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There’s a great little shop in Oxford-
‘Objects of Use’
They have a great selection of more obscure Opinel stuff.
I live in Oxford, and know the shop well. We gave our son the Opinel N°07 Chestnuts, garlic and pitting knife for Christmas. We thought it was pretty much as Objects of Use as one can get, other than the Japanese jika-tabi wellies with a separated big toe...
@joshvegas what’s the difference between a camp chef knife and a chef knife?
How you hold it?
Camp as in it folds and goes in the camping box. For cookin'
“Camp chef knife”
Ooer, missus!
A swiss army knife does everything that might be needed of a knife. Mainly for the scissors and the bottle opener. I am always curious about what people actually do with them to make them unsafe.
Well, having had the main blade shut across my fingers several times while using it for starters.
I’ve still got my SAC, but after having the blade close on me a number of times in use, I got something less painful and dangerous to carry. Which was also less bulky and easier to carry.
Apart from that, the other tools are handy, but I’ve got better ones on my Gerber multitool, including pliers with a decent wirecutter.
My CRKT Pilar U.K. is my carry regular pocket knife, it’s non-locking, but it has a deep finger choil that completely prevents the blade closing in use, but the blade doesn’t have such a fine point as my Opinel, which is amazingly good for easing out splinters, and perfect for coring apples.
Lovely little cheap knives are Opinels. I have a carbon bladed number 8 which was my father's. God knows how old it is, the blade his been sharpened so many times it's probably half it's original size.
I bought the stainless steel number 8 to retire dad's, nowadays it has different locking ring I noticed .. and much softer steel. Managed to bend the tip quite easily.
Now and again I would think about a stop and search scenario,but always convinced myself(I know,I know) ,that an old bloke hanging signs was not high on any dangerous list.
Probably usually right but maybe not always...? https://singletrackworld.com/forum/off-topic/caution-for-carrying-gardening-trowel/
Anyway, back to Opinels.
`The only criticism I have is they can be stiff to open if they get damp and the wood swells around the pivot'
Doesnt everyone modify their Opinel handle? first thing i did was sand the varnish off, open up the cut in handle so blade not so tight, and make a groove near end to get good grip on blade to open if there is any swelling. I boiled some linseed oil (well put in microwave for 30 seconds or so) and soaked handle in it overnight. No more swelling handle.
Alternatively instead of all that faff. Hold the collar and with the blade pointing down rap the toe of the handle and the blade pops out.
Thats what the toe is for.
I’ve still got my SAC, but after having the blade close on me a number of times in use
How? Genuinely curious i can't think of a scenario where you should be applying force to the blade in such a way that it closes on you, other than maybe using the tip for something questionable.
I am not saying its perfect*, merely pointing out that its fine and totally legal to carry. And its a well recognised knife so its not like people see it and start thinking "knife attack"
*I am not even saying its that good. I keep losing scales from mine. But the tweezers and the toothpick are useful.
To cross the streams a bit, one of my past french holdiay purchases was Opinel style knife labelled Laguiole...
ANy reccs for a smallish sharpener that can rattle around my campervan cutlery drawer which will put a decent edge on my carbon No8 (and whatever other blades I have in there, think there's a leatherman and big Morakniv)?
one of my past french holdiay purchases was Opinel style knife labelled Laguiole...
More significantly:
https://www.jeandubost.fr/societe-jean-dubost
We used to go camping in France every single summer when I was a kid and everywhere sold Opinel knives. Such a timeless design.
I've got ten of them now including a couple of limited editions which never leave their boxes. A bog-standard No.9 is my go-to picnic knife, and I have a razor sharp No.8 Carbone in my tool bag.
The best things to come out of France are wine, cheese and Opinels. 🤣
Bought a wooden handled penknife in France this summer and they had a 3D printer frame with a laser instead of a filament print head. You could choose your design on the computer and the laser then burnt it into the wooden handle 🙂
One of my nerdy mates has one in his workshop...Bought a wooden handled penknife in France this summer and they had a 3D printer frame with a laser instead of a filament print head.
We used to go camping in France every single summer when I was a kid and everywhere sold Opinel knives. Such a timeless design.
I've got ten of them now including a couple of limited editions which never leave their boxes. A bog-standard No.9 is my go-to picnic knife, and I have a razor sharp No.8 Carbone in my tool bag.
The best things to come out of France are wine, cheese and Opinels. 🤣
Bangers, you forgot bangers.
A present from French friends. They organised French Singlespeed champs.
What if one wanted to be more patriotic in one's knife purchasing requirements?
It's absolutely criminal but in sure Yak is right. As a 52yo white male civil servant I've never been stopped and never really worried about being stopped. For 25 years (until a pervious stw knife thread) my edc multitool was an alien 2. Really good tool.... but didn't need a knife that locked. That tool lived in my back pack, commuting(by bike) everyday, pubs after work, it was there. Never a problem because i'm white.
These days I have swapped it for a multitool without a blade but both my car and my wife's car have a gerber at the bottom/ back of the globe box, with locking blades again.
I have a razor sharp No.8 Carbone
Not having bought a stainless version, I don’t know what the steel is like for edge retention, but the Carbone blades are outstanding for taking an edge, and I do like the fact that they stain and patinate.
My little apple tree has been producing lots of fairly small but juicy and tasty apples, so I’ve been slicing them in two and coring them, for maximum crunchy juiciness, and after just wiping the blade and putting the knife away, next day the blade has an almost ‘oil on water’ rainbow sheen to it.
Not sure it’ll stay like that though…
Found it, in my work bag. I have no idea how it got there, but probably not the best of ideas...Not sure where the Nr8 is right now, but the 12 is in the car
Bought a wooden handled penknife in France this summer and they had a 3D printer frame with a laser instead of a filament print head. You could choose your design on the computer and the laser then burnt it into the wooden handle
Yeah that's what Mrsstu and I got given on a recent biking trip.
Bangers, you forgot bangers.
As a 14yr old holidaying in France during July, those little red bangers were a highlight. I thought I was being canny buying strips of firecrackers on a linked fuse then separating them (cheaper per banger than buying the individually-fused ones) but didn't appreciate the fuse burned a LOT quicker until one went off much earlier than anticipated...
My Opinel lives in my bag for days out. Can't remember the model, it's within legal blade length but I'm aware the locking collar is an issue legally.
They sell Opinel knives in Porthmadog GoOutdoors…
Maybe one of these if you want to be more patriotic (what ever that means)
Well, yeah but how often do you need a marlin spike? Got some firmly stuck knots preventing access to the cheese and sausages 😉
I still think the standard Victorinox Camper is the ideal and legal tool for most purposes if you are out and about, (cheese/sausages/wine). But for more heavy duty use I do have a bigger locking EKA knife. Ideal for gardening/ home jobs. Son tends to borrow it when whittling wooden animals. The bigger thicker blade does the heavy work before he gets the lighter fixed blade whittling knife out for the fine shaping.
I cant remember the last time I needed a can opener either, and as for the corkscrew on my SAK, never been used
I needed a can opener when in Patterdale last year and I’d got a Fray Bentos pie and my conventional tin opener exploded into bits- exactly a year after I bought it - in Patterdale!
I bought a couple of Ganzo knives recenrly and really impressed with the quality. I’ve got a 759 and fh11-s. Both are uk carry length but not mechanism. I’d only carry them when I had a legit use so the legal carry thing is a bit moot. From Aliexpress official store they were £15 and £25 but Aliexpress doesn’t seem to have any on sale at all now - don’t know if they’ve banned. The knife category for some reason. They’re easily a match for the bird design the 759 copies (and better steel),
http://www.ganzoknife.shop/folding-knives-ganzo?