New Mora Heavy Duty Knives

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Jan 18, 2012
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Did a review of the Mora Companion Heavy Duty Knives recently with a comparison to the Mora Robust.
[video=youtube;Cr3mM7JT4x0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr3mM7JT4x0[/video]

The Bushcraft Black (below picture) was not reviewed because I think the $39 USD goes against the spirit of buying a Mora. Still for others maybe they would like it. I just don't see any real advantage the Black has over the Robust or Heavy Duty Knives (IMO).
Bushcraft Black .jpg
 
Great review!!!
Really enjoyed it.
Mora Robust, Bahco folding saw, small hatchet and you are good to go for less than a price of a single mid range Bushcraft knife.
 
This is an awesome review. I noticed my Mora does have a secondary bevel towards the tip. Also I bought 2 of them and the spine did come finished. I love these knives. They do cut so good.
Thanks
Jose
 
Thanks for a good video. Now I am going to apologise because now it is rant time!

I am also from Sweden and I would like to provide some perspective to the surreal "Mr Jogg". It's true that the Mora is very common. It has become a popular knife primarily because it is a high quality knife at moderate cost. For example, Hultafors is also low cost knife, often around a dollar cheaper than Mora but Hultafors knives are not as high quality and are made in China unlike Mora of Sweden (and Frost) which are 100% made in Sweden (including the important but often forgotten heat treat process)

I also disagree with this "Jogg" on that everyone throws away their used Mora knives instead of sharpening. Not true! (What is true is that people often have a bunch of the Craftline Q allround for different purposes. One for scraping rust, opening tins or other heavy abuse, one for carpentry, one for outdoor, one for the car etc. They generally don't get thrown away instead of sharpened).

Further I disagree with your "spirit of buying a Mora". I am glad Mora are now also producing some nicer knives. The DLC-coating of the Black is expensive and the bushcraft line of sheaths are much better and more functional than the Companion sheath. I don't know your local options but here in Sweden you can buy Mora hunting knives for 160$. Same 1095, O1 or 12C27 steel as the low cost options but again with nicer materials, finish and sheaths. I could understand your argument if it was about, for example, IKEA starting to make higher end furniture as that would truly "go against the spirit" of IKEA, but that is very different as IKEA furniture are cheap quality at very low price.
Mora knives concept is fundamentally different - high quality at low price. Something like the Mora 510 is inexpensive because of high tech manufacturing, cheap and singular handle material and cheap sheath. But the most important thing - the knife blade and grind are as good or better quality than a 100$ knife.

Mora knives are not about being cheap but about being good. You have to realise "Made in Sweden" is very significant in that Swedish minimum salary is higher than for example US minimum salary. That workers in steel industry, due to strong unions here, have very good wages. That Swedish iron and steel is more expensive and of higher purity than asian sources. The far more expensive workforce has a long tradition of knife making. The scandinavian grind is not used because it is cheap but because it cuts wood better and with more precision than any other edge in existence, no matter cost, and because it is easy to sharpen. What you call zero edge is not easy or cheap to mass produce.

A cheap knife blade is hollow ground with a secondary edge.

I love my Mora knives as much or more than the next guy and I am tired of people criticizing them for providing some higher price alternatives. I have owned and use knives from Fällkniven, Bark River, ESEE, etc but often pick my Mora No2 because it is the superior knife for wood work. I sold my Aurora because it didn't do the job as well as my Mora. IMO the new Bushcraft Black is a better knife for its intended purpose than for example the ESEE 4 which in Sweden is four times as expensive.

I have sold everything except for my Fällkniven F1 and WM1 because the Moras are simply the best knives I own. That they happen to be so inexpensive to buy is fantastic but I wouldn't mind paying more for that kind of quality level. I am not a collector. I only buy knives as tools and what I don't use I sell. After years of finding out what works for me the only thing I would buy other than a Mora today would be a custom knife from a master blacksmith.

Thanks for reading. End of rant. :)
 
Very good review!

I recently got a carbon Robust and love it. I notice it wasn't as sharp from the factory as my regular companion, which I assume is due to the greater spine width and steeper angle of the grind. No problem, a few passes on my DMT stone and it became atom-splitting sharp. I also like the finished spine. Also, although both my Robust and regular companion are carbon steel, the steels "feel" slightly different from one another. Hard to explain.
 
Thanks! I love my Mora. I just have the classic #1 now, but will order the robust here in a day or two.
 
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