Cycling UK Forum

I really like them, and usually pick up a new one each time I go to France, and I've now got seven or eight in various sizes. As well as taking them on picnics and camping trips, I use them as steak knives at home - an affectation I learned from a restaurant in Provence. They hold a lovely edge.
But they have a tendency to stiffen up, to the point of being very hard to open, and quite scary to close; I imagine it's the wood swelling up and gripping the blade too tight. Anyone know if there's a cure for this?

Are you doing something to the knives to cause it?
How do you wash them, do you oil the pivot with something?
It could be that you are making the wood swell in some way, that the pivot is getting rusty or it is just dirt clogging things up.
My Opinel was so loose that you could just flick the blade in and out with a gentle flick of the wrist but I think of late it needs to be pushed in and out.

I have just dug mine out and it still flicks open and shut but I do have to open it (easily) with my nail the first millimetre or so.
I do nothing to mine, it is pretty unused lying on a table it is an old carbon steel bladed one which I found under a rock with a rusty blade back in 1979! So I imagine it is a result of your usage and care regime.

My local hardware shop sells wooden handle penknives that, to my eye, are better made than the average Opinel and only cost £12, and unlike the standard Opinel they have stainless blades. Mine is several years old now and goes with me when I'm camping or hiking. My brand loyalty for Opinel is gone now that I've found something better. The same shop sells Opinel but the man behind the counter doesn't rate them.

and unlike the standard Opinel they have stainless blades

I think that the old "carbone" versions are less common than the newer "inox" (stainless) versions.
However the carbon steel blade was very much a unique selling point of the Opinels when everybody else was offering stainless. I am very much a fan of stainless too, which is part of why my Opinel just sits around for all of its life.

I took a carbon steel Bowie knife fishing* with me once and the mixture of saltwater and blood changed the blade for ever, the deep pitting that resulted, as well as ruining the surface finish, gives the blade a rather useful serrated effect. The Opinel has the same sort of edge to its once rusted blade.

*Large scale food fishing, not sport.

Not a fan of S/S knife blades. So much softer than carbon steel.
I have my father-in laws carbon steel pen knife he was issued at Silverwood Pit, it's over 60 years old and holds an edge very well.

nirakaro wrote:.......
But they have a tendency to stiffen up, to the point of being very hard to open, and quite scary to close; I imagine it's the wood swelling up and gripping the blade too tight. Anyone know if there's a cure for this?

Keep it dry and warm - ideally a trouser pocket. Dunk it in raw linseed oil now and then - this'll help it stay dry and rust proof to some extent.

Mine has been sharpened so much that the nail pull is below the wood. I hold the knife by the butt and tap the collar onto my forearm or thigh to open the blade a bit - from there I can fully open it with a flick of the wrist. If the knife has got damp, then it can be too stiff to tap out without giving it some welly (and then I find it more comfortable to use a foreign object to tap against instead of my arm or leg).

landsurfer wrote:Not a fan of S/S knife blades. So much softer than carbon steel.
I have my father-in laws carbon steel pen knife he was issued at Silverwood Pit, it's over 60 years old and holds an edge very well.

I wonder what you are cutting. Used just for food my cheap stainless blade (not Opinel) is as sharp as it was when i bought it several years ago. And if it lost its edge I could restore it in a couple of minutes. It's just not an issue. I stopped using an Opinel when I realised it rusted. It surprised me that non-stainless steel was still used for penknives.

I have a billhook (used for hedge laying etc) and its forged steel will rust if allowed to. So I store it wrapped in a rag infused with oil. Not something I would advise for a blade that is meant to cut tomatoes and cheese.

meic wrote:

and unlike the standard Opinel they have stainless blades

I took a carbon steel Bowie knife fishing* with me once and the mixture of saltwater and blood changed the blade for ever, the deep pitting that resulted, as well as ruining the surface finish, gives the blade a rather useful serrated effect. The Opinel has the same sort of edge to its once rusted blade.

*Large scale food fishing, not sport.

When my uncle worked on the boats, he used (if I recall correctly) an old butter knife sharpened to razor-sharpness.

From the Opinel website (https://www.opinel-musee.com/en/maintenance-tips:


HOW TO IMPROVE THE UNFOLDING OF THE BLADE

The blade is hard to open:

First and foremost make sure the handle is dry. If need be, let your knife dry on a radiator.
Wood is a living material which may be affected by humidity and temperature changes. As a consequence the wooden handle of your Opinel may expand and the slit may contract and jam the blade. If you have not used your Opinel knife for a long time, the blade and the handle may also stick together.

In case you have difficulties to open your Opinel knife, an ancestral gesture which is transmitted from generation to generation will help you:
“Le coup du Savoyard®” !
Turn the ferrule to free the slit.
Hold the knife by its handle: the ferrule is in the palm of your hand and the slit, which is downwards, must not be covered by your fingers.
Give the heel of the handle one sharp knock on any hard surface, on a table for example. Don’t do it on fragile surfaces since they might be damaged by the knock.
Under the knock, the blade will come out of the slit and open easily.
Thanks to that simple gesture, connoisseurs get the better of the least manageable Opinel knives.

If the blade is still too hard to open or fold, put a drop of oil on the slit, then open and fold the blade several times. Put some more oil if necessary and then wipe the surplus oil.

landsurfer wrote:Not a fan of S/S knife blades. So much softer than carbon steel....

depends which stainless steel and which carbon steel though, doesn't it....

Not sure that an Opinel in carbon steel holds an edge any better than a good stainless steel blade TBH. The rusting blade taints food as you cut it and if you oil the blade that taints the food instead.

For any food use I much prefer stainless steel.

cheers

My experience of Opinels are that the carbon blades hone up much better. The stainless steel, for all it's advantage are much harder to get as sharp. I look after my carbon blades as they aren't as resistant to moisture. The No. 8 is my favourite.

If you like these more traditional knives, you may like the Svord Peasant from New Zealand.

The No. 8 is my favourite.

Yet it is 3.8mm above the legal limit to be carried around, unless you were to blunt off the tip, which probably isnt a bad idea anyway.

Brucey wrote:

landsurfer wrote:Not a fan of S/S knife blades. So much softer than carbon steel....

depends which stainless steel and which carbon steel though, doesn't it....

Yep.
Utterly agree.

I have a Rodgers penknife. SS and sharp as a sharp thing and keeps it's edge beautifully.
We have a couple of Vitorinox SS kitchen knives, and they are wonderful too. Blissfully sharp.