Opinel question??

M

mithril

Joined
Nov 7, 2001
Messages
133
Does anyone know if the locking safety ring from the No.6 (the smallest opinel with a ring) can be transferred to the smaller No.5 successfully?
 
Although I don't have either of those with me, the pics I saw lead me to believe the 5's ring area is smaller than the 6's. So, my guess would be no joy.
Another idea would be to get the 6 and mod it down to the approx size of the 5. That might be easier.
 
mithril said:
Does anyone know if the locking safety ring from the No.6 (the smallest opinel with a ring) can be transferred to the smaller No.5 successfully?
Click to expand...
Nope. The N°6 diameter is too large and the height would put the pivot pin channel too high on the N°5 collar. As far as I can tell, there's no simple way to make a locking N°5 without actually sanding down the handle and cutting down the blade of a N°6 (I'm assuming this is what you're aiming for). It's a good project, though.

Zieg
 
A guy with a file and a pair of pliers may be able to crimp the lock ring over a dowel or even the No.5 bolster, after trimming it for length and opening up the slot. I’m not too hopeful, though. The raised rib in the lock ring will make it difficult to bend cleanly.

Why do you want to do that anyway? The six is the perfect size. ;-{>
 
Henry Beige said:
A guy with a file and a pair of pliers may be able to crimp the lock ring over a dowel or even the No.5 bolster, after trimming it for length and opening up the slot. I’m not too hopeful, though. The raised rib in the lock ring will make it difficult to bend cleanly.

Why do you want to do that anyway? The six is the perfect size. ;-{>
Click to expand...
Yah, it COULD be done. But methinks I'd rather give a swift rap to the peening on the pivot of the N°5 and just make it stiffer to close.

Zieg
 
Henry Beige said:
A guy with a file and a pair of pliers may be able to crimp the lock ring over a dowel or even the No.5 bolster, after trimming it for length and opening up the slot. I’m not too hopeful, though. The raised rib in the lock ring will make it difficult to bend cleanly.

Why do you want to do that anyway? The six is the perfect size. ;-{>
Click to expand...

The other problem is going to be nub that Opinel has added for some insane reason to the inside of the locking ring. This nub fits in a groove milled inotthe inner bolster of the knife and keeps the ring from coming off too easy.

Opinel has changed the designed enough to make it harder to fiddle with it. I can't begin to guess why they totally messed up a good design, but they've really done it.

Not only is the inner nub a problem, but the locking ring is now capable of being turned in only one direction. There is no longer two slanting edges on the top of the locking ring, but one and not goes in a counter intuitive way for a right handed person.

I only know this because I recently went fix up an Opinel for the grandson of a friends birthday and once I got into it and saw how much O[pinel had messed with it, I went and bought the boy a Victorinox recruit for the same amount of dough.

I'm pretty disgusted by the new changes in the Opinels, and no longer will be messing with them. Too bad.
 
jackknife said:
The other problem is going to be nub that Opinel has added for some insane reason to the inside of the locking ring. This nub fits in a groove milled inotthe inner bolster of the knife and keeps the ring from coming off too easy.

Opinel has changed the designed enough to make it harder to fiddle with it. I can't begin to guess why they totally messed up a good design, but they've really done it.

Not only is the inner nub a problem, but the locking ring is now capable of being turned in only one direction. There is no longer two slanting edges on the top of the locking ring, but one and not goes in a counter intuitive way for a right handed person.

I only know this because I recently went fix up an Opinel for the grandson of a friends birthday and once I got into it and saw how much O[pinel had messed with it, I went and bought the boy a Victorinox recruit for the same amount of dough.

I'm pretty disgusted by the new changes in the Opinels, and no longer will be messing with them. Too bad.
Click to expand...

There are at least a couple of ways to respond to these developments:
1. Nothing cool ever lasts.
2. It doesn’t sound like anything that couldn’t be addressed with a file or a Dremel. But,
3. why should you have to?

Some people say that Opinel went wrong when they introduced the Virobloc in 1955. I disagree, but I think the notch that holds the blade closed, while not a bad idea, may have and some unintended consequences. Before the closing notch, it was not too difficult to remove the lock ring if you wanted to, but it took a conscious effort, not just to get the ring past the pivot pin, but to be prepared either to catch it or to hunt for it if it decided to take flight.

With the closing notch, it became possible to launch the Virobloc inadvertently, simply by pulling too hard on the blade to open it against a closed ring. It took a hefty pull against a relatively loose ring, but it could be done. So, perhaps to address an issue created by their own “improvement”, Opinel has added superfluous complication to a setup that was wonderfully simple and elegant.

I haven’t encountered one of the new lockrings yet, but I may try one, just to see how difficult it really is to undo the new arrangement.
 
Henry Beige said:
There are at least a couple of ways to respond to these developments:
1. Nothing cool ever lasts.
2. It doesn’t sound like anything that couldn’t be addressed with a file or a Dremel. But,
3. why should you have to?

Some people say that Opinel went wrong when they introduced the Virobloc in 1955. I disagree, but I think the notch that holds the blade closed, while not a bad idea, may have and some unintended consequences. Before the closing notch, it was not too difficult to remove the lock ring if you wanted to, but it took a conscious effort, not just to get the ring past the pivot pin, but to be prepared either to catch it or to hunt for it if it decided to take flight.

With the closing notch, it became possible to launch the Virobloc inadvertently, simply by pulling too hard on the blade to open it against a closed ring. It took a hefty pull against a relatively loose ring, but it could be done. So, perhaps to address an issue created by their own “improvement”, Opinel has added superfluous complication to a setup that was wonderfully simple and elegant.

I haven’t encountered one of the new lockrings yet, but I may try one, just to see how difficult it really is to undo the new arrangement.
Click to expand...

The key point you have is number three. If I have to really start modifying a knife to get it usable for real world use, then I'm no longer interested. Time to move on or in some case back to other knives that work just as well if not better and not needing the work to be ready for use.

My long relationship with Opinel's has been a love/hate one. I love the way they cut, but hated to have to finagle them to work well. The water proofing, the sanding, varnishing. With the price of two Opinel's you can get a Case sodbuster, and for the same price a Victorinox recruit. Both knives I've used and liked and they did the job well. Not to mention flatter in the pocket. Just take out from box and drop in pocket and go for the next decade or two.

I think Opinel has pushed me off their fan club list with the new factory modifications that didn't have to be made. It all smacks of something some lawyer came up with for a non existent problem.
 
The world seems full of people who seem to be unable to resist the urge to fix things that are not broken.
 
Dan of Bazz Clazz said:
Sounds like a lot of work for a $15 knife bought new. o_O
Click to expand...

It is.

I don't mind a little sanding, a little stain and seal. Maybe a little filing on the bevels on the locking ring so I can rotate it farther around for a better lock up. But if I have to rework the whole locking ring, grind out a divot that shouldn't even be there, then it rapidly becomes not worth it. I'm an old man and I don't know how much time I have left in the world. I don't want to spend any of it reworking some lawyers BS mods to a knife that had nothing needing to be redesigned. It wasn't broke to begin with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top