OPINELNo.09 Stainless Steel Folding Oyster & Shellfish Knife with Padouk Handle

As a collector of knives, many which are high end, Opinel is to be appreciated and a must . Yes, not particularly expensive but the have a unique niche. Carbon or Stainless; various wood handle combinations, they're great. I use the various sizes for picnicking and such. A solid knife for such use.With regard to this particular model, the wood handle...nicely finished and beautiful in color. The SS blade is reasonably thick and not ground to sharpness as it is not its purpose to cut, but to unhinge...to separate, as it were.I bought 6 of each, large Cherry Stones and Blue Points to test. It worked effortlessly with the clams, opening them easily. With regard to the oysters, not so much. It became a prying tool which it should never be used for. The blade began to flex at its handle pivot point and I could see that would be pointless to continue. So, clams good, oysters bad...still love these knives.

Unlike many great looking oyster knives this one really works -- tip is pointed enough to shuck at the hinge but one side of the blade is also sharpened moderately (just enough for a bit of taper from the tip back along 1/3 of the edge, but not so much that you'll cut yourself). This taper makes it thin enough to also shuck using side-entry technique. Blade is short -- 2 1/2" -- so less appropriate for shucking larger oysters (unless you're left handed perhaps and therefore run the blade down the side closest to the adductor muscle, in which case the moderately sharpened side of the blade makes for an efficient cut).Locking mechanism also inspires confidence as this is based on twisting the ring you see between the blade and the handle to lock the blade open. Same ring also serves to lock the blade shut. My knife came through with zero play in the blade, in fact it's a bit stiff to open as a result (a good thing). Fit/finish on my knife was flawless and the locking mechanism worked smoothly and precisely.The blade and the hinge are also bound in a second ring which sits within the locking ring -- so with the blade extended there are actually two substantial steel rings holding it true and tight -- I'll be surprised if torquing the blade side-to-side as part of shucking poses any problems or loosens things up. All in all, this is a simple but brilliant mechanism, common to many of the Opinel knives, but particularly apropos due to the twisting motion used to open an oyster.The one concern I have is whether there will eventually be any swelling or warping of the wood handle due to moisture in the slot for the blade or around the locking ring -- looks like everything is sealed so hopefully will be ok. And I would not let this get in the way of purchasing a great looking, well-designed oyster knife that is very functional.

I’ve been a big fan of Opinel, for years. I’m a chef in New Orleans. So when I saw they offered a folding oyster shucker, I jumped on it. It’s a beautiful shucker, and it would be great for a picnic or small parties - but when you’re shucking 30 dozen or better a day, you may want to look elsewhere.

Opinel Quality

The quality of the knife is very nice. However, I ended up returning it because it wasn't sharp. Had I done some research, I would've known that oyster knives are designed to be dull, which is fine. Ordered a different knife from the same manufacturer that is sharp, and it's great!

Just got mine two days ago and put it to work two days ago while eating steamed crabs. It's a good size for my hand...good grip with the round wooden handle ! The blade is around two inches , sort of blunt except the tip. The blade meets the expectation of cracking that crab with ease , and, you can dig in and scrape out the crab meat. The heck with those plastic knives they give you to eat crabs . It's very nice looking !!!

Unfortunately, I bought this item over a year ago for my husband and because of many health issues and moving he never got to open it until a few days ago and when he went to use it, it did not stay straight as he was trying to open the oysters, it kept folding in and he was afraid he was gonna cut himself. He actually put it aside and used an old knife that we hadI would really appreciate somebody from Amazon or the company contacting me because this is awful

I bought this as a graduation present for my nephew and had it monogrammed. It is well made and is great for carrying to oyster roasts since the blade folds up like a pocket knife. I own other versions of the knife and have never had issues with the locking mechanisms.