Broken mora's?

mountainmist · Feb 27, 2015

Clydebuiltcoyle said:
Hi there, my first post on the forum.

I was out lastnight and I broke my mora 911. I liked this knife as well. It happend while batoning a bit of oak. Heres the picture.

When I bought the knife there was odd markings down the spine. I dont know if this was maybe a defect in the metal? I was hoping one of you guys might know? Could I send this back ?

The Mora Triflex has almost the same handle, I would give that a try.

Mistwalker · Mar 5, 2015

docsmith said:
I've heard all the arguments about how bushcraft knives MUST be full tang or else!

In my opinion, a lot of people in the forums (who I think spend more time typing on the internet than they do in the woods) raise too much fuss about full tang construction. From my experience, unless you are intentionally trying to abuse the knife, I seriously doubt you're going to break a rat tail knife.

It's funny at how the Fins and the Swedes have been using non-full tang blades all this time and have managed to survive just fine in the woods. Maybe they didn't get the memo that what they were doing was frowned upon by the forum jockeys.

The most extreme task that you'd do with a bushcraft knife is batoning wood. If you are batoning correctly, the baton is striking the spine of the blade of the knife - not the handle. So how exactly you could break a blade by batoning correctly... It's almost inconceivable.

Doc Smith

I'd say that Camillus, Ka-Bar, and Ontario are leading contributors to the rise of full tang knives. Due to so many of the fighting/utility knives snapping at the guard, and so many erroneously blaming the tang style rather than placing the blame where it belong on the poor design of the tang in the drawings. I have a few hidden tang knives that I take to the field regularly and think nothing of it, but I know the makers, and I know they know ( much like the Finlanders and Swedish) how to correctly make a hidden tang.

As for the original question, I have yet to break any, but I only recently bought my first. These I bought only because Benjamin at Baryonyx offers some he has modified to full flat grinds. I bought then for some classes I am teaching this spring, so we will definitely see how well they hold up.

druid189 · Mar 6, 2015

I have to somewhat agree with Doc Smith. I have a full size KA*BAR USMC and while no, I haven't abused it, I have used it and it's been fine. That being said, I'm not trying to Paul Bunyan my way through the forest with it either. At best, I only baton through an average of 5" tree cuts, with the occasional "quartering" of a larger tree at about 10" diameter or so...

As I understand it, the most common rat-tail breakages are often because of a [bad?] weld at the hilt. If the entire unit is one piece though, I think it should be more stable.

Still, I think I'd be much more relaxed if it had a full-full tang, instead of the rat-tail 'type' it has...more like a "peace of mind" way of thinking. I'm always cautious with the KA*BAR because of it and don't try to do anything that might break it.

Thomas Linton · Mar 6, 2015

I believe the most common rat-tail break is at the tang-blade junction with no weld involved. Inexpensive construction leaves sharp angles that are stress-risers. I have seen pictures of tangs welded on blades, but never held such a knife.

upnorth · Mar 6, 2015

The only Mora that I have ever broken was a little 511 that I keep in the car glove box with a fero rod. I forgot my digging tool last fall while metal detecting and I abused this one badly, prying etc. And she popped. But at $9.00 up here in a farm supply store It wasn't an issue, I probably have another half dozen just in that model in a box somewhere. Funny but I used an old Erickson years ago for a summer or so and I still have it.

jdk1 · Mar 7, 2015

upnorth said:
The only Mora that I have ever broken was a little 511 that I keep in the car glove box with a fero rod. I forgot my digging tool last fall while metal detecting and I abused this one badly, prying etc. And she popped. But at $9.00 up here in a farm supply store It wasn't an issue, I probably have another half dozen just in that model in a box somewhere. Funny but I used an old Erickson years ago for a summer or so and I still have it.

Looks like it may have been worth it. Those will be collector's items when we finally incorperate Canada into the state of "North Minnesota" as a way of making it easier for hunters to drive to Alaska. Bwahahaha! Oops, that's still in the planning stages. Forget I said that...

upnorth · Mar 8, 2015

jdk1 said:
Looks like it may have been worth it. Those will be collector's items when we finally incorperate Canada into the state of "North Minnesota" as a way of making it easier for hunters to drive to Alaska. Bwahahaha! Oops, that's still in the planning stages. Forget I said that...

That doesn't sound so bad if Mexico is tossed in. Us frost backs wouldn't mind a warm place for the winter.

Bo T · Mar 8, 2015

mountainmist said:
The Mora Triflex has almost the same handle, I would give that a try.

I have the Triflex and 911 and like them both. But, I haven't seen the Triflex advertised lately and the 911 (maybe the connotation of 911) has been discontinued. My Triflex has a slightly longer and wider blade than the 911. Unless you find a used one for sale it might be SOL. Triflex steel will take more abuse than the carbon or stainless steel.

Richbat · Mar 8, 2015

Was almost afraid to read these posts after seeing the title,only reason being is I just ordered 2 Companions and thought,Oh great...

BushOgre · Mar 9, 2015

6 Mora knives owned.....Zero broken.

TedPalmer · Mar 9, 2015

BushOgre said:
6 Mora knives owned.....Zero broken.

nice!
35 moras owned, zero broken.
many battoned, non broken.
non used as a pry bar...

cybrok · Mar 17, 2015

We gave a winter survival class to 3 companies of the Canadian Army. I have seen bent and chipped Moras (the knives we bring for the students), but no broken blades. Which is quite impressive considering the care (or lack of) these knives had.

EDIT: They were MoraKniv and Bahco.

upnorth · Mar 31, 2015

cybrok said:
We gave a winter survival class to 3 companies of the Canadian Army. I have seen bent and chipped Moras (the knives we bring for the students), but no broken blades. Which is quite impressive considering the care (or lack of) these knives had.

EDIT: They were MoraKniv and Bahco.

Out of curiosity, do you remember the Mora models used ? I was wondering if they were those little thin bladed 511"s or whatever they're called. The bottom of the line, that I have used to cut sod with. I'm surprised that a bunch of ham handed military guys didn't do more damage.

cybrok · Mar 31, 2015

This MoraKniv:

And this Bahco.

The MoraKniv appears to be able to take more of a beating. I think they are 12c27 (surprisingly good steel for that price). As I told them, you can still use a bent knife, but not a broken knife.

Pwallwin01 · Nov 23, 2015

Broken just today from batoning wood for small fire. I've had the knife for about 6 years but have hardly used it so I'm not too happy about that, but then I do have another somewhere in the shed!

sh00ter01 · Nov 23, 2015

Pwallwin01 said:
Broken just today from batoning wood for small fire. I've had the knife for about 6 years but have hardly used it so I'm not too happy about that, but then I do have another somewhere in the shed!

...

Post a picture of the faces of the steel where it broke. With the way it broke I wonder if there was an inclusion.

...unless you were just beating the complete snot out of it in tough, knotty wood.

Pwallwin01 · Nov 25, 2015

sh00ter01 said:
Post a picture of the faces of the steel where it broke. With the way it broke I wonder if there was an inclusion.

...unless you were just beating the complete snot out of it in tough, knotty wood.

Actually I was breaking pallet soft wood for fire kindling. Easy stuff. There was no inclusion; I'll post a pic tomorrow as I forgot to grab it from work.

Moraofsweden.se have just today rejected the idea that this knife is suitable for batoning and not offered any kind of replacement knife, which is in poor taste if you ask me. Their lifetime warranty doesn't clarify what misuse of a tool is and so as far as I'm aware I'm eligible for their lifetime warranty knife replacement. I've sent a reply; fingers crossed.

sh00ter01 · Nov 25, 2015

Pwallwin01 said:
Actually I was breaking pallet soft wood for fire kindling. Easy stuff. There was no inclusion; I'll post a pic tomorrow as I forgot to grab it from work.

Moraofsweden.se have just today rejected the idea that this knife is suitable for batoning and not offered any kind of replacement knife, which is in poor taste if you ask me. Their lifetime warranty doesn't clarify what misuse of a tool is and so as far as I'm aware I'm eligible for their lifetime warranty knife replacement. I've sent a reply; fingers crossed.

I'll take your word for it, just seems odd to me it would break on that. I've beaten my clippers probably beyond what any sane person would do and I've never had an issue.

Alberta Ed · Nov 25, 2015

The laminated blades will bend under abuse (but are easily straightened). Never been able to bust any of the plastic-handled ones. These are tough knives.

Pwallwin01 · Nov 26, 2015

Update: Moraofsweden have stuck to their guns and told me that since my knife was made before their lifetime guarantee came into play, it was used in 'poor judgement' ie for batoning wood with the blade only 2mm thick, they will not be honoring the guarantee. He recommended the Bushcraft Orange for batoning.