Opinel mods

Just came across this thread today. I love what y'all have done to you knives. I have No.9 coming in the mail in a few days and I'm already plotting some mods. I've noticed that a lot of people have used mustard and vinegar and stuff to patina the blades. I've got some birchwood Casey gun blue that I'm going to try. I've used it on pocket clips I made from sawzall blades. Not sure what I'm going to do with the handle yet but I'm a tinkerer and have to mod everything. I'm thinking of making a new handle from Osage orange. It's extremely dense and shouldn't be as susceptible to humidity
 
Just got a belt sander today, I dropped down the point and it looks much much better now. I plan on putting some kind of lanyard on it and doing that little notch to make it easier to open as well. Maybe attempt a polish blade too.


 
I like that drop point! I got my No. 9 in today and sharpened it up. Then I used the birchwood Casey gun blue. I think I may work the handle down some then dye it with black rit dye.

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Here is a better pic of the drop point mod I did and just ignore the Silent Soldier there, it just happend to photobomb the picture I guess.

Here I did a trial by fire and darkened the flat on the end and I also filed in a finger groove finally and darkened that with my wood burner as well. It's not quite as dark as i want it but It's late and I need some sleep so I'll get back to it sometime. My camera's stupid auto focus made this angle hard to get both dark spots in focus too I had to put my quark pro and razer mouse there for some extra background to focus on.
 
I'm very seriously considering modding my No. 8 to be a folding wood carver. I don't think that it would be all that pretty, but function is what I'm after! :)
 
I rounded off the handles on mine and did some other things but I haven't taken pics that i remember lol. I've removed it from my edc and it has a permanent residence in my lunch box, I use it at work for food prep. I can't keep my edc knives clean enough to use on food. So I now have a lunch knife lol.
 
Hey Y'all,

This is my second Opinel (first was unmodified and gifted to a friend). I like the Opinel much more after customizing one of my own. I've begun to enjoy the feeling of taking my time while pulling out my knife for a cutting task; pulling out my Opinel makes me slow down and reminds me to take my time and do things properly.
Sanded the handle to get rid of the harsh edge between the handle and bolster. Sanded the butt down to a rounded shape.
Brushed the stainless locking bolster. Forced a patina on the blade with vinegar. Painted the handle red, let it dry, and then sanded it down in patches.

Going to do another No 7 soon. Probably a Carbone. Planning on sanding off the finish, rounding off the angular butt (leaving the top point), and using a file to put a deep checker pattern on the handle. I may also play with the blade shape while I have access to a grinder.

I wish I had the skill to carve an intricate fish-scale gunstock pattern on the handle. I would try to make the end look like a tailfin. I'll just have to practice.

http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/AristotleCurt/media/Opinel7process1_zpse48be452.jpg.html

http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/AristotleCurt/media/Opinel7final_zps5baca2e8.jpg.html
 
mrphotoman, that looks pretty darn good.^^

I like the 'charcoal' character (this is what it reminds me of) seen in the photos. Looks as if the whole knife just came out of a forge (handle and all). :)

Very nice! :thumbup:


David
 
Thanks I appreciate it! I used an orange on the blade and a old round file I had from harbor freight and some sandpaper on the handle then I dyed it 3 times using dark brown Rit Dye. I want to get another one and use an onion on the blade.
 
mrphotoman said:
Thanks I appreciate it! I used an orange on the blade and a old round file I had from harbor freight and some sandpaper on the handle then I dyed it 3 times using dark brown Rit Dye. I want to get another one and use an onion on the blade.
Click to expand...

Aside from the lock collar that thing looks very well aged. That reminds me I haven't used mine in quite some time. I've been using my edc just to use it and it's been in my lunch box. I put my whole box in the freezer as I have a freezer pack in the bottom that i left melt and i refreezed it to custom fit my box. I don't bother taking my opie out...all that freezing, condensation, moist and hot and humid environment at work then back to the freezer to start another day...i'm sure it's pretty looking by now...Hopefully I still have a blade haha.
Just pulled it out to look at it...I didn't snap a pic before i sharpened it, i couldn't stand seeing a rusted chipped edge so i broke out my new pocket double stuff ceramic by spyderco to try it out. That rust isn't surface rust either, she ain't wiping off, its there to stay and I'm gonna keep it. Something about a natural patina just kinda excites me. One of those simple things in life that only a few will understand. The other side is just as bad and the spine is bad at the tip but fades out to clean metal about a third the way down.
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I made this for my father in law the other day.




He needed a carving knife for pipe making and stuff like that so I opted to do him a favour!

This opinel started life as a #9 carbon beech, l but I quickly changed it into a mountain man-esque pocket knife.



But after a failed attempted at an antler re-handle job I was left with an unused blade..

Thankfully I had some turkish walnut and brass laying around so it could be transfromed into something useful. :)
 
My #8 and tacti-opi #12; shaping/sanding followed by stain on the 12 and polyurethane, just shaping/sanding and poly on the 8. Patina on both is au natural...

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I have another #8 (old school carbone) that I think I'll modify and do a giveaway with here asap.
Does anyone have a spare #12 they'd donate for a radical modification? I have something awesomely devious in mind... :D:thumbup:
 
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As long as we are doing radical makeovers.

This was an Opie #6 which I had modded, and then re-modded (and again). I had tried to engrave a pattern in the wood which shredded it so I glued popsickle sticks to the bad spots and reshaped and stained. Still didn't look too bad really. It's the one on top.




A couple things I didn't like about it... It was the first I had taken completely apart to seal inside and out. I had to grind the peening off one side of the pivot pin to remove it and I found out that they are peened just so to hold the locking ring in place. If you don't peen it just right when you re-assemble it then the locking ring will ride up when you lock it closed. The factory peen is designed to fit the groove in the ring just right and prevent that.

The knife was just fine like that although I will avoid complete dis-assembly in the future. It was also a bit loose opening and closing from being sanded internally before sealing, still fine I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naO_gwOp4KY

Still, when I saw the utube video linked above and wanted to make one, it was the best candidate.

I used .09" aluminum instead of .125" brass since they were throwing some away at work.

I kind of tore the Opie apart to get the blade out since I didn't have the right tools handy to knock out the pivot pin. I found out that an Opinel is actually a much tougher knife than you think. Here it is after the "slim mod", again on top in the pic below.

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I used an M3 nut and bolt locktited and ground down instead of a pin for the pivot. It was a pretty easy thing to make actually and I'll probably make these things out of any spare, decent blades I have around. The one at the bottom was a blade from an old CamCo barlow. The blade had somehow been rounded badly around the pivot. I sent the knife to a BF member who took it apart for parts and sent the ruined blade back. If you look closely you can see that I peaned the nut and bolt to tighten it up. This worked fine.

People apparently make quick and dirty friction folders from PVC pipe as well, but I haven't tried that myself yet.

http://www.primitiveways.com/two_bladed_pocket_knife.html
 
Czechmate said:
I have another #8 (old school carbone) that I think I'll modify and do a giveaway with here asap.
Does anyone have a spare #12 they'd donate for a radical modification? I have something awesomely devious in mind... :D:thumbup:
Click to expand...

I've got a 10 that never sees any use if you want to use that. I need to get a picture of my 8 as well, modified it by taking the belly off turning it into a reverse tanto and taking down the handle to better fit the smaller blade. The blade looks a lot like the one Samon posted above.
 
Invective said:
I've got a 10 that never sees any use if you want to use that. I need to get a picture of my 8 as well, modified it by taking the belly off turning it into a reverse tanto and taking down the handle to better fit the smaller blade. The blade looks a lot like the one Samon posted above.
Click to expand...

We need some pics of that #8 and I'm definitely interested in that #10!
 
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