Okay, a question for you Opinel users. How snug do you like them for carry?
My question has a reason. I've always made my Opinel's a bit loose and easy in the pivot, in the medium firm belief that it will make the able to be opened even if they had gotten very wet. Wet, like in soaked. Since I spend a lot of time on small boats from early spring to late fall, my Opinel's have to be a bit sea worthy. Yes, I do the Vaseline treatment and use Karen's blow drier to melt the jelly into the wood.
But, here's the rub; My expanding love of friction folders has be carrying the Opinel a bit snugger than I normally do. It's rare that I bother with the locking ring, and yet I don't want it to open in my pocket. I had a close call when I reached into my pocket and found the blade partly out, due the vibration of life and hiking on a rough dirt trail. I always had the thought that if I snugged up my Opinel to the point where it needed a dedicated firm pull open it, then if wet, the wood could swell enough to make it so that I could not open it.
It was time to experiment.
I snugged up my Opinel to where nice and warm and dry, it needed to be pulled very deliberately and firmly to open. Then I did my test. My test is submerging the Opinel in a glass of water for 20 to 30 minutes. This time, I did not grease it up fresh, but relied on only what treatment was still there after the last one in the fall. I took my number 8 and played U-boat commander. Dive, dive! Into the water and I went in the living room to catch the morning weather report. I got involved in the boring news, and forgot about the Opinel.
About an hour later, I had the lightning bolt jolt of the memory, and I rush into the kitchen, and there on the counter sits the sunken Opinel. I figure I'm not gonna be able to carry that one today, so I lift tout of the water it's been in for almost a full hour, and try the action. I was actually very surprised. The action was stiff, no doubt about that, but even with my arthritic fingers, it came open without that much of a struggle.
I closed it, then pulled it open, feeling very shocked even. Then I closed it again and opened it again. Somehow part of me didn't believe that it was not locked shut by the swollen wood. Yes, it was noticeably stiffer than before, but workable. I dried it off an put in my pocket to experiment. Later in the boring, I pulled tout to cut something, and it had gotten a tiny bit better. It was drying out in my pocket. By three hours later, it was noticeably better.
So, a one hour soak under water with no immediate prior grease/oil treatment, and no ill effects other than stiffer to pull open. I don't know what it would have been like to do this to a untreated Opinel, but I think it may have been different outcome. I don't know.
So folks, for you Opinel carriers, do you carry them snug or loose? I think I can now carry mine a bit snugger than my norm now that I know it will survive more time under water than I can. Before my Opinel was almost too loose to be used as a friction folder. Now with the snugger action, it's actually nicer to use as I really don't have to bother with the locking ring much at all. More like my Sardinian Resolza, which is a snug action. With this mornings experiment being more water time because of me being a bit absent minded, I have a bit more faith in Opinel's as an all weather pocket knife. In the back of my mind, I had the thought that the Opinel was a light duty fair weather knife. Apparently, as many generations of Frenchmen have known, not so!
My question has a reason. I've always made my Opinel's a bit loose and easy in the pivot, in the medium firm belief that it will make the able to be opened even if they had gotten very wet. Wet, like in soaked. Since I spend a lot of time on small boats from early spring to late fall, my Opinel's have to be a bit sea worthy. Yes, I do the Vaseline treatment and use Karen's blow drier to melt the jelly into the wood.
But, here's the rub; My expanding love of friction folders has be carrying the Opinel a bit snugger than I normally do. It's rare that I bother with the locking ring, and yet I don't want it to open in my pocket. I had a close call when I reached into my pocket and found the blade partly out, due the vibration of life and hiking on a rough dirt trail. I always had the thought that if I snugged up my Opinel to the point where it needed a dedicated firm pull open it, then if wet, the wood could swell enough to make it so that I could not open it.
It was time to experiment.
I snugged up my Opinel to where nice and warm and dry, it needed to be pulled very deliberately and firmly to open. Then I did my test. My test is submerging the Opinel in a glass of water for 20 to 30 minutes. This time, I did not grease it up fresh, but relied on only what treatment was still there after the last one in the fall. I took my number 8 and played U-boat commander. Dive, dive! Into the water and I went in the living room to catch the morning weather report. I got involved in the boring news, and forgot about the Opinel.
About an hour later, I had the lightning bolt jolt of the memory, and I rush into the kitchen, and there on the counter sits the sunken Opinel. I figure I'm not gonna be able to carry that one today, so I lift tout of the water it's been in for almost a full hour, and try the action. I was actually very surprised. The action was stiff, no doubt about that, but even with my arthritic fingers, it came open without that much of a struggle.
I closed it, then pulled it open, feeling very shocked even. Then I closed it again and opened it again. Somehow part of me didn't believe that it was not locked shut by the swollen wood. Yes, it was noticeably stiffer than before, but workable. I dried it off an put in my pocket to experiment. Later in the boring, I pulled tout to cut something, and it had gotten a tiny bit better. It was drying out in my pocket. By three hours later, it was noticeably better.
So, a one hour soak under water with no immediate prior grease/oil treatment, and no ill effects other than stiffer to pull open. I don't know what it would have been like to do this to a untreated Opinel, but I think it may have been different outcome. I don't know.
So folks, for you Opinel carriers, do you carry them snug or loose? I think I can now carry mine a bit snugger than my norm now that I know it will survive more time under water than I can. Before my Opinel was almost too loose to be used as a friction folder. Now with the snugger action, it's actually nicer to use as I really don't have to bother with the locking ring much at all. More like my Sardinian Resolza, which is a snug action. With this mornings experiment being more water time because of me being a bit absent minded, I have a bit more faith in Opinel's as an all weather pocket knife. In the back of my mind, I had the thought that the Opinel was a light duty fair weather knife. Apparently, as many generations of Frenchmen have known, not so!
), and some have remained pretty snug (my most-carried, a No. 10, takes two hands to open). 
