Tightness on the barrel lock of Opinels

M

migo

Joined
Dec 28, 2001
Messages
243
I just bought myself an Opinel #8 HC. I tried practically every one they had at the store, most of the barrel locks were really stiff and hard to move one handed. One was loose and easy to move. I tried shaking it around a bit and it didn't go out of place so I decided to get that one as I could open it one handed without too much difficulty. Did I just get an anomoly or is there supposed to be (or normaly) some variance in the stiffness?
 
These are great knives for the price but by no means a modern wonder.
My problem was after I used one for some time it got real hard to open. I used lots of lube and stuck a screw driver into the locks middle section and pried it. My reg #8 can be open and closed one handed now. I also have several new ones in storage that are fine.
 
I have found a lot of variance in Opinels, the wood handle can soak up moisture from even high humidity, and become tight. Overall though I love Opinels, it's a time tested design that is hard to beat price wise.
 
The wood does expand with moisture. Be sure it's dry, the soak some oil into it. Some guys strip the knife down and soak the whole handle in oil, some even sand off the varnish first. You can make a really classy little folder out of it :)

But I like to drip a little mineral oil around the pivot. It preserves the wood, keeps the tang from rusting, and smooths the action, keeping moisture from swelling the wood around the pivot.

Even a previously stiff Opinel will loosen up, especially with oiling.
 
I have a oak No 8 that has gotten very loose over the years to the point where I can one hand gravity 'flick' it open. The knife is hair poppping sharp and some of my knife Knut buddies who have seen me do it and, know the knife, cringe visibly when I do this. I prefer a much tighter blade on the Opinels however. I have soaked the blade pivot area in water to tighten it up some but they eventually wear loose again.

jeff
 
migo said:
I just bought myself an Opinel #8 HC. I tried practically every one they had at the store, most of the barrel locks were really stiff and hard to move one handed. One was loose and easy to move. I tried shaking it around a bit and it didn't go out of place so I decided to get that one as I could open it one handed without too much difficulty. Did I just get an anomoly or is there supposed to be (or normaly) some variance in the stiffness?
Click to expand...

Opinel's barrel locks are like the majority you tried pretty stiff - as it's meant to be a "reassuring" safety - they were never really designed to be used one-handed.

However even stiff ones can be made smooth by simple lubing - use petroleum jelly (vaseline) - this is the lube recommended by Opinel - also for lubing the pivot.

This page gives some instructions on how to remove and adjust the locking collar:

http://www.opinel-musee.com/uk/couteau03.htm

On the subject of blade (pivot) tightness -

Opinel's wood handles can swell due to moisture - therefore difficulty in opening. So one does NOT want to use any liquid lubes that will soak into the wood - which could also swell it.

Opinel themselves suggest petroleum jelly (Vaseline).
http://www.opinel-musee.com/uk/couteau03.htm
(same webpage)
QUOTE:
5. If the blade is difficult to open inspite of "le coup du savoyard" (knocking the end of the handle on the edge of the table), without doubt this is due to humidity; dry the knife on a radiator and lubricate the main joint with liquid wax or vaseline oil.
UNQUOTE

However if your sample is already difficult to open and the working it with petroleum jelly with a little torquing action does not seem to free the blade up - you may want to dry out the knife handle's wood a bit - you will have to be very patient to allow the wood to dry out slowly otherwise you risk cracking the wood from rapid dehydration and/or temperature changes.......

Opinel Museum's suggestion of a (central heating) radiator is fine - but I doubt if anyone wants to turn on their heating just to dry out a knife handle.

I suppose blowing the pivot joint with a hair dryer on low might work - but don't do too much too quickly - use several short sessions of moderate "drying" - if the pivot starts to feel hot - STOP! - wait and allow the handle to cool down completely then apply more heat (a safety measure might be to hold the knife at the pivot/barrel while applying the hair-dryer heat) - but this is a bit risky as rapid heating and cooling is generally not so good for wood.

A wood kiln is better - it's no more than a warm dry closet with shelves to allow air to circulate and take away the moisture - the old fashioned "airing cupboard" probably is a good place to put the knife for a few days/weeks, and check once a day to see if the action is better.

So by this logic deliberately "over"-drying the handle at the pivot could probably cause the blade to be deliberately loose and "flickable"...............

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net
 
This information is very timely for me. I bought my second and third Opinel knives a couple of weeks ago, an 8 and a 10. The 10 works fine but the 8 is really sticky. I tried prying the barrel lock apart and lubrication, but only half-heartedly, since I wasn't sure how much I could get away with. These posts have given me the confidence to really fix the problem. Thanks.
 
The wonderfull thing about these Opinels is that they are a great tinker knife-youtinker with them to get them the way you like.

I've been carrying Opinels for over 20 years and have found it is best to take off the locking ring, duct tape off the metal bolster and sand off all that orange finish. When down to bare clean wood finish up with 400 fine grit paper then drop the whole knife in a paper cup of linseed oil for about a day or two. Let it drip for a couple of days rubbing it with a clean rag a couple times a day for that time and you will have a nice oil finish that gets better with time and is water proof. An opi treated this way can stand up to 20 minutes of total immersion in water and still function. Once a month rub down with a light coat of linseed and buff. I do alot of canoe/kayaking and my number 8 and 12 opi's get wet once in a while with no bad effects.

The easier way is to strip off the horrable finish and use Minwax stain and then a couple days later two thin coats of Helmsman Spar urathane.

While you have the locking ring off the knife you can adjust the tension as you like it buy LIGHT re-bending. I also use a small file to take off a bit of metal on the top part of the locking ring so the ring will twist farther around for a more secure lock.

Enjoy, you will have one of the best cutters in the knife world.
 
maineiac said:
opinel? one handed? no way! i need proof.
Click to expand...

If you're serious, I'll find a way to get a video up of it.

Note, it's not a smooth one handed open, but it's not that hard either. Basically it works just fine if you've got only one hand to open the knife with, but if you want to open it quickly then you're probably out of luck unless you start carving the handle down and getting some thumb studs on the blade.
 
maineiac said:
opinel? one handed? no way! i need proof.
Click to expand...


This is entirely feasible......

Traditionally one can open most folders that have some part of the blade exposed by simply pinching the exposed blade (spine) between the thumb and forefinger - and push the handle away from the blade with the other fingers - for me this is normally the ring finger (sometimes + middle finger).

I have my two OP #8 in front of me that I've just done this.

One is a later version with the cutout on the locking barrel to lock the knife closed - so I had to release that first - but that wasn't hard since the collars on mine are close to ideal for my use.

On the later version the I can only manage to get the blade to about 80-90% open - the pivot is stiff enough that I can't quite finish opening the knife - and had to resist the temptation to place my thumb on the blade edge to finish the push (ouch! that would be stupid!).

Holding on to the blade (face) firmly I can then snap/shake the handle fully open from the blade...... Then rotate the collar to lock.

So I can open these one-handed -
but it is much easier and more secure two handed for me......

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net
 
Something else I've noticed with experimenting opening the opinel one handed in various ways is that the Opinel France engraving on the blade offers a bit of grip for opening it.
 
Lol, well the real trick is opening a SAK onehanded - without using gravity. It gives me cramps.
 
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