Let's get the worst out of the way. The handle is untreated wood and sometimes the scales aren't flush. If water soaks into the wood, it tends to swell the grain. The grind that comes with the knife is average, somewhat sharp but only because of the burrs on the edge. Additionally, the steel is carbon, so if there's any water left on the blade, it can rust after a few hours. There's no fingerguard, so if you're stabbing with the knife, you might want to be careful to make sure your hand doesn't slip.

And yet, this is the best fixed-blade knife for the money that you can probably buy. I'm totally serious.

The handle problems can easily be solved by spending half an hour or so sanding the wood down, then sealing the handle with some sort of oil finish for a few hours. I use mineral oil because it's food-safe and never goes rancid. To avoid any rust on the blade, apply a light coat of the same oil on the blade to protect it.

The steel is very well heat-treated 1095 carbon steel, meaning that it's tough as nails, easy to sharpen, and once you hone in a fine edge on it, it holds it for a long time. It's the most bizarre thing. I've bought everything from $100+ Spyderco folding knives to custom-made knives, and out of all of them, nothing takes an edge like my Old Hickory, a knife that I can truly say is straight razor-sharp, after little more than a few minutes on a fine whetstone and a strop.

I've used this knife for everything around the farm and the house, from butchering and gutting chickens, to peeling potatoes and apples, to carving twigs for traps. It handles it all and begs for more. It's not good for chopping large chunks of wood, but in those circumstances, you should be using a hatchet anyway.

I carry it around in a KA-BAR 7" leather sheath, like many others have mentioned in the reviews. It fits very well by friction alone.

If you're simply seeking a kitchen knife ready out of the box that you can easily toss into a dish-washer afterwards and not worry about maintenance, I'd recommend a stainless steel chef's knife over this, specifically the Victorinox Fibrox pro chef knife.

However, if you want a knife that can do everything knife-related, and you don't mind maintaining your knife a little bit more, and if an afternoon of handy-work sounds fun instead of frightening, this knife will be the best knife you might ever buy. It will last forever and it will never let you down.

And for such a cheap price!

I have my grandmothers knife like this. It's probably 80 years. I bought this one because the other has just become too nostalgic for daily. And this knife is just like the old one. Minus the stains of age. One helpful piece of information. If you don't know how to use oil and a whetstone to sharpen a blade. Then Old Hickory are NOT the blade for you. These are old time tools. You have to treat them like old time tools. The dish washer is an epic NO also. The blade will rust in a minute. And the handles will crack. This knife is perfect. If you know how to respect the blade.

To start with, I'm the head cutter in a buchers shop. I ordered a bunch of Old Hickory knives to try out as hopefully a step up from the crappy tin knives my shop is supplied with. Given the cost, if they dissapeared or were awful I wouldn't be too upset.

That said, this is the one knife I actually like using. Let me start out by saying its still too small for at least 50% of the cutting I do in a day. Its a heck of a chore trying to cut through primals with this little thing but for finishing cuts it slices well, keeps a good edge and has just the right amount of belly for really being able to make controlled internal cuts.

This is my go to knife for small red, almost all chicken, and most lamb cuts and its the only knife in the whole old hickory line that'll make it through pork belly without giving you carpel tunnel.

The only reason I use any of the other knives apart from maybe the carbon fillet knife (trims skirt amd flank well, also a better boning knife than their actual boning knife, so of course they don't sell it anymore....) is if this one is already in use on another bench or if what I'm cutting needs a bigger knife.

For big cuts I've been using the larger butcher knife but to be honest I dont like it. It doesn't really have the same profile as this knife, doesn't keep an edge as well, and its much thicker. The larger version is more the size that would be useful in a butcher shop, but its just not as good of a knife.

If I could only pick one old hickory knife to use it would be this one, in fact I'm probably going to throw out the others soon and get a sheath for this one and keep it on me.

Right out of the package, after washing and wiping dry, I wiped the handle and blade down with mineral oil. Then, I brought it up to a dangerous razor-like edge on my Chef's Choice and hit it with a steel. Carbon steel will hold an edge like no other. I never let my knives get dull. It is easier to give them a quick couple of pulls through the diamond sharpener, and hit it with a steel once a month. Carbon steel must be rinsed and a quick wipe dry after use, but a small price to pay for the best edge you can get, and it will hold it better than any stainless steel. My great-grandchildren will be using this knife.

These have been around for decades. The steel is easy to sharpen, easy to hone and carves well.

Just know you need to care for the knife differently than typical kitchen knives. Easier to sharpen means easier to dull, so keep it honed on a steel (or ceramic rod).

Next, immediately after washing, dry completely with a cloth or paper towel. DO NOT run through dishwasher, it will rust.

Right after drying, apply a food grade oil to all of the exposed steel to keep it from rusting. We use olive oil.

To store, we use an empty paper towel roll, with one end folded over and taped, as a sheath. Since it lives in a drawer, this keeps it safe, clean and the oil in place. It also protects us against cuts and best of all, they're disposable.

This knife and the 7" slicer are a good combo and are up to everyday tasks in the kitchen and outdoors. We've used them for carving turkey and hams and they work well.