Does my Opinel have a bad heat treat?

C

Chrisssss

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May 31, 2020
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Bought a red Opinel no 8 and used it for food prep and wiped it on my jeans i look up and see the edge is warped, does the blade have a bad heat treat?
 
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Good question.... I just bought a red opinel, also. Is it warped badly enough to show in a picture? I'd like to see it.
 
It would be highly unusual for one to make it out of the doors with a defective or non-existent heat treat.
That said, I suppose it's remotely possible it could happen ...
 
If edge retention in use is normal or typical for such a knife, it means the heat treat is likely OK. Whether the blade warped or not, during heat treat, doesn't necessarily mean the heat treat was bad. Sometimes blades will warp in heat treat or quench; but the only issue there is whether the maker deems it bad enough (aesthetically) to reject it or let it pass.

A lot of traditional pocketknives with small blades & very thin grinds will show a noticeable warp to them. But the very same knives can still sharpen up and work just fine, even beautifully, in use. I have a lot of them like that.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
If edge retention in use is normal or typical for such a knife, it means the heat treat is likely OK. Whether the blade warped or not, during heat treat, doesn't necessarily mean the heat treat was bad. Sometimes blades will warp in heat treat or quench; but the only issue there is whether the maker deems it bad enough (aesthetically) to reject it or let it pass.

A lot of traditional pocketknives with small blades & very thin grinds will show a noticeable warp to them. But the very same knives can still sharpen up and work just fine, even beautifully, in use. I have a lot of them like that.
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the blade warping only appeared after i wiped the knife on my jeans.
 
Your post is confusing due to the use of some terms that may not be correct. You say the blade was warped, but most of it disappeared when sharpened. If a blade is warped, sharpening is not going to remove it. You say you used it for food prep. Were you cutting on a ceramic plate and turned the edge? If the edge was turned by contact with the ceramic plate, which would dull any edge, then yes, a bit of sharpening may take it out.

If you look down the spine, (back of the blade) is it strait or does it have a curve to one side or the other in the blade slot?
 
Only thing that makes sense to me is, if there was an extremely wide and very thin burr (or wire edge, foil edge, etc.) along the edge grind, which broke away when the blade was wiped on the jeans. But it'd have to be HUGE, as burrs go, to actually see an alteration in the edge's profile after it breaks off. This makes a little bit of sense if the damaged portion was sharpened away, after the fact. Sometimes the final edge grinding & finishing at the factory can leave some weakened steel, damaged by overheating from the grinding or buffing. And once in the end-user's hands, it needs to be ground off and a new, stable edge reset.

If the edge proves to be stable after the damage was sharpened away, then there's probably little else to worry about, in terms of the heat treat.
 
Sounds like a large wire bur.

Likely left over from final grinding/sharpening.

I've had a few knives show up like that.

Both custom and production.

I had a Spyderco with a wicked bur on it. Sharp as all get out, but you could push the edge back and forth. Removed the bur, and edge was fantastic.

I've created burrs like that when sharpening and when regrinding


I reground a knife once that had a huge bur I was pushing back and forth. The shop was not well lit, and I finally figured out what was going on after a few passes.
 
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Its probably burr,i had it on new Opinels too,sharpens out easily,even if whole blade is not 100 perc straight,doesnt matter,this knife excells in cutting food regardless.
 
jackknife said:
You say the blade was warped, but most of it disappeared when sharpened. If a blade is warped, sharpening is not going to remove it. You say you used it for food prep. Were you cutting on a ceramic plate and turned the edge? If the edge was turned by contact with the ceramic plate, which would dull any edge, then yes, a bit of sharpening may take it out.

If you look down the spine, (back of the blade) is it strait or does it have a curve to one side or the other in the blade slot?
Click to expand...

this guy’s got it. My 2 Opinels have a slight bend in the blade that starts at the brand stamp and is concave slightly on that side, such that the blade isn’t centered in the blade well. This isn’t something you could sharpen out and doesn’t effect performance. I’m suspecting a wire edge, or rolled edge.

Obsessed with Edges said:
If the edge proves to be stable after the damage was sharpened away, then there's probably little else to worry about, in terms of the heat treat.
Click to expand...

I had initial trouble with my carbones edge rolling, but I was thinking it might have been too shallow a blade profile that I had put on. Perhaps the subsequent sharpening took care of an overheated blade edge as Obsessed with Edges Obsessed with Edges surmises. Either way, I think his final point sums up what it means to you; you’ll probably be fine here on out.
 
My ebony opinel tip bent like foil just few months ago. Also the handle cracked (?). I got new one in return from Opinel but I sold it.
 
Stainless is better than carbon,holds edge better and also easy to sharpen..carbon ones are super easy to sharpen and hold ok edge...both are good knives that cut way better than tacticals
 
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