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I would have never considered myself a pocket knife person. In my mind, pocket knives are for people like my cousin who live part-time in Alaska and can field dress a deer. I, a soft-handed city dweller on the flight side of the fight-or-flight spectrum, am the opposite of that. My relationship with knives begins and ends in the kitchen. Well, it did, until one fateful day a year ago when I was browsing a concept knife boutique with my dad in Denver.
I’ll set the scene: It’s chilly outside. We have time to kill before a dinner reservation. We go into a nearby store. Knives? Everywhere. But they’re organized—so, not scary. There are alsocookbooks, some pasta shaping tools, and exactly one bottle of Nielsen-Massey vanilla. I touch things, my dad tells me to stop, I continue to touch things, but, more subtly. (I am an adult.) I pick something up. It looks quaint and provincial, I want it.
What is it, you ask? The Opinel No. 8 pocket knife.
I liked hownottactical it was. I admired the blond beechwood handle and the simple twisting ferrule that locks the blade in place. No springs, no odd or bulky grip designs reminiscent of a Nerf gun. This wasn’t a knife you’d plunge into a deer, it was a knife you’d use to harvest a sheaf of lavender or to sharpen a set of artist's pencils for a mild afternoon of plein air sketching. And while it may actually be sharp enough to gut a fish, or break down a freshly shot kill, it doesn’t look like it, which is what really matters...to me. It was also 17 dollars, which is why I decided to buy it.
I used my new knife for everything: In the kitchen, it served an important purpose as aparing knife立方体,帮我切,削苹果,鳄梨,shave off a piece of citrus zest. But I could also carry it with me. I could use it to slicesnacks at my desk. I could use it to open letters, and to break down boxes (which admittedly might not be the best way to keep the knife sharp). There was an immense sense of satisfaction in owning a tool that could do somuch, that I could take anywhere.
The more I started to use my Opinel pocket knife, the more I realized it wasn’t just some knife I could thoughtlessly pull out to slice up an orange or open a letter. The Opinel requires a little bit of care, which is maybe the most useful thing about it.
Since the blade is carbon steel, it stays sharp longer, but is prone to rust, so you need to wipe it clean after use. It also develops a patina the more you use it, especially with food. Not only is the patina normal, but there are also ways to intentionally give your carbon steel bladea specific type of patina.
It’s easy to fall into the mindset, particularly prevalent in our technology-packed world, that tools merely work until they no longer work, at which point it’s time to replace them. But it’s important to remember that little TLC will make good things last. This includesknives, but also pots and pans, cast iron cookware, and even stemware.
If you’re making a slow transition into adulthood and considering investing in kitchenware that requires careful care and maintenance, like an expensive Dutch oven or a forged chef’s knife, consider giving this simple tool a shot first. Like that sack of flour in home ec class, it’ll teach you a few things about caring for something other than yourself. And it’ll help you slice a lot of apples along the way.
