What's Up with Opinel?

afishhunter

afishhunter

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Oct 21, 2014
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Any idea why the prices have trippled or more?
$19 - $22 for a plain nothing fancy standard beech handled #8 with carbon steel blade just seems a wee bit excessive to me ...
 
Maybe they've been reading their own press clippings. Now believe that the bang for the buck ratio is too disadvantageous for them and that they need to rectify that situation. They might lose some customers with the increased prices, but if profits go up, what's the problem?
 
kamagong said:
Maybe they've been reading their own press clippings. Now believe that the bang for the buck ratio is too disadvantageous for them and that they need to rectify that situation. They might lose some customers with the increased prices, but if profits go up, what's the problem?
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Could be. At what they're going for now, I'll never buy another.
A Svord Peasant costs less than an Opinel, now. Maybe I'll get one of them, instead?
 
Tariffs?
“Imports of single-malt Scotch, Irish whiskey, liqueurs, French wines, sweaters, coffee, pipe cutters, various tools, sweet biscuits, olives and pork will also be slapped with 25 percent duties.”
-Politico 10/2/19
 
afishhunter said:
Any idea why the prices have trippled or more?
$19 - $22 for a plain nothing fancy standard beech handled #8 with carbon steel blade just seems a wee bit excessive to me ...
Click to expand...
I think they have been somewhat under-priced for quite a while. Amazing knife for the price, so I'm not surprised if the price goes up a little bit.
 
Prices are creeping up, but it has been a long time since you could get a No.8 for seven bucks. Rough Riders are up, too. There are not too many eight-dollar RRs any more, and a lot more costing $18-20.

Some of it is tariffs, I suppose. There’s no harm in blaming Trump for as much as you can. But part of it is “nothing cool ever lasts”. For forty years, Opinels were a well-kept secret, prized by connoisseurs, unknown to the punters. Now that the cat is out of the bag, the price has to go up. Fuente cigars, CZ handguns, Filson woolens, Kenda dual-sport tires, a couple of dozen great new wines over the years, and I don’t even drink much wine. Talk enough about a good deal, and sooner or later someone will start to listen.

I don’t need to buy too many more Opinels in my lifetime anyway. Got enough to last me a while.
 
I like them a lot, but I don’t think I’d buy any new ones. I don’t like how they have changed the lock to limit rotation and only in one direction. Got a recent one and the lock up is sloppy as heck. Can’t do anything about it either without major modifications.
 
jstrange said:
I like them a lot, but I don’t think I’d buy any new ones. I don’t like how they have changed the lock to limit rotation and only in one direction. Got a recent one and the lock up is sloppy as heck. Can’t do anything about it either without major modifications.
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Maybe yours is defective. I don't have the old ones to compare it with, however. My lock seems to work fine, but I only use it to lock the knife open. Why would I want to lock it closed? It's not going to open by itself.
 
Prester John said:
Maybe yours is defective. I don't have the old ones to compare it with, however. My lock seems to work fine, but I only use it to lock the knife open. Why would I want to lock it closed? It's not going to open by itself.
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The new design still locks closed (which I don’t use), but you used to be able to lock it open either direction which was sometimes helpful. Also the self adjusting of the lock over time by just turning it further around is now gone because of the limiter. I have gotten one of the new design that works also, but the potential for troubles now exists where it didn’t before.
 
jstrange said:
The new design still locks closed (which I don’t use), but you used to be able to lock it open either direction which was sometimes helpful. Also the self adjusting of the lock over time by just turning it further around is now gone because of the limiter. I have gotten one of the new design that works also, but the potential for troubles now exists where it didn’t before.
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I see. Good points.
 
jstrange said:
I like them a lot, but I don’t think I’d buy any new ones. I don’t like how they have changed the lock to limit rotation and only in one direction. Got a recent one and the lock up is sloppy as heck. Can’t do anything about it either without major modifications.
Click to expand...

The modification is not reallly all that difficult. It took me about half an hour the first time I did it. Now that I know what tools to have at hand it is a ten or fifteen minute job. Grind off the nub and put a second locking ramp on so you can turn it either way. I will spend more time than that reshaping the handle anyway, so if I ever need more Opinels, the new setup is not an impediment.
 
I just never liked the fact you have to manually close the blade, the Opinel design has no spring to snap the blade closed. It's not a necessary thing, but just seems lacking to me...
 
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