Son of a gun! I found my long-lost Old Hickory carbon steel butcher knife yesterday. It was at the back of a drawer. It’s just like this Amazon offering, except that mine is 6” rather than 7”:

Old Hickory 7" Carbon Steel Butcher Knife
https://a.co/d/b69vrlS

It’s the only carbon steel kitchen knife that I currently own. I know that after I wash it I had better dry it immediately because it’ll show rust in a very few minutes if I don’t.

But it’s remarkably easy to get a very sharp edge on it. Much easier than any of my SS knives. I bought it 40 years ago at an Ace Hardware store.

I've been using the Old Hickory and Chicago Cutlery carbon steel knives for many years. Butcher, boner, paring knife. Dozens of deer and elk dressed, skinned, quartered.

The standard of the industry for slaughter houses and meat packing plants. The blades will take a lot of use and abuse, then come back for more.

I have a set in the kitchen for every day use and another set in a tool roll inside my day pack for hunting trips. I doubt I spent much more than $5 or $6 each back in the 1970s. Thirty seconds with a 8" Wusthoff diamond steel and ready to get back to work.

I kind of like the dark patina that has developed over the years. A little steel wool will quickly remove any surface rust that might happen.

Got one coming.

I have 2 large sets of Old Chicago, this seems like a nice option.

Man oh man, that’s a bargain even at 3 times the Price.
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Coat the blade with mustard and let it set for a day. When you clean the residue off it will have discolored the blade. This essentially blues the blade. You might have to do it twice to get even coverage. It will help repel rust, but not make it rustproof.

quote:

Originally posted by BillF:
Coat the blade with mustard and let it set for a day. When you clean the residue off it will have discolored the blade. This essentially blues the blade. You might have to do it twice to get even coverage. It will help repel rust, but not make it rustproof.

Yellow or Spicy?

There are two kinds of iron oxides (for our purposes) on carbon steel tools that we look for. One is the pitting red rust that we don’t want. The other is a gray patina that you see on old tools.

That is the good oxide you want to form on your blade. It will occur naturally over time with good care; Wash with hot soapy water, rinse with hot water, dry and put away warm.

If you ever get red rust on your knife, you can stick it in boiling water for 10 minutes and form the correct oxide. (Not the handle.)

I use quite a bit of stainless, but high carbon steels are my absolute favorite cutting edges.

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:

quote:

Originally posted by BillF:
Coat the blade with mustard and let it set for a day. When you clean the residue off it will have discolored the blade. This essentially blues the blade. You might have to do it twice to get even coverage. It will help repel rust, but not make it rustproof.

Yellow or Spicy?

Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon? I need to blue my knife.

As much fun as it sounds… I wouldn’t be wiping acetic acid all over my nice blades.

Will it form a ferrous oxide? Hell yes!

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
As much fun as it sounds… I wouldn’t be wiping acetic acid all over my nice blades.

Will it form a ferrous oxide? Hell yes!

Not to be confused with distilled white vinegar.

So probably a little more information than anybody cares to know… However…


There are valid reasons to form oxides on knives.

Pattern welded or Damascus steel’s have to have a good iron oxide on them for the contrast to pop the pattern. Many people use ferric chloride for this… although I’ve discovered far better ways, but damascus is not really my kink anymore.

I do go through a very rigorous process for polishing Japanese style hamons on kitchen knives. It’s a process of etch and polish; over and over and over.

Japanese blade polishers will apprentice for 10 years. In the west we don’t have that kind of patience, so we use acids in the process of etch n’ polish. Very labor intensive.

My mother many years ago she had her "favorite Ole Hickory" butcher in the knife drawer.. My father went into the drawer and retrieved the butcher knife for his use but found it to be not sharp for what ever he was going to use for so he found the butchers steel sharping rod and proceeded to make sharp. When finished he replaced the butcher knife in the drawer... Later that afternoon we heard my mother screaming at the top of her lungs wanting to know who had sharpened her butcher knife because she wasn"t expecting it to be so sharp and she cut herself... Let us say she was not a happy camper around the house for several days. ................ drill sgt.

My favorite is a Case XX my dad bough in 1951.

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