Ontario Knife fixed blade,hunting knife,outdoor,camping, ONE SIZE, Brown

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 still have an Old Hickory from the 90’s. They are made to last. I suppose any knife can be an outdoor knife, but this is more of a kitchen knife. It does rust as it is not stainless, but the advantage is it’s easier to sharpen and in a pinch you can use it with flint to start a fire. If you dry it off when wet, you can keep rust away. Steel wool will take the rust off. You can fit coating or mineral oil on the handle to keep it in decent condition. These are amazingly still made in the USA and still affordable. I would not use it as a survival knife or machette, as they are not made for that purpose. Not sure why Amazon advertised these as outdoor/camping knives. As long as you don’t dig in dirt or hack wood with it, it should be fine. Carbon knives like this (and Opinel) can literally be shav able razor sharp with a good stone, strop and patience, but for the use, that edge is not neccesary.

I purchased this knife for a project that will include some custom scales and maybe a different blade style/profile. For the price it is a lot of knife for the money but don’t expect a perfect fit and finish. The spine is 2.1mm thick as measured with my digital caliper and it is unground. A couple of runs through my belt sander took care of that. The edge was relatively sharp but needed a light touch up to be razor sharp. The hickory wood scales are adequate but were not completely flush with the tang. All of this is expected for a knife that is relatively dirt cheap. As a simple butcher knife it can get the job done. These knives were originally manufactured around the time of the Great Depression so I doubt the quality was much better back then as they were made for people just barely getting by. As a bushcraft or survival knife the brass compression studs should be removed and replaced with some barrel nuts/screws if you plan to do light batoning. I did force a patina on the knife with boiling apple cider vinegar and it turned out really nice. The blade thickness will limit the types of heavy duty activities you can achieve but I believe you could get by rather nicely with this knife, a small hatchet, and a folding saw. This is a fun project knife for a rainy day. With simple tools you can turn it into whatever you want.

I'd give this 4.5/5 if it would let me. My only complain was that it was SLIGHTLY dull out of the box. It was still paper slicing sharp - just not hair popping sharp. After literally a few minutes on a diamond rod it was pretty close to where I want it. I know that after a few more on my tri-hone when I have time and it'll be a giant razor blade. I don't know what these reviews that say it is dull and has a crap factory edge are talking about - maybe they got defective products. On a knife this cheap you'd expect some QC issues. The edge was not "damaged" at all, the scales were tight and not wobbly at all (though they are a little asymmetrically shaped but it is barely noticeable and actually helps my grip so I dont mind), and the spine was in perfect shape. It is also thicker than I thought. A tiny bit thicker than my Mora MG but with a perfect 90° spine. I just got it so I haven't spent much time with it but I have done some carving and it does the job well. I am not one to "baton" wood but if I was I wouldn't be afraid to do it with this knife. All-around great value.I actually bought this to reprofile/rehandle and play around with to make a psuedo-custom knife. I might just leave it the way it is and buy another to modify. Overall, great knife, and I'll be buying more/other Ontario Old Hickory Products. Best part?.. Made in the USA! Ill check comments if anyone has specific questions.