Mora: Tougher than you'd think!

B

beef

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Feb 15, 2004
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As most of you know, in his book Bushcraft, Mors Kochanski says a knife should be strong enough to be hammered into a tree and stood on. While I personally don't think this is necessary, I watched with interest as someone posted a video doing just this- with a mora!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIBl_IeATns

I believe this model is only a half tang one too. I'm not overjoyed at the kid pounding a knife into a living tree, but it made for interesting viewing!
 
This was originally posted by the guy that made the video.

The type of tree is pretty soft and he used soft blows.

I think the consensus was that Mora's are cheap, and that this technique is viable.
 
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Be careful with that, someone posted a few months ago of a person in his group doing that, and it snapped. Cut his foot bad enough he had to find medical attention.

While it's nice to know that a knife is strong enough to do that, I can't see the value in it...
 
The important thing to me is that I have 2 Mora knives on the way and if they can survive the silly tests then they should last well with my more reasonable treatment.
 
And to think that only the other day I froze a video frame of a behemoth of a field knife that even had the thick edge section appearing more obtuse than the tip section of some fat magic marker pens I had in front of me. Could it be that I may never need such a thing. I'm not fan of Moras because I think they represent the opposite pole, but they help put stuff into perspective for sure.
 
I may be wrong but I don't think hammering a mora through a tree is an actual technique. It's a test of strength. Hence the video title "mora destruction test".
 
Mora knives are tough, and I have a bunch of them, but I think Mors Kochanski was OTL when he wrote about driving one into a tree and standing on it. Why would you ever do that?
 
I doubt that Moras are all THAT tough - but that's OK, I have big knives with full tangs that can handle the tough tasks. But for lighter duty tasks where an 9" blade isn't really the easiest to use for the job - that's where a Mora comes in handy.

It seems a bit silly to pose questions like "what if the only knife on me was a Mora and I needed to baton some wood for the fire" - only one knife on you, pffft, what kind of weird and unlikely scenario would that idea come from?

What if I only had one knife on me? What if the sky was purple with pink spots? What if gravity suddenly reversed? Some people need to stop asking ridiculous questions and use some of the knives they have on them!
 
You have to draw the line somewhere between a knife that works for what you normally have to do and a knife that can assist you in dire need -a "survival knife."

For me, a Mora is a great backpacking or camp knife. They will do the majority of things that you need to get done. Maybe during winter months you may need to baton or split wood with a hatchet, but most of the time a Mora will do.

They may not be the first knife to reach for in a survival situation, but for most other wilderness adventure situations they are grrrrrreat!
 
Moras are a tough knife, however I do not see the need to stand on a knife for anything. That said, nice to know it can withstand that.
 
1. This person gets mad props from me for a kick a** song choice.

2. The only things missing was the sound of that knife singing as it was being driven into that tree.

And most importantly....


3. This demonstrates that steel, and other modern materials are far stronger than we given them credit for. aka Many knives are way over-built. Some trade knives in the Fur Trade were as thin as 1/16 inch thick. With partial tangs. And pitch glue.

Nice video, good to see. And I have to say, that would have been no where near as effective as a written post with images. So there, Marion.

Marion
 
Guys its a piece of steel and he stood most of his weight on the section that was closest to the tree plus the kid looks like he might be 130lbs soaking wet. ou can get a lot of steel to survive that test. I like moras sure enough but I wouldn't match it up against a tank based on that test.
 
The Mora is alright with me. I don't really hear much criticism over it. Other then the handles, tang, and sheath. But, it is what it is. A good beater to slice stuff with. BTW I have yet to see a good review of the new Mora 2010 model.
 
As far as I see it, so long as batoning and prying aren't on your list Mora's are next to perfect. They're definitely not something I'd consider a tough knife though. Not their intended purpose. But they're light, easy to sharpen and ergonomic. Perfect for me.
 
I really don't think the video was made to demonstrate the mora as a do it all survival knife, but more that we should give it more credit then we do. I batton with my 510 regularly and pry split sections with ease and I've never feared for breaking it. And I would be damned if I broke it even if it were only 12$.. cause I'd have to replace it and get my patina going again.

Awesome vid and great choice of music as previously mentioned!
 
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