Everyday Carry

Opinel No.8 Outdoor

Authored by:
Mikey Bautista
Opinel No.8 Outdoor

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It's easy to see why Opinel knives have long been EDC favorites thanks to their variety of sizes and inexpensive price points. They're light in the pocket but heavy on performance, thanks to a rust-resistant blade with enough length for precision slicing, a unique locking collar, and a full-sized grip. And with the No. 8 Outdoor model, that same grip adds survival tools and features to an already solid knife.

The Opinel No. 8 Outdoor uses a slightly larger stock for its Sandvik 12C27 modified stainless steel blade. This extra 3.35” space gives the knife room to add serrations towards the handle in addition to a shackle key slot commonly used in sailing.

Opinel's signature lightweight wood handles are traded out for fiberglass-reinforced polyamide, which gives the Outdoor shock-, humidity-, and extreme temperature resistance. Its outdoor functionality is rounded out with a 110db survival whistle, an integral lanyard for ease of carry, and safety lock to keep it closed during travel and transport.

Opinel's knives are simple and effective additions to any EDC. The No. 8 Outdoor brings all the right features to the table for an even more useful survival knife and multi-tool. Pick one up in orange at the Amazon link below, and be sure to check out its other hi-vis colorways to best match your outdoor carry.

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Mikey Bautista

Director of Everyday Carry Operations


About the Author
Mikey Bautista is an everyday carry (EDC) expert who has been working with the EverydayCarry.com team for nearly a decade, starting with an interest in EDC as a hobby and ending up as a writer for the site in 2014. Through the years, he’s led the site in editorial content and writing about products across every category, from knives to bags to flashlights and everything in between, as well as discovering, bringing exposure, and building bridges with many brands in the industry. Today, he is the site's Director of Everyday Carry Operations, leading the editorial team and managing day-to-day operations.

He has lived through many personal and professional lives, spending nearly a decade in the workforce management industry, a minor career in gaming, and has lent a hand with entrepreneurial efforts back home in the Philippines. He has also been an active participant and helped build a number of significant social communities online, both for EDC and his other hobbies.

Mikey has been at the cusp of gaming, technology, and the internet since the ‘90s and continues to lend his experience, expertise, and authority to all his pursuits. When not online, in a game, or watching movies, you'll find him in the gym, speedrunning his next hobby, or talking at length about EDC with anyone willing to listen.

Discussion (11 total)

Robert Razavi ·
Opinel is a company that has manufactured and marketed a line of eponymous wooden-handled knives since 1890, from its headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, France. It is a classic among classics. If you have to have ONE knife to EDC and use (i.e. not a collectable, but a honest to goodness knife to use - and sometimes even abuse), might as well make it a classic Opinel (probably not the particular model in this post, but one of the more classic ones).
Britt ·
See, your argument is the same one I would use for carrying a Victorinox Swiss Army knife
Britt ·
Much, much more utility in the same size package.
Robert Razavi ·
To each their own, agreed. But if I had to have only ONE knife, I'd chose a simple, classic, you could even say noble knife, over a utilitarian one.

The Victorinox are also classic in their own way, granted, but we're still talking about a utility knife, whereas the Opinel is 'knifeness' distilled to its most simple essence. I would probably go for a classic, wood handed, non-serrated model instead of the one here.
Robert Razavi ·
I would probably choose a No. 8 with Olive wood. What a beauty!
Robert Razavi ·
Or No. 8 with horn. Wow!
Britt ·
See, I never cared for an Opinel, after I got my first one in the 70's. to me 'knifeness' would be a classic pattern stockman or congress, but for total utility, nothing works better than a Swiss Army knife. I've had all sorts and wanted to like them, but keep coming back to the one tool that solves 90% of my problems. When I was 18 I drove my POS 1969 Charger across country with a Swiss army and a 6" vise grips. When I needed to rebuild my Holley carb in the Rockies, my Swiss Army knife did the job. When my electric fuel pump needed replacing in the poconos, my Swiss army needed his buddy, my 6" vice grips to assist.
1 more comments
GWB NYC ·
the beauty of an Opinel is its 1) a carbon steel blade that's 2) not (*hurl*) serrated.

I have spoken.
White Knight ·
I love Opinel and have had a number of their knives. I reckon I have around a half a dozen at the moment. They look great, are easy to use, feel great in the hand and are a wonderful, general purpose tool. However, moving into this sector they are in danger of getting a nose-bleed. A tad racy for them, non? But good on them for having a go. They might start to win over a new group of users in the process.
1 more comments