Opinel folding knife
Navaja plegable Opinel
- Date
- 1890 · confidence medium
- Place
- Albiez-le-Vieux, Savoie, France
- Credited to
- Joseph Opinel
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A folding knife with a steel blade and wooden handle, of simple, cheap design, which Joseph Opinel produced in series from 1890. In 1955 a safety ring (virole) was added to lock the open blade.
Folding knives are far older (Roman); what is recorded is Opinel's cheap industrial production. The date of 1890 is that of the first production, according to the company.
What it led to
- an affordable pocket knife for farmers, shepherds and mountaineers
- ring-locking folding knives
- an emblematic brand of French cutlery