Thoughts on Opinel knives?

Has anyone experienced a failure in hard use?

I've looked at these but am afraid I might snap it when trying to pop out a notch. They apparently slice like a lazer, but seem too thin for woodworking...
 
MustardMan said:
Since this is back in W&SS... ;)

As a "woods" knife, I am not a fan of them. I'd just want something stouter when I'm depending on it for heat, cooking, and possibly shelter.
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In the vein of W&S skills I would have to say that an Opinel wouldn't be my first or second choice of knife, maybe not even my 3rd. But I go camping with 4+ knives so an Opinel for food prep is fine - I have my chopper & scandi and SAK, why not throw in a #6 or #8 as well? The Opinel knives I have are all small enough & light enough to not really be an effort to add to the pack - I always DO have something stouter that I can use for shelter building or fire prep.

TBH
I don't really need my one handed openers for camping - they can't beat my fixed blades anyway. If I take 2 or 3 fixed blades to handle everything I need, then I throw in a light folder as a spare/loaner/clean food prep knife/whatever then why not make the folder one of my Opinels? If I care about weight then my #6 is a fine choice - it does not weigh stuff all!

For ultralight camping where you might not even want to carry a knife because you could do without it and save the weight - I would at least throw in my #4, leaving it behind would save so little weight that I'd rather have it with me.

For woodworking they may be good up to a point, but I take a Mora with me and prefer to use that.
 
Buddy of mine just picked up an 8 for me while in France. I had not heard of them before and have learned quite a bit reading everyone's comments - thank you!
 
They sure are fun to modify:)
I have a No. 6 and 8 in my possibles bag. For soft wood carving they work ok for me. And like was mentioned they are so light yet are great for prepping fruits and veggies.

Mark
 
I like the look of my stainless garden knife over the others, and the stainless gets just as sharp imho.
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I personally know of one user who is alive today because of his Opinel. He was a crew member on the Cape Aspy, a scallop dragger from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia that sank just after midnight more than 100 kilometers off the south shore of NS on 30 January 1993. He had just bought his Opinel and had it in the pocket of his jeans. When the ship started to founder, the crew had very little time to get into their survival suits. On deck, they deployed the life raft that successfully inflated and righted itself and they all jumped overboard to board it.

There were only two lives lost, and neither of those left the ship. Of those who did, all made it into the raft but they noticed it was still tethered to the ship. They had been told that the tether would automatically tear away from the raft if the ship went down, but at a time like that the mind wonders about the words of trainers who spoke them on dry land on a bright summer day.

My friend unzipped his survival suit, wormed his hand to the Opinel in his jeans, and with his crewmates holding his legs while his off hand gripped the raft for dear life, he leaned out the boarding port and used the knife to cut the tether. Now, in an inflated raft that was bouncing like crazy, leaning arm extended over the ocean, he had to decide what to do next. Folding or bringing that blade back inside wasn't an option so, I am told with a pang of regret, he let it go. The knife gave its life to save its Master and his comrades. As good a knife story as I've ever been told.
 
I like to use my no. 7 for making fatwood shavings, the thin blade is good at it.
 
i got a olive number # 10 stainless filleting knife , in a pouch, that i take fishing all the time . the sharpening steal that they give you is way to rough to sharpen the blade on the go , but i can get it like a razor on my pocket dimond stone any way .... its gutted and filleted a 11KG (115cm) thread fin samon and 6 bream and who know what else on the last camping trip we did and still slices tomatos when we got home ....

the filleting ones are so slim you hardly relize there in your pocket , yay for the french ....
 
Where is the best place to buy one? I haven't owned one in years (lost in a move) and this thread has me wanting to give my SAKs a companion.
 
Grouch said:
Where is the best place to buy one? I haven't owned one in years (lost in a move) and this thread has me wanting to give my SAKs a companion.
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I bought one at Smoky Mountain Knife Works when I was there a few weeks ago. I am sure there is a large selection on their website as well.

Opinels are one fine knife for food prep :thumbup:
 
anyone know how to keep them from swelling shut? i love mine but it can be a real pita when around water
 
While it is not a total fix, treating them with a good water seal seems to help. The more you use them, the better they work. I wouldn't buy one for rough use but I love them for their light weight and keen edge.
 
Being in a semi-nomadic lifestyle, I am carrying a fairly basic sharpening setup. Due to this, it's a pain to sharpen my scandi ground EDC when it gets really dull. Therefore, I also carry my Opinel #7 as an EDC to use for rough tasks. The fairly soft steel is very easy to sharpen up quickly on my basic two sided carborundum stone, and touch up on my strop.

I use it for everything on various construction sites, including trimming cementboard siding, trimming OSB notches, and scraping caulk out of corners. The other day I even handed it off to a friend to cut shingles for several hours. It came back incredibly dull and covered in tar. I scraped the tar off and had it shaving sharp in under 3 minutes.

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(sorry for the poor picture, I only have my phone handy right now)

I also have a #12 that I modified just for something to do. It makes a good folding bushcraft knife for about $20.
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Whynacht said:
I personally know of one user who is alive today because of his Opinel. He was a crew member on the Cape Aspy, a scallop dragger from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia that sank just after midnight more than 100 kilometers off the south shore of NS on 30 January 1993. He had just bought his Opinel and had it in the pocket of his jeans. When the ship started to founder, the crew had very little time to get into their survival suits. On deck, they deployed the life raft that successfully inflated and righted itself and they all jumped overboard to board it.

There were only two lives lost, and neither of those left the ship. Of those who did, all made it into the raft but they noticed it was still tethered to the ship. They had been told that the tether would automatically tear away from the raft if the ship went down, but at a time like that the mind wonders about the words of trainers who spoke them on dry land on a bright summer day.

My friend unzipped his survival suit, wormed his hand to the Opinel in his jeans, and with his crewmates holding his legs while his off hand gripped the raft for dear life, he leaned out the boarding port and used the knife to cut the tether. Now, in an inflated raft that was bouncing like crazy, leaning arm extended over the ocean, he had to decide what to do next. Folding or bringing that blade back inside wasn't an option so, I am told with a pang of regret, he let it go. The knife gave its life to save its Master and his comrades. As good a knife story as I've ever been told.
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Great story dude! :thumbup:
 
Calebklyne said:
anyone know how to keep them from swelling shut? i love mine but it can be a real pita when around water
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You have to sand off the aweful finish they put on them, it's not worth spit. Once you sand off the finsh down to bare wood, including the blade slot and around the blade pivot, seal it with Helmsman Spar Urathane. Don't forget the area at the end of the knife where you can see the lathe tool marks on the flat in front of the locking ring. Let it dry between a couple light coats. Once in a while lube the pivot area with a bit of vasoline on the end of a paper match out of a book. Wipe out exess. I've got my Opinels to be totally submerged for a half hour with no problems. I've taken my number 8 on a weekend kayak trip where it was in damp shorts pocket. It opened on Sunday afternoon as easy as it did on Saturday morning.

I love Opinles, but you have to work up a new one to stand up to adverse conditions. Helmsman spar uruathane is your friend. :thumbup:
 
I think its just a re-adjustment of value. an opinel is a $14 blade in a $1 handle, so you spend an hour or so (maybe $15 value just to make up a number) and you have a very nice knife. most other $15 knives are more like $4 blade, $2 handle, $9 marketing... speaking of which, I bet i can mod an opinel blade to fit and lock in my SOG tool, oh yeah!
 
I have a 6, 7, and 8. I use the 7 everyday to make fresh ginger tea for my wife. Great peeler and mincer. I also carry it on weekends or places where I might need to pull out a knife that is not too scary for the sheep. Gave the 8 to my son, just don't use the 6 too much.

Love my # 7 though.
 
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