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32 of 32 found the following review helpful:
Almost like my old ones...Aug 31, 2010
By J. Williamson
Overall, these really are great knives. Before I go on, I do want to get a word of caution out right now to prospective buyers.
These knives are NOT your typical, lazy-daisy stainless steel easy-to-take-care-of knives. You can't just throw them into the dishwasher to clean. The blades on these knives are made out of high carbon, 1095 steel, which is NOT stainless steel. It is much harder, can get MUCH sharper, and retains its cutting edge for much longer. Once sharpened to taste, they are easily touched up to retain their edge when needed. If you DON'T HAND wash and then HAND DRY these knives, they will start to rust fairly quickly. If you throw them into a dishwasher, you'll only do so a couple of times before you see the handle become damaged from the machine...and you'll see that rust I'm talking about. These knives need to be taken care of; if you have the patience to do so, you'll love them, like I do.
Now, on to my review. As I said, these are great knives. Yes, they come in a really cheap package. So what? I bought these for nice knives, not nice packaging. Once sharpened by hand, these knives have the razor edge that I'm used to Old Hickory knives having. I'm not a fan of machine sharpening, or this Accu-sharp tungsten carbide garbage some people swear by. I'll pit my hand-sharpened razor edges against their dull quicky-sharpened knives any day...and I'll win every time. These knives are no different. The boning knife, carver (slicer), and butcher knives are full-tang blades, which is also very nice.
Now, a few drawbacks. I can live with them, but I'm not completely happy because of them, thus the four-star rating. If these had been like my last set of Old Hickory knives, then this would have been a five-star rating, for sure.
What's wrong with them? They are not QUITE as thick as my last set of knives I had bought some 15 years ago or so. I'm a fairly stout fellow, but I was barely able to flex the paring knife blade in the old set. I can flex the paring knife blades without much effort, and can flex the boning knife, carver, and butcher's knife without much more effort than the paring knives. Yes, I COULD flex the old blades, but it was actually a bit difficult to do so.
The two paring knives are half-tang. Really, this isn't too much of a problem, as they are not meant for the heavy, heavy duty kind of work requiring a full-tang knife. In my old set, however, even the 3" and 4" paring knives were full-tang. Guess I'm just used to the little extra bit of quality, there.
Ontario's out-of-the-factory edges on these knives are abysmal. Now, I didn't expect them to be nearly as sharp as I want them right out of the packaging, but there's no edge on these knives at all. Even a machine sharpener as highly rated as the expensive Chef's Choice M130 Professional Knife-Sharpening Station, Platinum would have issues with putting an edge on these. High carbon steel like this is HARD to cut down to a good, sharp edge...when you start with NO edge at all...well, it WILL take you a while to get these sharpened up. You will have to have patience in plenty to get these sharpened to your taste. It took me a few hours to get these blades sharpened into the razor edges they have now...and I've hand-sharpened knives for over 25 years, have good stones, and even polish my edges using a leather belt and jeweler's rouge...
Despite these few cons, these ARE great knives, considering the type of steel they are made from, and the lovely low price that you pay for them. If you have patience enough to take good care of your kitchen tools and to have kitchen knives that can be SUPER sharp, then you'll love these knives.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Just like Grandma's!Aug 09, 2009
By lazyboyshopper
These are the same knives our grandmothers (and their mothers) used for so many years. My husband recently started cooking and decided our kitchen was not complete until we had at least the Old Hickory "butcher" knife. This is a complete set and all knives are useful. One word of warning, they may need to be sharpened when you first get them. Ours were shipped dull but were easy to sharpen. Going by their past history, these Old Hickory knives should last forever. I do recommend them as a useful addition to your kitchen tools.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Great steelJan 07, 2010
By M. Snodgrass
Great knives. Not as heavy as the older ones but thinner blades cut better so its fine by me. They get razor sharp and keep that edge for a long time if you don't use them on fruits or let them rust badly. They are not stainless and they will rust. They do not come with a great factory edge but I knew all this and still love them to death for their high quality steel at low price. I don't need pretty fit and finish for my meat knives.
These knives will rust and if that's a problem for you then don't get them. They have to be cleaned immediately and lightly oiled if you don't use them at least once a week. Stainless with edge properties as good as this will cost around 100 dollars a knife so I can deal with high maintenance knives.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Great Set !!Sep 12, 2010
By JKey
These are not the fancy, trendy blades you will see on the cooking shows. These are dull out of the box and the handles are unfinished. I spent a few hours with a manual diamond sharpener and finished them with very fine stone. I now have a knife rack full of razors. I bought a spray can of lacquer and put four coats on the handles. These knives are worth 10 times the price.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Old Hickory Knife set 705Oct 29, 2010
By Mitchell A. Weber
I have had these knives for over 30 years and the two sets I recently purchased are Christmas gifts for our now-adult sons. I do a lot of cooking and can't stand a knife that isn't sharp or I can't sharpen! The quality of these knives are comparable to those high-end, high-priced "gourmet" knives available on the market for an extreme amount of money! They do need a little extra care (handwashing) but with a good knife sharpener, these knives will perform a lifetime and be good enough to pass down later! I am so excited that these knives are still being manufactured and available. Plus there are "assessory" items available! How great is that?
Do not hesitate to purchase these knives. I know sometimes the saying is that you get what you pay for, but in this instance, you don't need to spend $75 to $100 for ONE knife when an ENTIRE SET is available for a third of the price that will handle all your kitchen needs and LAST. Thank you, Ontario Knife Company. Keep up the good work and I'll keep singing your praises to my family and friends.
Suzie Weber
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