page_title: Opinel
section_title: Sizes and variations
hierarchical_section_title: Opinel / Description / Sizes and variations
caption_attribution_description: English: An Opinel number 12 folding knife.
context_page_description: The Opinel company has manufactured and marketed a line of eponymous wooden-handled knives since 1890 from its headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, France — where the family-run company also operates a museum dedicated to its knives. The company sells approximately 15 million knives annually. Opinel knives are made of both high carbon and stainless steel, the latter being the highest quality Sandvik steel from Sweden.
  Originally sold as a working man's knife, an Opinel knife has become emblematic of French culture, with Pablo Picasso reportedly using one of the company's knives as a sculpting tool. In 1989, the Larousse dictionary cited "Opinel" as a registered trademark.
context_section_description: Opinel knives are currently offered in eleven numbered sizes: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13. The No. 1 Opinel was discontinued in 1932. With its tiny 2 cm (0.787-inch) blade and boxwood handle, it was meant to be attached to a key fob or watch chain and used as a tobacco pipe cleaner or nail cleaner, but was judged to be too small. The No. 11 Opinel was discontinued in 1935, its size being considered too similar to Opinels Nos. 10 and 12.
  With its 8.5 cm blade, the No. 8 Opinel is perhaps the most widely used size, though Nos. 4, 6, and 10 are consistent sellers. There is a considerable difference in size between No. 12 (12 cm blade) and the recently-added novelty No. 13, Le Géant ("the Giant") with its 22 cm blade. There is now a No. 7 round-ended knife without the sharp point, intended for children and others as "My first Opinel".
  A variety of different Opinels have been offered over the years. A few are sold more for their novelty value than for practical purposes, such as Le Géant. Besides the Slim Effile series and the Couteau du Jardin, Opinel also offers a hawkbill-bladed pruning knife designed for use in the garden or vineyard, and a large folding wood saw with locking blade using the same Virobloc mechanism as found on large Opinel knives. For the kitchen, the company sells vegetable peelers, chefs knives, paring knives, knives with corkscrews (couteau tire-bouchon), and prep knives for the kitchen, including a mushroom knife (couteau à champignon), with an integral boar's hair cleaning brush. In 2014, Opinel again released new varieties of knives for cooking.
caption: An Opinel no 12
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