r/Opinel

This has definitely been my favourite garden purchase this year.

I am new to Opinel as of spring this year (2026). I freaking love these inexpensive handy knives and have bought three so far.

Still learning about maintenance, though. Like, don't leave an open knife in a sink with dirty dishes (refer to the photos).

Performance isn't hampered, just looks.

Beside my trusty metal sandpaper, what are my other options?

NORMALLY...I wipe the blades clean and give them the 3-in-1 treatment.

What can I do to fix the looks of this blade, or is sandpaper my best choice?

Finally, some Opinelers have written about achieving patina on the blade. Does this protect better? How would I do this?

Thanks, and Happy Independence Day weekend!

Mainly needed a test piece to exercise with rust bluing, turned out pretty nice. N8.

My son got repeatedly soaked at scout camp and his carbone came back in-openable. Let it air dry for a week or two and then oiled it thoroughly with mineral oil.

I had the blade customized with his name and troop #, and now it is difficult to read.

1. Any other ways you would have tackled the rain damage?
2. Anything I can do to help the engraving be legible again?

So I collect knives. I got lots of them. I've collected them for 50+ years. I never owned an Opinel until yesterday. I remember reading in a book by Hiker Colin Fletcher that for backpacking, an Opinel is all you'd ever need and they are thin and lightweight. Anyway I own this one now and I'm happy with my purchase for sure. I especially like the locking mechanism even though I thought I wouldn't.

Has anyone else gotten a horizon? I put an update in my last post but for anyone who wasn't following that, the Horizon does indeed have a thicker blade than the normal no 08. It would have been fun if it had the shackle key hole, since it made it very easy to open one handed, but I'm still satisfied with it.

I had this knife lying around for around 3 years but I never used it as I thought it looked a bit crap. I had some time and I'd seen some jobs by other people which I like so i went for it. I went simple and just sanded the handle going through the grits until it felt smooth then coated in around 6 layers of beeswax to create a nice smooth finish. I liked the idea of a lanyard hole so I did that and just used some garden twine as I don't have paracord. The last part was modifying the blade to have a drop point as I never liked the clip point it originally had but I did that with a belt sander and I'm happy with how it turned out. Finally, I polished it up and sealed the blade with some food safe oil as I plan to use it for foraging and simple food preparation. For my first time ever attempting to customise a knife I'm happy with the result.

While traveling through Frnce in the last days, I casually stumbled without searching 3 of the main stores dislocated in south France, the first in Chambery (of course), the next in Lyon, and finally the one in Annecy!

Of course I had to buy a small souvenir

i am lucky enough to be married to a tattoo artist. for father's day she offered me a free tattoo of my choice... and i could think of no better symbol than that of the duchy of savoy. you'll note the small scar in the crook of my wrist- caused by an unfortunate and careless slip of my no. 6!

A few weeks ago I bought a lot of Opinel n8 and the seller threw in this little carbon n5 as a gift. I sharpened it up, not knowing it’d become my best friend within days. It’s always within reach for opening packages, but it really shines as a peeler, and I honestly can’t imagine eating an apple without it anymore. What a great surprise. I will buy carbone n9 to complete my collection of inox.