Opinel Questions

[udtjim]

1. Do you consider the opinel's to be a serious outdoor and woods knife?
2. How do the carbons ones compare to the stainless ones
3. which model do you prefer for a camp/woods knife.
4. I have trouble finding the Carbon ones. who handles them.

I have a few of the stainless ones. Most of them have a 3 1/2- 4 inch blade. I have one bigger one that has worked quite well for deer hunting work although it's a bit messy to clean up after the job is done.

 

[Munky88]

I'm not sure what you mean by as "serious outdoor knife" They're folders, and rather thin. I carry one often outdoors as a light compliment to a fixed blade. great knives. good fire steel strikers too. you definitely need at least one. only problem I've had is handle swell.

I use a number 8 in carbon.

 

[stieg]

I have one, though I haven't used it much.

In my mind, there's no point in a stainless Opinel. The reason for having one is the nice carbon blade. It's thin, sharp and carbon.

I've been casually looking online, too and it seem that the usual sources are out of the carbon bladed versions.

 

[udtjim]

By serious I guess I mean would you take to the woods with only a opinel.

 

[Bushman5]

yes, i would. They are well built for bushcraft use (excluding knife abuse (batoning). They can get wicked sharp very easily, make tissue thin shavings, skin out game and fish quickly, and take on a nice patina.

I miss my #12 (the biggest one) it was a faithful companion for years

 

[wildmike]

bensbackwoods.com carries the carbon bladed Opinels, and for a good price.

I have a #10 with a 4 inch blade, and a #12 with a 5 inch blade

They are serious outdoors knives when used within their capabilities. They easily take a razor edge and hold it fairly well. While thin they will take light batonning as long as the handle is left flexed.

With reasonable care they last for years.

 

[pitdog]

Opinels are awesome for bushcraft tasks and take a really good sharp edge that goes through wood very close to a Mora.

Have y'all seen the Safety model ? Looks like a butter knife but I'd guess it would be good for spreading stuff etc around camp or even a good option for a kids first knife !!!!!!

 

[RescueRiley]

Opinels are great I've owned the 6, 7 * and 10 they are definitely woods friendly blades..I like carbon blades but the stainless ones are great as well....I would go out into the bush with an opinel as my only blade anytime... But I would bring a hatchet as well.

 

[Rotte]

I've had a few Opinels over the years. They are great knives--can be amazingly sharp and slice very well. I don't consider them serious woods knives though. Maybe as a secondary utility blade they would be nice to have. I think of them as nice picnic knives, but they are probably capable of more.

Mine have always been carbon steel and performed well. Don't know about any others. Get a carbon version and see how you like it.

 

[udtjim]

Thanks guys, Looks like Ben's has them in stock.

 

[sodak]

Hey Udtjim,

I've got a couple of extras, pm me your address, you can have them. I'm scaling back, and they're the carbon steel ones from Ragnar. I think they are OP7s.

 

[dougo83]

Hey Udtjim,

I've got a couple of extras, pm me your address, you can have them. I'm scaling back, and they're the carbon steel ones from Ragnar. I think they are OP7s.

The 7 is a nice, handy little blade. I had one I picked up from Sportsman's before they shut down. It is somewhere in Lake Travis now...

 

[jiggybaw]

Dunno about you but I found that stainless is much better.No mathematic measuring nor taking specific data, just turned out that I need to sharpen stainless one LOT LESS often than carbon for about same amount of work.
Anyway Opinel is great slicer ,easy to sharpen with improvised sharpeners(flattend mudstone,dirt on a log etc...) but handle tend to swell and joint i sensitive to dirt.So if it will be your main knife You must take care of handle and joint, either pair it with some pliers to open it when you need it.And if it is carbon one ,thing get even more complicated IME.

 

[baldtaco-II]

1] Serious? Mmm, makes me think professional but that doesn't help much. When I provided them for florists they worked great. I suspect they used them on a wider range of stuff than most gardeners might use them for as they were actually a bit beyond simple florists and preferred the term 'floral artists'. Some of the displays they put on in central London used materials and scale more akin to set design. Farmer's pocket knife for cutting a length of hairy string? Essentially, trades-folk. I figure that gives a resounding yes for serious. I see numerous accounts of ventures into the wild here where people seem to be cutting a much more narrow band of stuff than those people do. In fact I'm usually stunned and delighted when that isn't the case.

Serious to me, nah. If it can't perform well under the pictured conditions it has no place for me. Serious to me means it can excel under punishing conditions outdoors. I know I'm in the minority here 'cos punishing conditions has nothing to with bashing it, it's more an environmental thing about how well a knife handles and cuts down amongst the grime and slime. I know that's a fixed and not a folder but the same rules apply. On that, Opinel fails me.

2] Never tried a stainless one. I see no point when there is such a bottleneck at the handle regarding moisture.

3] I was buying n either the #8 or #9 to mod. Don't remember which. There's not much in it and I selected by eye in the store.

4] Dunno off the top of mah head. Someone there is probably better placed to find you the right price.

 

[udtjim]

PM sent to sodak, Thank you sir.:thumbup:

 

[desmobob]

1. Do you consider the opinel's to be a serious outdoor and woods knife?
2. How do the carbons ones compare to the stainless ones
3. which model do you prefer for a camp/woods knife.
4. I have trouble finding the Carbon ones. who handles them.

I have a few of the stainless ones. Most of them have a 3 1/2- 4 inch blade. I have one bigger one that has worked quite well for deer hunting work although it's a bit messy to clean up after the job is done.

Opinels are the slicin'est knives I've ever used, short of a fillet knife! The blades are thin; I think a little too thin to depend on for hard use. I'm not sure about the durability of the handle/joint, either. They hard to beat for food prep, and light enough to have along in the pack for just that purpose.

2) I only own the carbon ones. They take a great edge and develop an interesting patina, depending on what they're used on. I purposely put a mustard patina on one of mine.
3) I like the #8.
4) Ragweed Forge has them listed under "Other traditional knives"


Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[tholiver]

2] Never tried a stainless one. I see no point when there is such a bottleneck at the handle regarding moisture.

Ever see the Robinsons? Stainless and synthetic handle.

Mine is fairly new, I really need to give it a good workout.
Found it at ebay.ca, a French Canadian seller.

 

[baldtaco-II]

tholiver, hey

Never seen those. Ta, I'll look them up and stick them in the lexicon. The only thing like that I recall is the old Cold Steel Twistmaster that I think was Zytel and carbon.