Some tests and thoughts on Mora 760

messer454

messer454

Joined
Oct 2, 2006
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This might be a little wordy so bear with me if you would. I had never considered buying a Mora until I started hanging out here. I had some pre conceived notions about them without any facts I guess. They seemed cheap which to me meant probably not sharp and weak. The posts here convinced me they were sharp but how strong were they? Seeing as how they were so cheap I ordered two of the Mora #760s when I was putting in a knife order. The dealer was all out of carbon ones and clippers so I bought this one. I will try to get up some pics later but it is the "military stainless steel model".


While I was waiting for them to come in I tried to make a fireboard with my EDC knife as my only small knife. I found its edge geometry to be lacking for this task. It seemed to me that it was just too thick of an edge and blade overall. (As a side note: I can recommend to anyone who thinks they have the one knife to do it all, to try making the rounded hole for a fireboard or a trap trigger, it kinda opened my eyes.)

When the Moras came in I liked the edge geometry and the handle shape. I didn't like the slipperiness of the handle and I didn't like the sheath. (Clipper would solve slipperiness) I think they could make a sheath that has a little more retention but I will make a kydex one later probably. I was in my shop one night and got the idea to put some bicycle tube on the handle. This worked great and improves the handle 100% for me even if it looks a little rigged.


I looked through Cliff Stamp's reviews of the Mora and didn't really see anything on prying. There is probably something out there but I am search challenged and since they are not overly expensive I decided to do my own tests.
1. Bend blade in vise to see if it will bend or break either blade or handle: I put the knife 1" from the tip and grabbed it with a gloved hand and safety glasses and bent it. I bent it past 45 deg. and then looked at the blade. It had bent slightly maybe 15 degrees. I put it back in the vise and bent it back to "true" the other way. Handle was undamaged. I did this a couple of times at different blade lengths with the same results. I then put it 1 inch from the handle with the same results.

2.Tip strength. I hammered the tip into an oak block and then pried it sideways out to see if I could break off the tip. The fifth try I bent the last 1/32 inch of the tip. I tried to bend this straight on the vise and broke it off.

3. Hard to field sharpen stainless steel. I intentionally dulled the entire edge on the vise until it wouldn't cut paper. I then used my BOB sharpener a course/fine DMT to try to reprofile the edge and sharpen the entire blade. In short order I was able to shave hair off my arm with the entire blade and the point was perfect again.

Conclusions: I fully expected either the blade to break or the handle to crack or break. I now know it is strong enough for what I am going to use it for. The point bent but it was so fine I am not surprised. Maybe ss is hard to sharpen on a rock but I found the Mora easier to sharpen on the DMT than a similar test I did on a SAK. Overall I am very pleased and intend to buy some carbon blades and make some with some more traditional handles and sheaths. Bo Bergman's book "Knifemaking" available from Ragweed Forge has some great ideas in it. I have had it for years and just recently dudted it off and read it from cover to cover because of you guys.

Hope you enjoyed my little experiment. Thanks for reading and please post any thoughts.
 
Gotta love the moras....i recently discovered the laminated carbon steel models like the s-1 and the 137 dynamite...razor sharp, and tough as nails...also a little more traditional looking
 
RescueRiley said:
Gotta love the moras....i recently discovered the laminated carbon steel models like the s-1 and the 137 dynamite...razor sharp, and tough as nails...also a little more traditional looking
Click to expand...

I have been looking at those models. The thicker blade is a plus for me.
 
Anybody read Rip van Winkle? These blades have been around for many a year, and yes, they are that good. You can't beat a decent scandi for the survival bug-out bag.
 
That was a pretty nice little review. One of these days I'm going to invest in a couple of Moras.... probably the 2000 or similar.
 
The laminated Moras bend quite easily and there is a report in another thread a laminated one breaking at the handle.
For slicing or cutting they are hard to beat, though.:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
Messer454, thanks for your detailed description of the tests you did on a Mora knife. That helps to confirm my impression of them, namely that they are excellent knives for very little money. I honestly don't know how they can be sold for so little after being imported into the US. I've used several of them, both the wood handled ones (the carbon steel and the laminated carbon steel versions) and the plastic handled ones. The only damage I've ever done to one was when I snapped about 1/16" off the tip of the blade on the one I was using to carefully pick the seal out of a sealed bearing with. I was just not careful enough that time. (For those who don't know, it's easy to use a very sharp point to pick the seal out of one or both sides of a "sealed" bearing so you can repack it with grease and extend its life almost indefinatly.) I keep threatening to order some more Moras from www.ragweedforge.com because there are just so many great choices there. Even if somebody is not yet ready to order, you can learn a lot on his site if you'll read it carefully. If you have a slow connection it will take a few minutes to load due to all the pictures, but it's well worth your time.
 
I have two of the 12c27 760s and like them a lot. Mora knives are amoung my favorites and for good reason. The stainless version will survive as much weather as you can throw at it and I've had them completely submerged in ocean, river and lake, with proper cleaning after the ocean dunking and not a spot of rust or pitting. 12c27 is a pretty good stainless. Easily sharpens and has a fairly good edge retention, which isn't quite as good as the carbon they use. I don't find the handle to be slippery at all and I've done some wet weather work with them. What is surprising is the shortness of the tang. I wouldn't trust the knife for bataning or prying, but it has my trust to do most everything else. I got Eric at On/Scene Tactical to make me a couple of sheaths for the 760s. Much, much better.

P1020752.jpg
 
Most knives will break if you abuse them..which people will do when they cost 10 -15 bucks people will think nothing about throwing a mora in a vice but not a buck woodsman or other blade the laminated moras for general use are quite adequate...but I'll be able to give you a true assessment right around this time next year...also in a greement with Longbow, the stainless moras are great.
 
Note to self: use knife for cutting and prybar for prying. :rolleyes:

It was great to see that one of my favorites will take some abuse. Thanks for taking the time and dollars for the rest of us.

Hmmm, lets put a $300 cutter in the vice and see what happens :eek:
 
I've seen the cold Steel videos, thats kinda what prompted this.

Added some pictures to the thread.
 
Hey Messer, don't know if you remember me from the BLADE show (I know you met tons of folks) but I was with a new Busse fan named Steve from Cali.

I have been a fan of Mora type knives for quite a while and love buying from Ragnar. I was worried when Erikkson and Mora combined but I haven't heard anything really scary since the merger. I was just worried that they might discontinue some really good Erikkson models.

Here is something that might surprise you, take a look on Amazon and see what Bo's book is bringing now days. :D I picked one up several years ago and have tinkered with trying to make a knife out of it. It is really wonderful and helpful.

Thanks much for the review and I hope you continue to enjoy those!
 
I've toyed around with the same model to see what it could take. I've batoned it through all sorts of seasoned, knotted wood without any edge damage. I've batoned it through scrap metal I've found outside like old stop signs and again, not even a rolled edge. I stabbed it deep into a fallen tree and bent it as much as I could last winter and ended up snapping the blade clean off, but they can still take a lot of lateral bending before they snap.

Here's the thread with pictures of my broken Mora.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=448205&highlight=mora
 
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