The HT is not really all that great from what I personally have seen, I have a couple here, but for the price point I wasn't expecting much either.
They harden their Carbone (similar to 1086) to 56 Rc. A very old and traditional approach for working knives. It is softer than my preference, but since it's a non-stainless steel, it hones up nicely and is incredibly tough.
They harden their 12C27 to 58 Rc. Can you name anybody who heat treats 12C27 (or any other fine grained stainless) better? It's easily on par with Buck's Bos treated 420HC, or better.
I will say this again..... The geometry is a result of keeping the cost low as possible, not the other way around, you have cause and effect here.
I don't think this is defensible either in terms of history or modern economics.
The Opinel was designed in the mid 1800s. My understanding of the history of mass produced knives is that thin blade stock was preferred and dominated prior to WWII. Arguably, the Ka-Bar fighting utility knife, started the shift towards a sharpened pry bar design philosophy. The Opinel, like most traditional slip joints and most fixed blades from before and just after WWII were simply much thinner than what we commonly see today.
In terms of the economics, if a thin convex grind was a result of lowering production costs, we should expect to see thin convex grinds dominating the sub-$20 knife market. That's hardly the case. Thick blades dominate. Why? Because blade stock for fine carbide steels is a very, very small marginal cost and is entirely overrun by the need to satisfy customer's perceived preferences. It's dirty rotten secret that Loveless adopted a hollow grind because it looked cool and sold more knives and thick blade stock does the same. People buy thick blades because they emotionally perceive them to be better and people buy with their hearts. This explains why most inexpensive (and expensive) folding knives use thick stock and grinds that produce visual flurishes.
It also explains why an Opinel will out slice a ZT folding prybar. The ZT is designed to satisfy customer's desires for thick blades with visually stunning grinds.
That design is very old and was designed as what it is, a peasant knife (very low cost), that is something you can't get around.
This doesn't stand up to scrutiny from an engineering perspective on 2 levels. First and most directly, cost has no direct bearing on performance. None. Material selection, design and manufacturing quality have bearings on performance. Most often, more expensive can mean better performance if
and only if that extra cost leads to better materials, better design and better manufacturing. But cost alone doesn't predict performance. Opinels excel due to great design and more than adequate material and production.
Second, from a history of engineering standpoint, there have been countless inexpensive "peasant" knives. Almost all of them have been consigned to the dustbin of history. The Opinel, somehow, continues to perform. Astute students of engineering and design can easily recognize why. The design strikes a great balance between competing objectives. From a design stand point, it's a classic. Price has nothing to do with it.
