Opinel!!!!

B

Beau James

Basic Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Messages
18
I’ve always been intrigued by the simple little knives. I’ve read dozens of posts from guys singing their praise and I’ve come close to ordering myself one a handful of times and just didn’t pull the trigger. They’re not really my style, I’m more into the tactical folder scene. I love my Spydercos and Microtechs, and have told many Case carriers at work it’s goofy in today’s time to carry a knife that requires two hands to operate!
So while walking around the Wannenmakers gun show with my dad and two youngest boys I happened across a table covered in opinels. My boys by this time had tried to get me to buy them 10 different knives and 20 different pistols, request denied! I told the oldest one if he wants a new knife this Opinel No.8 should be the one. He wasn’t super excited about it and wanted to look more so I pulled the trigger on it for me! Probably the best 20 bucks I’ve spent in a long time. I ended up getting the boys each a Kershaw later on.
Man o man I don’t know what it is about the simple little thing but I just can’t leave it alone. I’ve got a SNG in my pocket that’s getting no love cause my new $20 Opinel is cutting everything in sight! I hear they get scary sharp too so I think I’m gonna bust out the old water stones that I can’t use for any of my other knives and go to work!
I already love it, and can’t wait to skin a squirrel with it! Seems like it will be the perfect tool for the job!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and if you’re in Tulsa for the gun show hope you’re enjoying my home range!!!

Beau
 

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Bought one of those a few years ago for $8 Euros in Paris at Courty & Fils (https://couteaux-courty.com/en/), near our hotel just a few streets from the Opera House and the Louvre. To keep the wooden handle from swelling and binding the blade, I melted in a tablespoon or so of Johnson Floor Wax into the groove and rubbed it all over the handle.
 
Opinels bite into objects relentlessly. Their QC is a bit unpredictable, only way i know this is because I bought some 30 or 40 in different numbers and some virobloc locking rings were stiff, some loose, some rattled, and some scratched the locking ring due to a defect. Be that as it may, they are great knives and sure put up with a lot. Buy them with confidence and dont be shy about using them.
Opinel produces about 700k a day and sell to 17 countries.
Cheers
 
Beau James said:
I’ve always been intrigued by the simple little knives. I’ve read dozens of posts from guys singing their praise and I’ve come close to ordering myself one a handful of times and just didn’t pull the trigger. They’re not really my style, I’m more into the tactical folder scene. I love my Spydercos and Microtechs, and have told many Case carriers at work it’s goofy in today’s time to carry a knife that requires two hands to operate!
So while walking around the Wannenmakers gun show with my dad and two youngest boys I happened across a table covered in opinels. My boys by this time had tried to get me to buy them 10 different knives and 20 different pistols, request denied! I told the oldest one if he wants a new knife this Opinel No.8 should be the one. He wasn’t super excited about it and wanted to look more so I pulled the trigger on it for me! Probably the best 20 bucks I’ve spent in a long time. I ended up getting the boys each a Kershaw later on.
Man o man I don’t know what it is about the simple little thing but I just can’t leave it alone. I’ve got a SNG in my pocket that’s getting no love cause my new $20 Opinel is cutting everything in sight! I hear they get scary sharp too so I think I’m gonna bust out the old water stones that I can’t use for any of my other knives and go to work!
I already love it, and can’t wait to skin a squirrel with it! Seems like it will be the perfect tool for the job!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and if you’re in Tulsa for the gun show hope you’re enjoying my home range!!!

Beau
Click to expand...
Another good thread to peruse.
 
This was a limited Forged edition with ebony handle.
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You should check out douk douks as well. Not as ergonomic to use but super easy to carry and very sharp.

I also enjoy the cold steel bushman, cold steel kudu, buck 110, mercator k55k and victorinox.
 
Beau James said:
I’ve always been intrigued by the simple little knives. I’ve read dozens of posts from guys singing their praise and I’ve come close to ordering myself one a handful of times and just didn’t pull the trigger. They’re not really my style, I’m more into the tactical folder scene. I love my Spydercos and Microtechs, and have told many Case carriers at work it’s goofy in today’s time to carry a knife that requires two hands to operate!
So while walking around the Wannenmakers gun show with my dad and two youngest boys I happened across a table covered in opinels. My boys by this time had tried to get me to buy them 10 different knives and 20 different pistols, request denied! I told the oldest one if he wants a new knife this Opinel No.8 should be the one. He wasn’t super excited about it and wanted to look more so I pulled the trigger on it for me! Probably the best 20 bucks I’ve spent in a long time. I ended up getting the boys each a Kershaw later on.
Man o man I don’t know what it is about the simple little thing but I just can’t leave it alone. I’ve got a SNG in my pocket that’s getting no love cause my new $20 Opinel is cutting everything in sight! I hear they get scary sharp too so I think I’m gonna bust out the old water stones that I can’t use for any of my other knives and go to work!
I already love it, and can’t wait to skin a squirrel with it! Seems like it will be the perfect tool for the job!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and if you’re in Tulsa for the gun show hope you’re enjoying my home range!!!

Beau
Click to expand...

You've discovered the knife that ounce per ounce, dollar per dollar, will give you the best cutting performance ever. The Opinel's cut like the dickens, don't cost more than a chain restaurant lunch with a beer, weight almost nothing in the pocket, and are sturdy enough that you have to try to damage one. Con's are they do have erratic quality control and can be sloppy or too snug fit from the factory, and can swell if exposed to much moisture.

BUT...they can be modified with stupid easy effort with a little sandpaper and stain, can be adjusted for fit to the owners desires, and cut like the. dickens. They can be dull and still seriviable sharp but can be made scary sharp in a few minutes on the bottom of a coffee mug or stone of any quality. I've used these things since 1982 when I got my first one,. and they can take some getting used to, but once you do get used to them it's habit forming. The first 20 years it was a love/hate relationship, but then I got to where I didn't want to be without one around. I've used all the sizes to include the small non locking ones and still have my old Number 5 and number 7 on hand. The number 5 and down are strait friction folders, and take a little different attitude, but are very very nice carry in the pocket. But I have a long term love of friction folders, single action revolvers and break open shotguns.

Beau, I have a challenge for you; use an Opinel of any size for a month and report back. Once you get used to it you'll become another convert to the cult. No, they won't pry open a tank hatch, no they won't do to parachute into the Amazon and survive for a month. BUT...for real world cutting of stuff for the real world life, they will do all you will need. And you can have fun modifying it to whatever shape you want.
 
The only thing id fault opinel for is the wide range in which their QC sits on.
"What do you mean?"
There was a time when I was on an opinel kick, bought somewhere in the high 20s of them, so I got to see what their average QC was like. They were all locking models. Some knives (the blades) arrived way to loose, some way to tight, some just right.
some locks rattled, some did not, some locks were not tigh enough (but didnt rattle) some were so tight they scratched the metal collar, some were just right. I believe this is due to their automated process as they pump out close to a million a day. One thing I noticed on a lot of thr virobloc locking rings were when you lock the knives all the way, the more you use the knife the more the locking ring travels to the unlocked position, so you have to keep relocking them.
that to me is dangerous if you're doing extensive cutting and are not paying attention and the knife was a loose one. I know you can tap the pin (believe it or not sometimes it doesnt work) sonid resign myself to soak it in water to bloat the wood and that usually tightens the blade (for a time)
Outside of all this, they are still decent knives for the money but the crapshoot QC isnt good, especially if youre not a nut and buy only one and get a shoddy example.
 
I had been seeing Opinels in camping/backpacking stores & catalogs for many years, but never gave them any consideration. A few years ago, I caved & got a #07. I've since added a #06 & 08. I've loosened up the pivot & lock rings on all of them to make them easier to open. And I sand a space so I can get a pinch grip on the blades.

If you just want a no nonsense knife to cut stuff, the Opinel does that as well as any, and at a great price.
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