Opinel new lock ring - bad design

[Shadowcutter]

Ok, we already have a thread in on the "porch". But I think it would be nice to let all knife guys to know what's going on. So I just quote the thread:

"I got my first O[pinel in 1982, and I've had what I admit to having a love/hate relationship with these knives ever since. I love how they slice and dice, and love how light they are for their size. I admit to being somewhat annoyed at times at how they are a needy knife with a fair amount of finagling and tinkering needed. I've had a dozen of them in various sizes, and gifted them off to people who needed a good knife, as I have gifted off dozens of Victorinox classics. I always keep an Opinel in the kitchen drawer for when I need a really really sharp knife, as well as one in the workshop out back.

But…and I mean BUT in caps, I think I may be over them. It looks like they have changed/tweeked the design that didn't need any tweaking, and not for the better. They added a divot to the locking ring that lines up to a stamped/milled groove in the inner bolster that severely limits the travel of the outer locking ring. This means that the old trick of filing the top edge of the locking ring so it turns further around for a more secure lock, is negated. Done. Now impossible unless you now file down the protruding nub on the locking ring.

What Opinel has done is actually sabotaging the lock, making slippage of the locking ring a real problem. I can only wonder why in Hades Opinel would weaken the design of the locking ring with this nub in a groove that limits how far the locking ring can be turned. Of course, some work with a half round file can eliminate it, but WHY?"

Along with the vid on youtube explaining the problem:

To me this is a tragedy, a good design turning bad..

What do you guys think of this?

I think it's dangerous. Not much better than a friction folder now. I guess if you are into Opinel knives, buy no.6 or older. They screwed their own design! Fixed something that wasn't broken!

 

[Henry Beige]

I think it's dangerous. Not much better than a friction folder now. I guess if you are into Opinel knives, buy no.6 or older. They screwed their own design! Fixed something that wasn't broken!

I guess you didn’t read the whole thread. On most examples, the new design works fine, if not as well as the older. If you want the adjustability the older design offers, it is not difficult to remedy.

My real preference would be to stick with knives that antedate the hold-closed notch, which is the root of the whole problem. There was the answer to a question that nobody asked.

 

[jstrange]

Most of the ones I have gotten recently have been fine. That said, I just got one the other day that has very poor lock-up that could have been fine if the ring could just be turned a tad further. Unfortunately that’s not an option now. I have to say that I don’t see this as an improvement as there was nothing wrong with the old system.

 

[jackknife]

I think it's dangerous. Not much better than a friction folder now. I guess if you are into Opinel knives, buy no.6 or older. They screwed their own design! Fixed something that wasn't broken!

Thats what happened when lawyers get involved. And this whole thing reeks of lawyer meddling.