Opinel users .?

[SwiftDream]

Well if one should feel the need to remove a few digits, Opinel is one of the finest choices imo...LOL It will get that job done with no further to do...so as careful as I am around any blade, never using one to pry or chisel or baton, I have a very large amount of respect for an Opinel...

and I fully agree on the #9...having them available in the premium woods would be fantastic. I am not real crazy with the beechwood. It works but a bit of finer featured wood goes a long way. Even the olive wood has some very interesting features and a good look to it. That little cutting board I pictured above is Olive wood...found it in a thrift shop for 50 cents...perfect backpacking food processor setup...

my #8 olive with a couple other good traditional choices;

I came across a #9 up in Kanab Utah while camping and exploring the Arizona Strip. There were a row of at least 20 of them on a table out in the middle of a very nice outdoor outfitters. I found them very comfortable but would have preferred them in premium wood and a Sandvik blade...

this is one of my older Opinels that came from a local outdoor outfitters two or three decades ago. The #9s up in Kanab had the same style handle and they were about the most comfortable feeling, hand filling handle I have held...

 

[The Zieg]

I gave up on the soaking/greasing/oiling thing long ago. It never worked for me. I used Opinels extensively in the Puget Sound area (humid) and now here in Colorado (mostly dry). When too loose, I pop the security ring off and give the pin a few light raps between hammer and anvil until they are snug. When too snug, I put them over the heating vent in the house (in the winter) or in a 250[SUP]o[/SUP] oven for a half hour. If the latter, I give the handle a good coat of beeswax to soak in as preservative. And I have a lot of tolerance for each one being different and imperfect. I also don't have the lock-closed ring on all of mine, so I just make sure those are a bit tighter than the others. My habit is to use the Savoyard knock to open them all, now.

Of course, my new massive N[SUP]o[/SUP]12 swings open like a refrigerator door! I'm still learning to deal with that one! I may have to tighten it, but I like being able to snap it open.

Zieg

 

[jackknife]

I gave up on the soaking/greasing/oiling thing long ago. It never worked for me. I used Opinels extensively in the Puget Sound area (humid) and now here in Colorado (mostly dry). When too loose, I pop the security ring off and give the pin a few light raps between hammer and anvil until they are snug. When too snug, I put them over the heating vent in the house (in the winter) or in a 250[SUP]o[/SUP] oven for a half hour. If the latter, I give the handle a good coat of beeswax to soak in as preservative. And I have a lot of tolerance for each one being different and imperfect. I also don't have the lock-closed ring on all of mine, so I just make sure those are a bit tighter than the others. My habit is to use the Savoyard knock to open them all, now.

Of course, my new massive N[SUP]o[/SUP]12 swings open like a refrigerator door! I'm still learning to deal with that one! I may have to tighten it, but I like being able to snap it open.

Zieg

Hey Zieg, how'd the Opinel's do up there in Puget Sound? I spent a little time up there way back, and I remember the rain being a fact of life to deal with.

 

[5K Qs]

I gave up on the soaking/greasing/oiling thing long ago. It never worked for me. I used Opinels extensively in the Puget Sound area (humid) and now here in Colorado (mostly dry). When too loose, I pop the security ring off and give the pin a few light raps between hammer and anvil until they are snug. When too snug, I put them over the heating vent in the house (in the winter) or in a 250[SUP]o[/SUP] oven for a half hour. If the latter, I give the handle a good coat of beeswax to soak in as preservative. And I have a lot of tolerance for each one being different and imperfect. I also don't have the lock-closed ring on all of mine, so I just make sure those are a bit tighter than the others. ...
Zieg

I also use beeswax on my Opinels, and think of it as both a preservative to minimize handle swelling and a lubricant to maximize ease of opening.

Okay, a question for you Opinel users. How snug do you like them for carry?
...
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. ...

In answer to Carl's original question, I prefer my Opinels quite loose, and if I'm carrying one in a pocket, I'll definitely use the ring to lock it closed. I often don't use the ring to lock it open though. I have a Taramundi friction folder with no sort of locking device, and I carried that quite a bit when I was in Spain. Even though it's also quite loose, I never had a problem with it coming open in my pocket, but I always used the watch pocket and the restricted space there may have helped to keep the blade closed.

- GT

 

[pinnah]

Let me see ya down three doubles on the rocks and say that fast!

If I down 3 doubles I'm down!!
Wild Turkey is great but....

 

[gadgetgeek]

I like mine to be on the looser side. The high humidity of queensland can be a bit tough on things. In fact I just got an Inox 6, and the wood was swollen enough that I could see where the wood deflected from the pivot to the end of the handle with the blade closed. That one got a little file treatment. I like the 6 for size. the 7 might be better as an EDC sort of role, but I think the 6 will make a good lunch-box knife.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

I use this one about every day at work, food knife, very handy Opinel Slim #10 in Olivewood handle, it's a snug but not overly tight fit, I'm careful on getting moisture around the pivot area, I've put some pure fluorinated PFPAE grease in the pivot area, as well as rubbed into the top of the exposed wood by the pivot.

It's a great knife, sold off all but this one and the big brother #13, this one works well slicing up hoagie sandwiches into nice handy slices but you have to be careful of where that tip is, she be pointy!!!

G2

 

[AreBeeBee]

From what I can tell, both by my own experience and what I read here, the state of snugness for the typical Opi is always in flux. If it isn't seasonal changes, it's the degree to which the pivot joint area gets wet. Or something else.

Basically, it's continually chasing an equilibrium it can never attain, because the wood's dryness is always out of balance with the environment. There's a term in physics or engineering for this kind of behavior, but I can't think of it right now.

I think it's just something you live with when you chose an Opi —

 

[Rich S]

SwiftDream -

An Iisakki Puukko and an Opinel. Can't go wrong with either. Love the Jarvenpaa Aito puukko (have one among others). Great knives.
LLAP
Rich

 

[edison]

My habit is to use the Savoyard knock to open them all, now.

What is that?

 

[The Zieg]

My habit is to use the Savoyard knock to open them all, now.

What is that?

Rap the toe of the handle against a hard object like a table, dislodging the blade a bit, continue to open by hand. Good for when the blade is sticky. It's just become a habit for me now. Sometimes I'll use my leg or palm.

Zieg

 

[The Zieg]

Hey Zieg, how'd the Opinel's do up there in Puget Sound? I spent a little time up there way back, and I remember the rain being a fact of life to deal with.

They do great. Inox would be better, if by the water, but I only had carbon then. They swelled a lot, but I just kept using them. Once I needed a pliers to open one up. I couldn't close it again so I wrapped it in a canvas and put it in my back pocket and used it as a "fixed" blade until I could get it in the oven. It was so stiff I couldn't close it until an hour drying in a warm toaster oven. That was a beech handle. I bet a walnut or olive would have stayed foldable. Any of the harder woods. But it was the right tool for the job at the time.

Zieg

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

They do great. Inox would be better, if by the water, but I only had carbon then. They swelled a lot, but I just kept using them. Once I needed a pliers to open one up. I couldn't close it again so I wrapped it in a canvas and put it in my back pocket and used it as a "fixed" blade until I could get it in the oven. It was so stiff I couldn't close it until an hour drying in a warm toaster oven. That was a beech handle. I bet a walnut or olive would have stayed foldable. Any of the harder woods. But it was the right tool for the job at the time.

Zieg

Walnut is very stable. Another thing to consider with the 'carbone' models is, due to the steel's proclivity to oxidizing/rusting, it's a bigger troublemaker if the pivot is exposed to moisture or acids (fruit juice, etc). I noticed it when testing my edges by slicing grapes, with my carbone No. 08. Just a little grape-juice oxidation in the pivot, and it became very, very sticky & tight. Fruit juice can do that on any folder, but it's worse when the steel is also oxidizing in the process, which 'roughens' the surface of the steel and adds to the opening/closing friction.

(I also have a stainless-bladed walnut model, BTW; it's been very easy to live with, and humidity hasn't really been a problem with it.)


David

 

[K Williams]

Is it me or are the lock rings not as secure as they use to be about 10 years ago? A lot of play in the recent production.

 

[BrotherJim]

Is it me or are the lock rings not as secure as they use to be about 10 years ago? A lot of play in the recent production.

Interestingly, the two I bought within the last 3-4 months seem tighter than before. However, these are the first two No.6 I've owned. Previously I only owned two No.8. The generalization I've mentioned doesn't seem to be bound by handle material either. I own a 6 and 8 in Beechwood, a 6 in Walnut and an 8 in Oak.

I have two more No.6 on the way to me right now in Brazilian Rosewood and Olive wood as well as a No8 Gardener in Oak. It will be interesting to see if they are still tighter or looser.

I can tell you that my first two No6, both the Walnut and Beechwood, have off center blades. I'm talking in contact with the side of the handle slot when closed. My two older No8, both Oak and Beechwood, are centered very nicely.

... and the No.8 Slim in Bubinga I posted on the previous page is nicely centered too.

 

[Rangerspencer]

I honestly might be the minority, but I prefer how it comes from the factory stock. I don't special treat my Opinel and I have to admit the idea of soaking it in water terrifies me, but then again I also oil most of my knives twice a week (the ones I carry and use daily I mean). Honestly though, the way it comes shipped seems just perfect. Unlocked it won't fall open, but it only takes a tiny bit of effort to pull the blade free. Just seems perfect that way.

 

[afishhunter]

I just use the lock ring, and carry it in a leather sleeve.

 

[mnblade]

I honestly might be the minority, but I prefer how it comes from the factory stock. I don't special treat my Opinel and I have to admit the idea of soaking it in water terrifies me, but then again I also oil most of my knives twice a week (the ones I carry and use daily I mean). Honestly though, the way it comes shipped seems just perfect. Unlocked it won't fall open, but it only takes a tiny bit of effort to pull the blade free. Just seems perfect that way.

Same here. Just carry in pocket (locked) and use when needed (usually locked). When dull I sharpen it. If a little rust gets on the carbon no. 8, I'll knock that off with the scrubby side of the kitchen sponge or a Miracle Cloth. Simple. Easy.

-- Mark

 

[Henry Beige]

What a great thread. Although I am new to this forum, I have been carrying and using Opinels for close to 50 years. I have always admired their elegant simplicity and their high value/price ratio. Yet in just an hour here, I have picked up more pimps, mods and hacks for these knives than I ever imagined existed. Thank you all.

 

[5K Qs]

What a great thread. Although I am new to this forum, I have been carrying and using Opinels for close to 50 years. I have always admired their elegant simplicity and their high value/price ratio. Yet in just an hour here, I have picked up more pimps, mods and hacks for these knives than I ever imagined existed. Thank you all.

Welcome to the Forum, Henry. I've been a member here for almost a year (and lurked as a guest for about 6 months before that), and my experience is very similar to yours. A person can learn SO MUCH here! I usually learn at least one new thing every day!

- GT