Lets see opinels - Pic Thread

Gary that is a beauty! I love the engraving. I found the stainless harder to file but I still could rather easily. I think the trick was the old swiss file from my grandfathers metal working shop though. That thing is hard and sharp!

Any plans to checker the handle? The ebony would really give crips lines :)

Kevin
 
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okay, don't crucify me. worked with my dad yesterday and came across the opinel I gifted him. the lock ring has somehow slipped up on the knife so it no longer rotates. the blade is obviously a bit corroded. I think five minutes of elbow grease and this thing will be back in action, but I forgot to take it home at the end of the day.
 
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No.10 No.6 x2 and No.4

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No.10(from above photo,after bit of whittling) and No.8 (Oak and beech)
 
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goodeyesniper said:
the lock ring has somehow slipped up on the knife so it no longer rotates. the blade is obviously a bit corroded.
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I think the ring came off and was put back on upside down. Look at "Made in France" wording, it should be on the handle side.
 
Thanks guys, I think I should have stopped just a LITTLE sooner when grinding that back of the tang ;) but, it still locks open, although a little better when twisted in one direction than the other.

I don't know that I'll make any attempts to do any carving on this one, the engraving is very nice, the ebony very solid and smooth, I did sand down the butt of the handle flat areas as they had chatter marks from the machining of the wood, now it's all nice and flat and smooth!

And, I just ordered a #9 and #10 in stainless, and that needs to be it lol, really does :)

I hemmed and hawed over the whole Carbon vs Stainless and ended up staying with the Stainless as from what I can gather there is a marginal difference for the carbon but a lot of benefit for the stainless when carrying it/packing it on trips and the like. And these that I have now, wow, they are sharp!!! SO, we'll see how the 9 and 10 fit into my little French Quarter part of knife town at my house next week.

Thanks for the push you guys!
G2
 
An inox steel with fancy wood is my next opinel of choice! lovely shine on those blades :)

That locking ring comes off easy enough without any proper tools, I've used my sak bottle opener plenty of times! it does fly across the room though :) lol
 
goodeyesniper said:
thanks for the hint, I'll check it out closer next time I see it. what's the best way to remove the lock ring?
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richstag said:
It sure looks backwards to me and here is a photo of the best way IMO



Kevin
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Ditto that; that ring is definitely on upside down. Here's what I've been using for them. It takes mere seconds to remove and replace the ring, with no hazard of stainless steel projectiles flying about ;) :


David
 
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I understand, that ebony is beautiful as is. I scanned my work knife and I have been drawing on It with a dry erase maker. I am contemplating a few designs. I think I have one I like. Next is to decide if I file it in or wood burn it. I wonder what you guys think would look better?



Kevin

Gary W. Graley said:
Thanks guys, I think I should have stopped just a LITTLE sooner when grinding that back of the tang ;) but, it still locks open, although a little better when twisted in one direction than the other.

I don't know that I'll make any attempts to do any carving on this one, the engraving is very nice, the ebony very solid and smooth, I did sand down the butt of the handle flat areas as they had chatter marks from the machining of the wood, now it's all nice and flat and smooth!

And, I just ordered a #9 and #10 in stainless, and that needs to be it lol, really does :)

I hemmed and hawed over the whole Carbon vs Stainless and ended up staying with the Stainless as from what I can gather there is a marginal difference for the carbon but a lot of benefit for the stainless when carrying it/packing it on trips and the like. And these that I have now, wow, they are sharp!!! SO, we'll see how the 9 and 10 fit into my little French Quarter part of knife town at my house next week.

Thanks for the push you guys!
G2
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I would leave the ebony as it is.
As for the cherry handled Opinel: cherry wood is softer than beech, so I don’t know if filing it would result in clean grooves or not.
Also, I don’t know if burning it would result in a lasting and wear resistant enough pattern.

Opinel sells the so called “raw” or “ebauche” knives: among those the boxwood and the olive wood ones would be my choice for carving & filing, and the boxwood would be the most suited for woodburning.
Both of these woods are very hard and would not only show a crisp detail but also would hold it for a long time.
 
Thanks littleknife. The soft cherry is why I could not bring the diamonds to sharper points. Cell pics of my meager results...





Its not perfect but I did not expect my first attempt on such random contours to be. Its still cool to carry a hand checkered knife that I attempted :)

Kevin
 
Richstag, I have to admit it looks nicer than I thought it could be done on cherry wood!:thumbup:
Congratulations!:thumbup::thumbup:
 
Thanks a TON guys :) It means a lot.

I went over the diamonds to flatten them a little more crisp. After the file I buffed out the grooves and it softened some edges.



It is not close to as nice as the checkering I did on my walnut ebauche but its just my work knife :)

Littleknife, thanks for the info on the different woods on the Ebauche. I will have to check some more out. :)

I think the problem now with the cherry will be how it wears down or chips off later but hey "work knife"

Kevin
 
richstag said:
I think the problem now with the cherry will be how it wears down or chips off later but hey "work knife”
Kevin
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I think there are some hard-wearing finishes available which would provide a more wear-resistant surface than the bare wood.
Maybe someone with real woodworking knowledge could recommend a specific product.
 
Nice checkering, Kevin. I wish I had the patience to try it!
 
richstag said:
Thanks littleknife. The soft cherry is why I could not bring the diamonds to sharper points. Cell pics of my meager results...





Its not perfect but I did not expect my first attempt on such random contours to be. Its still cool to carry a hand checkered knife that I attempted :)

Kevin
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Kevin, that looks great to me. I wouldn't have near the patience to take that on. :thumbup::thumbup:

Carl.
 
Gary and Carl, thanks a whole lot!! :) If I try to practice my patience even more and give this kind of thing another shot I hope to get better :)

Its all just fun rainy day learning for now.

Littleknife, thanks for the idea, and yeah, there are a ton of hardening coating for wood and I have actually used quite a few on other projects. For this I prefer weatherproofing and that is it. I don't mean to offend folks that prefer something like a polymerized coating on a knife but its not my cup of tea. Professionaly stabilized wood is also okay with me but I do not have the means to do that.

Thanks again everyone for the kind words. It makes me smile.

Kevin
 
The very kind words motivated me to go back with the file and TRY to clean it up a little. I also left the file finish as opposed to buffing. After all the talk of soft cherry I started to realize how rounded the buffer was making everything. Here are a few cell shots, my friends :)





Kevin
 
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