Opinels so hot?

O

Orv

Joined
Nov 6, 2013
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Since I have become a member of these forums, I have restored axes, bought a BM sequel, a Spyderco Gayle Bradley, and have a PM2 on a back order.

As I use my wonderful tapatalk app, I flick through countless pages of knife porn, and my mind wanders off in the threads with custom knives. I keep seeing these Opinels everyone loves, and thought, "man those must be expensive."

To spark my curiosity, I looked up the prices on these American made knives. Now with a huge shock, I'm asking why? Why on this forum full of extremely high priced knives, do I see these lower priced knives worshipped?

Now I know I must buy one or two for myself. But the question is, which ones and why?
 
Opinel's are excellent quality, they're made in France by the way. :)

I like the No. 8 or No. 9 for general use. Though I gifted mine to a fellow member who wanted one, didn't like the taste the carbon steel gives food. Which will go away after enough use, but I wasn't patient enough for that haha.
 
1) Opinels are from France.
2) They are popular because there may be no better skicer out there for any price, and they are warm, friendly, and traditional looking.
3) Just spend the ten bucks or so and get a carbon steel #8.
 
No. 8 is most popular due to size.

For Christmas I received the Opinel Knives Collection Knife Set featuring 10 folding knives (No. 2 through No. 12) in a nice wooden gift box. Each folder features a 12C27-MOD Sandvik stainless steel blade, beechwood handle, and the Viroblock safety ring lock.

I think it goes for about $111.

opinel-coffret-collect-10-set-beechwood-001311-large.jpg


No. 1 Opinel was taken out of production in 1932 because it was too small.

No. 11 was taken out of production in 1935 because its size was too similar to No. 10 and No. 12.

As you can see from the picture there's no ring lock on No. 2 to No. 5 (they're the four starting on top right).

The double safety ring lock "VIROBLOC" locks the blade either in open or closed position.

[video=youtube_share;KNELKUpH10k]http://youtu.be/KNELKUpH10k[/video]
 
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Haha I feel dumb. I googled "opinel knives" and the website said opinel-usa
 
9blades said:
Opinel's are excellent quality, they're made in France by the way. :)

I like the No. 8 or No. 9 for general use. Though I gifted mine to a fellow member who wanted one, didn't like the taste the carbon steel gives food. Which will go away after enough use, but I wasn't patient enough for that haha.
Click to expand...

Just put it in my pocket after I read this! Thanks! It's a really great slicer.
 
I have a fascination with these knives myself. If I were going to buy some, it would be the #8 Garden, #8 Slimline, and #6 Classic, all in stainless.

Those are my suggestions. I don't own any of them myself, but they look interesting.
 
Opinels are all made in France (not the USA), as far as I know.

Performance-wise, they feature a thin, flat-ground blade, making them excellent slicers. They are available in 1095 carbon steel and Sandvik 12C27 stainless steel (I think those are the right steels). They have a nice simple look to them and are very functional knives.

They are also easy knives to mod, for people who like to tinker and customize their knives. The handles are all wood, which is pretty easy to work with (re-shape the handles, carve your own patterns in, attach a pocket clip, etc.). They are easy to disassemble and re-assemble (only 5 pieces: handle, blade, bolster, pivot pin, and locking ring). The carbon steel blade also lends itself well to experimenting with forced patinas. And, if you screw up, you're only out $10-15.

The sizes 5 and under do not feature the ring lock, so if you do want a lock, get size 6 and up. The No. 7 & 8 are the sweet spot for me.
 
Anyone care to post some pics of their "natural patinas" they have on their opinels?
 
If you're at all curious, just get one. I will only set you back $15 or so. They make great paring knives in the kitchen. It's a no-frills peasant knife that just works. That's why people love them.
 
flarp said:
They are available in 1095 carbon steel and Sandvik 12C27 stainless steel (I think those are the right steels).
Click to expand...

The carbon steel is XC90.

The stainless steel is Sandvik 12C27MOD AKA 12c27-MOD AKA 12C27M which was made for kitchen tools in mind for good enough corrosion resistance for daily use in a dishwasher.
 
Orv said:
Anyone care to post some pics of their "natural patinas" they have on their opinels?
Click to expand...

The No. 9 and No. 7 are carbon steel and have a patina. The No. 8 is stainless. The No. 4 is also carbon steel. It's basically only been used for opening letters and small packages, so not really any patina on it.
Opinel_No9-8-7-4_patina_back_800x465.jpg


Closer-up pics of the No. 9
Opinel_No9_patina_front_800x408.jpg

Opinel_No9_patina_back_800x405.jpg


Closer-up pics of the No. 7
Opinel_No7_patina_front_800x422.jpg

Opinel_No7_patina_back_800x430.jpg
 
Opinal knives simply do best what knives are supposed to do: cut. They are amazing at slicing, sharpen up easy and are cheap to buy. All you really need in a knife.
 
Opinels, interestingly, are not full flat ground, but rather full convex ground. :)
 
In addition to being a great knife to try to mod and being cheap, if you try to mod and fail (like... uh... me) you're not out much. Their simplicity, cutting ability, low price, multiple different options, and potential for modding is what draws everyone to them.
 
If I were to recommend a single model for you to try, it would be the Garden Knife. Midsized with a drop point blade.
For pocket carry I prefer just a tad smaller, like the #6 or #7. For a knife to keep in a briefcase, glove box, or backpack, the #9 is excellent.
You want to be really adventurous, the #13 is for you. ;)
 
These knives are simple, effective, cheap, easily modded, both carbon and stainless are quite good, lightweight, can take abuse, etc. Get one and you will go "Ahh I understand now, it all makes sense.", thats what happened to me. Just get a #6 or larger so you have a locking one. I have my carbon #6 in front of me right now, I have no other knives in my possession that can take an edge as sharp as this or cut as easily as this.

I have cut through extremely thick cardboard boxes into roughly 12in squares to fill up 3 large recyling bins and I used my little opinel for that as no other knife would be more suited for the task (spread out over 3 days in the past month). And it take less than 30sec to touch up the blade on some stones and I only did that a few times while doing this. Where as to keep a razor blade that sharp I would have went through several of them and had the fun of replacing a razor blade and than disposing it so I don't cut myself or the bag when I take out the garbage. Heck I had a piece of thick cardboard configured in such a way that it was a good 2-2.5in thick with how it was stacked on top of eachother and taped for strength that it could have support my weight and I weigh 200+lb's. I cut through it by making a sawing motion a couple times with the little opinel with only slight difficulty, I wouldn't have even attempted that on any other knife. Instead I would have broke it down to individual pieces, than cut it.

When cutting thick cardboard I compared by Cryo to my than newly bought Canoe, I felt the need to put the Cryo away as I felt sorry for it with how it performed. When I bought my Opinel I compared my Canoe to my Opinel cutting thick cardboard and I had to put my Canoe away back into my pocket as the Opinel scared me too much.
 
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