

That's disappointing to hear.

I'm still using a set of Old Hickory knives that I've had longer than I can remember, and were used when I got them. Easy to keep razor sharp and tough as nails. Shame to hear that the quality has fallen off.

Then again, I've never had to buy another set - maybe they want more repeat business?

 

[sm]

I too am upset with the recent Old Hickory offerings.

I grew up with OH, and the quality , fit and finish was much better.
It was a "given" - a kitchen with Old Hickory knives and Lodge cast iron cookware, was set for life.

Another reason I am upset, is I also use/ suggest OH paring knifes in teaching knife safety, use, and how to maintain.

Seriously, a kid will will have "their" knife and learn all about safe knife use, understand 1095 carbon steel maintenance,and even learn how to free hand sharpen a knife.

Not to mention how many adults I have suggested they too learn to freehand sharpen on a OH paring knife.


I suggest we all contact OH.
I do not want them go the way of many other knife companies. The fact is, if they continue to allow products to leave the factory as some are, they will.


Tom Krien suggested to me Victorinox Paring knives some time back.

As much as I want[ed] folks to learn how to freehand sharpen with 1095 carbon steel OH paring knives...

Tom is correct.

These Vic paring knives are not expensive, come sharp out of the box.

Yes, good old "traditional and practical" me is taking Tom's advice and suggesting folks get these Vic paring knives.

Sure, look for old OH's in yard sales and the like, and let OH know why.

In the meantime, Vic Paring knives, with a 600 grit diamond pocket stone, is what I recommend folks learn to free hand sharpen , strop with dry leather, or if need a wee bit more between sharpening, 1500 grit emery paper.

DMT credit card size, or EZ-Lap/ Lansky 3" x1" stone with the groove in the center and leather pouch are the diamond stones I suggest and folk are using.

Folks teach folks how to treat them, and too many other companies now defunct, taught us how they wanted to be treated by letting quality degrade.

Since one cannot purchase a quality pocket knife for little monies in carbon steel either, I recommend Vic Pocket Pals and the above diamond stones, and strop methods to learn free hand sharpening.



Related:
For sometime now, for a personal project, I have been using a Vic Spartan for not only Kitchen duty, also other duties.
This Spartan was part of a combo pack with a Classic SD and sold retail for less than $20.