Opinel Pruning Knife - Thoughts?

[Ferdinand]

In a couple of week I will be doing battle with an over-enthusiastic wisteria. It may be useful to have a knife in addition to the secateurs.

 

I am thinking of treating myself to an Opinel Pruning Knife - does anyone have any experience of these?

 

This

 

 

or this

 

Whilst I am at it I may get one of their non locking folding knives for my carry-bag.

 

Cheers

 

Ferdinand

Edited August 3, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Cpd]

 Nice things to own but I have always found a good set of secateurs to be far better, I used my opinel  pruning knife for mushroom harvesting until I left it on a hillside somewhere.......

[dimpsy]

A good pair of secateurs would be much better,   Niwaki  which are expensive but beautifully made and will outlast you or Felco

[Ralph]

Not sure about a pruning knife but in general they make good knives for the money.

[PeterW]

34 minutes ago, dimpsy said:

A good pair of secateurs would be much better,   Niwaki  which are expensive but beautifully made and will outlast you or Felco

 

I was at GW Live and Niwaki were there - quality of the knives was stunning and the prices very competitive. 

[jack]

Not sure whether it helps you, but Opinel is a well-regarded knife brand for grafting.

[PeterW]

Also worth remembering the opinel knives are carbon steel so whilst they are easy to put an edge on, they rust very quickly if you don’t look after them. 

[Cpd]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

Also worth remembering the opinel knives are carbon steel

I have there stainless ones and they are great and still hold a good edge, I don’t like the carbon ones as when your cutting apples they leave a nasty taste. 

[Ferdinand]

So I have gone for the billhook pruning knife, thinking that it will be useful for harvesting eg courgettes  and runner beans etc.

 

And one of these, which is a stainless steel blade normal Opinel (No 6) with a nice bubinga wooden handle, which will cease to be a lock-knife when I remove the locking ring, but comes with a slip-case .which will keep it shut and safe. Probably need one of the s ones hat can be abused

 

This has set off a memory  of the first time I saw one of these, which was on an exchange in Southern France when the host family used folding knives at meals; one was one of these.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Cpd]

DO NOT remove the locking ring if you want to keep your fingers ! I have been using these knives for years and the only time I have cut myself is when the locking ring is not engaged. They are just not designed to work without it. IMHO 

[Ferdinand]

10 hours ago, Cpd said:

DO NOT remove the locking ring if you want to keep your fingers ! I have been using these knives for years and the only time I have cut myself is when the locking ring is not engaged. They are just not designed to work without it. IMHO 

 

Interesting.

 

So I have now invested a further £7.95 in one of their non-locking knives to see how different the mechanism is :-). I think it has a frog-style locking ring (with an added rivet) to stop it locking.

 

The pruning knife is now here btw, and is capable of ‘pruning’ chives and mint very effectively. It is like a miniature sickle, of the type loved by Germaine Greer.

 

F

Edited August 5, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Ian]

8 hours ago, Cpd said:

DO NOT remove the locking ring if you want to keep your fingers ! I have been using these knives for years and the only time I have cut myself is when the locking ring is not engaged. They are just not designed to work without it. IMHO 

+1

I've got an Opinel and you need to use the locking ring if you want to keep all your fingers

[Cpd]

3 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

The pruning knife is now here btw, and is capable of ‘pruning’ chives and mint very effectively.

That are lovely and it’s a joy to use in the garden or when your out foraging, just not for pruning trees and shrubs. I am sure you will make great use of your new collection and when you loose one it’s not the end of the world as they are very reasonably priced.  

[Ferdinand]

So they are here.

 

 

Below the No 4 has a non-locking mechanism by dint of a rivet, whilst the No 6 has a locking ring. The paring knife is the smallest in my kitchen knife set for comparison. That is a ProCook X50 range knife.

 

Unfortunately that lockng ring *will* be coming off, because in the eyes of the law as currently interpreted and enforced putting it puts the knife in the same category as a Bowie or a sheath knife. Dr Ferdinand Jekyll - a bloke with a small pocket-knife, suddenly becomes to Mr Ferdinand Hyde - a bloke with a small locking pocket-knife potentially planning to cut the throats of the entire community. I will not be relying on police discretion in these circs.

 

The fault is that the intent of Parliament that people with small folding pocket knives was that locking should be fine for safety reasons, but one Case seems to have misinterpreted the intention of Parliament, and the Gadarene Rush of enforcement, any enforcement, has made that absurdity a key plank in current campaigns. Of course, the policeman will usually enforce the letter of what they have been told in their enforcement policies.

 

It concerns me that both of these are small enough to be finger knives for my hand and difficult to grip - may be alright for a lady, a child, a smaller bloke or Donald Trump.

 

Therefore I am left with a more dangerous-to-me utility knife than would otherwise be the case. It will mean extra care when cleaning, and never applying finger pressure to the back of the blade when it can potentially make it close.

 

Such is law; such is life. At last until rationality is reasserted.

 

 

The chinks of light I have are that A Wright of Sheffield suggest that I can fit one of their smaller blades to a larger handle, or to also have something with a better grip. 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Ferdinand