Why all the Opinel rave?

Gas station knives which often outperform $200 knives... Which is why you will often SW people who "bought into the fantasy" of their knives downplaying how good they are.

And unlike gas station knives as we know them in the states, they focus on cutting ability, not looks. And they have a fool proof lock, not a poorly manufactured liner lock guaranteed to fail. The only thing gas station about them is the price and maybe lack of an initial edge. I'd equate them more to a hardware store utility knife with added function.

And to the guy who said you won't be don't anything hard with it... Lots of people do, and even show videos of it online, and the opinel often holds up fine, within reason. Obviously its not the strongest, but it is plenty strong in its own right.
 
goodeyesniper said:
I'd equate them more to a hardware store utility knife with added function.
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Yes! And- I can just picture the "its just cheap crap" people, sitting there on their gilded sofas eating unicorn caviar and sipping Louis XIIV from a Faberge egg as their manservants gently fan them with banana palms. Sorry mates- can't talk any longer- I need to run off and help bring in the dirt harvest. Hopefully there won't be anything of any real substance to cut through- alls I got is this here Opie 8 Carbone (and EWWW just the factory beech handle too!). I am only kidding. I love you all.
 
Ankerson said:
All they are is gas station knives really, European gas station knives/flea market knives so as you said don't expect much.

Basically throw away knives for the masses over in Europe.
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Yes. In France I'm sure they are next to the foie gras, baguettes, and epoisses. While our gas station knives are next to the hot dog roller and the liquid cheese dispenser.
 
Meh, they're okay, but never really did it for me. The handles aren't to my taste, etc.
They cut stuff okay, but they aren't lightsabers, no matter how people try to spin it.
And my knives all cut stuff just as well anyway...if they don't when I buy them, I sharpen/reprofile till they do.

But for cheap knives, they're okay. Just don't buy into the extra hype (reverse price-point snobbery).


pjackst said:
Yes! And- I can just picture the "its just cheap crap" people, sitting there on their gilded sofas eating unicorn caviar and sipping Louis XIIV from a Faberge egg as their manservants gently fan them with banana palms.
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Damn I must have missed out on the gilded sofa giveaway!
And fish eggs...blech! Give the fish instead.
I'll pass on having manservants, but if you have any extra serving wenches, that would be okay. :)
 
I was very skeptical about Opinel and I wondered about the craze as well. I bought one to use at work because for the price, it isn't a huge loss if lost and it has been in pocket ever since for at least 40+ hours a week. It is a great little slicer. I will probably make an Opinel my sons first knife when he gets older.
 
stabman said:
Meh, they're okay, but never really did it for me. The handles aren't to my taste, etc.
They cut stuff okay, but they aren't lightsabers, no matter how people try to spin it.
And my knives all cut stuff just as well anyway...if they don't when I buy them, I sharpen/reprofile till they do.

But for cheap knives, they're okay. Just don't buy into the extra hype (reverse price-point snobbery).
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That's all it really is in the end, the something for nothing thing...

If they were made in Pakistan nobody here would even touch them.... Everyone would be saying garbage, junk etc...... Put a European name on them and look what happened.... ROFL

People are so predictable..... ;)
 
Opinel has been producing knives for nearly 125 years and millions of people appreciate their product. Clearly, they came up with something that works.

I see no reason to demean an Opinel because it is inexpensive and utilitarian. It also seems fairly absurd to suggest that being European gives them some sort of massive fad appeal. Realy, if people are suddenly clamoring for more European goods, I must've missed that boat, lol. (No offense!)

I have a bunch of expensive knives, but that doesn't mean I can no longer appreciate any inexpensive ones. Sure, to an extent you always get what you pay for, but in the $10-$15 range I'm sure you could do far worse.

An Inox no. 8 is the only thing I could get my wife to carry and she keeps it in her bag. We also use a couple of carbon paring knives as steak knives. I like them for what they are.
 
pjackst said:
Yes! And- I can just picture the "its just cheap crap" people, sitting there on their gilded sofas eating unicorn caviar and sipping Louis XIIV from a Faberge egg as their manservants gently fan them with banana palms.
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Actually, I replaced all my manservants with scantily clad women last month. :D

I don't think they are cheap crap, but I do have more expensive knives that readily out cut them. I thinned the edge out on my Opinel (yes, really), and it's about 0.02 - 0.03 inches. It's about as thin as I could go and still avoid edge damage. Good, but I would like to go thinner, but am afraid the steel won't support a much thinner edge. It's too soft. Some of my more expensive knives are almost 10 times thinner at the edge, but they are at 62 - 66 HRC. Until I can get a steel in my Opinel that hard, it won't be able to come close in cutting ability due to geometry.

They are fine for cheap knives and steel, and they do work fairly well, but I can't say they are the be-all end-all either.
 
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davek14 said:
Well sure it is. But in your post you even said you would much rather have an Opinel. So, in other words, the Opinel version of the cheap knife has had the emphasis placed on cutting ability instead of bad boy apearance or pop culture icon endorsements.

It's just a cheap knife for sure, but it cuts like a more expensive one. Add to that the lightness, the ease of modding, and the old world charm and its a winner. Lots of much more expensive knives are even better I suppose.

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine....
10420127_524598424333834_7451525414816984613_n.jpg
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But that is a Belgium style farm house ale from Oregon. :) We Norhwesters take that sort of thing serious.
 
Ankerson said:
Yep. LOL :D
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I do think that it is an interesting point that many knowledgeable knife users, including myself, rave about Opinels, which you claim are sold in French gas stations, while I have yet to see anyone rave about knives sold in American gas stations (except Jarbenzas).

My point being that maybe there is a different expectation of quality between US and European gas station gas stationn merchandise.
 
Apophis said:
Opinel has been producing knives for nearly 125 years and millions of people appreciate their product. Clearly, they came up with something that works.

I see no reason to demean an Opinel because it is inexpensive and utilitarian. It also seems fairly absurd to suggest that being European gives them some sort of massive fad appeal. Realy, if people are suddenly clamoring for more European goods, I must've missed that boat, lol. (No offense!)

I have a bunch of expensive knives, but that doesn't mean I can no longer appreciate any inexpensive ones. Sure, to an extent you always get what you pay for, but in the $10-$15 range I'm sure you could do far worse.

An Inox no. 8 is the only thing I could get my wife to carry and she keeps it in her bag. We also use a couple of carbon paring knives as steak knives. I like them for what they are.
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Same with Mora actually if you want to get down to it..... Same things exactly.....

CHEAP and from Europe instead of some other place and people will buy them up like crazy.... Oh did I forget CHEAP......

It didn't want to forget to mention CHEAP....

It's no absurd at all, it's completely predictable.......

Those $5 kitchen knives at Wally World work too and they sell like crazy....... Because they are CHEAP.......
 
In reality, not much is sold at French gas stations except gas (I don't remember seeing any knives) -- most "stations" are just pumps with credit card readers.
Now -- back to the Opinel discussion
 
marcinek said:
I do think that it is an interesting point that many knowledgeable knife users, including myself, rave about Opinels, which you claim are sold in French gas stations, while I have yet to see anyone rave about knives sold in American gas stations (except Jarbenzas).

My point being that maybe there is a different expectation of quality between US and European gas station gas stationn merchandise.
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That's because most of those are made in Pakistan, Vietnam, China and other places I can't remember right now...

So people wouldn't even look at those, or should I say knowledgeable knife people.... People actually do buy them, and a lot of them, just not here on BF......

Put a European name of them and things change.... And all of a sudden they are great.....

Like I said predictable....

Not a lot of difference in them and some $5 knife from Wally World really..... Stamped Steel, cheap materials etc.....
 
Ankerson said:
That's all it really is in the end, the something for nothing thing...

If they were made in Pakistan nobody here would even touch them.... Everyone would be saying garbage, junk etc...... Put a European name on them and look what happened.... ROFL

People are so predictable..... ;)
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Yes, they are, and condescending, dont you think. To equate opinels with pakistani pot metal junk is intellectually dishonest or just ignorant, take your pick.

Like a mora, its a time-tested design with good geometry and ergonomics for its design task, which is to slice. Its not meant for cutting doors off cars like your rattley, mall ninja midtech. Its for people in the real world.

Heres a walnut handled version for you to disparage. Walnut is a wood.

 
So french gas stations sell knives made in France. How great would it be if American gas stations sold knives made in the USA?
 
Lol. Yeah Morakniv, making knives since 1891, is great "all of a sudden" only because they're made in Sweden.
 
Apophis said:
I see no reason to demean an Opinel because it is inexpensive and utilitarian.
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Just the opposite, lots of folks declare them to be "awesome" or "superior", hyperbole.

Some of us recognize them as simple and somewhat effective (depending on your needs) for the price, but inferior in many ways including cutting performance, much like box-cutter utility knives.
If they work for you and that's all you need, :thumbup: Most folk i know just buy what is on the shelf at target/walmart/dicks/menards/gas-station and that works for them.
I bought an Opinel and found it to be less effective than much of what i already owned in the same size-range. It is certainly more effective than no knife at all and might be more effective than a lot of other designs on the market, you could do worse for $10 or $100 but you could also do a LOT better. The same is true of Mora as has been mentioned. Both of these make good base-level knives to judge others by - if you are paying more, ask yourself "why". I've detailed my reasons in a post above. Many have posted that they like Opinel due to low cost and nostalgia - the latter appeals to aesthetics or some fantasy connection to the past. OK. Other claim they have great performance in all types of cutting tasks - I found the #6 to be extremely limited in comparison to other knives of the same size. Was I disappointed? Only in myself for expecting so much from such a design, having believed the hype. The opinel may have a place for some, but not as an EDC for I or my wife. YMMV
 
Dirtknap said:
Like a mora, its a time-tested design with good geometry and ergonomics for its design task, which is to slice. Its not meant for cutting doors off cars like your rattley, mall ninja midtech. Its for people in the real world.
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I live in the real world and find the geometry only adequate and the ergonomics actually quite poor, the performance mediocre for anything but slicing soft un-abrasive materials, quite similar to a cheap paring knife. But if that is all that you need :thumbup: My real world involves cutting things other than fruits, veggies, meat, and paper, and I appreciate the convenience of pocket clips and spring-activated locks, among other things.
 
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