Hi,
I kinda got carried away , you've been warned smile


What kind of knives does your local hardware/grocery/dollar/asian/world/restaurant/thrift store sell?
Please take pictures when you visit laugh
Should be able to find something italian (or "world") resembling a mora or old hickory at one of those smile


Your local store/kitchen chef/butcher or utility knife (small 6in chef/butcher, or 5-6in utility) would do well for both kitchen duty and "bushcraft" , even a paring knife would do well, and all would outcut a mora


What kind of knives do you already own?
Please take a ruler and measure the length / width / thickness of both blade and handle (and take pictures:)), also measure weight if you have a scale, and maybe measure the angles/bevel widths for a complete picture laugh

Do some side by side comparative cutting on knives you already own, its the only way to learn what is important/unimportant ; how to actually cut stuff; make sense of knife design/promotion/reviews ; The more you cut and compare/contrast, the more your control/skill increases , the easier it gets to see through the hype/lies/nonsense.
I haven't broken a knife in a block of cheese in 4 years and all it took was 2 chair legs!!




Are the knives you already own sharp / dull?
Sharpen every knife you own, if you own two of the same knife, sharpen only one,
Grab a few onions (or potatos),
some paper boxes (cardboard/cereal...),
some wooden sticks, maybe a broken a chair leg...

Now take 1 minute with 1 knife to cut onions/potato
Next use identical/dull knife and take 1 minute with 1 knife to cut onions/potato
Take 1 minute to write down your thoughts about cutting with these knives, compare one knife to another
Next take 1 minute with 1 different knife to cut onions/potato for 1 minute
Next take 1 minute to write down your thoughts about cutting with this one, compare to the previous knives
...

Next cutting session do the same comparison with paper boxes
Next cutting session do the same comparison with wooden sticks


Is the handle comfortable?
Handle comfort is #1 most important knife feature esp for extended cutting sessions.
With light cutting (onion) you can tolerate a thinner handle.
Moderate/harder cutting (wood) you'd want a full thickness handle (~1inch oval thic, ~4-5inch wide )

How easy are the cuts (how much force)? Blade grind/thickness is #2 most important knife feature.
If you're not doing a lot of cutting, and your handle is decently comfortable, then its not a big deal that cutting an onion in half takes twice as much force with a mora (5lb) than it does with a chef knife (2lb)
If cutting is shallow (making wood feather shavings), then too much thickness is not a problem.




These things below anything sharp can do -- even a shovel -- may not do them well but as long as its reasonably knife shaped , a few kabobs are not challenging even for an axe, though a knife shape is preferable for smaller cuts smile
  • slicing meat
  • boning and dicing a chicken breast or a turkey leg
  • chopping vegetables
  • cutting cordage


Even these things (some of which are a bit vague), anything with a sharp edge can do it -- may not do them well -- it depends what you compare to -- ~6inch blade like a mora 748 is not a chopper/hefty in any sense , but it is fat
  • max 10 inches in length
  • “hefty” to be a good chopper
  • ? clearing branches
  • ? building a camp fire in case of emergency etc


Speaking of a mora 748,
its very thick,
but if you're healthy/uninjured
and not cutting a thousand slices at a time (can be up to an hour of continuous cutting),
it shouldn't matter much

The ease of sharpening "scandi" is extremely overblown,
as sharpening is not that difficult (given good instruction and a little practice)
and anyone can create a sharpening angle guide (replicate the ease of a "scandi") in under 1 minute with household materials
and thinner knives are much quicker to sharpen because they need less metal removed compared to "scandi"