Opinel question

[Readyrod]

I just bought an ebony Slim #8 Opinel (one of these: http://www.opinel-usa.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Opinel-slim-No8-ebony&cat=13) and the blade is so tight that it is almost impossible to open, even when dry. Is there anything I can do to loosen it up? Can I oil the mechanism? I don't want to send it back cause of the shipping cost. It's a nice knife or would be if I could get it open easily.
Thanks.

 

[Jim Watson]

The old IXL brand provided the useful recommendation, sometimes even etched on the blade, "Oil the joints." I don't see why that would not help your Opinel. And sit around opening and closing the blade in your spare time to wear it in, too.

 

[hso]

I prefer wax, but you can oil the Opinels.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Wax or gun oil works.

 

[Zeke/PA]

I am a huge fan of Opinel knives and I own several.
Every now and then my #10 and my #12 which I use almost daily get tough to open.
A squirt or two of WD-40 works well.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Wet Encounters

I have one Opinel #7 that keeps having encounters with water of some kind. Water in an Opinel pivot area can make them fussy.

I recently did the Vaseline thing, but I also added a few drops of mineral oil to help disperse it into the pivot area. Then more Vaseline until it was "over-packed" and wiped off the excess.

No problems since.

 

[Readyrod]

I want to use this one as a steak knife so what kind of oil should I use?
What kind of wax do you use?

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Wax & Oil

I will defer to hso on the wax. (If I were using a wax-based product, I'd probably choose White Lightning, originally formulated for bicycle chains, which is a non-toxic "self cleaning" lubricant. I may have an older formulation, but I never cared for the distinctive odor, which you may not care for in a food environment. YMMV.)

For oil, you can pick up food-grade mineral oil at pretty much any pharmacy or supermarket. It will usually be found in the cosmetics or laxative section. It's not as thin as some clear machine oils, but it is tasteless and odorless.

[* I have an old Boy Scout knife I picked up recently that has rust pretty much everywhere. I gave it an oil bath (in mineral oil) -- actually the oil bath is still in progress -- and it has flushed an amazing amount of rust out of it. The knife now exhibits a healthy patina, opens and closes smoothly, and is nearly ready to carry. *]​

And, of course, to lubricate and waterproof and pivot area, there's Vaseline, which has the advantage of not being runny or drippy. It's messy to work with, but wood likes it.

 

[Readyrod]

Thanks I'll try them out. Assuming I can get those products in Japan.

 

[JohnKSa]

Sorry, I know that this is a bit of a digression...

I want to use this one as a steak knife...

Have you ever tried to use a plain-edge (non-serrated) knife as a steak knife? There's a reason that plain-edge steak knives aren't common.

Not a big fan of serrated knives, but one thing they're very good for is when you want to slice against a hard surface. With a plain edge knife, any part of the edge that comes in contact with the surface of a typical ceramic plate will be dulled very rapidly. The same applies to a serrated knife but the only points that will contact the plate are the tips of the serrations. That leaves the "valleys" between the tips still sharp enough to do decent cutting duty.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Knives on Plates

Sorry, I know that this is a bit of a digression...

I want to use this one as a steak knife...

Have you ever tried to use a plain-edge (non-serrated) knife as a steak knife? There's a reason that plain-edge steak knives aren't common.

Not a big fan of serrated knives, but one thing they're very good for is when you want to slice against a hard surface. With a plain edge knife, any part of the edge that comes in contact with the surface of a typical ceramic plate will be dulled very rapidly. The same applies to a serrated knife but the only points that will contact the plate are the tips of the serrations. That leaves the "valleys" between the tips still sharp enough to do decent cutting duty.

At work when it's steak time I either use layered paper plates (2 or 3 deep) or I'll put a paper plate into a glass/china/stoneware plate.

If I'm out somewhere and a paper or plastic plate isn't available, I cut with the utmost care, often stacking the steak (cut off a third, lay it on the remainder, repeat as needed) to reduce the number of metal-on-glass encounters. I get a weird look now and then, but it's easy to explain, "hey, I just want to cut down the amount of time I have to spend resharpening this thing."

 

[Readyrod]

Have you ever tried to use a plain-edge (non-serrated) knife as a steak knife? There's a reason that plain-edge steak knives aren't common.

I know what you mean but I find that a few passes with a strop or ceramic stick fix it fine.
I tried a drop of light oil on the joint an it seems to work well. Thanks for the advice folks.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Enjoy they are great knives.

 

[twofifty]

An easy way to pull the blade out from an Opinel's handle is to grasp the ferrule in a pinch hold, then knock the other end of the handle onto a hard but resilient surface (like a tree or tabletop). This knocks the blade out enough that you can then fully open the knife.

 

[hso]

I'm not sure if you'll be able to get White Lightning in Japan, but I agree that Vaseline and mineral oil will work.

 

[Brian Williams]

What about some type of carnuba wax?

 

[Readyrod]

I'm going to try to find some mineral oil, seeing that I want to use it as a steak knife. The oil I used is a little smelly.

 

[KZinOKC]

Nice knife. A link on their site says to use mineral oil on all metal parts of the knife.