Opinel Classic Original No. 6 - INOX Stainless Steel Folding Knife 18

Looking at the combination wooden scales and decent size/quality blade for under £10 !!! You can't go wrong. Of course, wood means you have to take care of it. No leaving wet, the scales swell and it will become very difficult to open or close it. Give it a bit of oiling first thing after purchase. Brief sharpening and honing and you can shave you arms, or legs if you're heading for Tour de France :) By the way, the blade is thin which is great for slicing and foot preparation. Not so good for carving and don't even think about using the point for anything harder than your palm skin when extracting splinters.

Think of them as hand made, traditional looking mora's. Great price, great look, sharp out of the box, good for a variety of tasks and possibly the king of EDC. Do they have con's? Yes, but they all fall under the "handmade and more than acceptable" category. Need a small, sharp knife that looks good? This is it, dirt cheap too.

If this knife is so well known and so well used all over the world, there are very good reason for it: cheap + good quality + fold but safe. This is my eating + small task knife when camping, I cannot see anything else that will replace it better with the same qualities.

Too start this review by saying the blade geometry is totally different to any other knife I have ever used so to sharpen my carbon steel opinel No8 I Personally use fine wet/dry paper and that dosn't change the shape of the blade but gives it a surgical sharpness edge ???????????

good work knife, very sharp out the box, if i was to order again tho i would buy the number 8.5 instead of 7 has it is very light and cant feel it in your pockets so could easily lose it an not notice

First of all great service from HH as usual. There is nothing to say about the knife which has not already been said. It is a nice, simple and classic design that feels nice in the hand and the blade is kept secure with the locking ring. The only problem with the knife and this seems to be more common with the stainless steel versions was the 'out of the box' edge, it was a little rough but very quickly took a keen edge. Worth the amazing cheap price, every one should buy one just to experience one.

Serious cutting power for the size and weight. Great ergonomics, made even better by rounding and smoothing the back of the handle. A real classic. I have both the carbon and stainless number 8s. I'll let you know which is best in a few months. Mind you, it all depends on the criteria one applies when making such a comparison.

I own several Opinels and in my view the Inox is superior to the carbon steel. Yes, I know that some people like to use the carbon steel version as an emergency fire steel and good luck with that one. Personally I'll pass. That's what lighters are for and the Carbon steel versions rust way too easily for my liking. I have half a dozen Opinels and I have had to resharpen all if them. So what? At that price your lucky not to get a box of bits and a note saying " some assembly required."

When this arrived it only had a very, very rough edge on it. It had been ground into an edge shape but not actually sharpened. After taking it down to 15 degrees per side on a sharpmaker then convexing it with the super eraser and polishing paste from here it's a different story. It feels like it wants to cut things. :) Probably the most useful knife you can get for the money, but you'll need to put a bit of time into it.