I've carried all mannor of knives in my life. Custom knives, high end production knives, simple working knives. Stockmen, sak's, sodbusters, and peanuts. All went through my life in different stages, but only the Opinel has been a long term adiction. Since 1982 in fact.
I've tried to stop carrying them. I stropped my peanut, cleaned and honed my yella handle sodie. But sometimes going out the door, I quietly slip an opy in a pocket like a drunk slipping a flask in his coat pocket.
In many ways, their a pain in the butt. Get a new one, and theres the task of sanding it down, soaking the wood in linseed oil, letting it seep and rubbing it down till you have a nice finish that will resist water better than the horrid orange stuff they put on at the factory. I've tried many ways to water proof them, all sort of sucsessful. Linseed oil, sometimes just a Helmsman Spar Urathane finish, and even the advise of a real French guy; Vasoline on a toothpick worked into the hinge. It all sort of works.
But I have to question why, with "better" knives right there in my sock drawer, I keep coming back to the humble Opinel?
I know I'm drawn to weird and funky European designs. I was a loyal VW bug fan for years. Not the new thing, but the old rear engine air cooled job that sort of rattled dwon the road with that distinctive sound. And I'm still riding around on a 2 cycle Italian Vespa, leaving a slight trail of blue/grey smoke in my wake.
Okay, I admit part of the draw is the cutting. No other knife I have quite cuts like an Opinel. Some are very close, but not quite there. I don't know if anything is quite like an Opinel right off the stone or strop. That kind of scary sharp, that when you feel the edge, it sort of grabs the raised part of the finger print with an eagerness to cut. Sharp enough that if you wave it near your arm, the hairs jump off all by themselves, commiting suicide rather than face that blade.
For simple working kives, I was always a bit predjudiced toward the sodbuster. Same kind of thing in a general way, wide thin blade with great geometry. Plus the soddie is waterproof.
But I guess it took having one hand sort of out of action to come to a deep appretiation of a knife with no spring to snap closed like a trap if one lost thier grip on it durring opening. An Opinel can be held in the right hand, and blade lightly grasped by the knuckles of the left index and middle fingers, and pulled open. Reach down and push the locking ring over with your right thumb and you're in buisness. Or, just do the Opinel "knock" as they describe it. Tap the end of the knife with the blade down, on a table, or something, and the blade opens a bit. Then just pull it the rest of the way. This even works with wet Opinels that are a bit stiff.
I've been getting by great with small fixed blades, but sometimes Karen and I go someplace that I have to, as she puts it, put on real grown up clothes. Meaning dress pants that the pocket fixed blade is not real suited for. But drop an Opinel in the pocket, and I'm good. Very light weight for thier size. As long as I don't go swiming with it, or bobbing around in the ocean like a survivor of the Indianapolis, I'll be okay opening it up if I need to.
But maybe it's the fact a new Opinel is like a fresh canvas to a painter. Some sandpaper, some time, and you can re-shape them, re-finish them, and end up with a one of the kind peronalized knife.
Okay, I think I'll go hide in the closet and fondle an opy.
I've tried to stop carrying them. I stropped my peanut, cleaned and honed my yella handle sodie. But sometimes going out the door, I quietly slip an opy in a pocket like a drunk slipping a flask in his coat pocket.
In many ways, their a pain in the butt. Get a new one, and theres the task of sanding it down, soaking the wood in linseed oil, letting it seep and rubbing it down till you have a nice finish that will resist water better than the horrid orange stuff they put on at the factory. I've tried many ways to water proof them, all sort of sucsessful. Linseed oil, sometimes just a Helmsman Spar Urathane finish, and even the advise of a real French guy; Vasoline on a toothpick worked into the hinge. It all sort of works.
But I have to question why, with "better" knives right there in my sock drawer, I keep coming back to the humble Opinel?
I know I'm drawn to weird and funky European designs. I was a loyal VW bug fan for years. Not the new thing, but the old rear engine air cooled job that sort of rattled dwon the road with that distinctive sound. And I'm still riding around on a 2 cycle Italian Vespa, leaving a slight trail of blue/grey smoke in my wake.
Okay, I admit part of the draw is the cutting. No other knife I have quite cuts like an Opinel. Some are very close, but not quite there. I don't know if anything is quite like an Opinel right off the stone or strop. That kind of scary sharp, that when you feel the edge, it sort of grabs the raised part of the finger print with an eagerness to cut. Sharp enough that if you wave it near your arm, the hairs jump off all by themselves, commiting suicide rather than face that blade.
For simple working kives, I was always a bit predjudiced toward the sodbuster. Same kind of thing in a general way, wide thin blade with great geometry. Plus the soddie is waterproof.
But I guess it took having one hand sort of out of action to come to a deep appretiation of a knife with no spring to snap closed like a trap if one lost thier grip on it durring opening. An Opinel can be held in the right hand, and blade lightly grasped by the knuckles of the left index and middle fingers, and pulled open. Reach down and push the locking ring over with your right thumb and you're in buisness. Or, just do the Opinel "knock" as they describe it. Tap the end of the knife with the blade down, on a table, or something, and the blade opens a bit. Then just pull it the rest of the way. This even works with wet Opinels that are a bit stiff.
I've been getting by great with small fixed blades, but sometimes Karen and I go someplace that I have to, as she puts it, put on real grown up clothes. Meaning dress pants that the pocket fixed blade is not real suited for. But drop an Opinel in the pocket, and I'm good. Very light weight for thier size. As long as I don't go swiming with it, or bobbing around in the ocean like a survivor of the Indianapolis, I'll be okay opening it up if I need to.
But maybe it's the fact a new Opinel is like a fresh canvas to a painter. Some sandpaper, some time, and you can re-shape them, re-finish them, and end up with a one of the kind peronalized knife.
Okay, I think I'll go hide in the closet and fondle an opy.
