Opinel Opinions?

i havnt tried any of their folders, but i recently got a 2 pack of opinel's carbon steel pantry knives. theyre razor sharp and a pleasure to use, a great value.
 
I like em as picnic knives , or for gardening . I would rather have a Victorinox solo as a single blade EDC . Or just about any of the low end vicies for that matter . They are a ingenious design , and a good lo tech home remedy tool .

Chris
 
I like Opinels. 1 thing to remember: stick with the carbon steel!

This is a customized Opinel by Gert Van den Elsen, a dutch knifemaker. Handle is Masurian Birch, blade slightly reshaped.

OpinelGert.jpg
 
I know a lot of people like Opinels, but I really don't like them. The carbon steel will take a decent edge, but for some reason Opinel sell them 'scratchy' at best. For me, the 'lock' is awful, and can vibrate or slip 'open' (a guy on one of Ray Mears' early bushcraft courses nearly lost some fingers down to this.) They may have a certain rustic cachet, but for me these are just cheap and nasty knives, and there are better cheapies available.
 
Love 'em, absolutely love 'em. Remembering that knives are for cutting, Opinels excel at plain old CUTTING, rope, paper, food, cloth, stuff that regular people need to cut. They suck however, at taking out sentries and all that other special ops stuff. Go figure.;)
 
I take it back The Encyclopedia of Edged Weapons lists the Opinel as a good weapon because of it's low cost and "discardability".
 
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