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do the blades of the moras bend and flex like a small thin kitchen knife blade might are are they more rigid?
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whats the mora allure
- Thread starter RescueRiley
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Moras do not bend easily, at least in my experience.
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Nooo, much heartier than that. Much more like a hunting knife. My Frosts clipper carbon steel blade is a full 1/16" thick and quite stiff. They aren't steak knives!
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Do they bend? Not very much. Mors Kochanski, the wilderness survival expert, recommends them as THE bush knife. His technique for determining sufficient strength in a knife is to pound it an inch or two into a tree and stand on the handle. No problems = good to go.
I can't bring myself to do this to a knife (and I probably outweigh the guy by a hundred pounds - I think I heard somewhere he's not a huge guy) but if it works for him, it works for me!
I can't bring myself to do this to a knife (and I probably outweigh the guy by a hundred pounds - I think I heard somewhere he's not a huge guy) but if it works for him, it works for me!
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That's Mors Kochanski's quote right?? And he's identified with the moras.
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No, but I believe he does it in person in his courses once in a while. Can't afford the course, though!
Of course if I ever find myself stranded in Northern Alberta with nothing but a Mora, I'll be saying, "man, I can't afford NOT to have taken that course!"
I have his book around somewhere in which he describes doing it - I would be surprised if he's lying.
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- Nov 29, 2005
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Here are my 2 cents on Moras:
1. They cut quite nicely. They come sharp, stay sharp at least fairly well, and the shape is very practical, in terms of applying force to the part of the blade that's doing the cutting. They will, indeed, cut most of what most of us need to cut in an outdoor (or even indoor) situation. Try peeling and dicing a potato with a Mora and with, say, a military-style Ka-Bar, and the benefits of the Mora's shape will demonstrate themselves readily. Also, as mentioned above, wives are quite happy to use them in the kitchen--for the same reason. The plastic-handled ones can even be run through a dishwasher.
2. Inexpensiveness means a couple of additional things: (a) you can actually afford to use and test the blade you are planning to take into the wild, and if you happen to buy the one knife that snaps like a pencil, you can find that out before you have to rely on it too much. I wonder how many buyers of $50-$500 knives feel free to really pound on them (well, maybe not quite pound--but put them to very hard but not unreasonable use) before taking them into the field. I don't hear too much about people batonning with Ontario Bagwell blades, for example. I'd be scared even to try, if I owned one.
(b) Inexpensiveness also means you can buy a bunch of them and leave them around so that you're likelier actually to have a knife when you need it, than if what you've got is one expensive blade. You can keep a Mora in your belt survival kit, another in your glove compartment, two in your backpack, another in your office desk drawer, another in your trunk, etc., etc. The weight is so light that I would almost never hesitate to carry an extra. So, let's say you break one batonning through wood--I imagine it's harder to accidentally break 4 $10 Moras than 1 $40 whatever-else-I-might-carry. Also, you can afford to keep a few around for other people to use. Often when I'm out and about, I find that I'm the only guy who had the foresight to bring any gear along, which means that I'm the one supplying everybody in sight with water, food, warm hats, etc. Not bad to have some extra pass-around, loan-them-out (or even trade them for something) pieces of cutlery around in the car, etc., just in case.
Though I'm in agreement with those who'd like to see the tangs go farther into the handle on the plastic (and Eriksson wooden) handles than they do, that plastic is so tough that I'm not too concerned about the possibility of a blade breaking loose. I figure that if I'm going to snap a Mora, it's going to be at the blade/tang junction, or else halfway up the blade--so it's not going to be the part that's back in the handle that I'm going to have to worry about.
1. They cut quite nicely. They come sharp, stay sharp at least fairly well, and the shape is very practical, in terms of applying force to the part of the blade that's doing the cutting. They will, indeed, cut most of what most of us need to cut in an outdoor (or even indoor) situation. Try peeling and dicing a potato with a Mora and with, say, a military-style Ka-Bar, and the benefits of the Mora's shape will demonstrate themselves readily. Also, as mentioned above, wives are quite happy to use them in the kitchen--for the same reason. The plastic-handled ones can even be run through a dishwasher.
2. Inexpensiveness means a couple of additional things: (a) you can actually afford to use and test the blade you are planning to take into the wild, and if you happen to buy the one knife that snaps like a pencil, you can find that out before you have to rely on it too much. I wonder how many buyers of $50-$500 knives feel free to really pound on them (well, maybe not quite pound--but put them to very hard but not unreasonable use) before taking them into the field. I don't hear too much about people batonning with Ontario Bagwell blades, for example. I'd be scared even to try, if I owned one.
(b) Inexpensiveness also means you can buy a bunch of them and leave them around so that you're likelier actually to have a knife when you need it, than if what you've got is one expensive blade. You can keep a Mora in your belt survival kit, another in your glove compartment, two in your backpack, another in your office desk drawer, another in your trunk, etc., etc. The weight is so light that I would almost never hesitate to carry an extra. So, let's say you break one batonning through wood--I imagine it's harder to accidentally break 4 $10 Moras than 1 $40 whatever-else-I-might-carry. Also, you can afford to keep a few around for other people to use. Often when I'm out and about, I find that I'm the only guy who had the foresight to bring any gear along, which means that I'm the one supplying everybody in sight with water, food, warm hats, etc. Not bad to have some extra pass-around, loan-them-out (or even trade them for something) pieces of cutlery around in the car, etc., just in case.
Though I'm in agreement with those who'd like to see the tangs go farther into the handle on the plastic (and Eriksson wooden) handles than they do, that plastic is so tough that I'm not too concerned about the possibility of a blade breaking loose. I figure that if I'm going to snap a Mora, it's going to be at the blade/tang junction, or else halfway up the blade--so it's not going to be the part that's back in the handle that I'm going to have to worry about.
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- Oct 20, 2006
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I like moras because they have good steel especialy for the price. I like the laminated, stainless and carbon never tried the triflex.The thin blade is a advantage to me works for carving, dressing game, making shelters and most everything else.Probobly not the best or most rugged knife but one of my favorites and alota knife for the $:thumbup: :thumbup:
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- Jan 28, 2007
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Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that. I just meant as an aside, I've never seen it, but I assume it's true.
I like moras a lot but also like the bowies like the Scrapyard Dogfather.
They both have their uses ,I like the bowie and a small mora or SS4 for when I am motorcycle camping as the bowie replaces an axe, machete and hammer and then I have a smaller knife for cooking and woodworking. I usually don't like stainless but the steel that they use in the stainless clipper is exellent.
The reason the traditional scandi knives don't need a guard is they are designed to be used with gloves and a pull cut. I have since ordered a Brusletto laminated carbon blade from Ragnar and plan to make a nice handle for it.
They both have their uses ,I like the bowie and a small mora or SS4 for when I am motorcycle camping as the bowie replaces an axe, machete and hammer and then I have a smaller knife for cooking and woodworking. I usually don't like stainless but the steel that they use in the stainless clipper is exellent.
The reason the traditional scandi knives don't need a guard is they are designed to be used with gloves and a pull cut. I have since ordered a Brusletto laminated carbon blade from Ragnar and plan to make a nice handle for it.
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- Jan 19, 2007
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Just got off of the mora website and am wondering what prices they charge and how to order off of there website? I may just be blind, but I cant see anyway of ordering them unless you contact them directly. So, my first question is Do I have to contact them to order or am I missing something on the website? Second question, For everyday use, what mora knife would you recommend? Thanks!
Bryan
Bryan
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- Jan 30, 2007
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Buy them from ragweed forge - the link has been posted here and there but you could google for it just as easily. I recently got the Craftsman in triflex steel and really like it. The Triflex is a bit thicker than other mora steel and the 4" blade length is just right for what I use it for (food prep: slicing bread/tomatos; firebuilding: shaving fuzz sticks and light batoning; shelter building: cutting stakes for tent/tarp. Plus it's really light for its size and quality.
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- Jun 14, 2005
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Hollow.... I'm not sure. I have read the "majority" of Bushcraft but can't seem to remember where I read it first (and scanned through Mors book and couldn't find it there). Rings true though:
truley...... "the more you know.... the less you need"
simple, elegant, and hard to argue with.
