remember guys, this is just one example of the knife - yours may be able to take it! Sorry I didn’t get a full number, but I thought I would post for interests sake anyway. I’ll probably retest when I do the stainless opinel soon, when I get more rope.
Nah, I've had a whole lot of C75 Opinels and none of them was able to properly hold an edge at such low angles. I found ~28-30° in convex to zero to be ideal. C75 could actually hold an edge of around 24° (convex of course) if it's harder. But if you upgrade an Opinel blade you should go a few numbers higher in your steel choice and make it as hard as possible. Made one in O1 and one in 1.2562, both around 64+ and they're absolutely fantastic with a convex grind and how thin they are.
@@heinzhaupthaar5590yep, just not hard enough. Dulls by rolling instead of abrasion or such, same with mora if you remove the microbevel and run at the ~12dps scandi. They're only like ~56 HRC. A knife at 62 HRC would be 30% stronger, and 64 HRC 40% stronger.
I worked for them for a minute in the 90s. This a fun factoid, or whatever, but they found the balance of the steel to the angles of the convex grid, at least roughly, and anything too far more or less turns it into a piece of crap. There might be a lesson to learn here for other knife makers, but obviously these cats have been in the game for so long, that they know their apples by now. Essentially it's a cost saving effort on their part, but it's really interesting that they've managed to find the most base metal to apply their convex game to so successfully. BTW~ You have to sharpen it with 600 grit sandpaper on a soft, or thick mouse pad and draw it with pressure on the blade backward, or away from you to maintain the factory edge, which is about as good as it can get for the steel/grind combination. Salute!
Yep, they went as slicey as it gets. I prefer a more concrete angle though, even freehand, since pressure can over angle the apex way too easily and it scratches up your nice patina.
I’ve had an opinel No 10 almost 40 years I found it in an old shed cleaned it up I’ve travelled Australia as a tour guide in remote areas and my little opinel has done everything from carving Fishing lures to gutting and cleaning fish to skinning wild cattle and I can’t find anything as sharp for the price I’ve had $400 knives that don’t compare it’s definitely not a chopper or something you can swing on but when it comes to cutting flesh and skinning I can’t find any better and cheap as chips
@@batswithsass3754 Doesn't matter that much. The inox variant is 12C27, which is easy to sharpen and gets very sharp easily as well. Only downside to both is their low hardness, they won't hold the edge they're almost predestined to have unfortunately - ie ~25° convex to zero. You should just get one of each and see what you like better. A great recommendation is to sand sown the upper end of the handle and give the back of the handle a slight slope downwards. Extremely comfortable to work with for hours after that, looks better as well imo.
In regards to the whole Unleashed to the Max series. It would be an interesting test to see how many cuts the knives do after being stropped back to paper slicing sharpness after the test. There have been tests (by Cliff Stamp for example) that show that the edge retention will become lower and lower when you don't remove the weakened metal from the edge and just strop the edge back to sharp. I would expect the drop in edge retention after stropping to be quite noticeable with these low edge angles. Knowing that the knife can be stropped back to sharp is a good data point, but knowing how much edge retention you sacrifice by doing that would be even better, at least in my opinion. Thank you for the videos.
Yes, what Cliff does is he grinds the weakened edge off before resharpening. I wonder if that could actually make the knife last longer? (As in you wear the blade less over the years than if you stropped it)
I never strop mine but i usually put a micro bevel and sometimes for a quick resharpen i just hit the micro bevel it saves a ton of time but i noticed the edge retention getting worse and worse so that would make sense because because a strop puts a micro bevel on too
@@wojtekimbier it almost certainly reduces the lifespan of the knife(you aren't reusing the edge steel as many times before removing it), but you would also probably reduce the time spent on maintenance.
Revisiting my favourite 'toobers' Opinel reviews. My current collection of Opinels consist of a No7, three 8s (one is the 'Black' version), a 9 (I think), a couple of 10s, and my favourite fun knife, a No 13. I just had to buy the 13 because it makes me smile whenever I look at it.
Using your machine sharpening you also took a bifaced convex knife blade and sharpened it into a full flat grind edge thus taking much of the sharpness and it's ability to hold an edge out of it.
Bullshit, the size of the 13dps edge bevel indicates the prior convex was thicker, and the edge steeper aka duller. Perceived sharpness is two things, apex width and rate of thickening of the blade. A full flat grind with a tiny edge cuts better than convex for the same stock thickness. The difference is that thinning the transition between the sides and the edge bevel is easier with convex. Thats why it cuts better than a full flat grind that has a thick edge. Convex is optimal for the best mix of apex stability but high perceived sharpness (cutting ability) due to the removed shoulders. And faster to thin where its needed than full flat. But no it wasnt "sharper" before. For the same angle near the apex it has less edge holding ability, it only gains that by having a steeper angle (but no shoulders).
Still a great data point without finishing the test. Thanks as always for your informative and entertaining videos. Nothing like thin steel to perform well!
Opinels, like many traditional knives are meant to be extra easy to sharpen with mediocre sharpening tools. My bet is that the steel is really soft, like a 55 at best. These knives were meant to be used by farmers, they didn't have time to spend time and money on sharpening their knife. Opinels are not knives for the knife nuts/steel snobs etc ;) You can strop this knife on your palm (provided you don't have urban metrosexual hands made of baby ass cheeks skin) to get it sharp again (it'll unroll the edge) . In fact, you can do it with most knives ;)
Instead of using the Tormek here, try using 320 grit silicon carbide sandpaper on a mousepad to convex the blade down to a zero grind and then apply a micro bevel with a stone. The combination of the convex grind with a more toothy edge will give you much better strength and slicing aggression.
I know this video is old but an Opinel is slightly convex ground. If you go grinding a perfect v grind/scandi you defeat the purpose of the convex. Even most scandi grinds go with a micro bevel for durability. If you had stayed with the convex grind you would have had less issues with edge retention. This video does a great job of showing the difference a micro bevel makes though!
It's true that an edge can be too fine so basically to sharp. I had a edge roll on the Enzo Elver I'm testing just from cutting some hard wood. A small secondary bevel with micro convex from some stropping solved the problem and is what I normal do before even taking the knife out. I did not this time because I promised to test the knife as it came off factory.
I know the video is way old, but Opinel are a completely convex blade, so I think chucking a bevel on it, whatever size it is, takes away from the magic of the Opinel. A quick strop, with a light convex edge will provide the sharpest edge, by default. I think that you are trying to do something with this style of knife that it just wasn’t meant to do... I think if you have a look at Opinel videos @OPINELOFFICIAL and look for the video titled ‘how we make opinel blades’ you will see what I mean. Nice video format, I just noticed and felt compelled to mention this about these knives in particular😊🔪
I'm really enjoying these new videos. I like seeing how much difference the edge angle can make. If you can get around to it, is like to see Elmax vs XHP, they both seem to be pretty good all around steels. I would also like see M390 in that vs but I'm pretty sure it would come out on top lol.
I bought an Opie and broke the blade the day after I bought it. I took it back and got a free replacement. Within the week it was also broken. I got a Buck 110 to replace it and carried it YEARS doing nothing but sharpening and adding a drop of oil occasionally. Several years later a friend convinced me to get another Opinel. Several months later it broke. That was the early 90's. In 2008 I was in an online knife forum and several people raved about how great Opies were. When I shared my experiences, most everyone said it was just terrible luck, and that Opies were the greatest thing since sliced bread. I gave in and bought another. Yep. Broken blade. No more, I am cursed to never have a good Opinel. I still have a few Cold Steel Twistmasters around, no problem with them, but no more Opinels for me. Ever.
What are you doing with it? Its a 2mm thick blade. Have multiple,never broke one. Im not using it to pry open stuff though. The problem here is defnitley you misusing it.
@@bigboi9611 How come I have the same Victorinox BSA Huntsman I got in the mid-90's with a blade that shows sharpening so much there's almost no Spanish Notch left, and I haven't broken it? I have my old High School 440C Buck 110 I got in 1979 without breaking it. I'll gladly admit I'm an idiot, but I'm not so much of an idiot as to use my pocket knives like I do my Machax I got while it was only owned solely by Becker Knife & Tool, and yet I've broken 4 Opinels. To those who love them, great! I hope you continue to get great use out of them. I don't trust them.
@Random Eskimo Didnt answer my question. What broke them? Opinels are light duty knifes for food prep and so on. I just cant really think of how youd break one in normal use
Opinel is just too much of a thin knife for that. It's meant for superior slicing ability for food or softer wood or such, absolutely cannot pry on it at all. The best knife to pair with an opinel is a mora, because they do exactly what the other can't, and for cheap. Tough vs slicey as hell. Both are soft steel, though.
Death By Astonishment The legislation in vague but does offer Swiss Army Knife as an example. So I’m thinking anything much bigger could be problematic. Not sure why they don’t talk about blade length or locking/non-locking like US and Europe. Maybe it’s defined somewhere but I didn’t see it. I’ll just rock my Lucky 1 slippy.
Another interesting test. But I kinda figured it would be in high tens, if not into the hundreds, purely based on my experience with the Opinel steels.
You said cartoonishly sharp even mini scandi. I have a friend named Derek Bergstrom. I have a WE and a KO worksharp I have been sharpening since 2010. Still to this day though when I have something that is perfect and sharper than the rest I refer to it as Derek sharp. Please keep this to the max series going Derek has told me for years thin is better and I was resistant. Your tests are proof thin is better. Your WS edges at 20dps do not cut as much rope as a 17dps edge and now you are doing 12-13 dps edges and they are cutting longer. Just like with this opinel it was too thin and failed. Microbevels easily fix this then you learn optimum sharpening angles for these steels. Like I said PLEASE keep this to the MAX series going besides I love seeing the tormek in action as it is a sharpener I want and don't have. I love opinels please test the stainless one as I have had better results with their stainless than carbon.
Yes I also look forward to all of these tests regardless of steels or knives. I am very interested to see which steels perform at the super thin angles he is using and which ones fail and roll or deform.
Thanks for posting this attempt nevertheless - it was very educational in terms of microbevel and stuff. what do you recon, all steels behave the same in this context? or there may be variations? I'm not sure, but I think I saw the benchmade barrage M390 test few years ago, where it was cutting rope longer without microbevel, but I'm pretty sure there was no extreme angles on the primary bevel
It really seems like very obtuse microbevels work best on thin knives and fine angles best on thick blade stock. Would be nice to test a very high toughness thin knife with a 13 degree edge.
I think that using the Tormek was the worst choice for this knife... They ones I have come with a full convex and that is not a micro bevel but just the convex increasing right at the edge(at least that is what it looks like under high magnification... You should get something with real magnification and look at your edges... It is amazing what you can discover about sharpening doing that! The Tormek puts a slight concave edge on the knife, and while on a normal blade at a normal angle, that is not much of a problem, with a blade as thin at that, at an angle as low as that, it is going to leave the carbides at the edge of the blade with no support...
I recently discovered Opinel knives, and now own several. one is stainless, the others carbon steel. they came to me very sharp out of the box, but with some slight serrations, obviously due to the factory sharpening process. but a little work on my Japanese waterstones, then some patience and time honing them on my Sharpal leather strop, they are now crazy sharp. and they seem to hold their edge really well, the carbon ones a bit better than the stainless steel. are they a heavy duty bushcraft knife? no. can you baton with them? no. thats not what they are meant for. are they great as an EDC knife for general purpose, preparing food, using in the garden, opening parcels etc? yes! and they excel in those tasks for me, more so than any other pocketknife I've ever owned. so,, my take on them is this. do you want a heavy duty bushcraft knife ? then buy a Glock M78 or M81...or a Buck 120, or a Mora Garberg. but if you want a good little knife for general everyday tasks that wont break the bank, you cant go past an Opinel.
I hate to be that guy but I can't help but notice you keep talking about "higher angles" when you mean lower angles. 13 degrees is lower than 20 ;) Keep up the great work mate!
Pete, you got the steel wrong, Opinel calls it C90, not X90 (though I do get the mistake because the AFNOR Name for it is XC90). It`s the same composition as 1086 High Carbon (which sucks). 1086 is known for being tough rather than edge holding, and it rusts like crazy, that`s pretty much the experience I had with my Opinel as well. I havn`t seen any other production knife maker use that steel, it`s ancient and utterly outdated, even 1095 and 1075 look good in comparison because those at least hold an edge decently.
"It`s the same composition as 1086 High Carbon (which sucks). 1086 is known for being tough rather than edge holding(...)" Any quantitative testing to back that?
Well, I wasn't going to comment. Then I thought I might. reguardless on your findings are,..honestly, as a normal person. This knife, and I have and use opinels.., when used properly, as a folding knife..yes, 2 thumbs up
I know I am a bit late to add to the comments. I think a contributing factor to it failing is that the Opinel is already ground very thin. A thin flat grind. If you then sharpen to a very shallow angle you have very little steel to support your thin sharpening grind.
Enjoyable premise but a couple of quick things. To me any razor sharp knife on a wooden chopping board is an absolute no-no. I'd be cautious even on a soft nylon one. For me it will be interesting to have the rope cut in free air. also using the grinder and buffer is there any chance that you might have altered the temper of the steel on a microscopic level , just enough to soften the very edge??
This is NOT any grinder, it's a Tormek: slow RPM (around 90/min) and water cooled. So no heat at all during the grinding part. And the wheel is NOT a "buffing wheel" but a leather strop. If you put a lot of pressure AND strop for too long, you might feel the blade warming up, but nothing close to a temperature that would ruin the temper.
@@CedricAda wow, a response on a 4 year old video? This is why I've been a fan of yours before this came out, you're a great guy. And I get it, the edge itself looks bigger/higher so its understandable why you said that. I really think you should bring this series back now that you got better sharpening equipment with the KME and TSProf and have gotten so much better at sharpening. It would be interesting to see the results you can get with simple steels and on some super steels. Also thanks you for introducing me to Gabe(Home Slice), we've become pretty good long distance friends. Keep up the great work Pete, always look forward to new videos from you.
I found with sharpening an opinel doesn’t take much such a thin blade you can actually wear it away prematurely I just use a fine Arkansas‘s wet stone and touch it up and I’ve lost probably two mil off the blade in 40 years and it’s had lots of work it’s not just sharpening it’s wearing your blade away prematurely taking too much off
soo, according to a steel source book, X90 steel seems to be the DIN number for AISI 440b... and i am so confused/in shock, i thought 440 steels are stainless o_0
Lol. Looks like that springy steels can't handle it. Thin stock with quite a bit of flex don't like it that steep. Very intetesting and appreciated. You got to do a mid and super steel say SV30 and CPM 110v or similar. Your just gonna keep on working your way up slowly I can see it. It's a bit like waiting for Christmas as a kid. Can I open my presents now. No son you'll have to wait. BUT I CAN'T. Putting that mucro bevel on worked wonders though. Good stuff. ATB for the Used To Be Great Britain.
26 degrees inclusive/13 DPS on an Opinel? Why such an obtuse angle? Try 10 DPS/ 20 degrees inclusive or even 9 DPS/18 degrees inclusive. That's what I run mine at. Gitting a wood cutting board don't dull them. They cut more than once, and the edges don't roll or chip.
Wrong sharpening! Hold IT completely flat and rub it on any stone! (Granite) done this the last 35 years! Sharpening with machine is good for Inox( stainless steel). In fact , the angle of the knife must remain the same all over the blade.... greetings from the Netherlands.
remember guys, this is just one example of the knife - yours may be able to take it! Sorry I didn’t get a full number, but I thought I would post for interests sake anyway. I’ll probably retest when I do the stainless opinel soon, when I get more rope.
Learn to sharpen with a whetstone, Nancy.
@@NGMountains Not the point on the video.
Nah, I've had a whole lot of C75 Opinels and none of them was able to properly hold an edge at such low angles. I found ~28-30° in convex to zero to be ideal.
C75 could actually hold an edge of around 24° (convex of course) if it's harder. But if you upgrade an Opinel blade you should go a few numbers higher in your steel choice and make it as hard as possible. Made one in O1 and one in 1.2562, both around 64+ and they're absolutely fantastic with a convex grind and how thin they are.
@@heinzhaupthaar5590yep, just not hard enough. Dulls by rolling instead of abrasion or such, same with mora if you remove the microbevel and run at the ~12dps scandi. They're only like ~56 HRC. A knife at 62 HRC would be 30% stronger, and 64 HRC 40% stronger.
I worked for them for a minute in the 90s.
This a fun factoid, or whatever, but they found the balance of the steel to the angles of the convex grid, at least roughly, and anything too far more or less turns it into a piece of crap. There might be a lesson to learn here for other knife makers, but obviously these cats have been in the game for so long, that they know their apples by now. Essentially it's a cost saving effort on their part, but it's really interesting that they've managed to find the most base metal to apply their convex game to so successfully.
BTW~ You have to sharpen it with 600 grit sandpaper on a soft, or thick mouse pad and draw it with pressure on the blade backward, or away from you to maintain the factory edge, which is about as good as it can get for the steel/grind combination. Salute!
Awesome thank you.
Tormek
Yep, they went as slicey as it gets. I prefer a more concrete angle though, even freehand, since pressure can over angle the apex way too easily and it scratches up your nice patina.
I’ve had an opinel No 10 almost 40 years I found it in an old shed cleaned it up I’ve travelled Australia as a tour guide in remote areas and my little opinel has done everything from carving Fishing lures to gutting and cleaning fish to skinning wild cattle and I can’t find anything as sharp for the price I’ve had $400 knives that don’t compare it’s definitely not a chopper or something you can swing on but when it comes to cutting flesh and skinning I can’t find any better and cheap as chips
Is it the stainless or carbon variant?
@@batswithsass3754
Doesn't matter that much. The inox variant is 12C27, which is easy to sharpen and gets very sharp easily as well.
Only downside to both is their low hardness, they won't hold the edge they're almost predestined to have unfortunately - ie ~25° convex to zero.
You should just get one of each and see what you like better. A great recommendation is to sand sown the upper end of the handle and give the back of the handle a slight slope downwards.
Extremely comfortable to work with for hours after that, looks better as well imo.
I'm worried that I might cut the fabric of time with this Opinel, something I've done only twice before...
Dude, you let prisoner zero escape.
In regards to the whole Unleashed to the Max series. It would be an interesting test to see how many cuts the knives do after being stropped back to paper slicing sharpness after the test. There have been tests (by Cliff Stamp for example) that show that the edge retention will become lower and lower when you don't remove the weakened metal from the edge and just strop the edge back to sharp. I would expect the drop in edge retention after stropping to be quite noticeable with these low edge angles.
Knowing that the knife can be stropped back to sharp is a good data point, but knowing how much edge retention you sacrifice by doing that would be even better, at least in my opinion.
Thank you for the videos.
Yes, what Cliff does is he grinds the weakened edge off before resharpening. I wonder if that could actually make the knife last longer? (As in you wear the blade less over the years than if you stropped it)
I never strop mine but i usually put a micro bevel and sometimes for a quick resharpen i just hit the micro bevel it saves a ton of time but i noticed the edge retention getting worse and worse so that would make sense because because a strop puts a micro bevel on too
@@wojtekimbier it almost certainly reduces the lifespan of the knife(you aren't reusing the edge steel as many times before removing it), but you would also probably reduce the time spent on maintenance.
Revisiting my favourite 'toobers' Opinel reviews. My current collection of Opinels consist of a No7, three 8s (one is the 'Black' version), a 9 (I think), a couple of 10s, and my favourite fun knife, a No 13. I just had to buy the 13 because it makes me smile whenever I look at it.
Sadly my collection is down to a #8 which has been heavily modified and dyed black.
Using your machine sharpening you also took a bifaced convex knife blade and sharpened it into a full flat grind edge thus taking much of the sharpness and it's ability to hold an edge out of it.
Bullshit, the size of the 13dps edge bevel indicates the prior convex was thicker, and the edge steeper aka duller.
Perceived sharpness is two things, apex width and rate of thickening of the blade.
A full flat grind with a tiny edge cuts better than convex for the same stock thickness.
The difference is that thinning the transition between the sides and the edge bevel is easier with convex.
Thats why it cuts better than a full flat grind that has a thick edge.
Convex is optimal for the best mix of apex stability but high perceived sharpness (cutting ability) due to the removed shoulders. And faster to thin where its needed than full flat.
But no it wasnt "sharper" before.
For the same angle near the apex it has less edge holding ability, it only gains that by having a steeper angle (but no shoulders).
This To The Max series is awesome
You should do a basil unleashed to the max test.
The "unleashed" part kills me every time :')
"Cartoonishly sharp" is probably my favourite way I've heard to address a very sharp knife
"so sharp it creeps me out" is mine.
i once cut myself on a blade so sharp it gave me nightmares, so when I heard that it really resonated with me
I think it’s mostly the really small stock thickness. The microbevel adds a crap ton of rigidity to the low angle edges
Still a great data point without finishing the test. Thanks as always for your informative and entertaining videos. Nothing like thin steel to perform well!
Yes just got #9 couple rubs on ceramic rod. Sharp sharp sharp. Great blade.
Opinels, like many traditional knives are meant to be extra easy to sharpen with mediocre sharpening tools. My bet is that the steel is really soft, like a 55 at best. These knives were meant to be used by farmers, they didn't have time to spend time and money on sharpening their knife. Opinels are not knives for the knife nuts/steel snobs etc ;)
You can strop this knife on your palm (provided you don't have urban metrosexual hands made of baby ass cheeks skin) to get it sharp again (it'll unroll the edge) . In fact, you can do it with most knives ;)
I heard of your channel from a guy doing an investigation into Huusk scam knives and it's great. Subbed and liked.
Instead of using the Tormek here, try using 320 grit silicon carbide sandpaper on a mousepad to convex the blade down to a zero grind and then apply a micro bevel with a stone. The combination of the convex grind with a more toothy edge will give you much better strength and slicing aggression.
man those intros are fucking amazing !!!
The impact on the wood is the biggest factor in all these tests
I know this video is old but an Opinel is slightly convex ground. If you go grinding a perfect v grind/scandi you defeat the purpose of the convex. Even most scandi grinds go with a micro bevel for durability. If you had stayed with the convex grind you would have had less issues with edge retention. This video does a great job of showing the difference a micro bevel makes though!
It's true that an edge can be too fine so basically to sharp. I had a edge roll on the Enzo Elver I'm testing just from cutting some hard wood. A small secondary bevel with micro convex from some stropping solved the problem and is what I normal do before even taking the knife out. I did not this time because I promised to test the knife as it came off factory.
Glad I happened to wake up at 4 in the morning
My brother managed to roll the edge of his opinel just by carving some pine wood. Delicate knife
Lot of 21st century production for an old-fashioned peasant's knife. But you did get it sharp. So, there's that.
I know the video is way old, but Opinel are a completely convex blade, so I think chucking a bevel on it, whatever size it is, takes away from the magic of the Opinel. A quick strop, with a light convex edge will provide the sharpest edge, by default. I think that you are trying to do something with this style of knife that it just wasn’t meant to do... I think if you have a look at Opinel videos @OPINELOFFICIAL and look for the video titled ‘how we make opinel blades’ you will see what I mean. Nice video format, I just noticed and felt compelled to mention this about these knives in particular😊🔪
I'm really enjoying these new videos. I like seeing how much difference the edge angle can make. If you can get around to it, is like to see Elmax vs XHP, they both seem to be pretty good all around steels. I would also like see M390 in that vs but I'm pretty sure it would come out on top lol.
my god that intro for particularly amazing this time
I bought an Opie and broke the blade the day after I bought it. I took it back and got a free replacement. Within the week it was also broken. I got a Buck 110 to replace it and carried it YEARS doing nothing but sharpening and adding a drop of oil occasionally. Several years later a friend convinced me to get another Opinel. Several months later it broke. That was the early 90's. In 2008 I was in an online knife forum and several people raved about how great Opies were. When I shared my experiences, most everyone said it was just terrible luck, and that Opies were the greatest thing since sliced bread. I gave in and bought another. Yep. Broken blade. No more, I am cursed to never have a good Opinel. I still have a few Cold Steel Twistmasters around, no problem with them, but no more Opinels for me. Ever.
What are you doing with it?
Its a 2mm thick blade.
Have multiple,never broke one.
Im not using it to pry open stuff though.
The problem here is defnitley you misusing it.
@@bigboi9611 How come I have the same Victorinox BSA Huntsman I got in the mid-90's with a blade that shows sharpening so much there's almost no Spanish Notch left, and I haven't broken it? I have my old High School 440C Buck 110 I got in 1979 without breaking it. I'll gladly admit I'm an idiot, but I'm not so much of an idiot as to use my pocket knives like I do my Machax I got while it was only owned solely by Becker Knife & Tool, and yet I've broken 4 Opinels. To those who love them, great! I hope you continue to get great use out of them. I don't trust them.
@Random Eskimo Didnt answer my question.
What broke them?
Opinels are light duty knifes for food prep and so on.
I just cant really think of how youd break one in normal use
Maybe don't pry with your knives 🙄
Opinel is just too much of a thin knife for that. It's meant for superior slicing ability for food or softer wood or such, absolutely cannot pry on it at all. The best knife to pair with an opinel is a mora, because they do exactly what the other can't, and for cheap. Tough vs slicey as hell. Both are soft steel, though.
I really like the Opinel. So slicey. I wonder if it meets the ‘penknife’ vague af definition in the Qld legislation?
I would definitely run an opinel as a ‘penknife’ - the things are just so darn quaint.
Tony Canniffe maybe just use one of the smaller ones? Maybe a 4 or 5?
Death By Astonishment The legislation in vague but does offer Swiss Army Knife as an example. So I’m thinking anything much bigger could be problematic.
Not sure why they don’t talk about blade length or locking/non-locking like US and Europe.
Maybe it’s defined somewhere but I didn’t see it.
I’ll just rock my Lucky 1 slippy.
thank you
I used to cut a lot of manila tag lines an that opinel always out cut my spyderco in vg10
Another interesting test. But I kinda figured it would be in high tens, if not into the hundreds, purely based on my experience with the Opinel steels.
You said cartoonishly sharp even mini scandi.
I have a friend named Derek Bergstrom.
I have a WE and a KO worksharp I have been sharpening since 2010. Still to this day though when I have something that is perfect and sharper than the rest I refer to it as Derek sharp.
Please keep this to the max series going Derek has told me for years thin is better and I was resistant. Your tests are proof thin is better. Your WS edges at 20dps do not cut as much rope as a 17dps edge and now you are doing 12-13 dps edges and they are cutting longer. Just like with this opinel it was too thin and failed. Microbevels easily fix this then you learn optimum sharpening angles for these steels.
Like I said PLEASE keep this to the MAX series going besides I love seeing the tormek in action as it is a sharpener I want and don't have.
I love opinels please test the stainless one as I have had better results with their stainless than carbon.
I agree, it would be really cool to see a stainless version of the opinel go through this testing.
Yes I also look forward to all of these tests regardless of steels or knives. I am very interested to see which steels perform at the super thin angles he is using and which ones fail and roll or deform.
Opinel and s.a.k. i have several.love it
Thanks for posting this attempt nevertheless - it was very educational in terms of microbevel and stuff. what do you recon, all steels behave the same in this context? or there may be variations? I'm not sure, but I think I saw the benchmade barrage M390 test few years ago, where it was cutting rope longer without microbevel, but I'm pretty sure there was no extreme angles on the primary bevel
It really seems like very obtuse microbevels work best on thin knives and fine angles best on thick blade stock.
Would be nice to test a very high toughness thin knife with a 13 degree edge.
I think that using the Tormek was the worst choice for this knife... They ones I have come with a full convex and that is not a micro bevel but just the convex increasing right at the edge(at least that is what it looks like under high magnification... You should get something with real magnification and look at your edges... It is amazing what you can discover about sharpening doing that!
The Tormek puts a slight concave edge on the knife, and while on a normal blade at a normal angle, that is not much of a problem, with a blade as thin at that, at an angle as low as that, it is going to leave the carbides at the edge of the blade with no support...
Looking forward to 1095 cro van. I can’t seem to get the perfect edge geometry with this steel.
So this is is 13 degree per side and microbevelled to what degree per side? Thanks!
To Those Who Fight Further 💪
Excellent! Thank you for sharing the knowledge that you just learned. Much appreciated :)
I recently discovered Opinel knives, and now own several. one is stainless, the others carbon steel. they came to me very sharp out of the box, but with some slight serrations, obviously due to the factory sharpening process. but a little work on my Japanese waterstones, then some patience and time honing them on my Sharpal leather strop, they are now crazy sharp. and they seem to hold their edge really well, the carbon ones a bit better than the stainless steel. are they a heavy duty bushcraft knife? no. can you baton with them? no. thats not what they are meant for. are they great as an EDC knife for general purpose, preparing food, using in the garden, opening parcels etc? yes! and they excel in those tasks for me, more so than any other pocketknife I've ever owned. so,, my take on them is this. do you want a heavy duty bushcraft knife ? then buy a Glock M78 or M81...or a Buck 120, or a Mora Garberg. but if you want a good little knife for general everyday tasks that wont break the bank, you cant go past an Opinel.
I think testing some ceramic blades would be interesting.
Never take the South Park bit out haha
is that nr 9 model?
I hate to be that guy but I can't help but notice you keep talking about "higher angles" when you mean lower angles. 13 degrees is lower than 20 ;) Keep up the great work mate!
I need to rewire myself, im struggling with that for sure haha
It all gets a bit confusing at times it's no worries. You do a great job conveying the point regardless so kudos!
Pete, you got the steel wrong, Opinel calls it C90, not X90 (though I do get the mistake because the AFNOR Name for it is XC90). It`s the same composition as 1086 High Carbon (which sucks). 1086 is known for being tough rather than edge holding, and it rusts like crazy, that`s pretty much the experience I had with my Opinel as well. I havn`t seen any other production knife maker use that steel, it`s ancient and utterly outdated, even 1095 and 1075 look good in comparison because those at least hold an edge decently.
"It`s the same composition as 1086 High Carbon (which sucks). 1086 is known for being tough rather than edge holding(...)" Any quantitative testing to back that?
Good or bad please ? how much it can get from 10 ?
Well, I wasn't going to comment. Then I thought I might. reguardless on your findings are,..honestly, as a normal person. This knife, and I have and use opinels.., when used properly, as a folding knife..yes, 2 thumbs up
This is why I stick with my custom Esse6
Watching you put on that Microbevel and thinking of Black Mage Village. Sounds like home to me. :)
It needs a "nano-bevel", like it was when new out of the box.
I know I am a bit late to add to the comments. I think a contributing factor to it failing is that the Opinel is already ground very thin. A thin flat grind. If you then sharpen to a very shallow angle you have very little steel to support your thin sharpening grind.
Enjoyable premise but a couple of quick things. To me any razor sharp knife on a wooden chopping board is an absolute no-no. I'd be cautious even on a soft nylon one. For me it will be interesting to have the rope cut in free air. also using the grinder and buffer is there any chance that you might have altered the temper of the steel on a microscopic level , just enough to soften the very edge??
This is NOT any grinder, it's a Tormek: slow RPM (around 90/min) and water cooled. So no heat at all during the grinding part. And the wheel is NOT a "buffing wheel" but a leather strop. If you put a lot of pressure AND strop for too long, you might feel the blade warming up, but nothing close to a temperature that would ruin the temper.
Cartoonishly sharp!
It's actually lower angles, not higher. 12 degrees per side is lower than 17 degrees per side.
haha yes, my caveman brain keeps getting this backwards
@@CedricAda wow, a response on a 4 year old video? This is why I've been a fan of yours before this came out, you're a great guy. And I get it, the edge itself looks bigger/higher so its understandable why you said that. I really think you should bring this series back now that you got better sharpening equipment with the KME and TSProf and have gotten so much better at sharpening. It would be interesting to see the results you can get with simple steels and on some super steels.
Also thanks you for introducing me to Gabe(Home Slice), we've become pretty good long distance friends.
Keep up the great work Pete, always look forward to new videos from you.
I found with sharpening an opinel doesn’t take much such a thin blade you can actually wear it away prematurely I just use a fine Arkansas‘s wet stone and touch it up and I’ve lost probably two mil off the blade in 40 years and it’s had lots of work it’s not just sharpening it’s wearing your blade away prematurely taking too much off
soo, according to a steel source book, X90 steel seems to be the DIN number for AISI 440b... and i am so confused/in shock, i thought 440 steels are stainless o_0
XC90
@@garethbaus5471 right! Maybe i messed something up. A new soruce says its essentialy 1:1 1090
@@AYellowPepper What new source? :)
@@AYellowPepper yup its simple 1090 steel
Your microbevel grinding wheel is wobbling. Won't get a consistent grind on that. You need to recenter the axel.
Lol. Looks like that springy steels can't handle it. Thin stock with quite a bit of flex don't like it that steep. Very intetesting and appreciated. You got to do a mid and super steel say SV30 and CPM 110v or similar. Your just gonna keep on working your way up slowly I can see it. It's a bit like waiting for Christmas as a kid. Can I open my presents now. No son you'll have to wait. BUT I CAN'T. Putting that mucro bevel on worked wonders though. Good stuff. ATB for the Used To Be Great Britain.
You really hate rope.
You thought you had more rope turns out you forgot you used it on that one lady a fortnight ago
yep, all out of duct tape too, strangely
#10 opinel ,,the blade is so thin ive never ground my blade just stroped and it works good that way
yeah these are such good performers due to the primary grind, this is really just an experiment more than anything
26 degrees inclusive/13 DPS on an Opinel? Why such an obtuse angle? Try 10 DPS/ 20 degrees inclusive or even 9 DPS/18 degrees inclusive.
That's what I run mine at. Gitting a wood cutting board don't dull them. They cut more than once, and the edges don't roll or chip.
make a video. pics or it didn't happen.
I thought Opinel uses XC90.
Mopar HEMI yeah I think they do, ill amend the desciption. My douk douk is x75
Cheers, mate. Keep up the good work.
I don't get this one. Sorry.
Hey, you dont cut sisel rope out in the bush bro, worrk with that knife proper. You can sharpen it proper but.... you beat this knife more than normal
@Cedric, you’re doing better and better story telling!
the music drove me away. Great video until then.
my opinel 8 stainless is literally a zero grind
ok so micro bevel
So opinel kicks victorionox ass..
Un Acier Xc 90 est toujours meilleur qu'un Xc 38 ou Xc 40. sur-trempé........ not bad choice a Xc 90 is better than a hyper heat treated Xc38 or Xc40
Wrong sharpening! Hold IT completely flat and rub it on any stone! (Granite) done this the last 35 years! Sharpening with machine is good for Inox( stainless steel). In fact , the angle of the knife must remain the same all over the blade.... greetings from the Netherlands.
agree
this is
good!