Cody Lundin's original knife

SwiftDream said:
The Mora Companion does have one of the most comfortable and secure grips and I do like mine. I have both carbon and 12c27. But for the finest hiking, backpacking and outdoor travel knife I go with the ultralight Mora #1 just like Cody. It will cut as good as any custom knife and out cut many. It is far lighter in weight than most fixed blades. If you want it to stick in the sheath better or feel more secure in your hands than wave a torch over the paint until it starts to bubble up. Don't get to aggressive and keep going over it with steel wool until the paint is gone. I like to seal the wood with Watco Teak Oil and fully convex the blade to make it one of the best all around users for both culinary and wood carving with its thin stock. With all the rugged terrain and miles to make if I want to get anywhere I like to keep the weight down. The rest of a kit adds up so a good lightweight knife makes sense. If you are car camping or carving in the backyard it does not matter but the long miles afoot with a rucksack...the weight will make a difference.

side by side with the Companion;

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The oval handle on the #1 is very comfortable, smallish but good. The #2 is more hand filling and some like it more. For 10 bucks this is an amazing cutting tool. Mine weighs 2.6oz with sheath. I have not found anything in its performance range that is as light.
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How do you go about convexing the blade? Over time with Sharpening? I've been thinking about picking up another Classic to try this with. I convexed the edge on a bandsaw knife that I made and so far I've been very happy with the results.
 
Hacked said:
How do you go about convexing the blade? Over time with Sharpening? I've been thinking about picking up another Classic to try this with. I convexed the edge on a bandsaw knife that I made and so far I've been very happy with the results.
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I start with 150 grit sandpaper over a 10” square piece of plate glass, put that over a wooden board and clamp it with some larger spring loaded, vinyl coated clamps. Working slowly I bring down the sharp scandi shoulder between the two grinds until it is integrated into the two. It is easy to see what you are doing because 150 grit will really scratch it up. This takes time but is the most important step to really follow through. Then I go to 220 grit. Once I'm satisfied with the progress I switch to a mousepad under the sand paper and slowly work that from 150 grit to 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000 and finish it with 1000 making sure to take off the wire edge. That polished edge will last a long time.

And its good to sharpen back any carbon Mora as most of you know. The factory sharpening and polishing with machines seems to make some of the outer steel less than stellar as far as heat treat is concerned but after sharpening back a good bit the steel really stands tall and shines.

I've done this to almost all my Moras now. It kind of turbo charges the cutting and slicing ability and makes it more of an all around utility blade for my usage, kind of like a thicker, more heavy duty Opinel kind of cutting.

Here is a shot of my fully convexed 510;

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I think the mora is a great cutting tool, I just dont like them that much. To me they are like an exacto blade: Great utility with not a lot of extra :)
 
I didn't know the handle on the one is smaller than the two. Anyone know if the handle on the one is the same as the 137?
 
Cody's first Mora was the same as mine, a Premier. Premier didn't make knives, they bought knives from other companies with their name on it. The Premier was most likely a KJ Eriksson as I have owned (still own) many KJs as well as Frosts and now Morakniv.
 
SirJames said:
Cody's first Mora was the same as mine, a Premier. Premier didn't make knives, they bought knives from other companies with their name on it. The Premier was most likely a KJ Eriksson as I have owned (still own) many KJs as well as Frosts and now Morakniv.
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Just like I also said. I bought my first Premier/Mora in Victoria B.C. maybe 20-25 years ago but the sporting goods and hardware stores up there used to have glass front display cases full of Premier branded knives from several different sources. Pretty much like you used to see Case and Schrade display cases in the states.
 
Hi, so I guess his knife is "Mora", but maybe not Morakniv. But I'm still curious - what size his knife is? Is it more the Mora Classic #1 or #2 ... ?
 
Mora's and opines are a great lesson on what you really don't need in the woods. They are simple cutting tools that work well at thier intended job. All else is an exercise in ego and wants.
 
MORAs are what they are - regarded in the Nordic countries as disposable workman's tools. When outdoorsmen in that area can afford better they buy it. And there are knives better for some tasks.

Having noted that, a MORA is usually all you need to cut.

I dislike Opinals ever since one I was carrying as my only knife got wet. The wood swelled and I had a devil of a time getting it to open. Also the blade is quite soft, so easy to sharpen and quick to dull.

In considering Cody's knife advice, recall that he wrote in is first book that all SS knives are too hard to easily sharpen, so he has limited knowledge of the range of SS knives out there and limited experience with the sharpening tools that are available. He seems to see knives as ranging for MORA Classic to killing bowies, with nothing in between. Bob Loveless would smile at that were he still with us, as would many a Swede, Finn, or Norwegian.
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