There's been a fair bit of discussion in the past on Mora blades and why they are recommended in the Bushcraft book. I believe that this is the most appropriate forum to discuss them since people here are constantly experimenting with jobs that such knives are appropriate for. The knives and blades are cheap and easily found so even people who have never used one can pick one up to try if they want.
I guess that the reason I would like discussion is that with these knives we can have a benchmark to discuss what they can do, and realistically what other knives can do better (and why). They come in many blade lengths and widths - all with the same steels and general construction, so people with different preferences in blade length can still discuss them, and why they prefer their model.
I was at the store and picked up a Mora knife for $8.95 CAN ($5 US). It's the red painted birch handled plastic sheathed ugly one - this one with a 6" non laminated carbon blade. I'll be getting a full set to try out different blade steels (laminated and non laminated, stainless..) and blade lengths. I've owned some before - but always gave them away. I always considered them toolbox knives.
So in the store I picked one up at random out of 50. When I have time I can pick over the rest more critically! The first strange point is that now I've obviously become more interested in knife function - the looks don't offend me so much!
It was quite true that one of these selected at random will slice paper. It looked as if the blade had been polished to an edge with some rounded grind marks still apparent. When I examined the blade with a 16X magnifier, I saw that I was wrong. There is a minute secondary bevel, quite steep too. The saber grind is also slightly hollow ground.
It's quite a bit of work with a glass plate and abrasives to get the edge straight, and get past the bits where grinding has altered the temper. If you don't do this you'll end up with a blade that cuts paper very well - but parts of the blade will seem to blunt quickly and tear while others seem to just keep going. I wanted to follow the saber grind taper. I'm prepared to believe that this blade is somewhere around R60+ as the ads say. Subjectively it is harder to sharpen than a Scrade carbon blade, and it seems to hold an edge better in paper cutting - both being sharpened past factory edge defects. I haven't yet checked to see if the edge chips easily with this degree of hardness.
The handle always put me off in the past because I am used to handles with guards - or at least some sort of grip to stop slipping onto the blade. I consider this one quite dangerous since the red paint becomes VERY slick when wet. Peel a few potatoes and you'll see just how slick it can get. I believe that others - like me - will feel much better about the knife after taking a propane torch to the handle: you can only improve the looks of this knife. Birch fire-hardens very well so go slowly but thoroughly. Eroding enough wood to bring up the grain gives a much more secure grip, as does grinding, filing, or even burning a few dimples to give more contact with surface of fingers on underside. As long as you weren't expecting to find any curly birch under the red paint, I would expect most people to be much happier at this point: the knife actually looks OK. An oil finish rubbed in will give protection and surprisingly more grip even if finished to a slick finish. Leaving enough blackened wood on the final finish will leave the wood quite hard. Once so treated the knife can be used quite safely with wet hands.
I can see daylight through the handle on my knife. The main supports seem to be where the blade meets the handle and at the back rivet on the tang. You'd sure want to soak some glue down the handle hollow (as suggested by James Mattis) before using this knife to cut up chicken and stuff. I'm wondering just how well this knife handle will hold up with use of a baton.
The plastic sheath is secure if ugly. It could serve as a good blade protector to build a leather sheath around for looks.
Oh well off to test with a baton.. One thing I won't try today is Mors Kochanski's notion of how to test a knife for strength. Pg 111 in old book says to drive knife into tree 4cm at right angles to grain, then stand on handle. And I thought I was thorough...
Jimbo
I guess that the reason I would like discussion is that with these knives we can have a benchmark to discuss what they can do, and realistically what other knives can do better (and why). They come in many blade lengths and widths - all with the same steels and general construction, so people with different preferences in blade length can still discuss them, and why they prefer their model.
I was at the store and picked up a Mora knife for $8.95 CAN ($5 US). It's the red painted birch handled plastic sheathed ugly one - this one with a 6" non laminated carbon blade. I'll be getting a full set to try out different blade steels (laminated and non laminated, stainless..) and blade lengths. I've owned some before - but always gave them away. I always considered them toolbox knives.
So in the store I picked one up at random out of 50. When I have time I can pick over the rest more critically! The first strange point is that now I've obviously become more interested in knife function - the looks don't offend me so much!
It was quite true that one of these selected at random will slice paper. It looked as if the blade had been polished to an edge with some rounded grind marks still apparent. When I examined the blade with a 16X magnifier, I saw that I was wrong. There is a minute secondary bevel, quite steep too. The saber grind is also slightly hollow ground.
It's quite a bit of work with a glass plate and abrasives to get the edge straight, and get past the bits where grinding has altered the temper. If you don't do this you'll end up with a blade that cuts paper very well - but parts of the blade will seem to blunt quickly and tear while others seem to just keep going. I wanted to follow the saber grind taper. I'm prepared to believe that this blade is somewhere around R60+ as the ads say. Subjectively it is harder to sharpen than a Scrade carbon blade, and it seems to hold an edge better in paper cutting - both being sharpened past factory edge defects. I haven't yet checked to see if the edge chips easily with this degree of hardness.
The handle always put me off in the past because I am used to handles with guards - or at least some sort of grip to stop slipping onto the blade. I consider this one quite dangerous since the red paint becomes VERY slick when wet. Peel a few potatoes and you'll see just how slick it can get. I believe that others - like me - will feel much better about the knife after taking a propane torch to the handle: you can only improve the looks of this knife. Birch fire-hardens very well so go slowly but thoroughly. Eroding enough wood to bring up the grain gives a much more secure grip, as does grinding, filing, or even burning a few dimples to give more contact with surface of fingers on underside. As long as you weren't expecting to find any curly birch under the red paint, I would expect most people to be much happier at this point: the knife actually looks OK. An oil finish rubbed in will give protection and surprisingly more grip even if finished to a slick finish. Leaving enough blackened wood on the final finish will leave the wood quite hard. Once so treated the knife can be used quite safely with wet hands.
I can see daylight through the handle on my knife. The main supports seem to be where the blade meets the handle and at the back rivet on the tang. You'd sure want to soak some glue down the handle hollow (as suggested by James Mattis) before using this knife to cut up chicken and stuff. I'm wondering just how well this knife handle will hold up with use of a baton.
The plastic sheath is secure if ugly. It could serve as a good blade protector to build a leather sheath around for looks.
Oh well off to test with a baton.. One thing I won't try today is Mors Kochanski's notion of how to test a knife for strength. Pg 111 in old book says to drive knife into tree 4cm at right angles to grain, then stand on handle. And I thought I was thorough...
Jimbo
