Snarking in a Becker Wonderland

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Aikiguy said:
Tanker 1/66 Tanker 1/66 , a little late, but as promised...:D

First time in 6 weeks that the weather wasn’t trying to straight up murder us up here. Packed up the kiddo, and a buddy with his two, and hit the ice.

Had the lake to ourselves the whole day. After a promising morning with a couple of quick hits, the fish decided to hide on us for the afternoon. Still managed to pull in a dozen or so; nothing monster sized, but it was good to get back out.





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Sweet Brother Thanks. I tried to do a little mountain climbing this weekend. Damn storm came in and dumped 5 inches of snow backed by rain. I feel your pain about the weather for sure.
 
Thinking about getting an Opinel, just for the halibut. You guys like yours? What size? Thinking of getting a number 8.
 
Xr6x said:
You might need the 10 :D
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Haha, I know, right? But, when it gets too big for the pocket, you may as well just carry a fixed blade. :thumbsup:
I've seen some incredible handle mods for the Opinels.
 
The Warrior said:
Thinking about getting an Opinel, just for the halibut. You guys like yours? What size? Thinking of getting a number 8.
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They are super cheap. I like giving them away to friends as gifts.

I'd stay away from the carbon steel ones because unless you treat the pivot with wax, the wood will swell, making it difficult to open and close. The stainless is just fine and you can get it in nicer woods like Walnut, Bubinga, and Ebony. They are excellent slicers and will take a keen edge. For you, Dubz, I'd recommend the #9. Should fill your mitts a bit better and won't be too awful in the pocket.

If the collar lock gives you issues, you can just pop it off and then you simply have a friction folder without a lock.
 
Pàdruig said:
They are super cheap. I like giving them away to friends as gifts.

I'd stay away from the carbon steel ones because unless you treat the pivot with wax, the wood will swell, making it difficult to open and close. The stainless is just fine and you can get it in nicer woods like Walnut, Bubinga, and Ebony. They are excellent slicers and will take a keen edge. For you, Dubz, I'd recommend the #9. Should fill your mitts a bit better and won't be too awful in the pocket.

If the collar lock gives you issues, you can just pop it off and then you simply have a friction folder without a lock.
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Thanks for the heads up man, appreciate it. Good to know, I would have chosen the carbon steel over the stainless.
 
The Warrior said:
Thanks for the heads up man, appreciate it. Good to know, I would have chosen the carbon steel over the stainless.
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The carbon steel is great steel. However, they only make it with the one wood (beech, I think?) They say other woods interact poorly with the carbon blade... Rather bizarre if you ask me. If you do want to get the carbon blade, you can avoid the swelling issue by treating the pivot with wax. It is something you will have to do repeatedly as time and wear do their thing.

Otherwise, I got my buddy a stainless one with walnut and it performs excellently. The steel is the standard Inox, if I am not mistaken.
 
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Pàdruig said:
The carbon steel is great steel. However, they only make it with the one wood (beech, I think?) They say other woods interact poorly with the carbon blade... Rather bizarre if you ask me. If you do want to get the carbon blade, you can avoid the swelling issue but treating the pivot with wax. It is something you will have to do repeatedly as time and wear do their thing.

Otherwise, I got my buddy a stainless one with walnut and it performs excellently. The steel is the standard Inox, if I am not mistaken.
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I think I only want one, because I've been seeing some really cool handle mods, haha. New another knife like I need another hole in my head.
 
I like Opinels. I’ve given away a few too. My current three (and for scale):
CDy2gp6.jpg

That’s a 6 in walnut, an 8 in oak, and an 8 outdoors model.
 
The Warrior said:
Thinking about getting an Opinel, just for the halibut. You guys like yours? What size? Thinking of getting a number 8.
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I've got a #8. Fits my hand well. The #7 was like a 3-1/2 finger handle for me, so i'm thinkin' that'd be the #8 for you. Both were comfortable in the hand either way, so I'd look at a 8 or 9, depending on what you want. I did get the carbon version; Pàd's right about the pivot, but all I did was put it in the toaster oven on low for a few hours to drive out any moisture, then soak it in some mineral oil in a baggie overnight. Hasn't swelled up yet and the pivot is nice and loose (but not too loose). Blade is super duper slicey. I've been carrying it on and off for the past couple of months, and it hasn't failed me yet for any around-town tasks.

Some minor mods on mine. Sanded/reshaped/burned/resanded the handle. Drilled lanyard hole. Reprofiled the tip. Soaked the blade in some FeCl3:



Also fabbed up a quick pocket organizer for it a couple of weekends ago:

 
I was racking my brain tonight. I traced my great grandmother, from Scotland, back to Sir Richard Wallace, my 23rd great grandfather. He had a brother, Sir Malcolm Wallace, which would be my 24th great uncle. His son is none other than William "Braveheart" Wallace, my 1st cousin, 24x removed! Man, that was some serious work, haha. My brain can finally rest now.
 
last year i got a chance to goto Iceland...

there's a lovely hardware store in the main city, and they had "all the opinels"

glass filled nylon handled! super tiny ones. COLORS. all the sizes.

i was rather astounded to see one with a handle about 9 inches long and something a bit over an inch wide.

whoa :D

plus they had Moras. oh did they ever. i think i have pictures somewhere. MMM :D

i'll just post the link, it's a huge picture... i wish i could find the other ones. soon!

https://photos.smugmug.com/Events/Iceland-2018-JSConf-M2/i-s7Rx6ZB/0/3392b9aa/5K/IMG_1120-5K.jpg
 
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