Frankie, Rockwell is the scale used to rate steel hardness. Some knives will be differentialy tempered, with parts of the blade and tang ranging from soft to very hard. The carbon Moras' high R enables natural flint sparking. The flint ignites the carbon molecules from the blade material. Anything softer than 58-60 and the flint merely gouges the material. Moras have this high R in the blade, and a relatively soft tang. You will eventually bend one, or even get one with a few degrees 'prebent.' They bend back easily. Good knives start out very sharp. With care there is no reason to need anything beyond a fine sharpening surface. You may want to pick up a fine ceramic rod and just 'steel' your knives most of the time. This is actually straightening minute warps and not removing material. Again, www.ragweedforge.com has a basic primer on sharpening scandi knives. www.bladeforums.com and www.knifeforums.com are a goldmine of sharpening information. Clipper is just a name frost uses. "Mora" is actually a region in Sweden and the name a generic term for their knives. The red handled knife is actually made by a few companies and are like buying disposable lighters over there. Again, these are so inexpensive you can learn to sharpen and handle them without great investment. Eventually you may want to upgrade to a more robust knife. The Moras are popular with many outdoor/survival schools for basic use and instruction for these same reasons.