This is simply a matter of practice, or lack thereof. I one hand open and close my Opinel all the time. The primary difference is that Opinels take a second or two longer to open but are much, much safer to close (no spring). Unlock, pinch the blade, hook the butt of the handle on your thigh, lock.
I ran a pass around with a tiny little ol' #8 to test this.
The Antihero complained about grittiness in the lock when exposed to a lot of dry concrete but didn't report any lock failure. He also claimed the knife was too light to stand up to construction use (it's a small #8, not a larger #9 or #10) but after repeated encouragement to try to break it, he didn't report any breakage.
The Fotog finally took me up on the offer and was able to bust the blade. As is usual for Opinel destruction stories, the blade will finally snap before the joint & lock will fail. The Fotog managed it by drilling a hole in plastic industrial pipe in sub zero conditions.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Around-amp-Walk-About?p=13099001#post13099001
Full pass around is here.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1097460-Opinel-Pass-Around-amp-Walk-About
Plenty of reasons to not like an Opinel for a job site. The lock does take a while to deploy compared to other designs. Not everyone's cup of tea. But I've found them to be a lot more durable than any lockback I've used.
Midnight Flyer, can you post up any actual destruction/failure stories with the Opinel?
No. Rereading carefully, I made no such claims, either. Nor did I post any commentary, ideas, opinions, hearsay, rumors, allegations or intimate in any way that Opinels
actually failed,
could fail, or
might fail under
any circumstances whatsoever. In a quick rereading, I don't see that I said I had heard of any kind of failure, either.
I always try when posting to do my best not to raise the hackles of brand fans when I post. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Reading the simple sentence that you quoted from me surely raised some defensive response as you felt the need to defend the brand by referencing your pass around and posting up a couple of old threads supporting your views. I didn't even realize I was impugning Opinel by expressing my personal opinion about my own personal thoughts!
I don't care about all the nonsense people put knives through to make them fail, or to make a point so they can champion their favorite knife. As a qualified nail driver, I will GUARANTEE I can break any blade out there with a hammer and a vice. What does that prove? Any meat head can break a knife.
My simple sentence was not made in the spirit of demeaning Opinel or bashing their good name. To be clear: The Opinel isn't right
for me. For ME.
My personal work knives are always paired with a traditional pattern that I
like. The work knives... not so much. They are tools, and get the jobs I don't want to use my favorites on. I carried carbon until about 10 years ago when I started reading this and another forum and decided to see if stainless had arrived as a knife steel. Happy days! No more rusting in the pocket if I forget to oil it or use it on acidic materials. So I prefer stainless blades.
I
frequently clean my knives with charcoal lighter fluid to get off paint, adhesives, tar, etc. by flushing them out, then scrubbing them. No doubt the beech handles would stand the that same regimen, but G10 does a bang up (better?) job for me than wood. I never worry a moment about how I treat G10.
I like a different feel in the hand, again, a personal preference. I like a handful of knife as I have some fairly good sized mitts. My Kershaw Tyrade, Junkyard Dog II, RAT1, Tremor etc., do a better job for me than the Opinels. I started in the trades with a cousin of the Buck 110, and found I like a handful of knife for job site work. The round handles aren't that comfortable for me and seem to be more difficult to use, especially with gloves on.
Due to this site, I have also developed a taste for assisted openers for job site use. What a great idea for my sometime arthritic hands! A knife I don't have to dig out of my pocket (all of my work knives are pocket clipped, or clipped to my tool bags depending on the task) and open, and lock. I can get the knife out, and A/O or not in some cases, flip it open into the locked position without losing the grip on the material to be cut in the other hand such as a rope under load, a binding strap, etc. Years ago, I thought A/Os were simple mall ninja toys with no purpose. Now I have three! When my hands are cold and stiff they are a blessing when I am working outdoors.
So now you have an idea of what I like, based on my own experience of 40 years in the trades as a hands on workman. Regardless of the millions of dedicated Opinel fans that use their knives from tasks ranging from cleaning their fingernails to digging ditches, it just isn't my preference.
As for your request to post destruction/failure videos that would no doubt feature some moron using a knife to dig up a concrete parking lot or pry open a Swiss bank vault submerged in vat of liquid nitrogen, I have none. Certainly and to be sure, I am NOT saying that an Opinel isn't up to that task.
I posted my preference, which is only based on my opinion. My intent was never to ruffle feathers. I always enjoy reading your posts as well thought out and intelligent, so I thought I would take the time to tap out a response. I hope you understand what I am saying about my personal preference as it comes with no malice or intent to stir up any bad feelings with you or your like of Opinels.
Robert
