As I said in my first post in this thread, Opinels are not for everybody. They are finicky and crude out of the box.
Still, I think there are several aspects of your review of the tiny #6 that doesn't apply to the larger Opinels.
I bought my wife an Opinel #6 (INOX) as she favors the old-fashion design.
Out of the box, it was flat dull - glinting along the entire edge, completely unsharpened at the heel. No big deal, didn't expect much anyway, and it sharpened-up easily being so thin, 15-dps microbevel. I like that the knife locks closed. But the blade-pivot was so tight, it was difficult for my wife to open. I read online, took a heat-gun to dry it out and the pivot was nice and loose, so loose that if it is NOT locked closed, it falls open freely, which my wife did not like.
Right. The blades come with grind marks which, if you want even better performance, need to be polished out. The edge should be done to your taste, as you did (more on your choice in a minute). Also the joint usually needs tuning and often the handle some reshaping to match personal tastes. An old timer suggested to me to think of an Opinel like a Tandy leather kit. It's a starter project to "make" a knife. This isn't for everybody.
The blade steel is Sandvik 12C27 at 58Rc. That's a nice fine grained steel at a decently hard Rc level. But there are limits and my sense is that 15-dps is beyond the limit of the steel unless you restrict the use to simple straight cutting. I'm not surprised you ran into problems. I use 20-dps for EDC use and 25-dps for really hard abusive work. As with any knife steel, I think you need to match sharpening to the job and the steel. Compared to other mid-grade steels like Buck's 420HC, Case's Tru-Sharp, Victorinox's Inox, CRKT's Aus-8, my experience with Opinel's Sandvik is that it is as good or better than any of those. My sense here is that you simply choose to sharpen it at too acute of an angle for any reasonably hard mid grade steel.
Regarding tuning the joint to control the tightness, I think you got a hold of bad information. The hair dryer trick (or hot sunny dashboard) will dry out the wood which cause huge swings in the tightness. IME, its much better to soak the joint in mineral oil or vaseline to stablize the tension and then set the tension by adjusting the inner collar. I describe this here:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/28597626/tuning-opinels.txt
This is super, super, super fiddly and if you're expectation is to take a knife and use it out of the box without this sort of fiddling around, then I think knives from Victorinox or Buck or CRKT or many others will give a better out of the box experience. I can't say this enough. Opinel's are very fiddly knives and not for everybody. They demand that you learn or figure out how to manage the joint tension and that happens only by word of mouth. You don't know how to (which is to be expected, they don't come with instructions) and you didn't get particularly good advice, so I can't fault you for having a bad experience in this regards. All I can say is that the friction of the Opinel can be tamed, even in humid, wet New England but its pretty darn fiddly.
It doesn't open easily and safely with one-hand like most modern folders.
It's a manual lock, no springs but able to be operated one-handed, but it's less convenient than most lock-designs, another thing my wife recognized.
As a traditional, it has no pocket-clip so must be carried in a pocket/pouch/sheath of some type, something that both my wife and i found annoying.
The #6 that you purchased is the size of a small slip joint. About 3 1/2" closed. A mere 1.2 oz in weight. I'm not I've ever talked with anybody who looks for one hand opening in a small pocket knife, but I suppose if that's something you want.
The Opinel's change dramatically as you go up in size. IMO, the #9 is the first one that starts comparing to favorably to modern pocket clipped one hand openers. Guys I know who use the larger #9 and #10s in the trades tell me they file out an easy-open indent to make one hand opening easier. Here's a #10 with an easy open indent. Very easy to one hand open.
Buck 110 and Opinel #10 by
Pinnah, on Flickr
With respect to pocket carry... I'm honestly shaking my head. At a mere 3.5" and 1.2 oz, there just isn't a more comfortable
non-clipped pocket knife than the Opinel #6. I really can't imagine what you would possibly want more in a pocket knife in terms of comfort. The only thing I can think is that you and your wife are used to pocket clips and at this point, nothing other than pocket clip will satisfy you. That's not the fault of the Opinel.
Finally in use, the edge geometry is great but the edge-retention is very poor, requires touching-up OFTEN to straighten or restore the apex, unlike many of my other knives.
No. The Opinel has a great built in
blade geometry. It's convexed above the micro-bevel to the spine. That is it's secret.
The final
edge geometry is something
you can and did control. You pushed a good mid-grade stainless to 15-dps and that's why you saw edge rolling. If you want to compare edge retention, you really need to compare Opinel's 12C27 to other similar steels like 440A, 420HC, Vic Inox or Aus-8. In that group, Opinel's Inox is at or among the top. But there are limits.
I'm somewhat familiar with the issues of edge rolling and diving when working with wood. I often make wind spirals which can cause edge rolling.
Getting acquainted by
Pinnah, on Flickr
IME, you really need to match edge profile with the task. You have to get into upper end wood carving knives to get Rc levels higher than Opinel's. It is possible and if you go that route, 15-dps can be sustained but even still, lateral hogging is tough on the edge. I stick with 20-dps with the Opinel Inox and have good luck with it.
If any wedging DOES occur, the blade is narrow and the handle so round that it tends to twist on cuts unless a very firm grip is maintained - again something that my wife did NOT like and another reason i stopped using it for cardboard.
Tastes vary on round vs flat handles and lateral control under heavy cutting is an advantage to flatter handles. I generally flatten the sides of #10s for this reason.
But the issue you've encountered is the fact that you're box cutting with a teeny little #6. The #8 is the most popular for good reason. Try a #8 or, if you have XL sized hands, a #9 and you'll see a massive jump up in edge control with the larger handle. Or not. I'm not telling you what to do or not do. Honestly. Just noting that the problems you describe are related to the size of the Opinel you choose and that doesn't scale up to the larger ones. You would have the same problem with, say, a Case Peanut.
Finally, carving wood :thumbdn::thumbdn: When carving/whittling, holding the knife close to the cutting edge allows for a better transfer of force for clean, controlled cuts. Wood tends to bind and put lateral stress on a blade. The opinel is very thin so it cuts deep... and binds. Prying/twisting (part of carving) easily deform the apex and, holding from the handle of the knife, the blade often bends rather than proceeding with the task. In order to put more force behind the cutting edge, one must apply pressure to the spine of the knife where you are trying to make the cut, and the thin opinel blade-spine is quite uncomfortable in this.
My experience in working with wood is that blade thickness depends on the cut and the hardness of the wood. When the blade is too thin and the wood too hard, a thin flexible blade will bounce off the wood and either skip or dive or otherwise be hard to control.
Here's a wind spiral I did earlier this year out a some very hard (and nicely splaited) maple. My Opinel #8 just bounced off of this stuff and my (highly convexed) Mora handled it much better.
image by
Pinnah, on Flickr
Is this the fault of the Opinel? <shrug> Match the tool to the job. Softer woods can be handle very nicely with thinner blades and if you put a convexed edge on the Opinel you will find it makes curling shavings wonderfully.
More than anything though, I think you were trying to push a tiny #6 too hard. The blade is too thin (I find the #8 a bit too thin actually and prefer the beefier #9) and the handle too small for hard force. Not at all surprising the Opinel #6 performed the way it did for you but it really says nothing of what is capable with #8, 9 and 10.
That's my $0.02 No hate, just realism.
2 cents back at you. No hate, but I don't pushing a #6 hard and extrapolating to all Opinels is very realistic.
just putting my opinion as per the OP's op.
*cough* garbage *cough*, gas station, POS, Europe :barf:..."
