Opinel mods

Found an Opinel 2 years ago. Was abused and left behind in the wet grass. Had some bad chips and nicks along the edge + was completely rusty and dirty.

Cleaned her up


Then decided to make it my experimenting knife for mods.

First turned it into a drop point, then started polishing the side and putted a nice edge on it again. Still had 2 big chips in there so decided to take the file and add some more... the so called serrated edge ;)
And to be hones the serrations worked quite well. Ah tried some engraving on it as well.

When I was playing around with some patina and coatings I ruined it again, pity, but that's why it's an experimenting knife ;) For the moment it's laying in a drawer and I'll grab it one day again to touch it up and will mod the handle then as well.
 
Some time ago, I took some of the wood off of an opinel 7 handle and painted it black. I liked the looks of it but I wanted to combine it a bit with another hobby of mine (fossils). My first idea was somewhat impractical so that wasn't going to work. (see: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...81&highlight=black+opinel+sanded#post10272681)

I came up with another idea though... I've got plenty of broken fossil shark teeth that just sit in a box somewhere. I've seen many knives with an inlay of mammoth bark so I thought I'd try it with some of those broken shark teeth.

First, they needed some sanding down to make them flat. This reveals some of the inners structure of the teeth (where nerves/blood vessels once were) that has been pyritised. This gives a pretty nice contrast with the color of the fossil tooth-enamel. Both sides needed sanding because they need to be flat ofcourse.

Took some superglue and put them on the handle. I kinda like the result. It's nothing professional and not enarly as good looking as many of the mods I've seen here, but I like it anyway. I came to the conclusion that I did not sand the wood of the handle as well as I should have, then the result might have been better. Oh well, now I know some of the things I did wrong so I hope my future projects will turn out better.

The broken teeth I worked with:
2s96gt4.jpg


Sanded down:
[Removed]

On the handle:
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Galeocerdoshark said:
Some time ago, I took some of the wood off of an opinel 7 handle and painted it black. I liked the looks of it but I wanted to combine it a bit with another hobby of mine (fossils). My first idea was somewhat impractical so that wasn't going to work. (see: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...81&highlight=black+opinel+sanded#post10272681)

I came up with another idea though... I've got plenty of broken fossil shark teeth that just sit in a box somewhere. I've seen many knives with an inlay of mammoth bark so I thought I'd try it with some of those broken shark teeth.

First, they needed some sanding down to make them flat. This reveals some of the inners structure of the teeth (where nerves/blood vessels once were) that has been pyritised. This gives a pretty nice contrast with the color of the fossil tooth-enamel. Both sides needed sanding because they need to be flat ofcourse.

Took some superglue and put them on the handle. I kinda like the result. It's nothing professional and not enarly as good looking as many of the mods I've seen here, but I like it anyway. I came to the conclusion that I did not sand the wood of the handle as well as I should have, then the result might have been better. Oh well, now I know some of the things I did wrong so I hope my future projects will turn out better.
Click to expand...

Cool idea!
 
Was working on moding my new Opinel. Not finished yet, but wanted to share the progress. Any suggestions are welcome off course.
P1020922.jpg

P1020921.jpg


Will post an update again when finished. Hopefully soon (and better quality pictures).
 
Easy-open notch on my Opinel No.8 Carbon. It's my do-all farm knife. :)

Photo on 2012-01-22 at 07.01 #3.jpg
 
Update:

Modifications made to the original No8:
-Added a pocket clip
-Polished the handle/changed back of handle
-Converted it from a clip point to drop point style blade
-Added an inscription in the blade
-Added decoration to the handle
-Finished handle with oil

Some pictures:
opinel8-005.jpg

opinel8-002.jpg

opinel8-004.jpg

opinel8-003.jpg

opinel8-006.jpg
 
I got so inspired by this thread a while back, that I had to go ahead and do a mod myself (No.8). Thank you for your ideas.
I went with Blue Sky's direction and made mine more squared at the pommel and finished the wood off with some tar + line seed oil + balsamic turpentine (1 part each mix).

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I really like how yours looks, "rustic" yet also distinctive.

I spiffed up the handle on my carbon No.8 (from a post answering a direct question about the same, over in Traditional):

pertinux said:
For my first pretend attempt, I lightly sanded the handle and colored it with a brown sharpie (bottom knife below):
6898419783_06defac5cc_z.jpg


Which of course rubbed off (not a bad thing-- heh):
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Next, I sanded the handle again, removed the locking ring, and applied MinWax Wood Finish (yellow can), Red Mahogany. However, the finish used on the handles of the Opinel Carbon knives goes deep-- altogether a good thing, given that most people will leave them as-is. It's nice to know the original finish is good and deep. I thought I'd sanded it sufficiently for the stain to take, and the handle color looked nice and dark, but after allowing the handle to dry and buffing it with 0000 steel wool, I had this:
6944957418_44afe50c10_z.jpg


I then sanded the handle more deeply. I didn't go any deeeper than this because, while I wanted to remove the orangey-finished parts I did not want to alter the shape of the handle. You can see the original finish, plus the places the new stain actually soaked in(!). I intended to apply two more coats of Red Mahogany stain then finish up with Helmsman's Spar Urethane:
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After the two coats of stain, buffed with 0000 steel wool, I had this:
6944954076_687291526b_z.jpg


At the store to purchase the Spar Urethane, I discovered three things:
1) The Spar Urethane didn't come in the small(est) can, and I didn't want to buy more than 8oz
2) The label on the Red Mahogany Stain sported a recommendation for the above urethane, but warned against using Polycrylic, leaving me with "regular" PolyUrethane
3) I spied the PolyShades on the shelf, stain plus PolyUrethane all in one. Specifically, MinWax PolyShades, Bombay Mahogany Satin-- "Stain and Polyurethane in 1 Step."

Ta da!

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The PolyShades went on well enough that I'm confident it would have worked from the get-go, saving me many steps and frustration. The resulting finish is smooth and non-tacky. It feels a little more plastic-y than I would prefer, and I can see how/where I would apply the finish more consistently if I had a do-over, but I intend to simply Use the knife from here on out, and anticipate the finish breaking in well.

The handles on the stainless Opinels seem to have less of a coating, which I suppose I will confirm if and when I decide to PolyShade my No.8 Gardener's knife, seen above. I'm thinking of doing that one in a slightly lighter shade, perhaps American Chestnut or one of the Maples.
Click to expand...

~ P.
 
Thanks, I like it too! :) It's not too big and not too small.
The handle is just large enough for me (size 10) for comfort and a secure grip for carving etc.,
yet small and light in the pocket.
 
My%2520Opinel.jpg


The handle is oiled. I think I will still take some wood off the handle to make it a bit "Laguoile" - style.
 
I've modded several of them with varying degrees of success. The one I think came out the best is a #12 made into a sheepsfoot and given a contoured handle and heavy duty (D ring) bail. It's also finished in black walnut Watco. It looks a lot darker in person.

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Has anyone thought of covering Opinel handle with leather? Thin, high grade leather might look interesting.
 
I'd be surprised if someone hasn't done so. There are a couple of French sites (which I no longer have links to :grumpy:) that show some absolutely amazing Opi mods. People have done just about everything one could possibly think of to these knives. They're cheap, readily available, made of materials that are easy to work with, yet are still of decent quality, so why not. I might look into the leather idea further myself.
 
I've checked on woodworking sites and as well as I remember beech is a wood which IS a problem to stain. It's a good hard wood, but doesn't absorb stain well. The answer, as shown in Pertinux's post, is a stain which kind of coats the surface instead of being intended to soak in. (polyshades)

Another answer which I have seen on this board and tried is to lightly scorch the wood before staining. I did that on the #6's below. I lightly scorched, stained, then used wood hardener. I prolly didn't need the wood hardener since I scorched pretty lightly but I can be anal.

Now, the stain didn't look as deep and rich as some other Opi's where I've stained and stained and "rubbed it in", but I did these pretty "quick and dirty" and a different stain may or may not do better.

XmasConcert2011001.jpg
 
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