Sebenza vs. Opinel?

Opinel's are excellent knives considering their price and there is really no two ways about it. But when you start comparing them to Sebenza's and saying that they are (forgive me for saying this) better than Sebenza's I will have to ask you to step outside.
 
True I suppose, but think about it. The Sebenza is a handmade knife with titanium handles instead of wood, uses a frame-lock instead of a ring and has a blade made out of S30V rather than something which I suspect is 1095. The price justifies the difference in materials and craftsmanship (I think).
 
I think the two are about equal in terms of design, which is to say truly exceptional.

The Sebenza is more durable, holds an edge better and brings greater joy of ownership to most people.

The Opinel is a much better value, is easier to sharpen, more expendable and provides an opportunity for nimrods to make ridiculous comparisons on the Internet.

Buy one of each.
 
If you are considering the Sebenza then money must not be the issue so for a minute let's disregard that. If you have held and or used a Sebenza and an Opinel and you still consider them to be competitive then you might as well stick with the Opinel, becuase there is nothing more that someone could tell you than that comparison will show you.

I will take one Sebenza rather than 45 Opinels any day of the week. There is nothing wrong with an Opinel at it's price point of $10 average but if you think for a minute that it will compare to a Sebenza or similar than we might as well not argue about it.
 
I bought an opinel many years ago. I cut up some chease and some fruit, due to the high carbon content, it rusted right before my eyes. I cleaned it up with 0000 steel wool. The blade is black in many spots due to this. The opinel held a decent edge, but no better than the buck knife or schrade I was carrying along with it at the time. Its a good knife for the $8.00 I paid for it at the time.
The sebenza is a $300 + knife. In no way can you even begin to compare the 2 of them. Titanium handles, S30V blade ( I have cut fruit, etc and NOT wiped it off with no corrosion ), thumb studs, I could go on and on. State of the art craftsmanship production knife that easily rivals custom knives.
In the end, I only ever bought 1 Opinel, I have 6 sebenzas = sebenza all the way for me.

If your on a tight budget which many are these days, or a kid looking for a good first knife, the opinel will serve him right for quite some time. I am in no way bashing the opinel, its a great knife for the $8.00 price. MUCH BETTER than the junk schrade is making in china these days.
You can compare a opinel to many other production knives, case, buck, gerber, etc and it will hold its own quite well, when you handle a sebenza, your in a galaxey far far away......
 
Herr_Noobien said:
True I suppose, but think about it. The Sebenza is a handmade knife with titanium handles instead of wood, uses a frame-lock instead of a ring and has a blade made out of S30V rather than something which I suspect is 1095. The price justifies the difference in materials and craftsmanship (I think).
Click to expand...

All good points except the Sebenza is not a hand made knife.
 
Opinels are good knives. And I don't feel bad when I try to mod one.

Some French members here made some impressive mods on their Opinels. Wood mixes a little bit like Fiddleback do:

opi%20bird.jpg
 
Herr_Noobien said:
True I suppose, but think about it. The Sebenza is a handmade knife with titanium handles instead of wood, uses a frame-lock instead of a ring and has a blade made out of S30V rather than something which I suspect is 1095. The price justifies the difference in materials and craftsmanship (I think).
Click to expand...

Sebenza isn't handmade. It's production now, or so I have been told.

I won't get into the price debate, as I've never used one and don't know exactly what all goes into producing one. But I will agree that there is fair amount of higher end materials put into the Sebenza versus that of the Opinel. Does that make the quality higher? I don't think it does. For me, the quality of a knife is in its performance, not in it's parts (is that to say that good parts don't make a quality knife? No, not at all. There are a great many things that make a "quality" knife). The old addage "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," kind of fits what I'm trying to say. For you, it may be different--and that's totally fine. These little differences are what makes knife appreciation and collecting so great; one person may appreciate form over function, the other may appreciate the vice versa.

I was questioning your statement as a sweeping generalization. I've seen 10 dollar knives beat 200 dollar knives. I think I may have misunderstood it.

In this case, yes, the Sebenza is a better made knife. Higher grade material, closer tolerations. A man would be a fool to say it isn't a better made knife. But, at the same time, the Opinel isn't a junk drawer knife just because it doesn't have a three-digit price tag.

I wasn't meaning that it was horridly overpriced (God knows there are enough of those threads!). Though I don't particularly care for Sebenzas, I will give credit where it most definitely due. They are fine knives and I wouldn't turn one down at the right sale price.
 
Last edited:
both knives cut, neither one is a fixed blade, both will eventually need to be sharpened, neither one is more than a knife
 
moonwilson said:
The slight difference being- Opinels totally suck. And Sebenzas are some of the nicest knives on the planet.

As for the "carbon footprint" thing, I see it as a personal challenge to have the biggest "carbon footprint" possible. The Sebenza taking more energy to produce is a bonus for me. If I could get a bald eagle-beak thumbstud and a baby seal-face lanyard, I would.
Click to expand...

having a really horrible day and then seeing this, It made me laugh my ass off lol great post, great post indeed.
-Barry-
 
nyefmaker said:
I bought an opinel many years ago. I cut up some chease and some fruit, due to the high carbon content, it rusted right before my eyes. I cleaned it up with 0000 steel wool. The blade is black in many spots due to this.
Click to expand...

It didn't rust....it formed a patina. Taking that patina off with steel wool made it more likely to rust though.
 
I've never handled a Sebenza, but I've been considering getting a small Regular for a while now. I want to see what all the fuss is about.

I do have an Opinel though and they're great knives. It's basically a utility knife that will do anything you need of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top