Outdoors Loaner Knives ?

Mora's are the perfect beater/loaner knives. I love my son, but he's a destructible little guy and I've had several "mil-spec" items that he's borrowed and broken:eek: He still has his Mora when we go hiking...it's the perfect knife to learn how to handle a sharp blade, learn how to sharpen, learn about limitation, learn about caring for a rust-prone blade, etc. He'll continue to use until I feel he's old enough to step up to the next level. I have several blades that are all quality, just not so expensive that I'd shed a tear if they were torn up from somebody using them. Most non-knife carriers have no clue as to how to use a knife and I've seen several coworkers use knives as serious pry bars, screwdrivers, chisels, hammers, picks, etc...I cringe everytime I see it:(

ROCK6
 
The way I look at it is if they are the kind of person who would loan me their knife or other piece of equipment, then I would return the favor. However I have one friend who would give you the shirt off his back BUT, he looses stuff. He can loose any thing, any where, any time. He would get a frost or a Mora.
 
+1 on the Mora's. I have a double handful of Moras that I use as loaners. I find for kids the red handled #1's with the finger guard are great. I also have several of the stainless SWAK knives for the wilderness course. I'm going to replace these with the 780 Triflex Craftsman.

In a folder I was given five of the Ka-bar Dozier drop point hunters and I have found them very good knives in the hands of non-knife people. Mac
 
Unless its someone who knows how to use a knife, and most times they should have a knife on them, I hand over my Mora, with the preface of "BE CAREFUL, IT'S SHARP."
 
Mora #510 is a perfect loaner knife for me. Only cost $10 so I wont be too buttsoar if something happens to it.

Plus it always impresses people at how sharp it is. I don't worry about people cutting themselves, they only have themselves to blame, I just warn them that it is sharp before I give it to them.
 
Sure, I have a loaner in the tackle box. It is a 10$ M-Tech (MT-045) which holds a decent edge and would be easily replaced should the nimrod elect to smash it to bits.

In general, don't make a habit of lending knives out to non-knife inclined folk. You will likely break a friendship if you allow someone to use your best folder or other blade that cost you half a paycheck. In such cases, a nice mora would do just fine, or if you really like them, a Buck 119 would suffice.
 
I usually have a few knives with me while outdoors. I hate loaning them out, good thing most of my friends or my sons have their own knives! If I need to loan one I just hand it over and say, "Please be careful, treat it respectfully."
 
I don't think I've ever been in the woods with someone and been asked to borrow a knife, they've always had one.

I have taken people out (usually kids) for their first time int he woods and knew they didn't have a knife and couldn't afford anything but a $10 gas station POS (nobody carries Moras locally, so if it's $10, it's crap). I usually just go out and buy them a Buck 110 and a cheap hardware store coarse/fine stone. I try to get them before going out, show them the fundamentals of sharpening and how to do some basic work with the knife. If they prove themselves capable of handling it, I give it to them. Like KGD, I've found that people are usually grateful for being given a Buck, because they know what it is, and they think it is expensive. Let's face it, Moras are good, but they look like cheap pieces of crap, and that's how people who don't know what they are treat them.

For some reason beginners also think an Ontario "USGI" machete and an Estwing hatchet are high-end gear also (dang it, I keep coming back to my "Something I don't Like To Admit" thread :D ), and are what I'll give them if they keep coming out with us.

I get two things from giving people tools.
1.) You make a friend.
2.) If they break it, they broke their stuff, not mine.
 
The Cold Steel Roach Belly and Finn Bear also make good loaners.

Jeff
 
I've usually got an Opinel around, so I'd loan them that. Cheap enough to replace if they really ruin it.
 
Two anecdotes point well to the Mora's as loaners.

I was at a Brazilian cookout and I loaned a friend my Mora 2000 to cut meat. After a few minutes he handed it back saying it was too sharp and he was getting too nervous to use it. I once cut meat for 200 people with a rubber handled Mora.

On another occasion I was invited to kill and butcher a pig. I had several Mora's that day as I was out at our camp property and we were having a youth event. I had brought the knives to teach bush craft. Naturally I took the sack of Mora's with me. They were the only knives that were used on the pigs from that moment I arrived. All other knives were abandoned in favor of the Mora's. At the end of the day I was one red handled Mora short. I had to actually go to a guy's house and ask his wife to get it back for me. He had inadvertently taken it home.

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When I was still a miner I was frequently asked for the loan of my knife. I started loaning a nameless stockman with a cracked scale, broken tips & edges were about as dull as the spines. Kept the good one in another pocket. System worked well.
Uplander
 
I have a cold steel bushman and a roach belly that I normally hand out as a loaner, if they are interested, I send them to roger at knifeworks. and try to help them pick a good one suited to them. I've given my fair share of knives away too, including a few moras, they are great as well.
 
Almost every time I end up loaning a knife to someone in the wilderness, they end up cutting themselves with it. My new rule now is that I save them the trouble and just give them a quick slash before I hand them the knife.
 
I can totally relate...

I have a couple moras on standby for those moments I need to lend one out... cheap and easy to replace...

Sometimes it even lures in the big questions about the customs I'm carrying.
Makes me laugh seeing newbs with knives.. although dangerous. it's freaking jokes.
 
I have never really loaned out a knife to someone. I have handed on to a friend once in a blue moon at work to cut something, but it's not something I make a habit of. I usually just tell them to keep it as I generally carry an extra blade on me.

For example, a good friend of mine needed to cut something when I was hanging out with him on his break at work so I gave him the Gerber ParaFrame 1 that I had gotten free with a set of Brunton binos. Didn't need/want it and I figured he could put it to better use than me. Also, gave my last gf an SAK, multi, and a small pocket knife to keep in the car/purse as she was always borrowing mine and then loaning them out to others when she got done. I am still working on a safety kit for her car.

Generally the only people who touch my blades are those that know something about them. I will probably toss a Mora in the pack for someone to use...if I ever go hiking with another person (I prefer the solitude.) Of course, I am the guy who's gonna give a lecture on how NOT to use my knife the same way I do with a firearm.

I am still trying to figure out how to do this when I get my camp stuff up and running in the, hopefully near, future. I am especially wary about giving people much younger than me a blade...
 
cuphead said:
...Makes me laugh seeing newbs with knives.. although dangerous. it's freaking jokes...
Click to expand...

Sometimes we forget that we all have been newbies with knives at a time. Some of us got started on tools/knives earlier and some did it later on. Usually it is not the will to use knives at any circumstance, but the need to do so to acomplish a task. I still don't know any one who wakes up one day and realises that all he can do in life is using knives! Some guys just get into knives by imitation. They may hike with someone who carries a nice blade and they want one themselves. I two friends just like that. In less than a year one of them has gotten a Fallkniven S1, an RC-4, Endura Wave, Rescue Wave, Boker Subcom, Leatherman Wave and some other I can't quite remember. And I know because we always order at the same time from the same stores to save on shipping expenses.

I guess I got my first folder when I started hiking (as a kid) and my first fixed when I started spearfishing (12 maybe?) as it was safety related (cutting net, finishing off prey, etc). We should try to teach them propertly and be tolerant with them.

This comment has nothing to do with loaner knives as I am the first one who woldn't feel comfortable lending a super expensive custom to someone who may chip the blade by hitting rocks or whatever but I just felt like it fit right here.

Mikel
 
I NEVER loan my EDC. I get asked all the time and I say, "What do you need cut?"

The last time I actually did hand over my EDC (Endura) it was to a carpenter who I know very well and know that he knows tools. Normally I ask what they want done and offer to do it for them. I didn't want to offend him, I've seen his work, he has worked for me many times. He proceeded to pull one of the church's speakers into his lap and was about to take out Phillips head screws with it! I stopped him. I carry a small multi blade knife now for such uses. Mac
 
Another brand to consider as a loaner or give-away is Rough Ryder. They look nice, come in a variety of patterns, razor sharp. They're as cheap or cheaper than Moras or Opinels.
 
Buddies without knives?
Maybe put some moras for each in their stockings at X-mas?
Mora triflex is stout and it has a decent guard for the noobs. 10-15$ each.


When you think about it its pretty cool that you can outfit a person with a Mora, Fiskars 14 inch hatchet and a 91mm SAK for only 40-60$ TOTAL.
Probably even cheaper if you get the SAKs used on ebay.
 
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