Mora Knives

Okay,

I really don't want to start a "which knife is best" contest. They always go the way of "which handgun/auto maker/computer is best" followed closely by, "I can pee farther than you".

My statements/questions follow.....

I have notice an affinity that many here have for the Mora (and similar) knives. I am totally unfamiliar with them, but have seen a nice price on one particular Mora



at Sportsman's Guide.

Is this a quality knife?
Would it be a cost effective/quality piece of equipment for the multiple BOB's everyone and their brother wants me to make all of the sudden?


Please let me know what you think??

Mora knife at Sportsman's Guide

I have one and it is scary sharp... i prefer the #1 from ragweed forge.. 10 dollars and a nice wood handle

It is my understanding that the more "traditional" wilderness survival instructors prefer these knives while the military / SERE instructors prefer the "sharpened pry bar".

I don't own one..yet (thinking about it) , but I haven't run across any negative reviews/ratings/comments. The PROS tend to be cost and decent steel. The blade may be thin for some folks.

Mora is actually a city and region in Sweden and it's knifemaking center. The companies recently merged, much like Victorinox and Wenger out of economic necessity.
You can se virtually the entire line @ www.ragweedforge.com

Your basic Mora drop point can be had in Stainless steel, laminated and carbon, though most are now S/S. For a low cash outlay, you get a decent knife with an easy to sharpen edge. And, like virtually all factory mass produced knives, Moras, though usually quite sharp will improve dramtically with a good trueing of the blade.
This particular model is a cosmetic version of at least three options Ragnar carries. It has a lanyard hole and functional but cheap sheath. Eric in Canada, who made the sheath for Doug's soon to be available offering makes a sheath for this model.

Mora is the preferred knife of canadian instructor Mors Kochanski ( bear in mind he also carries an axe for his woodcraft.) It is also a popular survival school knife as a introductory piece to learn safe handling and sharpening.

The low end entry price is a big factor in buying multiple knives for kits.

AS little known feature of Moras is their ability to saprk with a flint. I am not talking a knife sparking a metal match, but the reverse. The high carbon moras are the only readilly available knife with both carbon content and high Rockwell to produce sparks with flint ( or glass etc)
You need to dress the spine with a file to get a clean striking plane.This is a minor point, but to some a additional benefit.

Moras and their scandinavian brothers are woodcraft knives. yes, you can split smaller billets for firewood with a little forthought, prepare game and perform a myriad of duties, but a machete, $300 crowbar or multi use gismo they are not.

Ok, I have more questions.

If these are great knives, how are they so inexpensive???

Or are the prices shown on ragweed old/wrong.

I don't know, maybe they play ABBA music until the workers make quota.
The Mora knife industry has long produced a basic product. They dont use wunder steels, but the mills produce raw stock pretty close to some old familiar names. If you look closely, the edges are actually slightly hollowground, the cheapest edge to mass produce and a scandi edge after stoning is just so much better.
The classic red paint versions are a structural engineer's worst nightmare when taken apart.
Ragnar's prices shown are always current.
Buy a few,mess with them and you will understand.

The finish is not a work of beauty. These are not "show knives", they are "working knives". The sheaths are functional, but cheap.

I love the two Moras I have. They are fantastic utility knives from around the house. We'll cut anything with them without worrying about "will this damage the knife?", which can be a problem with more expensive knives. You're more worried about protecting the knife than actually using it when you pay a big chunk of change to purchase it.

I carry a Gerber LMF II ASEK in my pack. It was a gift that moved and ancient Ka-Bar into retirement. Looks aren't my concern. Function and quality are.


"The classic red paint versions are a structural engineer's worst nightmare when taken apart"

HUH?? Red Paint Versions..

Ya' just did it again Chris. Google wasn't any help. Cough up.

The handles fit the hand,Very Well.Grip will Never be a Problem,including Gut Grease,Blood,etc.& Since the grips are of a Plastic/Rubber Composition,Your hand won't be frozen, when in use,Up in the High Yonders!The blade is Definitely Tough/Resilient,& Can Hone slick with a strop,Quite well!The sheaths are OK & can be covered with a thin hide or poly/Nylon very easily.I own 2 of which I got from the guide,as well.I recommend this knife for any Kit! RoverOver

Well the plastic is injection molded, with the mold lines still visible. The blade doesn't have a nice brushed finish, isn't polisched, nor does it has a fancy coating. The back of the knife isn't nicely finished. (take a file and square it of to use with a ferrosium rod).

It's a really basic made knife, which does it's job very well; which is cutting. The thin blade also makes them easier to baton through wood.

and the great things about these knifes, you don't care if the get damaged. (i haven't broke one yet)

Unless we enter another ice age, cold "shouldn't" be a problem here in Texas.

Thanks for the info

Uhhhh....

I like the ones they market as craftsman series, especially the fact that you can get them with brightly coloured handles which makes them harder to misplace.
I also like the laminated blade versions because of the edge they will take.
I am not so fond of the straight wooden handles because there is a slightly higher risk of running your hand up onto the edge of the blade.
The knifes all take and hold an edge very well. They are all strong enough for any real working abuse.

They are very good utility knives. The red paint was on the old ones to help you not lose them too. The traditional handles were either plain or red painted birch and kind of barrel shaped with an oval cross section.

I don't think the question why they are so inexpensive fair. I think a more fair question is why are all these other knives so astoundingly expensive!
After all, aren't they are still just pieces of steel with handles?

I have a few of the Frost/Mora knives around. I have them in both stainless and carbon laminated versions.

The laminated ones have three layers in the blade. The outside layers are fairly soft and allow the blade to flex and bend a bit. The center layer is very hard and holds a truly wicked edge, but is too brittle to survive without the soft layers.

I don't know if when Mors wrote Northern Bushcraft there were Mora knives with plastic handles. I do know the last time I saw him in about 2003 he was carrying one of the ones with a plastic handle. I am not sure if it was carbon or stainless, likely carbon though.
The reason Kochanski chose Mora was because besides being a good pattern they are very common knife here, just about everyone who uses a working knife much has at least one of them.
The updated handles just make them better.

Well said. No doubt the best knives for the money. Mass production keeps the price down, basically all the effort goes into the blade whereas the handle and sheath are as cheap as possible while still serviceable.

That said, there are much better finished Scandinavian knives out there. Handmade grips and sheaths, beautifully finished blades. They cost more but still less than most US "high end" knives (not even custom).

I have a Frost laminated blade that I mounted myself and that thing has the best edge I've ever seen in a field knife. Sharpens very easily and keeps the edge well. If maintenance is a concern, pick stainless. But if you don't mind periodically oiling the blade, by all means go for a laminated blade.

Thanks Tom.
Like you say, they are the biggest bang for the dollar.

Mora also makes some knives with straight carbon steel.
The straight carbon steel blade is a little bit cheaper and a bit easier to sharpen because you can just use a file on it if you want. It certainly does not take or hold an edge like the laminated ones do.

While the Mora knives will take a lot of regular abuse they are still not intended as crowbars or cold chisels.

PC2K's comment is right on too.

Old Soldier shows one in his pack picture. At the moment it is at the top of the sidebar images, but here is a link too.
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showgallery&Number=162527
Here is his comment on it;

You really can't go wrong with a Mora. I use one in the kitchen daily and have a couple more for camping, etc. For whatever reason, its as a fair price for a good knife. Get two and save on shipping, you'll just wind up buying another one anyway.

Ditto on what Chris K said.

A Clipper or Craftsman in Carbon Steel is worth adding to any kit. If you file the spine to square they are the knife of choice for fire lighting with a Ferrocenium rod. The only knife that is comparable (at six times the price) is the Fallkniven F1.

For fire lighting:

Clipper/Craftsman: ******
Fallkniven F1: *****

Several people make aftermarket sheaths for this too. But, for a knife under $15, you cannot really go wrong. If you use it EVERY DAY for a year, and have to replace it yearly, you are STILL getting a great bargain. Although, short of severe abuse, I dont really see you replacing this on a yearly level. Buying another one, yes, but not as a replacement

Just want to give praise to Ragnar as a vendor. I've purchased a number of knives and sharpening products from him and he has always provided quick service. He's quick to respond to the questions and seems like a very good guy. His pricing is very reasonable. I just purchased this knife from him. Really nice craftsmanship and a reasonable price.

Not getting any kickbacks here just think good customer value deserves notice.

Andy

Having been smitten by the Fallkniven F1's last year I cannot find a better knife for my use outdoors. They are tremendous knives and well worth the money IMO.

That said, I too was curious about the fuss about Mora's and ended up getting two Clippers recently. One is stainless, the 860 and the other carbon, the 840. Wow! They are light, sharp, strong and cheap. Now, I understand. Had I bought them first, I still would have gotten the Fallknivens as they are a far stronger knife and a brilliant design but there is little it will do that a Mora won't. I took the Fallkniven out of my smallest pack and stuck the 840 in instead. Saves a fair amount of weight.

My primary kit knife is a F1 Fallkniven too.
The painted wood handle moras are still sold. I took one apart after it was ruined ( nephew with an electric kitchen sharpening monstrosity. The rattail tang sort of floats in a large hollow in the handle secured in the back by a crush fit roller pin and up front by the sheet metal ferrule. And there are large gaps into which water and crud can flood in.
They were all of $8 when I bought several. I've given some to hiking companions who never owned a knife, freaked seeing me with one, freaked again when some small wreck occured and the knife resolved things and wanted a knife NOW. Always encourage new converts. One wound up lost in horse tack and emerged rusty. i cleaned it up and it works fine. 2 remain in my secondary kits, rehoned to even better edges, oiled and sitting in those wretched sheaths that actually work.

I use a stainless Mora around the house for cutting up large cardboard boxes to go to the recyclers. It is great fun slicing through the really heavy thick boxes that largescreen TV's, trampolines, etc. come in. You just stab and pull downwards, you don't even need a back and forth slicing motion. I was quite impressed by that! And I find the Moras very easy to sharpen too.

I bought my first Mora from a Pamida store (think of a small Target or Walmart) in NW Iowa in about 1986 or so. I bought it as a cheap knife to use for digging wild plants out of the ground. I was taking a botany course at the time.

It had a black plastic handle and the classic cheap plastic sheath, and no matter how much I abused it, with a little sharpening it would get really REALLY sharp.

It wasn't until I read Cody Lundin's book and found ragweedforge.com mabye 20 years later that I realized that ugly cheap knife was a Mora.

Since then I've purchased quite a few Mora's from ragweedforge.com for different uses. The first one purchased after reading 98.6 degrees was the #137 with the hot-waxed leather sheath.

My favorites are the so-called "Modern Mora Knives from KJ Eriksson" that have numbers like 746 and 748. I like the feel of the handles. These days I mostly use them as car camping kitchen knives. I bought a set of 746, 748, and 749 (4", 5.75", and 8" SS blades) for my cook tub (used for car-based tent camping) and another set for my travel trailer. The plastic sheaths work great for camp kitchen use where a fancy robust knife is simply not needed and an un-sheathed knife is asking for trouble.

Just about any of the inexpensive Mora's that Ragnar offers are worth having. The Clipper series is a great knife to tuck in a bunch of places. I recently got a red handled carbon Clipper that is perfect in my truck kit. I resisted these inexpensive knives for many years.



Ragnar also offers some slightly higher end knives that are definately worth investigating. The Iisakki Järvenpää Aito (1244) birchbark handle upscale "Mora" is my favorite of his offerings.

Maybe you'all can tell me more about a knife I bought at REI
in 1974. I was called a "Swedish Surfman's Hunting Knife".
It is stainless steel blade with a wood, paring knife shaped handle
and a drop point. Came with an embossed leather sheath with
a button hole on the belt loop so you could button it to your
overalls like the Swede's like to do. I has been a very durable
knife, but I have never seen one like it since.

Desperado, I have that exact model, green plastic handle with the green plastic sheath, from SG, based on a recommendation on another forum.

It is, as stated, very sharp right out of the packaging, and obviously good steel. Seems to me it's cheap because that handle and sheath are bottom rung. It has been suggested that it be bought for the blade, the plastic removed and tossed, and new handle sheath created/bought.

But I keep it as is, if (or when) the handle does break, I'll deal with it then.

I have only had one sheath for a Mora break and that was from the knife getting hammered into it so hard that it split.
I have misplaced a few of them though.
They are not really hard to make and for the wood handled knives a piece of thin wall water supply pipe (plastic) makes a workable sheath.

That's what I was thinkin', and a sheath would be pretty much any standard 7 incher.

IMO: yes.

I would take a Mora Clipper (or two, they're light and inexpensive) into the bush any time. But I don't abuse knives.

As others have said, they're a cutting tool, not a prybar. If in doubt, add a cheap flat prybar or oversize flat screwdriver to the kit.

Chisel Version too, (though not a prybar)
http://www.ragweedforge.com/712.jpg

I just picked up a TOPS Baghdad Box Cutter. I've been a big fan of neck knives for the past 8-9 years, with the thought that the best survival knife is the one that is with you when you need it. I used to carry an old CRKT Carson F4. It was a nice little knife that attached perfectly to my [Canadian] dog tags. The problem was that it was too light and did not stand up to the abuse I was really starting to give it.

So I started looking for a new neck knife, one that would stand up to the abuse that I was really starting to get into. I put in an order through my local dealer for a Becker Necker by Kabar, but he couldn't get it in for some reason. As a result, he ordered my second choice, the TOPS BBC. The blade length is the same as my old carson F4, but it is a little shorter and quite a bit heavier, but still comfortable around my neck on my dog tags.

The plus side is it is extremely heavy duty; being made out of 1/4" 1095 carbon steel.

I love it!

I also have and use a Canadian Russel (grohman) survival knife and my issue gerber multi-tool.

I'm not overly happy with the sheath that came with the BBC and have been considering making my own leather sheath.

Anybody else got a TOPS BBC? Happy about the sheath?

Red painted grip model Mora...

The prices are correct. These are good knives for the price. I wouldn't call them great knives. But they are very cheap, and unlike most cheap things, they actually work well. But they are also cheaply made, not a big deal if you aren't expecting high quality. I personally don't like the scandi grind, and believe that a flat grind is much better. YMMV.

They are handy to have around, you can use them for lots of tasks that you wouldn't want to subject a good knife to.

After reading through this thread, I decided I'd try to polish up my carbon steel Mora. i.e., fix the "rough finish" on it. I actually had to resort to a grinding wheel on my Dremel tool to clean up the sides of the blade. Then lots of sanding with 150 grit sandpaper. I'm not through with that part yet, but next will be 400 grit sandpaper followed by 0000 steel wool.

Would I recommend this? Probably not, unless you just happen to have time and don't mind sanding things. The steel is much shinier now than it was and I'd say the "quality" of the look is about the same as it was originally (just shinier). Maybe after finer sanding and polishing it will look great, but for now it's just "fair" ... same as it was before. I guess this 1095 steel used in the Mora is harder than the alloy they use in the Henry rifle receiver covers. That stuff shined up to a "high polish brushed stainless" look with only a few short minutes of polishing with 0000 steel wool. I can probably get to that polish level with the Mora, but it will take a lot more work.

I would recommend working the spine of the blade however. That was easy to do with a simple file and a little sanding. That part looks MUCH better now - it was very very rough originally.

No comparison at all. A typical rifle receiver is an alloyed (usually medium carbon steel) quenched and tempered for maximum toughness to about 45 HRc at most. A monosteel, fully hardened Mora blade is over 57 HRc. That makes a big difference in how much more work it takes to polish the surface. On the other hand, a laminated Mora is far easier to polish because the outer layers are very soft low carbon steel.

By the way, a buffing wheel w/ paste works a lot better than steel wool for the final polish. You could use a buffing wheel on your Dremel though a real buffing wheel would produce better results.

What good is a 'good knife' if there are tasks you wouldn't want to subject them to? This is like saving water in your canteen for later while dieing of thirst.

I agree, Chris, I have a buck and a mora and a bunch of others and they look awful. But still meet the need!

Just be VERY careful! Most knife makers will tell you that the polishing wheel is the most dangerous power tool that they have. I seem to remember one of the top knife makers commenting that after all these years that it still scared him!
The problem is that it is VERY easy for the wheel to grab on the blade, and then you have a sharp piece of steel flying around at over 100mph!!!

+1 on that, have not thrown a knife with a polishing wheel yet. But i have had more than one thing ripped out of my hands and go flying across the shop.

Been there, done that, and my work bench has the scar to prove it.

I can say it is a mistake generally only made once.

I can tell you that when drilling a thong or pin hole in a knife handle is it a real good idea to clamp the blade, or clamp a stop block in place. If you don't, you can have a nice sharp knife spinning around at a zillon rpm's, then flying off and sticking in whatever it happens to end up coming in contact with. Luckily not me...

OBG...please say "lanyard" instead of "thong" (he said shuttering)
Somehow creating a hole on a knife so that it could be worn on thong is a very disturbing image.

Wasn't that giant bolo knife from another thread was it?!?!

There would be no getting away from it.

Anyone have any experience with this mora for a general camp knife?

http://www.ragweedforge.com/c-223.jpg

No, but I kinda like it, how long is the blade???

Has any of these Mora knives full tang?

I answered my own question, 8.75", $15 without sheath from Ragweed Forge...

I don't think so. I think for almost all of them, the tang extends the full length of the knife, but it loses a lot of width for the steel, thereby losing strength. For the price, they are still worth it, but the Mora knives are not prybars. I've seen stories of someone being able to imbed some in a tree and use them as a ladder, but I don't want to test them in that way with my 220 lbs.

Yup... just found it and it looks like a good camp knife. For the price you can't go wrong. Not a fan of the sheath it comes with, so will need a custom one done which will be more then the knife.

Just got the new Traditional Woodworker catalogue and noticed some Mora knives I hadn't seen before (or don't recall seeing).

http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/default.php/cPath/525_731

Traditional Woodworker has a nice website and great pics of the knives. I've ordered from them before and experienced good service.

Have also been very pleased with Ragweed Forge. Per recommendations on ETS.

http://www.ragweedforge.com/SwedishKnifeCatalog.html

Am now going to compare prices.

Very pretty, but at $150 there are quite a few I'd pick before it.

I'll 2nd that! But It sure would make someone Look real good,sportin' it at a Booyah Party!

Here is what the tang of a conventional Mora looks like. They have a 'rat tail' tang. I can see the reason to buy the $150 Mora, although it has nothing to do with need. It is easy to get addicted to Moras. I have some old wood handled ones, and also a couple of Clippers. With the excellent blades, the value vs price ratio is very favorable for a Mora knife. The sheaths and over-molded handle materials while fully functional, are quite inexpensive. I can understand the urge for a Mora addict to buy a real nice Mora knife just to have it. If you look at the other brands of premium Scandinavian knives, they tend to be very expensive too.