The Opinel #13. Musings on big Opinels - a fairly rational view.

[Stew]

It's not a myth though..you have two people in your own thread saying it's happened to them, myself included. Mine wasn't even submerged.

If it was your own creation I could understand your defensiveness, but unless you're secretly Pattree Opinel, I think you can accept that the wood they use sometimes swells!

I love Opinels, I'm not saying they're not great things FYI.

I’ve had multiple jam up in my pocket just from general damp. At least one so bad that it needed pliers to force it open.

I’ve also had one have the handle shrink in the warm and caused me to cut myself when I put my hand in my pocket from the blade dropping loose.

That was when I ‘invented’ the locking function long before opinel themselves started using it for the closed blade and all excited posting about it discovered others had already done it too.

 

[John Fenna]

I always have a No9 on me on camps - never had it jam yet - and that is in We(s)t Wales!
I love the Oppies "slicey" action

 

[Pattree]

I started out with a #9 in the 80’s when they were all carbon and had the disappearing blade. It was my only “pocket” knife for many years.
Then I found the #12. It just fitted. I hadn’t realised that there was anything special about its performance until much later. It is such a good slicing tool.

Like many of us here I’m not a collector of knives. Not even Opinels, large or small. I have simply acquired an accumulation of them.

People know that I like them and I very occasionally buy a specific one - like the Explore - and they have just sort of herded together..

I have a couple of Effilé gifts. I have no idea what to do with them. Has anyone else used one? I have used my smaller E10 as a table knife. The longest, the 15 is very flexible and somehow doesn’t look quite legal.
Ideas?

(Advert photo)


I’ve never tried to dismantle an Effilé because I don’t use them. I can’t think of a handle that would make one useful.

 

[Aristotle]

I have a couple of Effilé gifts. I have no idea what to do with them. Has anyone else used one? I have used my smaller E10 as a table knife. The longest, the 15 is very flexible and somehow doesn’t look quite legal.
Ideas?

(Advert photo)

View attachment 106398
I’ve never tried to dismantle an Effilé because I don’t use them. I can’t think of a handle that would make one useful.

They look like folding steak knives

 

[KnOeFz]

Great write up, enjoyed it alot, especially with the pics.

Love my Opinels, the #6 is probably my most carried knife. My biggest is the #12 saw.

 

[Pattree]

That #12 saw handle is beautiful. Wasted on a saw!

Just a thought.
All my Opinels except the Effilé 15 are Beech handled. (That Effilé is Bubinga)
Are some woods more prone to jamming than others. I have no idea. Mine don’t.

 

[Nice65]

I always have a No9 on me on camps - never had it jam yet - and that is in We(s)t Wales!
I love the Oppies "slicey" action

I’ve had multiple jam up in my pocket just from general damp. At least one so bad that it needed pliers to force it open.

I’ve also had one have the handle shrink in the warm and caused me to cut myself when I put my hand in my pocket from the blade dropping loose.

That was when I ‘invented’ the locking function long before opinel themselves started using it for the closed blade and all excited posting about it discovered others had already done it too.

Theory here is the knives in use aren't jamming up and the occasional users are. Metal, especially oiled or greased, sliding over wood must surely seal it a bit?

 

[Nice65]

I have a couple of Effilé gifts. I have no idea what to do with them. Has anyone else used one? I have used my smaller E10 as a table knife. The longest, the 15 is very flexible and somehow doesn’t look quite legal.
Ideas?

For the largest one you'll need to buy a whole side of smoked salmon

They're all filleting knives, I did have the third from left for a while but it didn't see use. Reckon the little one would bone out chicken thighs nicely but I have other knives to do that.

 

[Stew]

Theory here is the knives in use aren't jamming up and the occasional users are. Metal, especially oiled or greased, sliding over wood must surely seal it a bit?

At the time of that happening to me it was when I had only a few knives and the opinel was carried a lot.

I think that there’s probably some luck going on. Slight variations in grain direction and it wicking. Slight variations I. The size of the slot being cut. It’s not going to be superfine tolerance work! The chance of a bit of a swell, the blade opened and burnishing down the wood before it gets too bad.

They’re great knives and I do love them but equally I am wary of them, just as any one would be after a negative experience - sticking your hand in your pocket and it being sliced can do that!

 

[Nice65]

Slight variations in grain direction and it wicking

That's my thinking too, wood isn't standard even from piece to piece let alone tree to tree and the hinge is made of it. That's where liners come in handy on most knives.

Know what you mean about knives opening in pockets. Had a Tenacious bite me after jumping a ditch and knocking the blade open a bit.

 

[Kadushu]

Mine would seize up because it was in a sweaty pocket. I've managed to rust AUS10 in my sweaty pocket too so it's not much different to a coastal rock pool!

 

[Billy-o]

There is a bit of hit and miss with Ops. I have a #9 where the lock can't engage because the ring is slightly mispositioned

 

[Pattree]

I’ve pulled many of them to bits and modified them.

If you can post a picture I may be able to see how to fix it.
I have no #9 spares but there is a lot you can do.