Comparison - Opinel #8 and Opinel Outdoor #8

Humppa

Humppa

Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
7,432
Hi guys & gals!

At beginning of this year there were some threads around on BladeForums because of the new outdoor-line Opinel is going to make...
Threads like this were opened in the traditional forum here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Dangerous-Right?highlight=opinel+goes+modern or this http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...nel-goes-MODERN!?highlight=opinel+goes+modern . I went to my town this morning, for a walk. And took a look in the window of one of those army-nato-shops. They had some Opinel Outdoor for sale. So I pulled the trigger. I started comparing it to my Opinel # 8 with carbon steel blades.

Here are some pics

The regular #8 has a shortened "butt", because of my modification, but they have the same length, reading through the specs of Opinel

IMG_2093.jpg


Believe me, it´s both Opinels #8 ;)

IMG_2094.jpg


The blade is a little thicker on the outdoor-modell, which is a challenge to add a regular Opinel blade to an outdoor frame (but definitely worth a try)

IMG_2095.jpg


In frontview both knives have the same thickness - speaking of the pivot...

IMG_2096.jpg


An obligatory in-hand-pic of the newer one...

IMG_2098.jpg


The serrated blade is some kind of strange, to me...

IMG_2099.jpg


... and the hole in the blade is much to big for my taste

IMG_2100.jpg


This shouldn´t be a review, but I wanted to show off, what´s Opinel doing with the new outdoor-knife. The synthetic handle is nice, for sure. And it won´t drink water like a sponge when it´s getting wet. (That was one of my reasons, why an Opinel was an in-door-knife for me). I think, the blade can be replaced, though it´s some thicker than a regular one. I like the ergonomics, because they are similar to the regular version. BTW, I don´t have any need for a whistle on knife (maybe just for joking around at some time :rolleyes: )

It´s not a bad knife. Though it´s not my personal taste. I gonna give some thoughts about a blade-replacement and how I could add a regular carbonsteelblade on that one.

Thanks for reading :)
 
Thanks for the post and excellent pics, Andi. That new Opinel wasn't on my radar until now, but I think that I like it, especially with the thicker blade. I find those serrations interesting in that they look awfully similar to 'Veff' serrations. They should work well.
 
Nice one Andi.
I can't say I like the serrations.
Recently in Paris and I visited a knife shop.They had a great range of Opinel including these new look knives. I felt like a Dingo in a maternity ward or Aladdin in the cave.
Unfortunately (or fortuitously depending on how you look at it) I blew my budget on a Laguiole with amazing Ramshorn scales.
When I got back to England I picked up an Opinel 10 for myself and 2 of the very smallest ones as gifts. They are unbeatable for the price.
cheers
 
Thank you. I am not a fan of the plastic handle, the hole, the serrations, the whistle or the lanyard. The locking ring is nice though :rolleyes:

btw, how did you get the beech handle to take the stain so well? Mine did not stain so darkly or evenly.
 
banksy said:
Thank you. I am not a fan of the plastic handle, the hole, the serrations, the whistle or the lanyard. The locking ring is nice though :rolleyes:

btw, how did you get the beech handle to take the stain so well? Mine did not stain so darkly or evenly.
Click to expand...

Well... the whole shown up regular #8 is a mod, made by myself. Here´s a link for some inspirations on modding the Opinels. I didn´t want to derail the thread, so I gave you the link to this thread for further information / discussion :)

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...finished-my-first-modded-Opinel-show-us-yours!
 
Thanx for the comparison pics Andi. I think for a blade swap you will need to add some washers.
 
Duane... this was my first thought, too. I should take how many milimetres there are... it can´t be much more than one milimetre, which would make half a milimetre per each side ;) This is going to be tough stuff... but a nice challenge :D
 
Wow, never saw that one before, thanks for the real life pics. Seems like an exercise in removing the charm from a classic opinel - in that sense it is a roaring success. Not for me, but a lid for every pot, they say.
 
Andi, thanks for review. Very interesting.

I do dig my Opinels a whole lot and I thought I had them weather proofed sufficiently. But, a backpacking trip in our wet New Hampshire woods with 2 days of on-again/off-again rain left my #10 very stiff and with spots of rust on the blade. I've since gone back to the BuckliteMax that I had been using for backpacking previously. Charm is as charm does and in wet, rough conditions, stainless and plastics work like a charm. So in this sense, Opinel's move to this sort of format makes perfect sense. When you add the French involvement in boating, yachting and mountain climbing - all sports in which quick dispatch of lines and ropes for safety's sake - then I can understand the partially serrated blades.

BTW, a whistle is a standard part of my "Essentials" pouch that goes into the woods with me at all times. I have them in both of my kids bags too, same reason. Having it built into a survival/outdoors knife is very sensible.

I've come to accept that I want a different knife in the woods than I want for EDC use. Glad there are both.
 
Great comparison Andi! I can honestly say that will be one Opinel I will never own:D Seems to gimmicky to me, but if it sells and keeps a company like Opinel producing their other fine knives then I'm all for it!
 
pinnah said:
I've come to accept that I want a different knife in the woods than I want for EDC use. Glad there are both.
Click to expand...

I was replying to this when our electricity went our for about 45 minutes. No electricity, no wireless internet! What I had typed before the brief outage was something like this:

Me too. This may be considered heresy by some on the traditional sub-forum, but when I am out where there can be relentless wet conditions for hours and days on end, and no opportunity to properly clean/oil a knife, I want something different than my day-to-day pocket carry.
 
The recent article in Tactical Knives about the new Opinel Outdoor was written by Tim Stetzer. I got to handle the Outdoor #8 at PWYP while he was evaluating it. Other than the serrations, I liked it. That was pretty much what most people that handled it said. A few people wondered if a blade swap would be possible. The hole for the shackle key was no big deal, and it does allow you to get a better purchase on the blade when opening. The whistle was a neat feature, though make sure to wipe off any spit when passing it around. The synthetic handle has pros & cons. Pros are high visibility colors, less slick, & no worries about the wood swelling. Cons are you can't sand it to fit your hand better. Only other gripe is the price is a little over double what a standard Opinel #8 goes for.

I'll probably get one eventually, but I picked a standard #8 with a carbon steel blade as my 1st Opinel.
 
I have an Opinel Outdoor for a couple of months and it is a great knife. Serrations work very well although they leave a small straight edge area. But no big deal because I EDC some SAKs also. I learned to open and close it one handed, it is very easy. I can even do it with my left hand. So the big hole isn't a bad idea after all, although I might never use it for what it was intented. I use it a lot for eating and I wash it all the time, so stainless steel and plastic scales is a big pro. I am going to use in the sea during the summer, for mussels and such. I predict it will be OK. The lanyard is non existent but one might replace it. The whistle is funny, but it might come handy when hiking and one gets sepparated from the company. There is a way to extract high pitch and volume form it (my ears hurt when doing that). The plastic scales are fine also, they don't slip and it is easy to spot them and clean them (mine is Orange). And Vibrolock works as intented. I find it great to EDC a pocket knife that is working, locking, OHO, lightweight and doesn't look aggressive (as many tacticals do). It seems more a tool than a weapon and that's great for Europe, although the locking feature restricts it in UK (but not Greece for the moment).
 
I'd love to see a synthetic handled Opinel, Sans the whistle, and serrations. I don't particularly care for the hole in the blade either. I'd be cool with a thumb stud if possible though. Still it's nice to see Opinel actively engaged in the knife world, but as the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and maybe the Opinel is best left alone.
 
whetrock said:
I'd love to see a synthetic handled Opinel, Sans the whistle, and serrations. I don't particularly care for the hole in the blade either. I'd be cool with a thumb stud if possible though. Still it's nice to see Opinel actively engaged in the knife world, but as the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and maybe the Opinel is best left alone.
Click to expand...


No whistle, no serrations, no hole in blades, single color plastic handle shaped like the modded wooden Opi in the OP's original post, cost kept down to make them as cheap as possible.

In other words, make an Opinel.

A little harder blade steel would be OK. Maybe they could leave the final sharpening to us to help with that cost.
 
I'll have to say that I don't like it. It just seems to be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, at least for me. But then I'm not a yachtsmen. I do go sailing, and spend time on boats both in the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac river. I have carried an Opinel on some of those outings, and didn't have a problem. I've got Opinels wet before and had them get a bit stiff to open, but not impossible. I suppose that a modern injection molded handle would be a nice thing for a boat knive, but I can't see the weird serrations. I'd think the single wavy edge like on a Victorinox bread knife would be better all around than the little slanted jobs they have there. Seems too small and pointy, and pointing the wrong way. I don't think I've ever seen serrations like that before. Opinels are so ridiculously easy to keep sharp, it makes me wonder if the serrations are really needed and if so, why the strange slant on them.

It's just too specialized a knife for me. Maybe if I was a real weekend yachtsman I'd see a need. What I think Opinel should do is have an optional line with knives made with an injection molded polymer like the old Cold Steel twist master.

Carl.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top