Opinel X50CRMOV15 vs 12C27MOD

[jkulysses]

My wife wants new kitchen knives for Christmas but with that being said she is a non-knife nut and will abuse them so I don't want to get anything nice just something better than the garbage Chinese Wal-mart knives she's using currently. From the research I've done I know the Victorinox Fibrox line are well liked but I have one of the pairing knives and I really dislike the handle on it. I'm strongly considering the Opinel kitchen knives because of a couple reasons but mostly because I've always loved Opinel steel and how easy it is to get razor sharp. I also like the handle design better. I guess my main questions are have any of you guys used the Opinel kitchen knives at all and if so do you like them? Opinel also has 2 different version with one being half the price of the other. The wood handle cheaper version has X50CRMOV15 blade steel and the more expensive has a full tang with a more refined rounded fiberglass handle with 12C27MOD blade steel. Is the 12c27 blade steel worth twice the price of the X50CRMOV15 blade steel?

 

[Larrin]

The biggest potential differences will come from the edge geometry (thinner is better) and hardness (in this case higher is definitely better). Handle type is more personal preference as you said.