John Nowill Green River Knife

I bought this about 8 months ago to be a farm working knife for times when i thought i'd need more than a pocket knife. I couldn't have bought a better one. Takes a brilliant edge and keeps it for long enough. Mine needed a touch up about once a week and a proper sharpen about once every month and a half or so. It slices and cuts perfectly. I used it to dig through pheasant feeders when there was a blockage, to carve sticks and sometimes do bushcraft. Ive also used it to gut and skin rabbits as well as take the breasts off of pheasants and pigeons which it does well enough too. Buy one if you want a simple, no frills knife that just works. You won't be dissapointed. The scales are a bit * but i rounded them off and they feel good now.

Excellent service from HH ,will be buying from again , like the knife blade,handle is ok but i have big hands so I may make a New one or not as this is a traditional knife, sheaf is poor ,but knife well worth the price,

Reading the reviews bought some smiles of recognition. This one of those knives that are unimpressive but somehow, you keep reaching for when you need to actually DO stuff . I bought one a few years back as a garden/working knife.. .somehow managed to break off the First inch of the left hand scale of mine but it keeps going despite hat and other shameful treatment. I will replace the scales one of these days ... Probably. The sheath is ugly but oddly functional. But I suppose iyou could say that about the whole thing.

I bought this knife 10 years ago from heinnie haynes over the internet.When I got the knife I was thought I d wasted my money but kept it because it was what I ordered. It went straight in the cutlery draw in the kitchen.Over the years it has been my waster,because I didt care about it...............Some of what I ve used it for : putty knife ,scraping spilled paint and sement of the ground ,thrown it at a tree countless times (drunk men trying to peg ),skinned & butcherd a deer,pried open stuck windows,jimmied doors,used it as a chissel with a hammer,forgot it in the garden over an entire winter and a hundred other things I can t remember.No wonder the tip broke off last year but I just filed it to the shape of a bushcraft knife and have been using it for that since. It now has a 4 inch blade,the sheath is long gone but the scales have never budged though slightly worn down and still holds a razor edge well enough for me to almost sever my thumb earlier this evening ! BEST KNIFE I ve EVER OWNED !!!! And will by another if this one ever gives up , Thankyou Heinnie Haynes.

This design was popular with trappers, gold prospectors, buffalo hunters and was widely traded with native American peoples from the 1840's onwards. John Nowill's version of the Green River 'Dadley' has a slim, full tang carbon blade and arrived with a good edge that needed just a light touch up with a diamond rod for it to whittle timber. A little beeswax brought out the colour of the hardwood scales. The moulded leather sheath with the addition of a lanyard makes it ideal for carry as a neck knife, so its replaced my Mora 510 for that purpose. Great value blade and an excellent buy for bushcraft purposes.

Well, the handle scales are very badly fitted, the sheath, I wouldn't like to use but it's a really nice blade. For the price, it's great value, I will bin the sheath and replace the scales, and have a very cheap working knife.

Grain is rougher than that of the butt end of the handle. These are my observations about the general fit and finish of the knife I've received and in this price point I'm not too surprised that one should expect to fine these or similar imperfections. This seems to be a good, cheap, user knife which I will use for some woodwork and day-to-day stuff before I'll most likely have a go at re-handling it as a bit of fun/practice :) More immediately though I shall sharpen the end and probably sand off the makers mark which just looks cheap imo. Next time I buy a cheap everyday use and abuse tool I might try a Mora to be able to compare this more to something in this price range. Sorry for the long winded review there, hopefully it's useful. To summarize: My impression is that this is an okay knife for the price, but perhaps if the little niggles weren't there I'd be happier with it (even if that meant the price had to be adjusted accordingly).

Delivery: Good. Free del. option took 2 days, came with a catalogue. Sheath: Seems fine at this price. Two 1.1/2" wide belt holes 1/2" from top. Knife: Not quite as pictured. It says; SHEFFIELD J.ADAMS LTD ENGLAND on mine, with the middle line in bold- the two f's of the first line level with the top of the end of the (fake secondary edge on back of blade- I don't know the term for it is), about 2.1/2" in from the tip. The brass pins look bigger in the picture online. The finger grooves on mine go further down to meet the tang, ending in very thin wood (wood very slightly chipped on last groove on mine). The file worked back is slightly un-uniform on mine, mainly the centre one is out. Other than these differences from the picture I can say the knife feels nicely balanced and is very light, with the thickness of the blade/ tang being about 2.5-3mm. The blade has some flexibility to it. It fits quite comfortably in the hand and has a fairly tactile handle imo.

A great, uncomplicated knife. With the slim leather sheath supplied it can be carried in a number of positions (belt, boot, wrist). Feels like a chunk of history in the hand.