I really like Opinel knives -

Opinel saws are also a great tool of the outdoorsman. Cuts a 2 inch limb in about a minute.

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I like USA made products, but since the French invented the opinel knife I'm fine with buying it. Though if someone in the USA made some id give them a . But i wouldn't consider them an opinel.

But heres my collection. 10 piece box set, with an old #10, #8 inox and #7 carbon.

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Rostislav said:
I have an Opinel no.8, and it was the knife that truly changed my understanding on knives. Looking back, I only believed I liked thick blades on folders due to hype. During the little time that I have been into knives, the thin blade of the Opinel is perfectly tailored for the very tasks that I need a knife for. Noticed some comments on flexibility, mine does not seem to flex really though. I mean, I can get it to move a bit if I hold the tip and yank on it, but those types of forces are not experienced in any of my chores, so it stays completely straight. Only bad thing about them in my opinion is that when you wash them, it is too easy to get water on the handle. One drop and opening and closing the blade gets quite laborious, relatively speaking. It would be nice if they offered some nice synthetics that still retained the look and feel, but without the whole issue of swelling.
I did notice that you mentioned in the post that you use oil on your handle. I need to start doing that.
Back to what is great about them, I like how every centimeter of the blade is sharpened, no need for a choil. The fact that the wood adds a decent amount of friction when opening means that the locking ring does not even need to be used for me most of the time, which is nice. The ergonomics for the 8 are almost perfect for me, and few other folders in my experience have a full three dimensionally shaped handle.
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This is so very typical of Opinel users. The first time a person uses an Opinel, it's like a dawning of understanding how a knife is supposed to cut. The blade grind on an Opinel is a very slight convex, and it slide right through the medium being cut. The blade is no designed to stab through car doors, chop down full grown oak trees, but just as a simple slicer and dicer. And that is what it excels at.

People don't understand that you can make an Opinel pretty water proof. If you let it dry out really good in the dahs of your car in the sun, or set it by the light bulb in a pamp for a few hours, then soak the joint in mineral oil or use Vasoline jelly and heat it with the old lades blow drier, so the oil or gasoline penetrates into the wood, water can't get in. I've got them to the pint that they will stand up to one hour of total submergence with only minor stiffening of the joint.

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If the blade come too tight, you can loosen the the blade pivot by inserting a large screw driver and gently twisting it, and open up the joint a bit for a looser blade fit.

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Thanks for the advise jack, I currently will not be able to do this, however I believe I will be able to in a month or so. I did not realize that drying in the sun would help, but it seems quite obvious to me now. Do you know if you have to do anything different with bubinga wood? That is the material my handle is made of.
 
My experience with bubinga is zero. All my Opinel's have always been the plain beech. But I'd think the treatment would be the same as far as getting some oil or Vasoline into the wood to give some water resistance. I don't see why it would not work just as good on bubinga as any other wood.
 
I like Opinels also,and the thin blades and simple wooden handles result in a knife that weighs about as much as the few dollars and cents it costs to buy them.As much at home in the glovebox of a 30 year old Ford truck with farm use plates on a farm in Dogtown,Virginia as in the pocket of a bespoke pair of breeks worn by a Purdey toting toff on a driven grouse hunt in Scotland.It ain't the cats pajamas for field dressing a Buick but makes the simple chore of peeling an apple a soul soothing experience.

 
All my slippies and opinels go into a shot glass full of mineral oil, pivot end down overnight, or maybe even a few days until I get to them, and then I work with them. No problems. Really, they are a delight afterwards.
 
manowar669 said:
All my slippies and opinels go into a shot glass full of mineral oil, pivot end down overnight, or maybe even a few days until I get to them, and then I work with them. No problems. Really, they are a delight afterwards.
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Is this just a one time thing when you first get them?
 
I only use my Opinel in the kitchen:



beech on the handle is stabilized in hot linseed oil:




all knives are not less than three years, I am happy :)





 
,I forgot to add that before hot oil hour I keep a knife in the freezer (vacuum precisely :) Polymerization of 5-7 days.
 
leghog said:
So, no Opinel, no Victorinox, no Mora, no Helle, no Grohmann, no Boker, no Puma, no puukko or leuku, none from Solingen, etc. etc.? Won't even consider them? Truly your loss.

Do you fish? If so, who made your fillet knife?

Knives in your kitchen? Who made those?
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Pigdog said:
Then you are missing out on some really good gear. Not just Opinels, and not just knives, either.
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Exactly. To be a true knife/cutlery enthusiast means enjoying knives from all over the globe IMHO... :thumbup::D:cool:
 
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