• Welcome to The Bushcraft Forum

    You are currently viewing the site as a guest and some content may not be available to you.

    Registration is quick and easy and will give you full access to the site and allow you to ask questions or make comments and join in on the conversation. If you would like to join then please Register

My little Opinel collection

GaryHW

Very Talkative
Messages
97
Points
430
IMG_20230322_162906.jpg
IMG_20230322_162918.jpg
IMG_20230322_162928.jpg
IMG_20230322_162940.jpg


I'm a bit of an Opinel fan, I like the simplicity of them and have used one for years, I don't really bother with fixed blades anymore as I find a opinel, a saw and on occasion a hatchet meets all my needs.

But the reason I like opinels most is I like to whittle the handles and Pyrograph them. Each one there has a story to tell (and I wanted to practice adding pictures to a thread)

What is your cutting tool of choice and why?
 
View attachment 118103View attachment 118104View attachment 118105View attachment 118106

I'm a bit of an Opinel fan, I like the simplicity of them and have used one for years, I don't really bother with fixed blades anymore as I find a opinel, a saw and on occasion a hatchet meets all my needs.

But the reason I like opinels most is I like to whittle the handles and Pyrograph them. Each one there has a story to tell (and I wanted to practice adding pictures to a thread)

What is your cutting tool of choice and why?
I have too many to list but the one that I carry every day is a Swiss Army Champ and my everyday go to fixed blade is a cheap Hultafors knife with a dayglow orange plastic handle. Neither were expensive and if they get lost, broken or confiscated by plod I have no emotional investment in either of them. They‘re both scary sharp and the Hultafors is stropped to a polished edge.
 
Good call, my running knife (fast packing) is a SAK camper, two blades and a little saw. so I get where your coming from.

Hultafors make good knifes and axes, my hatchet is a Hultafors trekker. I have a Hultafors OK4 in the loft somewhere, and a heavy duty which lives in the car boot, the heavy duty is a pry bar of a knife but takes a great edge too.
 
I do have a few Opinel including a couple of the number 12 saws. I’ve only slightly customised two of them. They also take an awesome edge. I also have a lot of other types of vintage pocket knives.
 
Here is my old number 6. It pre dates the safety catch but I cut one into the ring with a dremel, re shaped the handle to fit my palm, cut thumb marks into the back of the blade, re cut the nail mark slightly and dropped the point a little to hide it in the handle when closed.
1685E9AE-F8E6-434C-93F5-FDE20566DC7B.jpeg
2D04C547-2AF0-4324-86CE-26D0BB69FA74.jpeg
F8D9E654-1739-45F8-957B-11E89110EB04.jpeg
 
Last edited:
View attachment 118103View attachment 118104View attachment 118105View attachment 118106

I'm a bit of an Opinel fan, I like the simplicity of them and have used one for years, I don't really bother with fixed blades anymore as I find a opinel, a saw and on occasion a hatchet meets all my needs.

But the reason I like opinels most is I like to whittle the handles and Pyrograph them. Each one there has a story to tell (and I wanted to practice adding pictures to a thread)

What is your cutting tool of choice and why?
My little No 6 lives in my pocket along with a little antique double blade pen knife because I do a lot of whittling. When I was rough/wild camping I carried a Mora and A Hultafors HD along with my army issued khukuri
 
Yep no6 is a great whittling knife. Does your kukri not come with the two little knifes or the sharpening blade and the skinning blade?
 
Yep no6 is a great whittling knife. Does your kukri not come with the two little knifes or the sharpening blade and the skinning blade?
they're in a box in the shed Gary, I don't like taking a risk and losing one or both. The Khukuri is sharp enough to shave with so I don't need the skinning blade
20230105_171513.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm kind of embarrassed about the number of sharps I've collected over the years. In the days when the British Blades forum was alive it was a bit of an illness! These days I usually find a Swiss Army Knife, a Mora and a Hultafors axe (don't remember the model, it's about Small Forest Axe size) do pretty much everything. If the axe is overkill I have a Nessmuk that's great for batoning wood.

I still have the Opinel addiction, they're great tools. There's always one in my kitchen bag for food duties.
 
Back
Top