• Preorders are LIVE for the 2024 BladeForums Traditional Knife

    Traditional Knife Information Thread - make sure you go in there and read up.

    Requirements: Be a Gold or higher member or have been a member of the forums since 6/2023 with at least 100 posts in the Traditional Forum. Preorder is for people who live in the continental US only, international orders will be separate.

    Delivery expected in Q4 2024, hopefully before the holidays.

    User Name
    Serial number request

My first Opinel.......

I

ichor

Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
1,988
Received my first Opinel today.....#6. Bought it when that, carving a ball in a cage thread jacked everyone up. Thought a 2 3/4" carbon steel blade, with a reputation for taking a keen edge, would be a good addition (also bought a Schrade Middleman).

I was surprised by the thiness of the blade and also how very lightweight the knife is. I was not surprised, based on what I've heard, how easy it was to put a dynamite edge on it.

This is #6, how many numbers do you go up before the blade gets thicker? We'll see how it works as a whittler. Can hardly go wrong for $7.50 including shipping. A letter opener, if nothing else.
 
John, from what I've seen, the blades stay pretty darn thin even with the larger numbers. I have a 6 and a 7 and have hefted a few others and there doesn't seem to be a remarkable difference in thickness.
Matt
 
with a Middleman and an Opinel #8. Trying to carve a raven's head on the top of a walking stick. Slow going but fun. Hope you're more patient than I am;)

Frank
 
I've got a 6, three 8's and a 10. I love them, they take a wicked edge
and are cheap enough to not worry about damaging or losing.
You just can't beat them. I think the 10 is as large as you need to go, it fits my hand just right. They are so light, you just don't know you're carrying them. Look for the spear-point No.8 it has plenty of blade exposed to make opening easy, or you can file a groove in the handles to show more blade to aid opening.
 
have a pair of 7's!!! :D excellent knives at unbelievable price! :D

Sam
 
I have a couple of 9s and a 10. They make great picnic knives or for use around the barbeque grill. Super for picnics--for cutting cheese, etc. And if you happen to lose it--it's not a major tragic event.
 
They are so cheap they are almost disposable, but I have not worn one out yet. Thin blades is what you want for whittling anyhow.
 
Doing a carving on the handle of your Opinel is a good whittling project.

I have a #7, a regular stainless #8, a rosewood #8 and a rosewood slim, great knives !!!.
 
Now that I take a closer look, I'm wondering if I ended up with the stainless one. I seem to remember that the one that says "Virobloc" on it is stainless. Someone posted the new Opinel homepage in English URL, recently but I've lost it.
 
Mine are very, very old, but I believe they still mark them the same, the stainless are stamped "INOX" on the blade and the print on the handle is red, in the non stainless the print on the handle is black.

If yours is non-stainless it will soon develop a dark patina, if it is stainless it will stay light in color, you can easily get a patina on the non stainless by rubbing some lemon juice or white vinegar on the blade and leaving it on for about an hour. There are a couple of threads around that mention this, I used a gun blue kit on mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top