Lets see opinels - Pic Thread

[overtech]

My #6
The butt has been rounded and the body thinned

My #8 that has had modificaitons made to inspired by the Winged figures of the republic (at the hoover dam)

and my #4 that has been modified for carving duty.

 

[Swoop03]

My one and only right now, its a No. 6 Carbon. A number 7 8 and 9 are on my list for sure though. I might just grab up a set of 10 and be done with it lol.
Also I saw Stitch's recurved one, and checked mine out, I thought it had a little but couldn't really tell, I held it up to a straight edge and sure enough I have a tiny recurve starting only after a week or so. I've been cutting anything I can get my hands on with it and dinged up the edge a few times. It's being put through it's paces.




I learned how quickly a banana will patina carbon steel too, I just cut off the top to peel it easier and had black spots so I cut up the rest of it to see how far it would go.

 

[smiling-knife]

Market day in the south of France

 

[jwren]

and my #4 that has been modified for carving duty.

Wow, that's pretty unique and unusual looking! (In a good way ) :thumbup:
What's the handle made of?

 

[Sonnemann]

Market day in the south of France

Uhh...I'll take it!

I got my olivewood #8 in the post today. I am very pleased with it overall; it seems much smaller than the standard #8 and should make an excellent all-rounder as well. I was disappointed with the edge (uneven and burred) but that's something I like to tweak anyway so I don't count it as a negative. Funny, I just realized this is probably the first stainless knife I've intentionally purchased in a few years.

 

[machine26]

Market day in the south of France

I'd be making my bank account beg for mercy if I had access to that.

 

[emperorvince]

My No.7. I admit that I really underestimated the Opinel. Now I see what the big deal is...a great value !

 

[phacochère]

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Really nice stuff here, had my #8 garden to work today one guy nick'd himself and said "wow that's sharp!" duh...of course it is !

Here are a couple shots taken tonight, I have the Ebony #8 inbound now, should be here later this week

G2

 

[machine26]

Really nice stuff here, had my #8 garden to work today one guy nick'd himself and said "wow that's sharp!" duh...of course it is !

Here are a couple shots taken tonight, I have the Ebony #8 inbound now, should be here later this week

G2

Nice, gotta share pics of the ebony when you get it.

Something else for the people that have no opinels. Check out the 1890 model, its carbon steel, untreated cherry woood and no lock for 20-25 dollars. Also comes with a nice leather slip sheath. It's supposed to be limited edition/collectible but I think it'd make a great user or first.

 

[richstag]

Walnut No8 from my friend Sam



1890 as a gift for a new job



I love the 1890 but the Cherry wood is soft. I don't know how much I would suggest it as an actual toss around knife unless you like dents and dirt to soak in easily.

I splurged and have an opinel experiment on the way So far I have decided the lack of the lock and the tighter pivot action. Nothing to mess with and I have it set just right.

Kevin

 

[pertinux]

While I love the basic Opinel's simple functionality and no-frills aesthetics, I admit I'm intrigued by some of the designs available to be engraved on their blades (direct from Opinel USA-- a non-supporting dealer, so no link).

This is the idea:

I *think* Stich442 or someone else who posts here has one with a Celtic knot(?), but I could be mistaken.

If anyone has an engraved blade, I'd like to see it.

~ P.

 

[machine26]

I hate to admit it but today is the first time I've ever used an opinel for carving. It worked wonderfully. The number 8 carbon in my collection had formed some rust without me realizing it, perfect excuse to make it a user.

It does have one problem after carving awhile, the squared off spine, gonna remedy that.

ETA: I've only ever used opies for EDC type stuff, should've known they'd make excellent carvers.

ETA2: richstag, I didn't know cherry wood was so much softer, so I reckon it wouldn't make a great first opinel if a hard user but as a nice looking EDC maybe.

I also prefer no lock. Only one I use the lock on is the saw, the rest of them are tight enough not to need it.

 

[overtech]

Wow, that's pretty unique and unusual looking! (In a good way ) :thumbup:
What's the handle made of?

polycaprolactone (PCL) thermoplastic a miracle substance that is in the same league as duct tape. polycaprolactone (sold under the name InstaMorph or shapelock) has a melting temp of a around 130 degrees (cool enough to be molded by hand). once its cooled it can painted, machined (just keep it cold), carved, sanded etc. Acrylic paints were mixed with it when in was in 'liquid' state.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Those engraving options look pretty nice wish now I'd have picked one for the#8 on it's way
G2

 

[sitflyer]

The #6 is my TV room apple / pear knife, Ive had that one for about 20 years now. The #10 is newer and is my table bread knife for French and Italian loaf breads...




The #6 is a natural patina, the #10 is blued

 

[jwren]

polycaprolactone (PCL) thermoplastic a miracle substance that is in the same league as duct tape. polycaprolactone (sold under the name InstaMorph or shapelock) has a melting temp of a around 130 degrees (cool enough to be molded by hand). once its cooled it can painted, machined (just keep it cold), carved, sanded etc. Acrylic paints were mixed with it when in was in 'liquid' state.

Thanks for the info overtech!

 

[Stich2442]

While I love the basic Opinel's simple functionality and no-frills aesthetics, I admit I'm intrigued by some of the designs available to be engraved on their blades (direct from Opinel USA-- a non-supporting dealer, so no link).

This is the idea:

I *think* Stich442 or someone else who posts here has one with a Celtic knot(?), but I could be mistaken.

If anyone has an engraved blade, I'd like to see it.

~ P.

I have had this one for about 3 years, after patina it's hard to see, but I do buff it ( the engraving ) with leather to add some contrast, I like it. Also Fred at Opinel USA is a forum basic member, but not a dealer member.

I have another pic post #30 of this thread

Pete

 

[Stich2442]

Sarah, I decided to give it a buff for you so you can get a better look, this time instead of leather, I used a Sunshine polishing cloth.

Pete
Buffed a little more

Best I can do with my cell phone

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Well the ebony #8 arrived today and BOY is it slim
I didn't really know that it would be as thin as it is, compared to the garden #8 model which is in the picture with it, the ebony one's blade is about 1mm thick while the garden is about 1.7mm thick at the spine. While that doesn't sound like a lot, the 1mm is pretty thin.

And the ebony wood, was pretty dark, washed it and there are now a lot of lighter parts to the wood, here's a tip, DON'T wash a wooden handled folder made the pull on this go from about a 4 to an 8, got kinda bound up there.

It's overall a lot smaller compared to the #8 garden, I guess I had that in mind while viewing the photos that it's an 8 so it should be similar in size, otherwise I wouldn't have made the purchase I think, part of not being able to handle before buying. Now don't get me wrong, this is a wicked slicer and flexible blade, arrived decently sharp but took an even better edge pretty quickly. The tip was up too high so I had to use a diamond stone to grind down the kick on this blade and the spot where the tang hits the spine of the handle area was too much, making the blade angle down when opened, so with some file work I notched the handle tubing, the blade is too hard to touch with my small files. Now it opens up and has nice flowing lines.

I'm still wondering if this is really ebony or a deeply dyed regular wood???

Here are a few quick photos, might do a short video to help show these two off.
G2