Trouble with Opinel 8

B

Bando_red

Joined
Jun 6, 2010
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9
I went to my local knife guy and asked if he had any opinels in yet as the last time he was completely out of stock on just about everything. He said he no but remembered he had a trade in No.6. It was beat up and rough, he did a few passes on the grinder to clean it up and said keep it. I used this for about a month and was ecstatic. I put a patina on it and gave it to my sister for her birthday after ordering a No.8.

Now the 8 is great too. I immediately noticed that the blade was substantialy thicker than on the 6 however. Even after lots of sharpening (which I'm a complete novice at) its still not as good as the 6 is. I'm wondering if that has to do with blade thickness, my sharpening skills, or both. whereas the 6 was shave-sharp after I tidied it up a bit, I just can't seem to get that far with the 8. Another thing is that the 8 is MUCH stiffer to open. I know opinels are friction folders and you're supposed to open them by tapping the heel of the handle, but I prefer to open my knives with the old thumb flick. After some mineral oil on the 6's pivot, thats a piece of cake and its still stable when closed or opened and unlocked. The number 8 however I still need 2 hands or the heel tap method to open even after mineral oil, vaseline, AND polishing compound on the pivot.

I really like the opinel. Even with the 8's problems, they're my sharpest knives after my victorinox and they're simple stupid perfect. I just wanna get that shave sharp edge and be able to open it one-handed. Can anyone provide some insight? I read the stickys on sharpening and still no luck. My sharpening setup is a Smith's 2 stone kit and an old leather belt.
 
As to the sharpening issue, the factory edge on at least some Opinels can be a bit thick. Cutting might not improve significantly if attempting to sharpen or touch-up the existing edge bevel. I thinned mine by laying the blade flush on some wet/dry sandpaper over a leather-on-oak strop block, and essentially 'stropping' the blade on the sandpaper. I went pretty extreme with mine, eliminating the bevel altogether and thinning it to a zero-grind edge. No more problems with shaving or similar tasks (;)), though the edge is pretty delicate. A 'compromise' would be something in between, but perhaps not going quite as thin.

The wood handles on Opinels tend to soak up any liquid and will swell a bit as a result, which makes the pivot tighter. This includes oils used in attempting to make the pivot slicker or smoother. The best way to reduce the swelling, and therefore how tight the pivot will be, is to first make the pivot as clean and DRY as possible. It might take washing everything out of the pivot, and then drying the knife in a warm oven or something similar, to evaporate off as much moisture as possible (might take a day or two, to completely dry out). That should help shrink the swelling of the pivot. Then use some heavier lube (vaseline works) to help keep moisture from soaking in. I'd also refrain from using any polishing compound in the pivot, as that will just make mud if mixed with any other lube or oil, and make the problem more sticky. The cleaner the pivot is, the better.


David
 
If your #8 is the stainless blade, it will be much harder to sharpen than the carbone blade you had on the #6 since you stated you put a patina on it. It just takes a bit more work to sharpen the stainless, but it will sharpen up nicely, just not as easy as the carbone blades. Just put a little more time and effort on it and you will get it sharp.

Blessings,

Omar
 
No the 8 is carbon too. I might have it sharpened professionally just so Its easier for me to work off of. These are my first carbon blades and I definitely prefer them to stainless, as I can't even get a paper-cutting edge on my stainless blades except for the victorinox. After seeing all the opinel mods here it gave me some ideas, but before any of those get done I need to have a decent carving edge on it. I'll be away for 6 weeks doing a camp counselor job and it'll have to last that long with minimal maintanence. Then I can get to work on my drop point grinding, patina, and bone handle :)
 
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