Opinel No.06 Stainless Steel Folding Knife with Beechwood Handle

Good points: Super light, strong lock, stainless blade, non intimidating appearanceNeeds improvement: The blade had a tiny burr and needed to be touched up on a sharpener. The blade was fitted very tightly in the wooden handle and needs some effort to open. I expect the blade to handle fit will wear in over time and opening will become easier.On balance, this is a great little pocketknife and well worth the few bucks it cost. With a little care, this will last your lifetime. There is a reason the design has been unchanged since 1890. Thanks for reading.

I own all kinds of knives. Benchmade, Bark River, Spyderco, Kabar, Cold Steel etc in steels ranging from 1095 to magnacut and s90v. Lately I’ve developed a taste for traditional slip joints by Buck, Case, Rough Rider, Old Timer, Marbles. There is something to be said about carrying a knife that millions of Americans have carried for over a century. Before their were knife nerds and knife steel nerds and modern tactical folders with fancy super steels, this is what the working man carried. They are inexpensive, pretty to look at, easy to sharpen and they cut things. The Opinel No. 8 is one of these. Cheap, simple, classic. I deliberately got the most basic version of their most popular knife for this very reason, and it is a beautiful knife, and much like a Buck or Case I can feel the history in the design. That’s not to say it’s perfect. Opinels are known to be… finicky. Being an all wood handle with no metal liners, they have a tendency to swell up and cause the blade to stick when exposed to water or humid conditions. I live in New York, not overly dry and not overly humid. Not long after taking it out of the package it started to stiffen. It would still open, but at about the halfway point the action got very tight. There are many reports of people not being able to open it at all when the blade gets trapped by the swelled wood handle. Not ideal for a blade that is ideal for food prep, since simply washing it off could inhibit the basic function of opening and closing. I saw a trick on YouTube where a guy baked it for about an hour at 180 degrees Fahrenheit on a piece of parchment paper and it worked like a charm. It now opens smoothly and easily, though I suppose it could just swell up again next time it gets wet or the weather gets humid. Using stabilized wood would eliminate this issue, but since Opinel sells literally millions of these knives every year I don’t see them changing it anytime soon. People go to great lengths modding and optimizing these cheapies, sanding finger grooves, sanding the pivot area, DIY wood stabilizing, soaking the whole thing in paraffin wax, filing a groove into the inner metal ring so that the blade opens completely straight (typically the blade is angled a couple of degrees downward when fully open as it comes into contact with this ring. Does not affect its cutting ability). I don’t suppose Opinel would have sold hundreds of millions of these knives over the last century if they didn’t work, and I don’t suppose people would go through so much trouble trying to make them perfect if they didn’t love them. Modern super knives are cool, and collecting them can be fun, but knives like this are a throwback to a simpler time when a man had one trusted knife because that was all he needed. The Opinel No. 8 makes a great Old Trusty.

Got this as a gift for my French husband. Opinel is such a source of pride for the French , they love the product. Not expensive, but sharp as hell and the design is nice too.

Compact and easily portable. Great for backpacking.

Ive bought many Opinel knives over the yearsThis one came in rough shape bladewise. It sharpened up fine. But this knife came to me in clumsy fashion. Never had that happen before. That's weekly this purchase is 4 stars

Very good 👍👍👍

It’s exactly the way this iconic French pocket knife should be.

Easy to resharpen. New feature prevents accidental opening of blade.