Opinel No. 07 Carbone - Carbon Steel Folding Pocket Knife, Beechwood Handle, 3.07 in Blade, Virobloc Safety Locking Collar, Made in France

Fantastic little knife. Sharp upon arrival, but not quite shaving sharp. That is easily forgiven and fixed. This is my first Opinel as i had always questioned the security of the locking mechanism, but now realize that my doubts had no basis in reality. Have not given this knife any use yet because after playing with it for a few hours, I tore it down to it's 5 elegant and well made parts. The ferule and locking ring are anicely crafted heavy gauge stainless steel. The blade took a nice even and dark charcoal colored patina after two rounds of being immersed in hot white vinegar for about 2-3 minutes each round. The beech handle is lightweight, but strong and the wood grain is tight and is responding well to being shaped with my Dremel tool and sandpaper. I am gradually adding finger grooves custom tailored to my hand for two different holding positions. The knife and handle are small so having a custom tailored grip should work out well. There is not much wood there to begin with, so I am being cautious about how much material I am removing. I can already tell that it has made a great improvement even though I am only about 80% done with the contouring. I have no doubt that even though this knife is small, that it will work both as a utility pocket knife and, in a pinch, as a filet/small game knife if used deliberately. After much research, I have settled on using a Danish oil applied slowly over multiple days to finish the handle with a final beeswax treatment once the Danish oil has fully dried. Will post pictures once my project is complete. Could not be any happier with this $9 purchase. I got a great knife and a rewarding simple project that is easy to get a good result with. Even if I did not have the time and desire to modify this knife, I would still give it 5 stars as it came from the factory. My next purchase will be the folding slim #15 filet knife with Bubinga wood handle.This is also a knife that is pretty much legal to carry concealed in a pocket almost everywhere in the U.S. I'm sure that there are a few jurisdictions or particular places where carrying this may not be legal for some or all persons, but this knife will be safe to carry for most people in most places and has a very non-threatening appearance.Update: added pic of my torn down knife with partially completed handle which has had factory finish sanded off, been partially re-contoured and given a light coat of Old English dark scratch cover/oil(as a test and to keep it from absorbing any moisture and swelling as I finish the project. I am also considering using some India ink I have on hand as opposed to spending more $ for Danish oil than I have on the knife itself...lol. I think a black "ebonized" handle separated from the now black blade by the stainless ferrule and lock ring will provide a striking finished appearance. I will likely do several "inkings" over several days, follow with whatever furniture oil I have on hand and a final touch of beeswax. Gonna keep this project a micro budget, low resource impact one.Update March 7 2016: Finished my simple knife mod project. I added a few more contours on the right and left sides and top of the wood handle to facilitate two different grips for different tasks. The knife now fits my hand perfectly. I applied and wiped off some generic black dye I had on hand and then treated with some Olde English Dark wood scratch cover stain and oil. After doing so the knife was quite dark, almost black. The Old English left a nicer finish and did not remove any of the dye. I recently purchased some Lavender essential oil and I was curious what effect that might have so I used an eyedropper and put about 10 drops on the handle and rubbed it in. To my surprise it removed a good deal of the black dye, but not all of it. I rubbed in a bit more and rubbed off all the remaining oil and dye that would come up. It left me with a beautiful dark brown stain with black grain highlights. I left dry overnight and then did 2 light treatments with ordinary mineral oil and let that dry overnight. I the heated the handle gently with a hair dryer and rubbed on some Sno-Seal beeswax which quickly melted. I buffed it hard with a cloth and paper towel until not stain or finish or beeswax wood come off. Great knife to experiment with. I cannot wait to get my next Opinel. I probably will not be doing any mods on the already slim handled #15 filet knife but I might look at a #7 or a #8 as well as the smaller non locking blades. Just buy these knives and enjoy them and give them as gifts. You CANNOT go wrong for the money. Added more pics!

I absolutely love this knife. I typically carry a bigger, tougher knife, but sometimes I grab this one just because it’s so light and comfortable to use. The roundness and straightness of the handle means you can reverse and draw cut easily. The blade came very sharp, and has held up for any task for which I use a blade this size. I cannot believe how tough the blade is for the price.

I stumbled on the Opinel booth at the 2017 Summer Outdoor Retailor show. I was immediately impressed with the combination of cost and quality of their products.I own knives ranging from cheap (almost throw away) to very fine (one that will surely be handed down to one of my kids). I realize and appreciate there is a place and market for them all. In Opinel I found a knife intended for real everyday use. Something that give good value for the price. Well designed and manufactured enough to be highly useful and reliable, while inexpensive enough that I am not worried about if I might damage it during use or losing it. It has classic clean and simple aesthetics.After much deliberation I decided to purchase the No8 Carbon version. I chose the carbon blade as I intend to use this as a EDC (Every Day Carry) knife so did not need the corrosion resistance of stainless, but wanted something that would take and hold a really fine edge. So far I have not been disappointed.The knife arrived with no problems and was exactly what I expected. As expected the hinge was stiff, making the blade difficult to open unless I used the ‘tap the handle on the table’ method to get it started. The blade was sharp enough for use as I would expect directly from a manufacturer (but far better than I would expect for a knife in this price range). There are some faint machine marks on the blade left over from its manufacturer and some burr from sharpening. I had no trouble getting a sharp enough to shave with edge.Being an engineer and someone who can’t leave well enough alone, I decided to make some customizations. I used a blend of bees wax (used for waterproofing boots) on the hinge to get it to move smother and be less prone to swelling when damp, sanded off the finish, and added a indent in the handle near where nail groove of the handle rests to make it easier to grip. I then refinished the handle using teak oil.I carry the knife daily and use it often for various tasks. With use for things like cutting oranges, the blade is starting to take on a nice patina. A few swipes on a small stone when needed is all it takes to get the razor sharp edge back.I find the No8 size to fit my hand quite well and be very versatile for many tasks, but for me it is slightly large for a EDC. I am considering picking up a No7 or 6.

These knives are awesome. Not designed to be cool, but to be functional. This design is probably the best general function knife that's ever existed, or ever will. I have many of these, and lost many. They're inexpensive, high quality, easily maintained, I've honed far beyond razor sharp. They're even good for precision whittling, which demands extremely sharp knives. The only downside, if you can even consider it such, is they're not "sexy". Nothing tactical, or high tech. Just amazing design from before anyone was thinking about marketing. The design is well over 100 years old, and still going with very little change. They're even on the list of best engineered products in history, from the queen. Given it's a French knife, and the Queen was English, that's a very big deal.Research prices though. Amazon sellers like to price them WAY above what they're supposed to be. Sometimes triple. Make good choices.