Opinel No.10 Pruning Billhook Knife

In knife making, there is no ideal steel but a multitude of grades that are suited to different knife purposes. By definition, steel is an alloy combining iron and carbon. When no other element is added, it is commonly called carbon steel.

Stainless steel appeared in the forms that we recognise now at the beginning of the 20th century. The stainless steel grade for Opinel blades has been optimised to get the best compromise between resistance to corrosion and mechanical strength properties.

The shape of the traditional Opinel knife has remained unchanged since its design by Joseph Opinel in 1890. The knife's wooden haft features a deep groove. Only highly durable wood is suitable for shaping and producing hard-wearing hafts. Because Opinel want to avoid negative environmental impact, they use wood from local sustainably managed forests.

In 1955, Marcel Opinel, who had been working on improving the safety of the knife, invented the Virobloc® system. He added a rotating ferrule which slid onto the fixed ferrule, closing the groove and thus locking the blade in the open position. In the 90s the Virobloc® system was modified to lock the blade in the closed position. At first. it was only used on a few models, but then was included on all models in 2000.