I wish mine were that loose. It's hard to get them open, I tried to open and close them repeatedly and leaving them open over night to see if they'd loosen up but to no avail so far...
I fixed it!
Quote from: pfrsantos on December 16, 2014, 05:50:50 PMI wish mine were that loose. It's hard to get them open, I tried to open and close them repeatedly and leaving them open over night to see if they'd loosen up but to no avail so far... No, that stuff only works sometimes with conventional pocket knives. Opinel's are different. You have to realize that the blade is sandwiched in between wood, instead of brass or other metal liners like on other knives. The wood shrinks and expands according to how damp the air is, or how wet you get it when rinsing it off. Shrinking is not a huge problem, but expanding or swelling can be. It makes the knife hard to open. This can be minimized by making sure the knife is very dry, like leaving it on top of the car dashboard on a sunny day, then submerging the pivot end in a shot glass full of mineral oil. Let soak for a few hours. Dry off with paper towel, and put to use. This makes sure the wood around the pivot is nice and saturated with the mineral oil, so the water in the atmosphere can't affect it much. Opinel's need a bit more care than regular conventional built pocket knives. But not a lot. Another trick I've used, is to take a pipe cleaner, and smear some Vaseline jelly in the joint. Work it around good. Then use the 'ol lades blow drier to blow hot air and melt the Vaseline until it disappears into the wood. Do this a few times and you'll have an almost water proof Opinel. It sounds like Opinels do need a bit of care, but they are worth it as they cut so darn good. They get sharp if you hold it near a sharpening stone, and get so sharp that the hairs on the back of your arm jump off when the Opinel gets close, rather than stay and face that blade! If your Opinel is too tight, you can fix that very easy. JUst take a large screw driver, and place it in between the steel bolster, and twist gently, I said gently, until it loosens up a bit. Agaian, easy does it. Twist a little, they try it. If it needs a little more, twist again, easy does it. If you get it too loose, just lay it on a hammer head as an anvil. making sure the rivet head is on the anti. Then use another hammer and just tap the end of the pivot pin to peen it a bit, gently. Tap and try it. An other thing I like to do is, take some sandpaper, and dish out the belly of the handle a bit, so more of the blade is exposed when closed. This lets you pinch the blade a bit more on a snug Opinel, making it a bit easier to open with a snug action like I like them. In the second photo, you can see the belly of the handle has been taken down. I use some course 220 grit, followed by 500 to smooth it out. Then whatever finish you like. Rubbed linseed oil, tung oil, varnish.
Quote from: cbl51 on December 16, 2014, 06:12:33 PMQuote from: pfrsantos on December 16, 2014, 05:50:50 PMI wish mine were that loose. It's hard to get them open, I tried to open and close them repeatedly and leaving them open over night to see if they'd loosen up but to no avail so far... No, that stuff only works sometimes with conventional pocket knives. Opinel's are different. You have to realize that the blade is sandwiched in between wood, instead of brass or other metal liners like on other knives. The wood shrinks and expands according to how damp the air is, or how wet you get it when rinsing it off. Shrinking is not a huge problem, but expanding or swelling can be. It makes the knife hard to open. This can be minimized by making sure the knife is very dry, like leaving it on top of the car dashboard on a sunny day, then submerging the pivot end in a shot glass full of mineral oil. Let soak for a few hours. Dry off with paper towel, and put to use. This makes sure the wood around the pivot is nice and saturated with the mineral oil, so the water in the atmosphere can't affect it much. Opinel's need a bit more care than regular conventional built pocket knives. But not a lot. Another trick I've used, is to take a pipe cleaner, and smear some Vaseline jelly in the joint. Work it around good. Then use the 'ol lades blow drier to blow hot air and melt the Vaseline until it disappears into the wood. Do this a few times and you'll have an almost water proof Opinel. It sounds like Opinels do need a bit of care, but they are worth it as they cut so darn good. They get sharp if you hold it near a sharpening stone, and get so sharp that the hairs on the back of your arm jump off when the Opinel gets close, rather than stay and face that blade! If your Opinel is too tight, you can fix that very easy. JUst take a large screw driver, and place it in between the steel bolster, and twist gently, I said gently, until it loosens up a bit. Agaian, easy does it. Twist a little, they try it. If it needs a little more, twist again, easy does it. If you get it too loose, just lay it on a hammer head as an anvil. making sure the rivet head is on the anti. Then use another hammer and just tap the end of the pivot pin to peen it a bit, gently. Tap and try it. An other thing I like to do is, take some sandpaper, and dish out the belly of the handle a bit, so more of the blade is exposed when closed. This lets you pinch the blade a bit more on a snug Opinel, making it a bit easier to open with a snug action like I like them. In the second photo, you can see the belly of the handle has been taken down. I use some course 220 grit, followed by 500 to smooth it out. Then whatever finish you like. Rubbed linseed oil, tung oil, varnish.Makes sense. I just hope it's the metal ring that presses the wood toghether tighter and by "opening" the ring the wood opens up a little more. If the groove in the wood is just too narrow, it won't do much difference.I also thought of puting some sand paper over the back of the open blade and then close it so as to the sand paper widening a little the groove in the handle around the pivot.
Faults aside they are fantastic knives I do wish they'd do smaller outdoor knives though as I was quite happy with my one, but wish it was PE and either a no 6 or 7 rather than an 8 so I could edc it The vibrolock is I think the perfect lock in the UK as its easy to make it appear a normal slippie, or just pop the collar of and make it a genuine slippie Sent from the astropathic choir.
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