Opinel knife

Joseph Opinel began making knives in 1890 in Savoie, France as a simple working man's or peasant's knife. It proved popular with the local farmers, herdsmen, and paysans-vignerons (peasant winemakers) of the area. In 1897, a series of twelve sizes, numbered 1 to 12, was developed. From 1901 to 1903, Joseph Opinel built his first factory in Pont de Gévoudaz and produced a machine for mass production of the knife's wooden handles.

The company hired peddlers to sell the knives and opened a small shop near the Chambéry railway junction, where the knives became popular with PLM railroad workers, who in turn spread word of the brand throughout France. By 1909, Opinel had registered his first trademark for the Opinel knife, choosing the main couronnée ("crowned hand") as his emblem. A few years later Opinel annual sales were in the hundreds of thousands, and by the start of World War II as many as 20 million knives had been sold.

The Opinel Virobloc or safety twistlock mechanism was invented by Marcel Opinel in 1955, increasing the safety and versatility of the knife by allowing the blade to be locked in the open position. In 2000, the Virobloc locking mechanism was improved to allow locking the blade in either the open or closed position.

In 1985 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London selected the Opinel knife as part of an exhibit celebrating the “100 most beautiful products in the world”, featuring the Opinel alongside the Porsche 911 sports car and the Rolex watch. The Opinel was also selected as one of the 999 classic designs in Phaidon Design Classics, and has been exhibited by the New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) as a design masterpiece.

The curve of the original Opinel blade is a yatagan (more commonly described as a drop point with a blade slightly angled downwards from the handle centerline), while the flared butt at the base of the wood handle is referred to as a fishtail. The modern No. 8 knife consists of five pieces (formerly four); the handle, the blade, the pivot or axle, the metal collar and the locking ring or "Virobloc". The blade is quite thin, only 1.68mm (.066 inches), which helps keep its weight to only 45g (1.6 ounces). Original Opinels and the smallest sizes today are still made of only four parts, lacking the simple Virobloc locking mechanism. The locking ring can easily be removed with simple tools for use in countries where locking knives are prohibited; some sources claim that opening the blade with the ring in the locked position causes the ring to pop off; it can be replaced easily later if desired. The No. 8 Couteau du Jardin or Garden Knife uses a folding drop-point blade with a slim, tapered wood handle, while the Opinel No. 8 and No. 10 Pruning Knives, designed for pruning shrubs and vines, feature a large folding hawkbill blade fitted to an elegantly curved wooden handle. The Opinel Slim Effile series use a thinner-profile stainless steel blade fitted to a tapered wood handle. Available in several sizes and handle materials, the Slim Effile knives are intended for tasks such as cleaning and fileting fish and thinly slicing meats and cheeses.

The traditional Opinel is designed to be opened with two hands, and a nail nick is provided on the blade. It is possible to adjust the fitting of the safety locking collar if it is too tight or too loose. Those practiced in the art of coup du savoyard grip the metal collar between index finger and thumb and tap the heel of the handle firmly on a hard surface, as if using it as a drumstick; the blade should open slightly from the handle, allowing it to be rotated into position with the thumb.