Opinel no6 carbon edge holding

L

lonestar1979

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Mar 2, 2014
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2,585
i got a brand new opinel no6carbon couple days ago and it came dull.After few swipes on sharpmaker and little stropping i got it to hair whittling.Yesterday dod some food prep with it,cutting tomatoes,peooers,onions and meat,and when i was finished the knife couldnt shave.It ia not the huge amountbof vegetables more like 2-3of each,and i didnt have wire edge on it.My stainless opinels that i use for food prep would do this amount of cutting and still shave afterwards.Is this normal edge holding for carbon opinels,or i should sharpen it on stone to get to the fresh steel?Stainless opinels hold edge better but for this amount of cutting soft vegetables i was expecting more.Any input welcome
 
I have a No 6 Carbone and have had no such difficulty. I would suggest that you sharpen it on stones to remove some material. Could be that the edge was de-tempered by their factory sharpening and you need to expose some fresh steel.
 
Thats what i thought too,i mostly use stainless opinels ,and they hold edge way better than this one,have old no6in carbon and it holds edge well.Could be temper from power grinder.
 
Yeah, with how thin Opinels are behind the edge I would imagine that overheating them when sharpening on a belt grinder would be very easy to do. And most simple carbon steels have a fairly low tempering temperature (400-600 deg. F depending on desired hardness if I recall correctly) so it doesn't take much.
 
I just got no6stainless too,lol,it holds edge better than carbon one anyways and will sharpen both of them on sil carbide stone later,for toothy shaving edge.I cut a lot of fruits and vegetables and my no6(worn out) has developed little rust,and i always wipe it off after cutting but didnt have water near by.The only reason i like carbon opinels is they have thinner blade than stainless.Otherwise stainless that they use is better in every way,behaves like carbon but doesnt rust.
 
A very fine edge on an Opinel carbon (probably 1095 or close) can degrade faster than their stainless if the material you're cutting is highly acidic. I wipe mine dry after use and wipe it down with whatever rust preventive is handy after sharpening. But that thin blade will still peel a lot of apples even if it's not uber shaving sharp.
 
Alberta Ed said:
A very fine edge on an Opinel carbon (probably 1095 or close) can degrade faster than their stainless if the material you're cutting is highly acidic.
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I don't find that to be true in the least with similar steel. At least in a home kitchen scenario.

You've probably seen my overly enthusiastic posts about my "Little Monster".
White Paper Japanese steel.
Cuts lemons and limes weekly along with many fruits and vegetables.
Six months ago I was bragging : Still has hair whittling edge after a year of daily use.
Now six months from then I was recently bragging : Still shave sharp if no longer whittling.
:thumbsup:
>>>>Link to my goings on
 
i got an opinel 8 olivier in stainless and found the factory edge poorly ground, so i returned it. my spyderco and ganzo factory edges were much cleaner ground and sharper. size 8 is very portable but i would prefer a size 9. however an opinel 9 olivier doesnt exist, neither in stainless nor carbone.
oops, that was not the question of the op. :D
 
It's a thin blade with a very thin edge and not the greatest steel. Yea it's going to lose that crazy sharpness fast.

I have also found that the stainless holds it longer.
 
Wowbagger said:
I don't find that to be true in the least with similar steel. At least in a home kitchen scenario.

You've probably seen my overly enthusiastic posts about my "Little Monster".
White Paper Japanese steel.
Cuts lemons and limes weekly along with many fruits and vegetables.
Six months ago I was bragging : Still has hair whittling edge after a year of daily use.
Now six months from then I was recently bragging : Still shave sharp if no longer whittling.
:thumbsup:
>>>>Link to my goings on
Click to expand...
Impressive! Do you know the Rockwell hardness of the steel? I suspect that Opinels are comparatively soft.
 
Stainless on opinels holds edge better and is as sharp as carbon,is better steel all around than carbon they use.Ill stick to stainless.
 
WHAT kind of board are you cutting on? I have several Opinel Carbones in my kitchen and they hold an edge as well as any of the stainless knives I have ever owned. They will go for weeks without losing much sharpness. I think they are amazing knives for the price you pay. ALL of my kitchen knives are now 1095. A "few swipes on a Sharpmaker" is not going to produce a very durable edge. Spend some more time honing it. I seriously doubt the factory sharpening is damaging the temper. They have been making and selling knives for a very long time.
 
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I'm of the belief Opinel's Carbone blades are probably a little lower on the RC scale than their stainless models in Sandvik's 12C27Mod, which can be hardened up to HRC 59, according to Sandvik's specs for it.

After considerable thinning of the blades of two I bought (both No. 08s), one of each in the XC90 'Carbone' and the stainless, the stainless has held up better to light/moderate impacts on hard material, whereas the Carbone has shown some more vulnerability to such impacts, either blunting/flattening or rolling the edge pretty quickly. I've since begun to microbevel the Carbone to a somewhat wider edge angle (25° - 30° inclusive) to gradually get the edge durability back up a bit.

Either of them will take very fine edges, but the stainless seems to hold it better. The difference is more noticeable when edge angles get down to ~ 25° inclusive or lower, in particular. The stainless really excels at that geometry, but the Carbone leaves me feeling it's a bit too delicate when it's that thin, so I tend to reserve lighter work for that one, sharpened as such.
 
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Stainless holds edge and is more durable for sure.Ill just stick to stainless opinels.I touch up stainless ones with sharpmaker mostly and edge is pretty durable,without any problems holding the edge.I sharpen on stone once in a while but always touch up on sharpmaker and edge durability for all my knives is very good and they get hair whittling sharp.This new carbon opinel should be honed on stone to get to the fresh steel,heat from factory grinding caused this dulling.
 
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