I just joined the Opinel Club

^
Understood, I don't blame you.

Everyone,

Sorry for the multiple thread derails, but has anyone noticed if there is any difference in the water resistance of the painted wood handles vs. the regular models?
 
If you grew up with them, I grew up with SAKs and Opinels, then you get it. A lot of people just expect everything to be done for them as they just don't think they have the time. The old boys would expect to fine tune and maintain their tools. Get them just as they like them, because they did a lot of work with them. Labour was cheap, goods expensive. Now its different.

Just like few people oil their spades, gardening digging spades, anymore. The old way was to never put a tool away without a wipe with an oily rag. Now its just buy another as labour/time is expensive, goods cheap.

Some places $4 a day is the going rate.
 
I've been on a large folder kick lately. The bigger, the better, held upright in my back pocket between the pocket seam and my cell phone. Buck 110, Opinel N°12 inox, and today a Cold Steel Eland. The one that I keep coming back to is the Opinel. It's dry here in Colorado, so the handles don't swell and the blades swing nicely. The N°12 has a heavy long blade that can be swept open by a flick of the wrist and locked open using the thumb. I use it for barn chores, cutting down boxes, boning chickens, and impressing the neighbors over a beer (which I can open with the knife). Opinels are the sharpest knives I own once I put them to the strop and they are foolproof. Yeah, they slow things down, but I live a pastoral life anyway. French horsemanship, French knife. Good match.

Whenever a relative or a new working student shows up at the farm for more than a few days and does not have a knife, they get an Opinel N°8. They can keep it when they leave, but they have to have that knife on them and show they know what they're doing. It's as essential as wearing boots and gloves. I'm considering a run of N°8s with our logo on them as promotional items.

Zieg

PS Welcome! You are now an ambassador to the world from a deceptively large nation of knife users that understands how to slow down, use and care for tools, and achieve a great deal with little baggage.
 
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jstrange said:
Don't get me wrong, I love the design, I am just inherently lazy ;)

I have had a few and still have a 12. I will likely pick up an 8 or 9 again sometime. I just wish they were a tad more waterproof and the lock-ring came from the factory with a slightly better lock-up. I know I can sit by and wish, or do something about it, but remember I am lazy!

You should start selling them with the Pinnah mods. I would probably buy a few of you.
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I've had a love/hate relationship; with these thongs since 1982, when I got the first one. I've sanded, soaked in oil refinished and filed on them. I've had them perfect and loved them. But once in a while I toss it in the drawer or let an admirer have it and say "the hell with that -----!."

But…I don't know if I'm just stubborn or nuts, I always end up going back to them. LIke an alcoholic to a bottle of booze, I always end up with the weird French knife that I love, and yet sometimes curse because I get a bit impatient with it.

First, there's few knives on the market that slice like an Opinel. And then it may be weird, funky, and finicky, but I tend to have a liking for weird funky things. For years I've fooled with Italian Vespa motor scooters. Talk about weird engineering! They take a lot of finicking to keep running, but it's easy finicking. Simple 2 stroke motor that can be overhauled in two hours on the work bench downstairs. KInd of like screwing with a new Opinel; a few hours with some sandpaper and wax, and a ball peen hammer or screw driver to adjust the thing, and it's now you're personal knife.

Yeah, I keep on time to time, tossing it in the drawer saying the hell with it. But It's still there in th drawer and I end up carrying it again. It's like the bottle of hooch you try to not drink from, but time to time you drink and say the hell with it.

In the end, I love my SAK's and carry them, but the Opinel will never be absent from my life. Yjey have a place, a notch, and they are great box cutters. But in the end they are like that Italian Vespa that I keep on riding around on. There's something weirdly satisfying about the way an Opinel effortlessly glides through stuff. I never used to like Leatherman's either, but Pinnah got me to drink the kool-aid and now I keep one on hand. :eek:

I gotta go wax my Opinel!
 
pinnah said:
Jstrange, you and Carl are in the same camp. I once knew a guy who thru hiked the AT in Limmer boots. He posted a review to rec.backcountry (I'm dating myself) saying, "I love these boots. You'll probably hate them." The Opinel is that way. It's very definitely not for everybody. They are futzy. Very high futz factor.

Zen and the Art of Opinel Maintenance?
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Grandma Gatewood through hiked the AT in canvas Keds sneakers, and used a shower curtain for a shelter. Definitely not for everybody!
:)
 
Two things the Class seem to achieve that so many modern knives just don't are:
Weight, they are light enough too carry everyday and not notice that you have them on you.
You can be happy to work them and get them mucky. Modern tacticool knives are the worst for "too nice to work". A tactical knife should be able to get mud out of tank tracks. On the farmstead get stuck in to something yucky. And brush off the damage with a wash under a tap (or dishwasher).
The Classics look good with a patina; too many modern knives look rubbish just with coin wash pocket wear.

Anyhow I have some of both. Some get used a lot more than others and usually its a classic.
 
I just added a carbon #6 to my collection.
Going to mod it a little to my liking.
 
Has anyone ever ground the wood handle to a more flat shape? I like the light weight of this knife, but the round handle shape is a bit thick in my pocket.
 
gull wing said:
Has anyone ever ground the wood handle to a more flat shape? I like the light weight of this knife, but the round handle shape is a bit thick in my pocket.
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Google is your friend along with YouTube. I see them thinned down quite a bit.
 
Two words: Sno Seal. In Minnesota, just about everybody has some on hand. It is meant for weatherproofing shoes and boots, but I also use it on Brooks bicycle seats, wood knife handles, and just about all over on my Opinels. Use a Bic to melt it into the pivot.

I have used Opinels for over 40 years without modification, and always felt they worked well enough as is. A little vegetable oil on the blade kept most of the rust away, if I remembered to do it, and an occasional touch-up with Scotchbrite would take off any red rust that formed out in the barn, while leaving the patina pretty much intact.

I have modified the handles on a couple of newer knives. Rounding the heel of a No.6 makes it just about disappear into the pocket. With a No.8, I sanded the pommel down to a bird's head and flattened the sides with some 80-grit; it now carries much easier than a full-sized 8. New knives may get similar treatment, but I think I'll leave most of them alone. There is not much point in messing with them if they are not going in a pocket. Most of mine will still live in a tank bag, a tool pouch, or a glove compartment.

Vespas used to be a bit like Opinels. A guy could pick up a running project for $50-100, a pretty decent one for two or three hundred bucks. Not any more. New ones are pushing $5k, and a used one can cost three grand. Plus, the new ones are four-strokes with CVTs.

A buddy picked up one of the last of the 2-strokes new in around 2007. Sea-foam green with the twist-grip shifter. He bought it for his wife (heh, heh) so he didn't have to get her a fur coat or a new Subaru like he did when he bought the KTM and the Ducati. It is a sweet ride, but you have to treat them with respect. Vespas have claimed a lot of broken collarbones over the years. But you pretty much have to have one if you are going to run with the Vesparadoes.
 
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GREENJACKET said:
If you grew up with them, I grew up with SAKs and Opinels, then you get it. A lot of people just expect everything to be done for them as they just don't think they have the time. The old boys would expect to fine tune and maintain their tools. Get them just as they like them, because they did a lot of work with them. Labour was cheap, goods expensive. Now its different.

Just like few people oil their spades, gardening digging spades, anymore. The old way was to never put a tool away without a wipe with an oily rag. Now its just buy another as labour/time is expensive, goods cheap.

Some places $4 a day is the going rate.
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Agreed!

I didn't grow up on carbon steels, but I have come to appreciate the maintenance that Should go into them.
Everyday at least one of the two knives I carry is a non-stainless steel, if not both.

Part of owning a knife (among other things) should be the care of it. If most of the country showed as much care about the everyday items, cars, knives, their front porch, tools, et al. I firmly believe that we would be in a better place.

I guess that nostalgic sentiment is one of the reasons I carry an opinel...
 
Thanks to this thread, I've learned quite a bit about how to "tune" my Opi. There is lots of info on this.
I have an 8 and a 6, and a 7 on order, I think the 7 will be just the right size for me(it's an inox).
I'm practicing moding the 8, pictures later.

Thanks
 
Henry Beige said:
Vespas used to be a bit like Opinels. A guy could pick up a running project for $50-100, a pretty decent one for two or three hundred bucks. Not any more. New ones are pushing $5k, and a used one can cost three grand. Plus, the new ones are four-strokes with CVTs.

A buddy picked up one of the last of the 2-strokes new in around 2007. Sea-foam green with the twist-grip shifter. He bought it for his wife (heh, heh) so he didn't have to get her a fur coat or a new Subaru like he did when he bought the KTM and the Ducati. It is a sweet ride, but you have to treat them with respect. Vespas have claimed a lot of broken collarbones over the years. But you pretty much have to have one if you are going to run with the Vesparadoes.
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A Family gathering. There actually was a number 8 Opinel in my pocket that day!:D
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I love vespas...anything w/ two wheels and a "Go" button, really.

These are kinda like Vespas..



Oh yea, Opinels...for hard use only..(wish this Garden came in a carbon blade)

 
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