Is the Opinel lock THAT hard to use?

G

GarageBoy

Joined
May 23, 2003
Messages
5,952
Me and my buddy both have had idiots pop the lock off. My dad went as far as it pop it back on BACKWARDS..

I mean, if the blade is stuck close, that means something..but nooo, he decides to go ahead and brute force the thing open. I didn't realize he even did this until a week later.

::shakes head
 
I handed my buddy a closed locked Opinel. He tugged on it pretty hard before I snatched it back. :rolleyes:
 
Same thing happens when I hand people a Boker Toplock,almost break nails trying to open it LOL.
 
There are also people that try to close the opinel when its open in the locked position. Of course those same people are dumbfounded by lockbacks and liner locks. Even my dad who isnt a knife person understood how to close the axis within seconds when he first tried to push the blade close and it didnt work. Hes too smart to try to use brute force to clsoe it.
 
That's what a lot of people just don't get: if you have to use strength to open or close a knife, you're doing something wrong.
 
I did forget to lock the Opinel once before striking the spine on a flint rod..(my first time with my buddy's oppy)

I'm more pissed off he dulled my demo only edge on it (no bevel, pure sharpness)
 
Have you ever seen someone so frustrated they couldn't close a knife that they grab the whole blade, fingers wrapped around it? A lockback ... gaahhh ... :barf:

drip, drip, drip.
 
The thing was, I had 2 Spyderco Delicas and a ParaMilitary on the desk and he didn't use em.
 
I've never had anyone be able to open my Opinels without showing them first. I'm just as dumbfounded as the rest of you as to why this is.
 
I've had a buddy try to close my Blur by slamming the spine against a tree several times. I then proceded to take the knife from him, pick him up and slam his spine into the same tree while saying "how do YOU like it"
 
Now now folks... I'm disappointed in you all !
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Answer this , were not the bulk of the folks that had problems with locks or opening your knife , non-knife people ? Sure maybe they have an old slipjoint on thier dresser but overall they do not carry knives everyday nor use them like we do , they do not read knife magazines or visit knife related forums/websites.
Chances are good they probably buy one knife every 10 years or so , if that.

So , let's try to be patient with those folks and impart our wisdom upon them , I make it a point that if a co-worker or family member asks to borrow my knife , to show them how it works and to not go out of my way to make them feel intimidated by my tool. ( did that sound right ? :D )
 
That did not sound right. :eek:

I bet a few of us have seen people enthusiastic about playing with our knives who didn't have a clue. The reason it baffles me is that I grew up with kids just like myself, who had pocketknives -- all slipjoints -- and went on to the current styles. We aren't aliens who just moved here with our strange implements.

On the other hand, there are some people who just have no feel for materials and equipment. You can't trust them in shop class. They pull a stuck kitchen drawer out and drop it on their foot. The transmission is grinding but they drive onto the highway anyway.

Besides, it's fun to see them sever nerves in their thumb, and have to break up a family dinner to drive them to the hospital.
 
Mike Irie's folder is the only one that baffled me. The ironic part is that my dad asked why there was a ring there..plus, theres a buncha folders on my table that woulda opened without any force
 
When I tried to dismantle an Opinel (partly to reshape the handle without jamming the works with woodshavings, and partly just because) it took a lot of effort to pop the lock off. Prying it with a screwdriver did not seem to make much difference - it was not in a vice - and I had to use needle-nose pliers in the end. It would have taken me a lot of time and effort to take it apart with my bare hands.

Maybe, being charitable to the people involved, this is more of a quality control issue than operator error?
 
The Opinel is, bar none, the hardest to open, least intuitive, head scratching, klutzy, ill conceived, arbitrary, cantankerous, most senseless lock in existence.

But then it's French.

:D
 
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