Stainless blade for butchering game & food prep around camp? Thinking a Mora...

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Kirk_Ferentz

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Feb 16, 2010
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So, a while back I was putting together a small survival kit for a friend and went with a mora 840 for the knife. While I was at it, got one for myself to use as I was waiting for my swamp rat to arrive. I'm surprised how much I have found myself using the Mora. It isn't built like a becker but it has some nice carbon steel and the thin blade and light handle make it very handy to pick up for little slicing and cutting tasks (whether it be wood or food or whatever). I also really like the scandi grind and it is extremely easy to re-sharpen. It gets very sharp very quickly, as I learned when I was rinsing it off and it went right through the washcloth and said hello to my thumb.

I'm preparing for a hunting season, and the mora seems like it would do a great job processing medium and big game meat. I do notice, however, that it gets some petina going VERY quickly, and so I have decided that I better get a stainless blade that I can use with moist materials for several hours at a time. Please note that I am really talking about BUTCHERING meat (as opposed to cleaning game). In addition to processing game, I'd like to have it as a food prep knife when camping. Finally, it would be nice to have a back up stainless blade for canoeing/rafting/etc. type trips. (although this isn't essential if you think the first two demand a different type of knife).

My first thought was a stainless Mora. I could see someone wanting a longer blade for meat processing, but I'm thinking a basic Mora is long enough for my tastes. Also, maybe a skinner type of blade would be better? But I am not married to getting any particular knife, so let me hear what you like to use for this.

If I do decide on a stainless Mora, the 860 F (orange handle and sheath) was the first one that caught my eye, but I quickly noticed others, such as the 760 BK with a yellow handle and lanyard hole. The 746 looks to have a slightly thicker blade. All else being equal, blaze orange would be the preferred color since I would be using it around water and could drop it into hard to find places, but the yellow is also good and I like that it has a lanyard holder. One other thing might be if one has a more sturdy tang than another. But anyway, not sure how to choose among these--they are all quite similar. Share any experiences or opinions you have.

Thanks in advance.
 
I've dressed out a few deer with a Mora 760. Works fine. Couldn't ask for better. Forget all the nonsense about tang strength. Mora tangs are plenty strong as is. Easily visible good, but add the bright blue to your list.
 
I'm not a hunter, but my Dad is. I got him a Bark River Mini North Star a few years ago, and he has been very impressed with it's performance -- it pretty much does everything he asks it to.

2272.jpg


Comes in many, many (many) configurations:

http://www.barkriverknifetool.com/knifedetail.asp?kid=37
 
Add this Mora to your list:

1244843713-Mora2010_2.jpg


for 30 bucks this mora is amazing!!! I have a 2000 and the handle just isnt nearly as nice. It is one of my workhorse knives. My most used fixed blade. Great for fishing (Panfish), food prep, light bushcraft...I love it and cant believe how much it takes.
 
I have both the 2000 and the 2010 they have the same geo. I really like the geo. on these, at first I was a little unsure. I have never used a clipper or some of the more traditional design, nor would I want to have these have performed so well! The taper in the front gives it more options and yet still keeps the tip/point pretty strong considering how thin the blade is. This knife sees more use then any of my other fixed blades. I really like it great for cleaning panfish, food prep, feather sticks, tinder, curving. You absolutely cant go wrong with a mora! They are pretty amazing!
 
I've never butchered anything in my life - but I know that you wouldn't be disappointed with the Mora Craftline Allround (TopQ).
It is similar to the 840/860 but has a longer tang, thicker blade and more secure sheath.
 
If you are going to be doing a whole lot of cutting I reccomend you get the stuff used in commercial kitchens and packing plants. I know they are boring and uncool, but they are also inexpensive and made specifically for processing meat.

Forschner/Victorinox, Dexter Russell, Tramontina, and F.Dick are the leading brands, but there are others worth looking at.

I would probably get two knives. A 6" Boner and a large 10-14"butcher. The Victorinox Rosewood line is great stuff. Nice wood handles, and finished to a proper shape. The standard plastic grips are fine too.

The best knife I've ever used was and 8" straight backed butcher. It took the most amazing edge and cut like nothing else.
I don't remember the brand. Wish I did. Only details I recall is it was made in Tunisia from Sandvik steel.
 
Spyderco's Aqua Salt would make a decent camp knife. If pressed into service for butchering, the FRN handle offers very good traction. The only complaint I have about mine is that the sheath fits too tightly, and dulls the blade edge.
 
For my moosehunt I use mora 2000 (If I dont use something fancier just because I like it) and I cant imagine a knife could be better for the work. That 2010 should be as good I suppose but being a lefty I can have the 2000 the right way in the sheat. The 2010 handle also comes with a more traditional blade option, bouth in stainless and in carbon and also triflex. For very inexpensive quality in the same range of looks also look at hultafors carpentars knife, carbon or stainless. For the aktual butchering I mostly prefere butcher knifes or boning knifes with about 15 cm blade. Mine are frosts, mora.

Bosse
 
I used a stainless clipper for butchering just last week and it performed very well. I used to use a fillet knife but now I find myself using a Mora Clipper and a Victorinox paring knife for boning and processing deer.
 
Keeping with your prerequisites (stainless, nice blade length) I would echo the Mora suggestions. I keep both the Carbon and Stainless, amazing performance for the price.

My next rec (going up slightly in price) would be the Spyderco Moran Drop Point. Excellent skinning knife, great ergos, great steel, nice sheath - can't go wrong.
 
I agree with the suggestions about getting a decent butcher knife, but I want something smaller and more easily thrown in a bucket to go camping/hunting. Some good non-mora suggestions but I just don't think they can compare in terms of the mora's sub-$20 price point.

For the skinning part, I plan to use my howling rat or zt0551 when I get it, although those morans have caught my eye in the past. Very good value and looks to be a great design for skinning.
 
If you look at all the "show me your broke knife" threads there are more Mora knives than anyother brand, and they show up in every thread. I'd spend another $10 and get a good knife that you can trust. I'd put a Taylor ahead of a Mora any day. If you want low cost very good quality look at Buck knives.
 
cultivateitnow said:
If you look at all the "show me your broke knife" threads there are more Mora knives than anyother brand, and they show up in every thread. I'd spend another $10 and get a good knife that you can trust. I'd put a Taylor ahead of a Mora any day. If you want low cost very good quality look at Buck knives.
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Moras break only when people abuse them, and it takes a lot of abuse to break one.
 
Your not going to find a better knife for the dollar. I don't hunt but I do a lot of gardening and carpentry and leather work and I use a Mora for it all and it's tough. I use the 780 to cut the fibers on the backside of something I am about to saw so as not to splinter...I bear down pretty good. I have cut through very thick and tough tomato stems (when a machete would have been the better tool) with no problems. I have a Triflex Mora 780 model attached to my tool belt along with a utility knife. I pretty much use the utility knife for cutting cardboard and the like...rope and everthing else? It's Mora time.

The people breaking Moras are doing torture tests or maybe batoning and I would concede that they probably won't stand up to that very well.

In normal everyday use, you won't break a Mora and heck, at $12 - $30 dollars, you can buy a drawer full. I have just about every model they make except the new HighQ recommened above and I am fixing to get one of those...it is an updated clipper design. I do have the new bushcraft series which has the same handle as the one shown above but with the traditional scandi grind. I have both Sandvik Stainless (black) and Trifex (green).

Can't beat Mora.
 
Steven Andrews said:
I've never butchered anything in my life - but I know that you wouldn't be disappointed with the Mora Craftline Allround (TopQ).
It is similar to the 840/860 but has a longer tang, thicker blade and more secure sheath.
Click to expand...

I'll second the Craftline Allround :thumbup: It's like a beefed up Clipper.

Kirk, why are you concerned with patina on a carbon blade? Butchers have been using carbon blades forever.

Glad to see another Mora fan here :)
 
cultivateitnow said:
If you look at all the "show me your broke knife" threads there are more Mora knives than anyother brand, and they show up in every thread. I'd spend another $10 and get a good knife that you can trust. I'd put a Taylor ahead of a Mora any day. If you want low cost very good quality look at Buck knives.
Click to expand...

If you break a knife while processing game and prepping food you are doing something SERIOUSLY wrong.

The problem with the "show me your broke knife" threads are it's always the SAME people showing you their broken mora. In the threads that bash Mora's its always the SAME people bashing them.

Go watch the video on knifetests of the Mora Clipper. Then show me another similar knife for $12 that can survive like that, with a half-tang, that will actually take an extremely sharp edge and actually hold that edge. Yeah, Taylor doesn't come close.

I have to laugh when people bring up the fact that most of the modern style Mora's are 1/2 or 3/4 tang, say they are crap, then they recommend a Buck. Buck is nice knife, but most of them are 3/4 tang too.

Know why you never see a picture of a broken Buck? Because people don't beat on them because it would be sacrilege to abuse a Buck like that. Because there isn't a "bushcraft tradition" built around being able to carve, baton, and generally abuse the knife.

The only Buck really made for heavy duty use is the Nighthawk.
 
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