Stainless vs. Carbon Mora's

wmc1982 said:
thank's that makes me feel reassured. I read somewhere else that said just make sure to keep them dry and if you have some heavy cutting in wet area's it's not a bad idea to dab a little oil when you clean the blade. But I'm hearing people who have never oiled their mora carbons and never seen a speck of rust so thats awesome.
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If you do get salt water on them then rinse with fresh water and dry the blade and it should be good. If you want to use a little mineral oil then that is fine, but I wouldn't consider that essential.

I have the same experience with my carbon Opinel knives - though my #9 is showing a little patina, no red rust yet. The patina may be due to acidic foods - it does make a good slicer!

My ESEE & Becker knives are also showing no signs of rust.

I think some people think that carbon steel will instantly rust to nothing if they get a drop of water on them which isn't dried off in seconds. My experience is that rust isn't much of an issue with a little cleaning and drying done as needed.
 
Alberta Ed said:
1. I suspect the stainless is a Sandvik 12C27

2. The carbon is probably close to 1095, another very good steel
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1. Yes.

2. The carbon steel is Uddeholm UHB 20C (eq. to AISI 1095), cold rolled and heat treated to 59-61 HRC. Other designations used: German C.D. Wälzholz-Brockhaus GmbH CK 101 and CK 95, cold rolled, HRC 60.

~Paul~
 
I am moving toward stainless simply for the lower maintenance. I prefer to simply wipe a blade off and forget about it. I recently found this old girl mixed in with some camping gear from the summer. It spent most of the year in a partial box of fatwood in the car trunk. Before that it spent a summer years ago cutting grass ''plugs'' while metal detecting. This is one of a half dozen that I bought about 6 ? years ago, and I have three left. It gets, and got, zero maintenance because they were $9.00 knives from a hardware store. The longer that I handle Mora's, the more that I appreciate them. I try to do a little basic maintenance now, but I admit that they still don't receive much. Great knives.


 
Lately I've been getting more in stainless just because it's easier to maintain. I do force a patina on my carbon ones though and that helps a ton. I use very hot apple cider vinegar and I've had one riding around in my truck like this with just a little oil on it (granted, my oil lasts forever, FP-10) in my high humidity environment and it hasn't rusted any. But stainless, I don't have to do anything and they stay food safe.

As for performance, I can't tell any difference in use or in sharpening.
 
Sulaco said:
Lately I've been getting more in stainless just because it's easier to maintain. I do force a patina on my carbon ones though and that helps a ton. I use very hot apple cider vinegar and I've had one riding around in my truck like this with just a little oil on it (granted, my oil lasts forever, FP-10) in my high humidity environment and it hasn't rusted any. But stainless, I don't have to do anything and they stay food safe.

As for performance, I can't tell any difference in use or in sharpening.
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I should vinegar some of my new carbons to keep the rust down. :thumbup: I smeared some of that Chinese hot sauce (Red Rooster?) on a couple of carbon H.D.'s. That stuff is vicious and I got a few micro pits, but pretty decent overall. And the Mora site states that the stainless stay sharp slightly longer, so what the heck I suppose. I left a stainless Companion in the car trunk for a week or two. It had been submerged multiple times in a fresh water lake while I was metal detecting for rings and old coins this summer. The bag got tossed soaking wet into the trunk and forgotten. When retrieved, there was one small thin line of rust on the knife were the blade met the plastic. I scraped it off with a thumb nail and I back in business. I give the stainless Companions about twenty swipes on the corner of the rough grey rod on a Sharp Maker, both sides of blade. Then I can slice thin store till receipt paper. Crazy, I love it. :thumbup:
 
I own the Mora Companion in carbon and love it. The next Mora I buy is going to be a stainless in case I'll be near water or fishing, but I'm not sure which model I'll be going with.
 
I just saw this thread and thought of posting my two cent anyway.. I'm sure you've made purchase probably...

I've owned my Mora Companion Carbon for almost 2-ish years. I've went to many adventures with it. I even threw it to tree to see if it throws well (if you look at my post one of them is about that ,not sure if it still has picture). I like carbon steel.


What I can tell you is....
Mora uses scandi edge, so in terms of 'ease of sharpening' is the same: just match the bevel angle to sharpening stone and away you go.
so the factor becomes RUST RESISTANCE VS TOUGHER/LONGER-LASTING EDGE.

my opinion, it takes a long time to sharpen knives since I want to keep them almost mirror polished (i go crazy w/ my sharpening stones). I wanted carbon....oh well, if Knifeworks can't do anything, i guess i'll have to deal with this. it was meant for gift as well... so i'll just explain the situation to my friend.
 
I have a carbon Mora and will be buying a stainless Mora before next summer. If I know I'll we working near water or on a boat, stainless gets the nod.
 
I have been impressed with my Stainless 546. I've always wanted to try Sandvik steel and also wanted to add a scandi grind to my collection. It's wicked sharp and feels great in the hand. Wish they would have finished the spine of the knife, but I will eventually probably do it myself when I get around to it. With a hacksaw blade you can easily cut off most of the finger guard, then lightly sand it and then lightly run by it with a lighter to darken it back to original blue color where the cut was made. Mine turned out looking pretty good, and this mod now makes food preparation easier. I think my wife actually likes this knife too, as she offers to "store this knife for me" in her kitchen knife block lol.
 
All three of mine are carbon steel. I always intended to pick up a stainless Mora someday, but the carbon steel Moras are just a joy to sharpen and cut so well. If I had to work near saltwater or slice food with my knife I would go stainless, but for everything else I prefer the carbon steel. I have little experience with them, but I have heard they are great as well. The good thing about Moras is they are cheap enough to order two or three.
 
As mentioned, for the price you can get both. I have several of both the carbon and the stainless models. I typically use the stainless blades for food prep and the carbon blades for pretty much everything else. But I wouldn't hesitate to use each for the other. Great knives for the money.
 
What's more surprising to me is that the center of the laminated blades are actually O-1 tool steel. I got two of the laminated blades before the price shot up. I thought the carbon blades were 1095 but looks like the laminated stuff is a different breed.
 
In response to an email asking the question of what type of steel was used for the Triflex blades specifically:

Hi Chris,

We us a steel according to AISI O1 with a core that we harden and temper to 58-60HRC.

Med vänlig hälsning / Best regards

Thomas Eriksson
[Product Manager Morakniv®]
Mora of Sweden AB | Box 407 | SE-792 27 Mora | Sweden
Tel: +46 250 59 50 30 | Fax: +46 250 595 001
Mobil: +46 70 261 54 45
www.moraofsweden.se | thomas.eriksson@moraofsweden.se
 
Dude, I freaking love love love my laminated mora classic original #1. I bought a lionsteel fixed blade and a survive knives fixed blade last year for camping. I like them both But only used them to see what they could do. The blade geometry and handy size makes my laminated mora just so good for chores. Turns out, when I go camping, all of my knife chores go to the mora. I'm not survival camping or doing anything that would make me stake my life on a knife as a tool so the mora comes out and does everything from food prep to woods craft. I carry an axe and use wax/laundry lint fire starters so batoning isn't a big deal for me. The small handle makes for excellent manuverability, as does the slim width of the blade and .1" thickness. If I could have this in a pm stainless with a full tang and micarta scales, they would be the last knives I'd ever buy.
 
Yes. I also thought the triflex steel knives had been discontinued. They appear to have a different steel now. I like my Trilex Mora, but it will not strike a spark off of the back with the softer steel. I have the Mora 546 in my grab and go fanny pack for those impromptu hiking trips. I don't need to worry about maintenance as much.
 
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