All About Pocket Knives

I got my fist Opinel almost 30 years ago, and for most of that time I stuck only with the carbon blades. I never considered a stainless blade, as I felt it was kind of wrong on some level with the old time design. But several months ago, I received a stainless oak number 6 as a gift, and out of curiosity I have uses the heck out of it. I day to day use on the same kind of materials I usually deal with, the stainless one seems to have better edge holding. I know that around 2000, Opinel switched to 12v27, and I'm thinking that they are carrying the RC hardness up a bit from the carbon steel. The stainless is a little bit harder to sharpen, and it seems to be more wear resistant. I may have to pay more attention to the stainless ones in the future.

Anyone else tried both in day to day comparisons ?

I found pretty much the same as you. The stainless was a tad harder to get to the same sharpness as the carbon, but it was still plenty sharp enough. I'd be happy carrying either.

cb51 wrote:I got my fist Opinel almost 30 years ago, and for most of that time I stuck only with the carbon blades. I never considered a stainless blade, as I felt it was kind of wrong on some level with the old time design. But several months ago, I received a stainless oak number 6 as a gift, and out of curiosity I have uses the heck out of it. I day to day use on the same kind of materials I usually deal with, the stainless one seems to have better edge holding. I know that around 2000, Opinel switched to 12v27, and I'm thinking that they are carrying the RC hardness up a bit from the carbon steel. The stainless is a little bit harder to sharpen, and it seems to be more wear resistant. I may have to pay more attention to the stainless ones in the future.

Anyone else tried both in day to day comparisons ?

12c27, to be accurate - harder to sharp but more sustainable