Replacement Lock For An Opinel

Dog of War said:
BTW .... I don't recall hearing of any knife manufacturers or makers in the Netherlands. I assume there must be, and maybe even a distinctive style to knives made in your country?
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There are some but Im not very into the Dutch knife makes, don’t really like that semi-custom/handmade style and otherwise the low quality of the production folders. I’m more into user-knifes then wall-decorative ones.

There are some small companies and semi custom makers. I will list some.

http://www.adola.nl/adola/index.htm and http://www.homeij.nl/index.asp?override=true (both Dutch only) : Two larger importer of knifes. They also make either low quality (mostly folding) knifes and other around the house tools.

http://www.hillknives.com/: Really nice semi-custom and Dutch military knifes.

http://www.gatherwood.nl/gatherwood/collection.php : Nice looking outdoor handmade knifes.

http://www.avrknives.com/ : handemade knifes


There sure are some others but mostly the companies are more into general steel work then specialized in knifes.
 
Thanks again Nordic. I take it you got my email then. I'll post here when I see it.

Pietje, I didn't heat it up. I used a screwdriver on a SAK to pop it off, then I spread it apart using needle-nose pliers. At first it wouldn't spread apart, so I really pulled on the pliers to seperate the two ends and then I heard a crack. I bent it back into shape some and it's doing alright. I'll take a photo sometime today.

MP510, I'm still going to keep and use this knife. I'd be interested to see any customizations you do though.

Dog Of War: Opinels are some of my favorite knives. They get treated as well as 100$ knives I previously owned (Which, incidently, were traded off for Opinels, SAKs etc). I like experimenting with them and SAKs. Right now I'm working on grinding a SAK flat to the stone, no secondary bevel. Going to see how it preforms this way, especially when one considers how easily the soft SAK steel can burr or roll. I want to see how strong the edge can remain ground like that. This accident, assuming I don't keep using the Opinel as a folder, has given me a good excuse for another project, the fixed blade conversion.

It seems a lot of people treat cheap knives like Moras, SAKs, Opinels, those 20$ Kabar folders etc as disposable knives. I don't think I've ever gotten a SAK in a trade that appeared to of been sharpened, and I remember reading that in Sweden when a Mora goes dull they just toss them out rather than bother sharpening them. Makes me want to move to Sweden and raid their dumpsters. ;)

I agree with you and pietje, if you aren't going to use a knife, trade it. That's why I've gotten rid of most my Spydercos. The company makes fantastic knives and I'm going to buy more in the future, but SAKs and Opinels outcut them in my experience, cutting the media I tend to cut. Today when I was cleaning my room I had a lot of boxes in the corner from trading knives I cut up to save space in the trash bin. I used a Byrd Meadowlark for all the cutting I did tonight, but just out of curiosity I got out a SAK and did a few comparison cuts after I was nearly finished. The Byrd took nearly twice the effort as the SAK to cut through the cardboard due to its saber grind.
 
MP510, I'm still going to keep and use this knife. I'd be interested to see any customizations you do though.
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I was able to find some other heavily used ones, so, I should be able to do my customizations in the near future. I'll post pics when I finish. Should be fun!
 
You might be able to pick up a hose clamp or something similar from the hardware store. Something like these may clamp the Opinel open:

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Ironically, I was thinking about suggesting that using an Opinel handle and a Scandinavian blade from Ragnar might make an easy knife project. The only tricky part might be fitting a hilt over the front portion where pivot/lock ring originally went .... however a #12 handle might be large enough that you could just cut it off.

The damage to your blade, though severe, doesn't surprise me terribly. Opinels are run a little soft IMO ..... can't remember what I read, mid-50's HRC I think.
 
Pietje, thanks for the links. Some of the Gatherwoods look quite attractive, interesting mix of traditional Scandinavian and more contemporary design and features.
 
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