Thoughts on Opinel knives?

I carry a opinel 10 , have done for years

Its great for food prep , from skining and cleaning thru to cooking and eating :)

I did bend the edge of mine when I was trying to whittle an axe handle down to size , but it was admittedly a dense wood and I was trying to take a lot off at once , the edge peened back true and its near impossible to find where it bent now

I have a slight convex edge on it , it holds a good edge , but the steel is a little oft , on the other hand it sharpens seriously easy and takes silly sharp edge .

normal carving and general use its great ,after a lot of years of use or a little modification it can be almost a flick knife , its more sheeple friendly than most knives you can get nowdays

it wont take the same punishment my okapi does tho . I cant choose between the two of them tho so I keep and carry both
 
I've had a no.8 for a few years. It's the knife I take camping for food prep.

Great knifes!
 
I have a No. 4 en route-I hear these things take a super sharp edge so I'm pretty excited. Made the most of SMKW's free shipping weekend and have some trams and sodbusters en route, along with a Marbles Nessmuk axe!
 
Myal said:
I carry a opinel 10 , have done for years

Its great for food prep , from skining and cleaning thru to cooking and eating :)
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+1 Opinels are excellent for food prep, nothing slices a tomato like a sharp Opinel!

Last Christmas at my mother's place there were too many people eating dinner and all the steak knives got used. So I took my #6 out of my pocket and used that to cut my steak - it sliced that steak as good or maybe even better than any steak knife I've used. The plate certainly dulled the knife to some degree, but I got through my steak and I stropped that #6 back to 'scary sharp' easily enough. You don't even feel the weight of a #6 in your pocket, but it is handy to have it there when you want to slice something.
 
I love the simplicity of these knives, and for the price ( like everyone's mentioned ) you can't beat the blade. I live in the bush's of B.C. Canada, so I'm more of an Axe man; but there are few times I'm caught without my Opinel:thumbup:
 
I really wouldn't recommend one for outdoors/wilderness use. They are a great value, and I EDC'd an #8 for over a year. But even the modest humidity of a backpack locked mine right up on a trip. The handles swell up and the razor sharp knife becomes dangerous to open and close (not good to prepare fish with!). I'm also not to fond of the lock, it can swing fully around the handle on mine, and risks slipping open. Right now I use a SAK (for tools) or a Spyderco Delica, which will deploy faster (soooo much faster), has a more reliable lock, clips firmly to your clothing/waistband/pocket, has a very secure handle and has a fantastic stainless steel that holds it edge x4 longer (if not more!) than the Opinel. But you can certainly 'make-do' with an Opinel, I sure did. ;)

Nothing slices better than a paper thin Opinel, but modern knives really put them to shame IMO.
 
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wabakimi said:
But even the modest humidity of a backpack locked mine right up on a trip.
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Has anyone compared how the different wood does with respect to swelling? My Walnut #8 always seems to open a little easier than the beechwood ones, but I have no idea of whether it would do OK in high humidity.
 
wabakimi said:
I really wouldn't recommend one for outdoors/wilderness use. They are a great value, and I EDC'd an #8 for over a year. But even the modest humidity of a backpack locked mine right up on a trip. The handles swell up and the razor sharp knife becomes dangerous to open and close (not good to prepare fish with!). I'm also not to fond of the lock, it can swing fully around the handle on mine, and risks slipping open. Right now I use a SAK (for tools) or a Spyderco Delica, which will deploy faster (soooo much faster), has a more reliable lock, clips firmly to your clothing/waistband/pocket, has a very secure handle and has a fantastic stainless steel that holds it edge x4 longer (if not more!) than the Opinel. But you can certainly 'make-do' with an Opinel, I sure did. ;)

Nothing slices better than a paper thin Opinel, but modern knives really put them to shame IMO.
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Just use the coup du savoyard. ;)

Or do what I did and sand an "easy-open" notch in your handle so you can pinch the blade open. :)
 
wabakimi said:
I really wouldn't recommend one for outdoors/wilderness use. They are a great value, and I EDC'd an #8 for over a year. But even the modest humidity of a backpack locked mine right up on a trip. The handles swell up and the razor sharp knife becomes dangerous to open and close (not good to prepare fish with!). I'm also not to fond of the lock, it can swing fully around the handle on mine, and risks slipping open. Right now I use a SAK (for tools) or a Spyderco Delica, which will deploy faster (soooo much faster), has a more reliable lock, clips firmly to your clothing/waistband/pocket, has a very secure handle and has a fantastic stainless steel that holds it edge x4 longer (if not more!) than the Opinel. But you can certainly 'make-do' with an Opinel, I sure did. ;)

Nothing slices better than a paper thin Opinel, but modern knives really put them to shame IMO.
Click to expand...

I carried an Opinel and an Okapi for decade or more , the opinels wear free with use . Mine was so free that it was as good as a flick knife pretty much , there was *just* enough tension on the blade that it didnt quite fall open under its own weight .
When I took it to the tropics( Daintree Rain Forrest ) it did get stiffer to open , but it wasnt bad . I can apeciate that if it were a newer knife it would have been seriously tight , but Id thin that its nothing that knocking the pin out and relieving a bit of wood wouldnt fix . I have a new one now with the full convex blade instead of the old flat grind . One of the first things I did was pull the pin and take out a bit of wood ... no way Im waiting another 15+ years to break this one in .
Its just adapting a knife to an environment other than the one its made for really .

The handle swells , but its a hell of a lot more comfortable than the rat1 I gave away that chewed my hands up when I was using it hard . The new blade grind too , Im in love with it all over again . The knife is now kind of a totaly different animal to what it used to be . My humble opinion anyway .

I dont mind spending a bit of effort on a minor mod for a knife that is less than $20 , more so when it has that oh so dam hard to locate here hi carbon blade . ( I know it wont snap , itll bend first , I have snapped more stainless junks than I care to ever cont that I paid much more for . )
 
I agree. Opinel Knives are great knives. Who wouldn't buy a product from a company who has been in the business for over 100 years. There are many different knives on the market, but few takes pride in their products. They have nice unique designs and great craftsmanship.

www.opinelknife.com
 
I carry this moded no 7 all the time

definatly one of my favorites

P1000478.jpg
 
I recently picked up an Opinel #8 and it doesn't lock up very tight, there's some play in the hinge.

Is that something I have to live with or is there some quick fix ?
 
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