Opinel Mods, lets see them

onojoe

onojoe

Joined
Aug 4, 2013
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Been getting the itch to modify some knives lately, I will blame it on Glenn Badd and seeing his work. The Opinel seems to be the simplest (and inexpensive) design to start out with. If you have an Opinel that's been modded or customized, lets see them for some inspiration.
 
Well, I'm in the middle of an ongoing mod of an Opinel #6. I decided to reshape the handle, mainly just to see if I could do it. So I whipped out a sunfish that was in my pocket and cut off the "flare" at the end of the handle, then grabbed some sandpaper and smoothed it all down to end up with what I'll call a "hot dog handle". It's shown next to a stock Opinel #7 below.
h2dDOwk.jpg


Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to think about the consequences of removing all that wood at the heel of the handle, and discovered this less than ideal situation. :(
uggbFDo.jpg


I used a red Sharpie to mark the steel I wanted to remove to drop the point of the blade into the new handle:
6ENZ5t5.jpg


You can see that it looks about right,
P5tkuCQ.jpg


and will result in what I'll pretend is a spearpoint blade, once all the red steel is gone.
wlfJtmR.jpg


So I went to Sears and bought a single-cut medium/coarse bastard file, and have removed most of the "offending" steel. The blade is still clamped in my little vice for one more session of filing, and then I'll have to try to smooth out the finish with a silicon carbide stone and/or some sandpaper. I hope someday soon to post the finished project. (Maybe I should buy and learn to use some power tools! :rolleyes:)

- GT
 
Greg, that's a great spearpoint! :thumbup:

Mateo, that carved handle (with mohawk and name and everything) is outstanding!! :thumbup:

Impressive work, gentlemen! :cool:

- GT
 
Here are a couple, my first attempts at modding my Opinels. Neither is really finiShed; both need a little more sandpaper time. Nothing original here, just some ideas I got off this forum and some others. I just rounded the heel of the 6. On the 8 I flattened the sides as well. I used some beet juice in tung oil to redden it a little. I was hoping for something a bit darker, but I guess I have a lot to learn about staining wood.

bolvmg.jpg


The blade of the 8 is also undergoing a transition to a drop point. The going was pretty slow with sandpaper, so I will wait until I figure out where to put my belt sander before I complete the job.

These knives both ride in the pocket much less obtrusively than unmodified knives.
 
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I tend to like a large handle relative to the blade size. Of late I have been EDCing longer blades, four inch or so but in the past three inch was plenty and I found that something shorter lent its self to high force yet high control.

So I envisioned this ultra short blade with this humungus handle. This was an Opinel #12. It is very light in the pocket and I can carry it all day at work and not even really tell it is there until I put my hand in my pocket.

I was very proud of it . . . until The Chef pointed out that I had . . . well to use here words : "Congratulations you have made a box knife".

Still . . . I feel it is a bit more than that but she has a point.



I had to cut a new nail nick and did it on the opposite side so I could preserve the Opinel brand logo stamped in the blade.

 
Henry Beige said:
Here are a couple, my first attempts at modding my Opinels. Neither is really finiShed; both need a little more sandpaper time. Nothing original here, just some ideas I got off this forum and some others. I just rounded the heel of the 6. On the 8 I flattened the sides as well. I used some beet juice in tung oil to redden it a little. I was hoping for something a bit darker, but I guess I have a lot to learn about staining wood.

bolvmg.jpg


The blade of the 8 is also undergoing a transition to a drop point. The going was pretty slow with sandpaper, so I will wait until I figure out where to put my belt sander before I complete the job.

These knives both ride in the pocket much less obtrusively than unmodified knives.
Click to expand...
Function over form, and by the way I've been working as a painter with my dad my whole life and thought I knew a thing or two about staining until I got my first opinel in a raw wood state. :D

I've decided to fight an uphill battle and stain one dark black for a friend. It's between coat number one and two atm.

Connor
 
Yet another one. This one is one I did for myself.

001_zps3b295c69.jpg


It is specially sharpened to make it easier to carve the fan birds that I make. This knife made hundreds of them until I gave it to another carver who wanted one just like it. I made another one very much like it when I got home, that has likewise made a LOT of these birds.
001_zps1423b5e0.jpg
 
ConBon said:
Function over form, and by the way I've been working as a painter with my dad my whole life and thought I knew a thing or two about staining until I got my first opinel in a raw wood state. :D

I've decided to fight an uphill battle and stain one dark black for a friend. It's between coat number one and two atm.

Connor
Click to expand...
Beech is very hard to stain. I sand blasted an Opi once and it took stain like a sponge. Using coarse sandpaper only and not going to finer grades is said to work. You want to keep the grain open apparently.

Scorching the handle a bit is the easiest way.
 
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