“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” ~Thomas Jefferson
I have this Opinel No. 9 that I constantly use in the kitchen for basic food prep. Whether I’m slicing up some pepperoncini for a sandwich, spreading some condiments or cutting up a steak, this is my favorite knife to use whenever food’s involved.
The full flat grind and the razor edge I keep on it make it perfect for that, and it stays sharper than the rest of the other knives in the kitchen. Plus, the low cost is attractive to me. Expensive culinary knives cost many times what I shelled out for this little pocket knife.
But is it the perfect pocket knife? Far from it, and I’ve relegated it to the food prep uses I described above. In fact, there are several things I’ve learned about using this Opinel, with which I’m sure some of you can relate.
In fact, looking up how to rectify some of these common issues is likely how you landed here. So let’s dive into it.
Fix a Tight Virobloc Collar
One of the most common problems I’ve heard about with respect to Opinel knives is that they have poor-fitting Virobloc locking collars. Either the collar is way too tight to turn or so loose it doesn’t stay locked open or closed.
No problem – you can just get another Virobloc locking collar from Opinel, right?
Oh, wait, you can’t. Home run, Opinel customer service, home run. What else could we really expect from a European company?
Can’t fault them too much, at least. Their knives are cheap enough.
So back to the matter at hand. When I got this Opinel No. 9, the locking collar was so tight it took two hands for me to rotate it. Not the best ergonomics or user-friendliness, to say the least.
I tried oiling it, but that did nothing. So for a while I was dealing with a really tight collar till I said “enough of this,” and got a pair of snap-ring pliers.
With these pliers, I opened up the collar a little bit, and now it turns as smooth as butter.
An alternate problem I’ve read that people have had is that their collars are not tight enough. The fix is basically the same but on the other side of the coin. Just pop off the collar and compress it a little till it fits the knife better.
Open a Sticky Opinel Knife
This is a more serious issue than the one described above. I have two Opinels, a No. 8 and a No. 9.
The No. 8 opens and has always opened like a dream. The 9 is not even sticky, it is locked in there. When it’s closed, it is almost literally impossible to open the blade with fingers alone.
I’ve tried oiling it, and I used to use spoons and pliers to pull the damn thing open, but you can imagine how enraging that is.
No, I have a better solution. Opinel calls it the “Savoyard’s Tap,” or the “Coup de Savoyard.” I would tell Opinel to improve its manufacturing tolerances so their knives don’t need to be rapped open.
Anyway, hold the knife by the collar, as shown in the image below, with the blade positioned downwards.
Then give the knife a sharp rap on a hard surface, like a table top. It should force the blade open enough so that you can then finish deploying it without the need for supplementary tools.
Put a Patina on a Carbon Steel Opinel
Lastly, if you get a carbon Opinel, like I have, one of the best things you can do to the blade to prevent corrosion is to force a patina on the blade. (The patina of one of my Opinel knives is pictured at the top of this article.)
This is something I’ve written about at length. The patina not only looks classy, but it will physically insulate the blade against rust and will mitigate the amount of effort you need to invest to prevent rust from damaging the blade.
Basically, the process of forcing a patina is encouraging black rust to form on the blade so as to form an insulative layer against red rust. There are many ways to do it, and I cover several of them in my previous post. Click the link above for details.
Try These with Your Opinel
Got a new Opinel knife and looking to get the most out of it? Try some of the hacks and tips mentioned in this article. I hope they help you wring the most value out of these handle and affordable little knives.
Stay sharp.
~The Eclectic Outfitter