Help me with my first Opinel mod please

T

Techno

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Jul 30, 2013
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My first Opinel arrived today and I decided to mod it so off I went. I decided to try and whittle down the wood enough to where a copper pipe would slide over it. Well after a good while of whittling I finally got it on. When I went to close the knife I discovered that the tip of the blade sticks out. What should I do to fix this? I also discovered that upon trying to lock the knife the pipe will spin. What kind of adhesive should I use to make it stay put? Thanks in advance


 
I am not being funny . But can i ask you why you wanted to do that to a good wooden handle ?
 
Try using epoxy. It bonds metal to wood quite well. As for the blade sticking out, obviously something is preventing it from closing. Can't see from the pics though.
 
Use epoxy to glue it. If just a little bit of the tip is showing, try grinding the tip into more of a drop-point on a dremel, belt sander, bench grinder, Worksharp, etc.
 
I would grind the tip down. Maybe turn it into a warncliff, sheepsfoot or reverse tanto.
 
shane_o_ca said:
Try using epoxy. It bonds metal to wood quite well. As for the blade sticking out, obviously something is preventing it from closing. Can't see from the pics though.
Click to expand...

I think it's sticking out because he removed handle material that would normally cover the tip.
 
I like the copper pipe idea.
Try flattening the sides some.You'll get a better grip & it'll widen the handle to where it hides the tip hopefully.
Just gotta be careful....
 
I would grind down the back of the blade to make it a drop point/spear point or revers tanto that seems to ben the easiest fix. If you do grind it make sure you go slow and quench often so you dont wreck the heat treat.
 
I did it because I like the look of copper and how it ages. It also matches my copper pen perfectly now. Thanks for the advice guys. The reason the tip sticks up is because I cut off to much wood. I think I'm gonna get me some epoxy tomorrow and also try to grind down the blade a bit. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to make it into yet though.
 
Hand filing the blade works quite well and there is no risk of overheating it. I think you'll have to drop the point a lot to get it below the handle. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you like the style.

I like to cover one side of the blade with masking tape and trim it off to match the blade outline. Then sketch on the tape the shape you want. Cut on the line you drew with a razor blade and remove the part from what you will be filing away. Then just file to match the tape edge.
 
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I can vouch for the masking tape method. I have done two or three blades that way. Just remember that that you may want a little curve in the spine vs the straight edge given by the tape.
 
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