Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 102 total)
  • What folding knife?
  • CountZero
    Full Member

    Although many of us have used a Swiss Army knife or an Opinel for an impromptu picnic, they are not the best tool for the job, and for food hygiene reasons I do not like the idea of a folding blade knife.

    I’m sure generations of Frenchmen who’ve used their Opinel knives for just about every damned thing under the sun, including preparing food after giving the blade a quick wipe down, will openly sneer at you and your effete English ways!
    Which is what I’m doing, I mean, really! A few germs aren’t going to kill you, in fact they’ll help bolster your immune system. 🙄

    What the hell are you lot doing that you need a street legal knife.

    Well there are a whole shitload of things you can do with a legal knife that are legal, if you’re going to indulge in illegal practices with a knife, then it might as well be an illegal one, mightn’t it.
    Many things require something that cuts; a pair of scissors isn’t particularly useful, but a small pocket knife is one of the most useful tools you can carry around.
    I’ve carried a knife of one sort or another since I was around seven or eight, I used to take one to school to sharpen my pencils with in technical drawing, those sharpening machines they had on the teachers desk were useless, and scarcely a day has gone by since when I haven’t had one in my pocket, so that’s fifty-six years or so.
    Just because you don’t see a use for one doesn’t mean a great many others don’t; the Pingo and the CRKT Pilar which I carry at different times are not defensive knives, they don’t have sharp points, but they’re still useful on a day-to-day basis.
    The knife and the axe were pretty much the first tools that human ancestors created, after all.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    I’ve carried a knife of one sort or another since I was around seven or eight, I used to take one to school to sharpen my pencils with in technical drawing, those sharpening machines they had on the teachers desk were useless,

    Try that these days street legal or not .

    stevextc
    Free Member

    An Opinel is actually easier than many knives to open one handed it is designed to be opened with a knock on the heel and the lock can be operated one handed too if you really have to.

    Its not ideal for picnic knife as they do not like moisture and infrequent use , the wood swells and the blade rusts .

    Laguiole are nice with a corkscrew on the back if you can get one in budget.I have a couple of really nice Lagouille’s

    One with corksrew and one a plain eating knife. (I also have a set of steak knives)

    When I lived in France I used to take the eating one to certain resto’s where its perfectly acceptable.(Birthday present from French friend)… one resto in Paris was still using specially blunted knives from during the German occupation (seriously) …. Now I can’t actually take them unless I get the ferry/tunnel so don’t bother.

    However… quite honestly on a picnic I’d take the Opinel (lighter and cheaper to replace).
    A bit of Olive oil or other edible oil (given your eating with it) on the blade and inside the wood stops against swelling and if you go for the slightly higher priced they are also hardwood and less likely to swell anyway and has a stainless blade.

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    willard
    Full Member

    I can’t see anything wrong with going for an Opinel. They are cheap, sharp and look relatively harmless. The alternative would be a Swiss Army if you needed a bottle opener or corkscrew on the same object, but go for one with not too many extras!

    If you wanted something more robust, maybe consider a Mora fixed blade. Same price range (i.e. cheap), but longer blade and the same amazing value for money.

    stevextc
    Free Member

    Well there are a whole shitload of things you can do with a legal knife that are legal, if you’re going to indulge in illegal practices with a knife, then it might as well be an illegal one, mightn’t it.

    Always amused me…. My ex accidentally carried a lethal screw driver on planes for years….. a good 6″ shaft and the head was of a size to screw glasses

    B&Q sell a really good DIY knife…. combo Stanley ti coated blade and a short lock blade .. with bits for stripping electrical wires etc. and its about a fiver. but you can only buy in about 5 stores UK wide and not online…

    You can buy a 8-9″ long plasterboard “saw” online… would really really make a mess of someone… and is more knife than saw but since it’s called a “saw” perfectly legal to buy online….even though it has a sharp and hard end to “stab” through plasterboard… and serrated blade that would either kill through blood loss or wreck internal organs….

    burko73
    Full Member

    I can’t believe they sell these “junior” machetes in my local go outdoors.

    Gerber

    sbob
    Free Member

    I have also been called upon to slice a haggis with a cutlass.

    It is with increasing frequency that my caviar spreading halberd is needed at the table.

    beanum
    Full Member

    Victorinox Alpineer?

    One handed opening, serrated lock blade and a corkscrew. Only thing it lacks is a bottle opener..

    onandon
    Free Member

    ^ these are decent. Pretty bomb proof and hold a nice edge too.

    cat69uk
    Free Member

    What about legendary skater, turned hunter Geoff Rowley!!
    https://civilware.com/

    DrJ
    Full Member

    I keep a knife like the one I linked to in a bag on my bike

    That’s all well and good, but does it have a good decant? And what about a choil?

    metcalt
    Full Member

    I picked up one of these for similar requirements as yours OP, simple but effective – https://www.victorinox.com/global/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/Large-Pocket-Knives/Alpineer/p/0.8323

    I’ve also got an Opinel which is great, but has others have mentioned they do discolour pretty quickly. I’ve used it for a food a few times but it always feels a little dirty, even though I know it’s clean.

    DrJ
    Full Member

    Only thing it lacks is a bottle opener..

    So what friggin’ use is it?

    kiwijohn
    Full Member

    While a workmate is faffing with his Opinel, I’ve done the job with my Leatherman Sidekick.
    For a simple pocket knife, I’m still trying to find a Mercator Black Cat.

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    Hmm this is interesting, I carried various 4inch and more fixed blade and lock knives as a kid, through the teen years until I went away to uni.
    However my cousin is a senior cop on the met and recently told me that the CPS advice is to charge everyone in possession and let the courts decide on what a good reason constitutes.
    Law here.
    A fruit eating pensioner prosecuted here.
    I have decided to not risk it and now only carry a UK legal sub 3 inch folder, Non locking opinel, and there are lots of great ones Hennie Hayes website.
    My sister uses the peasant svord which I really like, the tang/lever thing on the blade makes opening and closing really easy, and the lever goes under your palm when using which adds to the safety.
    I would argue though that a non locking knife is safe, it has one direction to cut in which is inherently safe, and coincides with the sharpest bit of the blade.

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    DrJ – Member
    Only thing it lacks is a bottle opener..
    So what friggin’ use is it?

    Can’t you open a bottle with back of the blade and your knuckle?

    Northwind
    Full Member

    5plusn8 – Member

    I would argue though that a non locking knife is safe

    They’re completely safe, til you forget, and try and do something with the point, and it folds up on your finger and damn nearly cuts it off. Don’t arsk me how I knows, I just knows.

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    They’re completely safe, til you forget, and try and do something with the point, and it folds up on your finger and damn nearly cuts it off. Don’t arsk me how I knows, I just knows.

    See really lock and fixed blades are dangerous as they teach you that it is OK to use the point past about 50degrees…

    benp1
    Full Member

    Impromptu picnics often dealt with courtesy of Victorinox in our household, mainly as I quite like them. Sometimes something fancy, but swiss army knives are cheap, cheerful, inoffensive and great. Always legal and foldable generally

    The Kuhn Rukon little brighly coloured kitchen knives with a plastic sheath are useful. I take one to self catering places as I know i’ll have a sharp knife with us as least, it lives in the self catering box of goodies (we use them regularly!).

    Opinels are available in the stainless steel variety too

    councilof10
    Free Member

    For picnicking, I’d go for a svord peasant – cheap and cheerful so not the end of the world if it gets lost in the grass.

    Otherwise, any Victorinox… Opinel are nasty, characterless and cheap in every respect. They do the job, but unpleasant to hold.

    For me, a pocket knife is something that lives in my pocket every day and gets used several times a day. So I want something that looks nice and is a pleasure to use…

    For your needs, as mentioned up there ^, Laguiole or an A. Wright & Son would be lovely – quality feel, stylish and a pleasure to just fiddle with!

    I recently treated myself to a Böker Plus Gordito which is absolutely gorgeous. Not UK carry legal, but I’m a middle-aged white male – why would I ever get stop-and-searched??

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    Not much chance of being stopped, but then look at the 61 year old caravaner..
    Why risk it when you may get a criminal record.

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    i have a nice Michael Morris folder (uk carry safe) made from a file. it’s lovely, looks a bit like this one

    Mikkel
    Free Member

    Fruit eating pensioner prosecuted, was that the pensioner who had also been threatening to kill people?

    5plusn8
    Free Member

    Fruit eating pensioner prosecuted, was that the pensioner who had also been threatening to kill people?

    Can I check, did you read the article? I couldn’t find the references to threatening to kill.
    I did, and then I googled his name and found this!!!!
    http://www.devonlive.com/paedophile-jailed-30-sex-crimes/story-11728475-detail/story.html

    Which makes you wonder if the cops were after him in the first place. Hmmmmm.

    councilof10
    Free Member

    Why risk it when you may get a criminal record.

    As I said, I use it for my daily work, and I wouldn’t want to use a non-locking folder. I’d also struggle with something that wasn’t one-hand opening and closing.

    If it ever came to it, I could reasonably argue that I have just cause to carry it, but the chances of a 40-something smartly-dressed white man in a rural market town getting stopped between car and work are realistically, barely more than nil!

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    The Kuhn Rukon little brighly coloured kitchen knives with a plastic sheath are useful. I take one to self catering places as I know i’ll have a sharp knife with us as least, it lives in the self catering box of goodies (we use them regularly!).

    One of those (or similar) is what comes with us in our camping box. I’ve got a Laguinole but find the handle too thin to get a good hold on for, say, cutting up vegetables.

    The Victorinox looks useful though –
    https://www.heinnie.com/victorinox-sentinel-one-hand

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    i have a nice Michael Morris folder (uk carry safe) made from a file. it’s lovely, looks a bit like this one

    I’ve got one of his friction folders too.

    The twelve month waiting list probably rules it out. Unless we’re talking Summer 2018 picnics.

    ratherbeintobago
    Full Member

    The lambs foot Wright looks like the thing. Not really bothered about a point for cutting pork pies…

    CountZero
    Full Member

    Opinel are nasty, characterless and cheap in every respect. They do the job, but unpleasant to hold.

    Deary me, they’re a cheap, utility knife designed to be abused and cheap enough to almost buy in bulk for when they get lost or broken, what they’re not is some boutique hipster toy. They do, however, develop character by virtue of the nature of the materials used in their manufacture: carbon steel that stains and colours with age and use, the same with the handle, just a single piece of wood that also wears, and stains and patinates with continued use, which is what all good utility tools do over time.
    That Boker looks just like a dozen other similar knives, it’s well made, of course, and I’m sure it’s lovely to hold and use, but, unlike someone who loses an Opinel in the grass, I’ll bet anything that you’d be royally pissed off if that went missing while out camping.
    Yeah, you bloody would be! Comparing a swanky knife that costs £82 with one that costs around a tenner really is just plain daft!
    When I go camping later in the year I can promise you that I’ll be taking my two cheap, utilitarian but sodding sharp Opinels with me, like I did last time, and not one of the various Spyderco knives that each cost around the same as that Boker, for the reason stated; I’ll be cross if I lose one, but I’d be steaming mad if I lost a knife that cost eight or nine times as much.
    I’ll also be taking my Opinel folding saw as well, and an axe, for cutting up driftwood and dead branches from hedges.
    None of which that posh Boker would be the slightest bit of good for.
    It wouldn’t be much cop for slicing bread and spreading butter, either; the blade is too thick and short, the Opinels are pretty good for that, that’s what mine got used for as well.

    councilof10
    Free Member

    carbon steel that stains and colours with age and use, the same with the handle, just a single piece of wood that also wears, and stains and patinates with continued use, which is what all good utility tools do over time.

    And those, dear boy, are the very reason one would be better off with a better quality knife if you’re using it for food!

    I also HATE that light weight feel of Opinels, I want a knife to feel like a knife in my hand, not a length of balsa wood!

    Obviously, an 80-quid knife is going to be a bigger loss which is why I recommended a Svord or the A. Wright & Son.

    Another lovely knife for everyday use is the Buck Canoe. The cheaper Bucks are now made in China, but it’s still a fantastic quality knife for not-a-lot-of-money… Can be had for less than 30 quid.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    CountZero

    Deary me, they’re a cheap, utility knife designed to be abused and cheap enough to almost buy in bulk for when they get lost or broken, what they’re not is some boutique hipster toy. They do, however, develop character…….

    😆

    Cheap utility knife but don’t you dare go against the herd and say a bad word against them or you’ll be subject to a rambling diatribe full of half truths and strawmen and you yourself will be subject to lazy mischaracterisation and insults.

    Standard singletrackworld inverse snobbery; you can’t have something nicer than I can justify having.

    Hundreds, if not thousands of knives out there which are better than opinels for opinel money. Almost unlimited variety of styles, blade steels, handle materials and sizes, many even come with radical features like a thumb stud or hole so you can open them with one thumb or finger. Some have (gasp) pocket clips, to clip them into your pocket. Liner locks, frame locks or back locks so they lock up securely without faf and can be put away safely with one hand. Imagine 🙄

    councilof10
    Free Member

    Standard singletrackworld inverse snobbery; you can’t have something nicer than I can justify having.

    I know, I should have known better! Pocket knives are the last bastion of the “gentleman’s trinket”, of a similar ilk to fob watches, snuff boxes etc.

    The modern equivalent is obviously the mobile phone, but there’s very little personality in a ubiquitous slab of glass and alloy.

    All men should carry a pocket knife (legal of course) and it should reflect their character and taste.

    My everyday carry around the home grounds is a very non-legal Ontario Knife Company RAT – it’s a very good quality but utilitarian knife that is useful for everything from rope-cutting, whittling and pruning.

    For outdoorsy walking, kayaking and bikey stuff, I have a little Böker Magnum – cheap, cheerful and a nice blade shape with a built-in cord-cutter and window breaking stud (the latter I’ve never had the need for!)

    But the little Gordito is one of a selection of “gentlemen’s knives” that I carry for work – they’re stylish, in some cases over-engineered, but they’re all lovely to use.

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    All men should carry a pocket knife (legal of course) and it should reflect their character and taste.

    The word ‘should’ should customarily be taken with a pinch of salt.

    I’m firmly of the opinion that only snobs (inverse included) actually give a damn about your cutting a tomato with either a Rolson or something befitting the Court of King Louis XIV Singletrack.

    Important:

    Did it unfold and then cut the damned tomato???

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    only snobs (inverse included) and/or knife geeks

    ftfm

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    go big or go home

    councilof10
    Free Member

    go big or go home

    The only reason he has a knife that big is so he doesn’t need to use those readers in his breast pocket. Ugly knife anyway 😉

    CountZero
    Full Member

    Standard singletrackworld inverse snobbery; you can’t have something nicer than I can justify having.

    Hundreds, if not thousands of knives out there which are better than opinels for opinel money. Almost unlimited variety of styles, blade steels, handle materials and sizes, many even come with radical features like a thumb stud or hole so you can open them with one thumb or finger. Some have (gasp) pocket clips, to clip them into your pocket. Liner locks, frame locks or back locks so they lock up securely without faf and can be put away safely with one hand. Imagine
    Really? Well I’m damned, I never knew that? Shocked and stunned I am!
    🙄
    Patronising git.
    Here’s my little collection of pocket knives, other than the two Opinels which are upstairs:

    The oldest is close on 115 years old, the next oldest, which was my dads, probably close on 70, the rest are mostly Spyderco knives, a couple of CRKC, oh, there are three other Spyderco knives I’d forgotten about, a Tasman Hawksbill Salt, a Ladybug Hawksbill Salt and the standard Ladybug that’s on a key ring.
    Of course, I know bugger-all about any of them, the clips, whether they’re liner-lock or not…
    The point I’ve been repeatedly making, which seems to be ignored during a bout of one-upmanship, is that the OP wanted a cheap, simple knife suitable for use at picnics, a rôle the Opinel was pretty much invented for.
    I wouldn’t take any of the above to a bloody picnic, because a), none are really suitable, and b), most are too damned expensive to want to risk losing in long grass.
    Again, 🙄
    And just to complete the set:

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    Nothing like a good old-fashioned pocketknife off!

    I call a winner ^

    orangeboy
    Free Member

    What’s the one with the wooden handle in that last pic ?

    benp1
    Full Member

    Looks like an EKA Masur

Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 102 total)

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