Help opening Opinel

J

joepa150

Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
350
I just bought a bubinga No6 with a polished stainless steel blade. I used some vaseline on the pivot and a few drops of mineral oil. I can open it 3/4 of the way but then it sticks. If I get some moment and open it fast and hard from the beginning I can open it 50% of the time.

Any suggestions on fixes?

Thanks in advance. I really love the simplicity and how this knife slices but if I can't open it, it is worthless.
 
Move to southwest Kansas. The dry air here will fix it in a week. I had to mod the locking rings on a bunch of my old ones so they lock shut just to keep them from flopping open in my pocket.
 
I would not have added anything to the pivot point unless there was a problem to start out with. The bubinga wood is a hard wood, and probably would not have swollen up on you in the first place. Have you dissembled the knife and checked out why it is binding? That is what I would do now. Pretty easy to take apart and check it out. My motto is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I have a #6 with the regular wood, and carry it constantly, and have never had it swell up or bind on me. Haven't oiled or added anything to the joint yet and it opens smooth and easy. Good luck with your knife.

Blessings,

Omar
 
Was it pretty tight before you lubed it?

It may have swelled the wood, and made it a bit more sticky. Try either using the better halfs blow drier on the joint to warm up the wood and absorb the Vaseline better, or take a large flat screw driver and gently pry the bolster apart a little. You do this by opening the blade, and putting the screw driver in the blade slot right behind the tang of the open blade, where you can see the edges of the inner metal bolster. Then twist very slowly until you open up the clearance a bit. Gently, and slowly.

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Or try a little bit of prying on the outer corner to spread the bolster a bit.
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Remember, just a little pressure goes a long way sometimes. Easy does it. Hope this helps.

Carl.
 
I wasn't haven't any opening problems initially but having read several posts about putting vaseline in the joint so prevent water swelling, I decided to do so.

jackknife,

I will try your suggestions. Thanks


UPDATE: I used my better halfs blowdryer. A little vaseline dripped out of the joint. I wiped the excess with a paper towel and a toothpick to get some out of the inner parts. It wasn't noticebly better so I used the screw driver method. It now seems to open a little easier. Not as easy as I would like but I didn't want to over due it.
 
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If it's still a bit too stiff, just open up the bolsters a little more with the screw driver. That's the nice thing abut the Opinel, you can doctor it up just how you like it.
 
My Opinel 06 Bubinga was incredibly hard to open as well. I just sat around muscling it open and closed until it eventually loosened up. Took a few days, but now it's very easy to open.
 
I wonder why that is? I've never had a bubinga Opinel, just the plain jane beech ones. Does the bubinga, tough as it is, have some qualities that make it more susceptible to swelling?
 
I had the same problem a while back with one of my no 6's...don't remember if it was the olive wood, or walnut (I have both). I tried the hair drier to no avail, so I put it in the oven on low temperature (about 150) until I could see the Vaseline liquify and soak into the wood. It opened very smoothly after that.
 
I spoke too soon. I just got home from the lake and tried to open my "easier" opening Opinel. I couldn't open it all the way.

I just used the screwdriver and it appears to have helped again. So far I am loving everything about this knife but hopefully I can solve the opening problem. I understand wood will swell but I don't enjoy not being able to open it 60% of the time.
 
I'm beginning to suspect that the pivot rivet was peened too tightly at the factory. It shouldn't be this tight. Take the screw driver and really spread the inner bolster some more. You should be able to pull open the blade without a lot of effort.
 
jackknife said:
I'm beginning to suspect that the pivot rivet was peened too tightly at the factory. It shouldn't be this tight. Take the screw driver and really spread the inner bolster some more. You should be able to pull open the blade without a lot of effort.
Click to expand...

Ok sorry for the noob question but when you say bolter, I am basically widening the wooden inside, right?
The metal doesn't touch the blade at all so trying to widen that probably wouldn't do much.
 
joepa150 said:
Ok sorry for the noob question but when you say bolter, I am basically widening the wooden inside, right?
The metal doesn't touch the blade at all so trying to widen that probably wouldn't do much.
Click to expand...

No, the metal is not touching, but it can be exerting too much pressure on the wood, creating a tight joint. I've had a few Opinel's that I had to spread a bit because they were too tight. Just like I've had one or two that was actually too loose, and when I taped the pivot pin a bit with the other end of the pin on a flat of the vise, it snugged up the joint. The inner bolster affects the joint through the pressure it puts on the wood it surrounds. So a little work with the screw driver can fix the too snug joint.

Carl.
 
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