Lets see opinels - Pic Thread

For anyone interested here is the final result. I am not going to do anymore, I will just make a mess. What I learned... High noon sun literally burns like a laser...really...around 5:30 it took about 20 times as long to burn so it was a lot easier :)





Opinels are fun.

I checked here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/935876-***List-Of-Bladeforums-Dealers*** to find that knifecenter is a hosted dealer that carries Opinel. Please correct me if this is no longer a dealer.

Kevin
 
jackknife said:
Okay, any kind of Opinel?:D

I love my Opinel saw as much as I do my knives! Cuts wood like a beaver on crack.:eek: I never go in the woods without it.

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I use my opinel saw alot too, it was actually the first opinel I ever purchased. Impressed me alot, worth every penny. Reminds me of an over grown Victorinox SAK saw.

opiesaw.jpg
 
CJZ said:
Isn't BladeHQ one of our dealers?
They carry Opinels I beleive
Click to expand...

Come to think of it. knifecenter.com has a dealer membership and they carry Opinels, also.

I stand corrected.
 
Very nice, Gevonovich. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I actually sanded the G off mine. It was annoying me. So now its a little asymmetrical but for some reason THAT does not bother me :eek: :D

Gevonovich said:
Very cool idea, Kevin!! I think you gave me some ideas;)


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So back to my 1890, my work knife, today I pulled it out to cut some plastic sheet and it did not do so hot. Funny because I had honed it sharper than ever the night before. HMMMM... I manipulate the knife and hear the clicking noise I have noticed but this time I try to figure it out. Well the kick had mashed flat enough to allow the entire blade to ride into the wood of the handle and the clicking was the blade going side to side basically knocking off the fine edge.

I gave it a moments thought and played with some bamboo to try some "kick" replacement ideas. When I figured the right size I grabbed a piece of stag and surfaced it down perfect and put it down in the blade opening. If you look at this next picture the pencil line shows where the blade used to sit in relation to the handle:



The piece of stag sits right before the edge of the blade on the metal collar and I put a drop of superglue on it with a toothpick just for good measure (I will worry with breaking that out when the time comes) Here you may be able to see the stag. This way tang of the blade rests on the stag and NONE of the edge hits a thing. No more clicking noise and I can close it up tight when working without having to pay attention to how far I am closing it :)



I know this is simple and everyone has done it.

Kevin
 
Did lots of carving today, LOTS! I used all the tools in this pic and all the wood. The opinel is by far my favorite to carve with. Can't really beat that small sebenza for an all arounder though. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties this was the only pic I got.

carvingstuff.jpg
 


This is my second Opinel. It's a no. 6 with maple handle. I scored it recently on that big auction site, barely used. It cost me all of $12! I've already taken it deep sea fishing and canoeing in south Florida. It didn't see much action, but I can tell you the humidity didn't affect it one bit. I plan to use the heck out of this one -- and have no doubt that it can take anything I throw at it. No plans to mod it, though. Unless you count lots of time jangling around in a pocket full of keys and coins. :)

-- Mark
 
Its been about three weeks with my opi 8 as my every day carry and honestly I have never had to use a knife so much on a daily basis. I have tinkered and tinkered with this knife. It has what I like to call a dirt stain that does not look pretty. My initial on one side that looks like a preschooler got a hold of a wood burner and lop sided butt from grinding off the second initial. The blade has a wavy grind, thicker and thinner along the length of the blade, not so pretty. I had to make a blade stop so it would stop dulling. I poured superglue all into the wood of the pivot to seal the wood (that was fun but it worked amazingly) So now I have this bare bones friction folder humble as the dirt under my feet knife that when I use I feel like a jedi night it just cuts like a light saber :D

Anyhow, all of this is to get to a point. Why is it that I can't sit this knife down. I don't even want to carry ANY of my other knives. What gives. Is this the sickness of the opinel? Have I caught the common sense knife bug once and for all??? Say its not so :eek:



Kevin
 
Well Kevin here is my perspective, besides the Imperials, and a few others, I had growing up, around my early teens I started carrying a Vic SAK everyday for many years never was without, then about 20 years ago I bought a Opinel #8,( I also had a Laguiole ) so I started using the Opinel for cutting task and the Vic for the tools. About 8 or so years ago I bought a Boker stockman ( carbon ) and I really didn't need the tools as much on the Vic at work because I had all my real tools with me for work. The Opinel did all the dirty work and the Boker was my backup, if someone needed a knife I would give them the Opinel and I would continue working with the Boker. Then I decided to buy myself a nice knife that would be my last knife to carry until they covered me with dirt, #54 GEC Moose, I continued using my Opinel at work and home I would carry the moose, but I caught the bug, I bought a Moore Maker, then I was gifted the peanut, then..................I found blade forums, what I'm not the only person that still carries a pocket knife? Look at all the all the cool patterns, it was too late, blade forums is like a methadone clinic for a junky, now I have more blades then I know what to do with, it was easy before choosing between 3 or 4 depending on the day. Now I didn't need any other knives my Opinel was and is perfect, can do it all, I feel like I've been chasing my tail, but admitting you have a problem is the first step, I'm an addict I like sharp things, sure my wallet would be a little fatter if I only had my Opinel, but heck what would I be posting on the "totin' today "thread? :-) don't worry Kevin your not alone, and if you need a sponsor, and need to get rid of all that excess baggage, just know I'm here for you, I'll even pay for the shipping and handling so you can get those sharps out of your hands. :-)

Pete
 
richstag said:
Anyhow, all of this is to get to a point. Why is it that I can't sit this knife down. I don't even want to carry ANY of my other knives. What gives. Is this the sickness of the opinel? Have I caught the common sense knife bug once and for all??? Say its not so :eek:
Kevin
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Kevin, it could very well be some sort of sickness, but just to let you know, it's one I have suffered from as well. Your post, and the one Pete made just under yours, could have been written by me. I used to love knives in general, but always was conservative. I carried a stickman for 25 years, and the old Buck 301 served me well enough on different continents. Then I scaled down to a 303 cadet. In 1982, I bought my first Opinel, when I saw one for sale at a backpacking store. Intrigued by the design, I bought one. I still was a stockman guy, but the Opinel lurked in the background, and came out now and then for the 'dirty work' I didn't want to soil my 'good' knife on. Then I went through my sodbuster stage. I had sodbusters by Case, Eye-Brand, Klass, and a now name. That stage petered out, and I went to the peanut, driven by some measure by my dad's memory. But still, through it all, the Opinel was there lurking about, and many number 8's, 9's, and a few 12's all came and went after getting sanded drown, reshaped, stained and linseed oiled. I made many gifts to non knife people of re-finished Opinel's. But I always kept a few around, for some reason I can't put a finger on. Now, I'm draw to the simple rustic knives, and Opinel's are there still with me. Of all the knives that have come and went since 1982, the Opinel has remained a constant.

Even though Fausto's beautiful little Resolza rides in my pocket instead of the peanut, an Opinel is never far away, for those 'dirty work' jobs I may not want to use the resolza on. There's a large number 12 slim in the kitchen drawer that has no equal in deboning a chciken or butterfling a large fish broiling. Nothing quite slices like it. There is some weird draw to the simple Opinel, and maybe you are onto something, when you talk about finally getting the common sense bug. I've found that in my 'older' years, I have developed a very pragmatic outlook. I think about something my old man said to me a very long time ago. He just wants to cut something. Maybe that's where we have finally arrived at in our life. Maybe if we live long enough, we can see the forest for the trees!:D

Carl.
 
Well kevin, there is some mysterious draw to an Opinal. It slices like a Jedi light saber,it's light as an alula feather, it locks if need be, it fills the hand for a comfortable grips, the looks of a Scandinavian artisan piece, and you can use it like you stole it cause mine was only a dollar
 
How do you guys get the pin out? I can't get underneath the larger end and just hitting it with the punch mars the steel.
 
I think a lot of people will just grind off the head of the pin. Never had to do it so I can't say from my own experience.
 
Sonnemann said:
I think a lot of people will just grind off the head of the pin. Never had to do it so I can't say from my own experience.
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Wouldn't it fall out pretty easily then? I've been using a no.6 that I patina-ed and semi-restored for my sister and just got my no.8 in the mail. the pin is the only fundamental flaw I can see in the design because it can't be easily removed without tools. I wonder if theres a way to make it take down just by hand, but thats getting ahead of myself. I just want to get it apart to loosen the tension a bit and force a patina properly.
 
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