Bushwalk Australia

If interested -
I quite like the opinel No.6 as a small but sharp knife in my fishing pouch - these are good for simple things as long as one dries it out after getting the wood wet. The thin blade won’t handle heavy work (the edge gets damaged by hard dry eucalyptus hardwood but great for food and green wood).
But I’ve always disliked the fat opinel wooden handle shape. It’s quite bulky. I usually prefer slip knives for their compact carry in my pouch.
So yesterday I took a rasp file and a few grades of sand paper to mine to slim it down. Kept it very simple and same shape in profile, just shaved about 25% off both sides to slim it, then rounded off the edges, and sanded it all back to smooth - then used clear spray acrylic gloss varnish to finish it.
Took only 5 mins to do, 1 hour to dry. Feels much better to me and now slips into the pouch easily.

Opinel 15 is my fav fishing knife….but I’m using it only for filleting….and, yes, it is great to mod the handle of knives to your requirements.

Also easy to “re-handle” old knives, for those who have never thought about it…

Andrew A

I'd never thought of that but looks like it works well. I do have a couple of Opinels so might give it a go.

I do have one of those “fat” opinel knives somewhere…..

Might follow your suggestion and modify it, coz it doesn’t get used as it is….

Bench sander/upside down belt sander is a good way to “re-profile” the handle.

The ovalised handle will give better haptic orientation than the rounded original. good mod.