Opinel Question

M

mnortham

Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
27
I recently bought two Opinels, a #9, carbon steel, and a #6 with Olive wood handle. The #6 has "INOX' etched on the blade under the "OPINEL" name. It also says "Virobloc Brevete" on the boster. Anybody know what those things mean? Thanks
 
mnortham said:
I recently bought two Opinels, a #9, carbon steel, and a #6 with Olive wood handle. The #6 has "INOX' etched on the blade under the "OPINEL" name. It also says "Virobloc Brevete" on the boster. Anybody know what those things mean? Thanks
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"INOX" is short for "inoxidable", which is French for "stainless" (more literally, "not oxidating"). Opinel makes blades in both traditional carbon steel (with no special marking) and stainless (marked "INOX").

"Virobloc Brevete" means "blade lock of Brevete" or something similar, and refers to the rotating collar lock, which is the trademark feature of the Opinel. I forget if Brevete was the gy who invented the Virobloc, or the place it was first made...
 
Grffin is absolutely right, Inox = SS steel and Virolock Brevette = locking mechanism, it was made by Joseph Opinel so it dont think its anyones name
 
That's what I wanted to know. The #6 was supposed to be carbon steel, but when I saw INOX, I thought maybe it was stainless. Don't really care, it's a great little knife. Really appreciate your replies. Great forum. Glad I joined.
MN
 
frank k said:
"Virobloc" is Opinel's trademark name for the lock and "Brevete" means patented.
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Ah HAH!! Thanks for clearing that up. I tried one of those online translators, and it ignored "brevete"; but when I try the other way, "patented" translates to "breveté". Guess the accent is important!

As for "virobloc"... "bloc" is easy, same as English "block"... any idea where "viro" comes from? Not "blade", that's "lame" in Frencha. Again, the translator software is stumped. :confused:
 
frank k said:
"Virobloc" is Opinel's trademark name for the lock and "Brevete" means patented.
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This is correct. "Brevete" means patent, not mechanism.
"Inox" is a registered trademark of stainless steel; "acier inoxidable" is the actual translation for stainless steel.

Will
 
I believe that "viro" is from the verb "virer" which means to rotate, so "viro block" would mean something like "rotating lock".

I would guess that "inox" is just short for inoxidable not a trade mark.

Luis
 
Don Luis said:
I believe that "viro" is from the verb "virer" which means to rotate, so "viro block" would mean something like "rotating lock".

I would guess that "inox" is just short for inoxidable not a trade mark.

Luis
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Inox is not an abbreviation for the adjective "inoxidable". It is a proper name, and a registered trademark for stainless steel.

Will
 
Nothing else to add, exepted than Inox is a contraction of "inoxydable", which means stainless, by here we always use the shorter word "inox", for the "virobloc" Don Luis gave a good explanation, despite these facts this is an inexpensive and useful knife ,whatever inox(in this case steel used, if i remember is 12C27) or carbon steel are easy to sharpen and you won't have regrets if you drop it down. Enjoy your Opinels
 
Ah, i forgot the meaning of "Virobloc" could be the contaction of "Virole qui Bloque", in English " Ferrule who Block"
Hope this help
 
Interesting, the Spanish-French-English equivalents:

Spanish, French, English
-------------------------------
virar, virer, to turn
virola, virole, ferrule
inoxidable, inoxydable, stainless

Luis
 
Don Luis said:
Interesting, the Spanish-French-English equivalents:

Spanish, French, English
-------------------------------
virar, virer, to turn
virola, virole, ferrule
inoxidable, inoxydable, stainless

Luis
Click to expand...

vira, vier, veer
 
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