Bring out Your Sloyds!

[WhittlinAway]

As I've gotten into green wood carving and larger-scale whittling projects, I've come to greatly appreciate the humble sloyd (or slöjd in the Swedish spelling) knife. Like any other style that has a long history of widespread use, the world of sloyd knives is rich. I thought it was about time we had a thread dedicated to this woodworking workhorse hailing from Sweden.

I'll get things started with the few sloyd knives I have in my collection and I invite everyone to share pictures of theirs as well. I'd love to also hear about how you put your sloyd knives to use.

First up are the classics, a Mora 106 (top) and 120 (bottom), both very popular models that are incredible values:

I use the 106, with its longer more slender profile, for spoon carving and other greenwood projects like spatulas and butter spreaders. I often use the 120 for bulk removal on basswood whittling projects.

Next up is the Pinewood Forge sloyd knife:

It has a more pronounced curve than the Mora sloyds and I find that I mostly use it for final finishing cuts on spoons, particularly around the rim and the back of their bowls.

Finally is the most recent addition to my collection, an RS2 short sloyd from Runes Land Knives:

The blade is 52100 steel and the handle is scorched osage orange. I haven't yet had a chance to put it to work on green wood, but intend to use it for spoon carving soon. In the mean time, it's proven very adept at bulk removal and rough carving for basswood whittling projects.

That's it for my collection. I'd love to see yours.

 

[Mikael W]

The small Slöjd-knives from Mora are indeed great value for money.
Nowadays they seem harder to find and the asked price is sometimes tripled.
The laminated blades are my favorites among the Mora line, due to their edgeholding and toughness.
I use the #106 made by Frosts and I have several of them with varied handles.
I have swapped handles between a Classic #1 and a Slöjd #106.
This made them both better IMO.

The bottomknife is a Morakniv carbon version, but all knives above are Frosts laminated O1 steel at HRC 61.
The top one is 30 years old, but it is still a good user.
The #106 can easily take a bend, but is just as easy to bend back to true.
The long & slim #106 is the right tool when I hollow out the pithcore from antlers, but it does a lot of other woodworking chores with perfect accuracy.


Regards
Mikael

 

[WhittlinAway]

Thanks for sharing your lovely collection of sloyd knives, Mikael W .

Very interesting about the swap of the Classic #1 and the Slöjd #106. I also have a Classic #1, but have not used it much and had not realized that the handles of the two knives were different sizes. After looking at your photo and putting mine side by side, I see what you mean.

I was wondering if you could shed some light on a subject that I'm a bit confused about. What is the relationship between Mora and Morakniv. Are they synonymous? Is one a general term and one a particular brand? I'm also uncertain of which Mora knives are not made by Frost. How does one tell?

 

[Mikael W]

Mora is a town and the knives are made in Östnor, a village just outside of Mora.
There were several makers and brands producing Moraknives.
Finally only two brands survived, Frosts and KJ Eriksson.
Today they have been merged into one company and that is the Morakniv company.

The Frosts brand is used on their industryknives like butchering and fish industry.
To my knowledge KJ Eriksson isn't used as a name anymore.

The laminated blades have always had the best reputation among users, for their edgeholding.
The laminate is produced for Mora in a French steelmill, but today it's harder to have it produced.
So the Morakniv Company have reduced the models availible in this steel.
If You find laminated knives in good condition, buy them if the price is right!


Regards
Mikael

 

[WhittlinAway]

Mikael W , thank you very much. Things are much clearer to me now.

 

[r8shell]

I only have this pair that I bought some years ago. I think they are the 120, and 122, with laminated blades. When I switch between them, I have to pay attention to which one I'm using, and not push my thumb into the edge.

 

[Old Biker]

I have both a 2 1/4" and 1 3/4" Sloyd knife from Pinewood forge. The 1 3/4" version is my favorite whittling knife. I like the short blade.

Morakniv makes some of their models available as blade blanks. Including the 106 and 120 Sloyd style blades in laminated steel. I put handles on several of them and gave them away for Christmas last year. Unfortunately I seem to have failed to take a picture before I gave them away. I did keep this 120 blade for myself however.

The handle is made from Maple, Jatoba and Purple Heart.

O.B.

 

[WhittlinAway]

I only have this pair that I bought some years ago. I think they are the 120, and 122, with laminated blades. When I switch between them, I have to pay attention to which one I'm using, and not push my thumb into the edge.
View attachment 979054

A nice looking pair! But, yikes!, I can imagine that you'd really have to be careful not to pick up the wrong one and push into the edge.

I have both a 2 1/4" and 1 3/4" Sloyd knife from Pinewood forge. The 1 3/4" version is my favorite whittling knife. I like the short blade.

Morakniv makes some of their models available as blade blanks. Including the 106 and 120 Sloyd style blades in laminated steel. I put handles on several of them and gave them away for Christmas last year. Unfortunately I seem to have failed to take a picture before I gave them away. I did keep this 120 blade for myself however.

The handle is made from Maple, Jatoba and Purple Heart.

O.B., thanks for the comparison shot of the two Pinewood Forge sloyds. I have the 2 1/4" which I got as part of their spoon carving combo special. A while back I was thinking about trying the 1 3/4" as a whittling knife, but haven't picked one up yet. Your side-by-side comparison shot is very helpful and I can see why you like it as a whittling knife.

You did a fantastic job handling that Mora 120 blade. Those were some lucky folks who got 106s for Christmas!