Opinel, new ring, with problems, so better buy a few of the old ones, if you can still find them.

[davek14]

I wonder how many "non-knife folk" would buy an Opinel.

Might be better divided into those who want to tinker with it and those who don't. I'd be willing to bet there are a fair amount of tinkerers, especially with people who own a few.

 

[Bartleby]

I wonder how many "non-knife folk" would buy an Opinel.

Quite a few are sold as folding picnic knives by places that focus on kitchen wares, I first saw a bucketful in a culinary shop in a shopping mall. They are by no means a knife collectors only specialty item.

 

[Henry Beige]

I can't answer of you, Henry, but Opinel's history speaks for itself. In 1911, Opinel was awarded the gold medal at the Alpine International expo in Turin Italy of sit's excellent design of the knife. In 1915, they had to move to a new bigger factory in Chamberry France for increased production. So even back then, The Opinel was catching a lot of peoples fancy. Pablo Picasso loved the Opinel so much, it was his prime sculpturing tool. That was well before the lock. By the time Marcel Opinel 'invented' the viroblock' the humble Opinel had been in use for over a half a century with many fans of it's cutting ability. Just what Joseph Opinel had invented it for.

There's such a thing as fixing something that ain't broke.

LOL. The fix was in about twenty years before I saw my first Opinel. In any event, a guy who wants a pure friction Opinel has only to twist the snap ring pliers. Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

 

[davek14]

Quite a few are sold as folding picnic knives by places that focus on kitchen wares, I first saw a bucketful in a culinary shop in a shopping mall. They are by no means a knife collectors only specialty item.

Ya, I've seen that as well. I wonder what the percentage would be. I didn't actually mean knife collectors speciality item as much as a knife often bought by someone with a few knives already and some basic knowledge.

Another market is campers since they are pretty light, there's prolly some overlap there.

And I've seen them touted as a "hipster knife" due to the old timey look.

I got my first Opinels from a catalog which sold various military surplus, much non-USA. They were billed as "French army(?) knives". (military surplus?... ne'mind)

 

[Bartleby]

In any event, a guy who wants a pure friction Opinel has only to twist the snap ring pliers

Or buy one with the "improved" lock ring, which merely adds friction (and a false sense of security). As for myself I switched to the Okapi Biltong for all of the purposes once assigned to the Opinel 7, and haven't looked back.

 

[Bartleby]

I got my first Opinels from a catalog which sold various military surplus, much non-USA. They were billed as "French army(?) knives". (military surplus?... ne'mind)

LOL! I recall that ad!

 

[Henry Beige]

Or buy one with the "improved" lock ring, which merely adds friction (and a false sense of security). As for myself I switched to the Okapi Biltong for all of the purposes once assigned to the Opinel 7, and haven't looked back.

For me, the Biltong complements the Opinel. Many days it will be one or the other, more often the Biltong. Today, both.

 

[supratentorial]

I can't answer of you, Henry, but Opinel's history speaks for itself. In 1911, Opinel was awarded the gold medal at the Alpine International expo in Turin Italy of sit's excellent design of the knife. In 1915, they had to move to a new bigger factory in Chamberry France for increased production. So even back then, The Opinel was catching a lot of peoples fancy. Pablo Picasso loved the Opinel so much, it was his prime sculpturing tool. That was well before the lock. By the time Marcel Opinel 'invented' the viroblock' the humble Opinel had been in use for over a half a century with many fans of it's cutting ability. Just what Joseph Opinel had invented it for.

There's such a thing as fixing something that ain't broke.

I think the award may have been for the entire display of pocket knives, kitchen knives, pruners, razors, etc. The description of the 1911 award seems to vary on the web. It would be fun to read the actual award (with the help of Google translate) but I haven't seen it online. The description on the Opinel website says:

"In 1911, Joseph Opinel took part in the Alpine International Exhibition in Turin. For the occasion, he got made a beautiful carved wood display case in which he presented his famous pocket knife in its twelve different sizes, but also the expanded collection of table and kitchen knives, razors, scissors, cheese borers, pruning knives and corkscrews. Bowled over and visibly impressed, the jury gave him the gold medal! The 1911 display case is now on show at the Opinel company headquarters, the diploma is carefully stored in our archives."

After 1955 they also received honors and expanded their factory.

"1973
The new Chambery site
The prosperity following the war increased the demand and at the beginning of the 70s, the factory was cramped on Cognin's main street on the outskirts of Chambery. It was then decided to build a new, larger modern production site a few kilometres away on an industrial estate in Chambery, at La Revériaz. At first, it was dedicated to wood working, assembly and conditioning activities, it became the main site and headquarters of the business in 2003."

"1985
Opinel: a design icon
The Opinel is a popular object used on a daily basis. Its aesthetics and functionality have convinced several generations of users. Unchanged for over a century, its design is one of the most successful of all times. For this reason, Opinel is recognised by the “Victoria and Albert Museum” as being among the 100 best designs. This list includes the Porsche 911 and the Rolex watch."

More at the following link: https://www.opinel.com/en/the-brand/opinel-story

 

[Mo2]

You could try this

#bolttang

 

[jstrange]

Has anyone gotten one recently that actually worked correctly? This is bumming me out.

 

[Astronaut FX]

Has anyone gotten one recently that actually worked correctly? This is bumming me out.

I have two, both of which were purchased new, within the past year, so I assume they’re both the latest version. Although I’ve not seen an old and new side npby side to compare, so maybe I have two old stock knives.

Both of them work fine, so I was surprised to find out (from this thread) that there had been different variations, and that there were problems with the latest iteration.

Both of mine lock, both in the closed and opened positions. No problems.

 

[jstrange]

If you can lock it by turning it either direction it’s the old design. If you can only turn it one way to lock it then it is the new version. I am talking about while the blade is open not closed.

 

[Halfneck]

Just checked and the Opinel Ebauche I bought recently has the old style lock.

 

[afishhunter]

I think this maybe very true. It's the great unwashed masses, the non knife folks that may not know they are in danger of grievous damage to the right index finger or worse. Limiting the lock travel to just one direction was a mistake in itself, but to limit the locking ring travel to just a little bit of rotation is a potential dangerous fail.

My question goes all the way back to 1955, and why after all those years of use and popularity from 1890 on, did they add a totally un-needed locking ring that is just a sheet metal thing that can be shoved out of the way. How many centuries did peasants all across Europe use pure old simple friction folders with no problems? The Sardinian resolza, the Spanish Teramundi, the Opinel in original form, and the Japanese with the Higonokami. Ands lets not leave out the peasant life from down under that was the model of knives made all across Europe by local blacksmiths. The more I have used that little resolza Fausto gifted me, the more I understood how well those European peasants were served by a simple friction folder.

The more I used friction folders, the more I fell in love with them. Sooooo simple and logical. If you use it like a slip joint, theres no problem. I guess I must be the very odd man out, because I've never liked lock blades. They give a false sense of confidence. In my life I've seen two very bad incidents where someone trusted a lock too much. One had the right index finger amputated, the other needed many stitches and later surgery to try to get the finger working again. Both were from young guys who had too much faith in their mighty lockblades. Big name brand knives at that.

My feeling is that, if you need a knife that isn't going to fold on you, then that's what sheath knives are for. An un-folding knife. A knife that's not already meant to fold in the middle.

Opinel needs to just leave things alone on a knife that was already just fine until 1955.

Actually, even after 1955 they didn't put the lock ring on any size below the Number 6.
As far as I know, the No. 5 and smaller still don't have the lock ring.

At least we can still take the lock ring off.

 

[zolthar]

I got curious about the new lock and bough a no 6 a few days ago to check it out myself. The store owner didn't know the design had changed, no other customer had ever commented about it. I think the change will only be noticed by knife knuts and especially those that modify them. I can see the new lock is a step backwards if your used to turn the lock in the direction that is not available any more, but mine functions just fine and I've never paid much attention to which way I turn to lock. I just jook at the knife and turn in the right direction. YMMV

P.S. I forgot how sharp these knives are 'out of the box', wow!

 

[screened porch]

So my latest is the previous generation because it turns either way to lock open. (I'd thought it was the latest because none of my others lock closed.)

 

[Pomsbz]

I always turn to the right (when holding the knife edge down). Is that still available? Wouldn't be as easy to turn the other way.

 

[Astronaut FX]

If you can lock it by turning it either direction it’s the old design. If you can only turn it one way to lock it then it is the new version. I am talking about while the blade is open not closed.

Based on that explanation, both of mine are the new design. With the blade open, and the lock engaged, neither of mine show any signs of being able to force the lock to disengage by trying to close the blade without unlocking.

Perhaps I just happen to have two examples of the new design that work, and granted, I’ve not personally handled one with the older design, but I’m not seeing a flaw.

 

[zolthar]

I always turn to the right (when holding the knife edge down). Is that still available? Wouldn't be as easy to turn the other way.

This is how it looks now:


This is my old no 8:


So if you lock it in the same direction open and closed, you're good.

The new version can also be recognize by this little indent in the locking collar:

 

[Bartleby]

The new version can also be recognize by this little indent in the locking collar:

This is the source of the problem.The little indent rides in a slot on the bolster, effectively preventing the ring from being twisted past the ramped section of the twist ring. The blade will not lock until it is clear of the ramp, as any pressure on the spine will cause the blade to rotate the ring open. I purchased a half a dozen of the "improved" number 7 knives as gifts for a group of fellow travellers, all of the knives would not rotate far enough to lock securely. As the blades wear, this issue gets much worse (rather than being compensated for by turning the ring a little farther as was previously possible).