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- Jun 3, 2010
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Just a Mora knife rant and bonus Mora firecraft.
Rant mode.
As Bushcraft increased in popularity gear makers naturally wanted to cash in. Seems anything with "bushcraft" within the product description means a premium in pricing so Mora needed to do something which is only natural. So how does one make a Mora Bushcraft knife? Simple...... Lets go back maybe 10 years to the 911. What is a Mora 911 and why can't you buy it? Well that's all part of the rant. What knife is that on the top with black and red handle? It must clearly be a Mora Bushcraft line knife as it has the exclusive Mora Bushcraft style handle and sheath. These are all features of Bushcraft line.
Maybe it's the new Mini Black? A more economic carbon bushcraft knife for 20 dollars without a funky coating as some believe not coated knives cut better? No it's around a decade old if my memory is correct and was one of the most popular Mora knives. The 911, which predates the Mora Bushcraft line. Remember Bushcraft and survival was and still is on the rise!
So how did they make the lower green handled knife, the Bushcraft Triflex? First Mora took the handle and most of the sheath from a 10 dollar knife, the 911 and then the Blade from a 12-15 dollar knife, the Mora 780 Triflex. Combine them together and I mean everything including both prices and we had a 25-30 dollar knife. It was magic and there would be more to come.
But there was a problem. Everyone knew the 911 is or rather was a 10 dollar knife. There was a 946 in 12c27 as well. Worse still everyone knew Mora knives were great but inexpensive. How exactly does Mora expect to one day sell a Mora Pathfinder? What to do? Just look at the magnitude of the problem. Mora had to get people to pay more money when their 10 dollar knives really did most things many Mora customers honesty needed hence why they were and still are popular.
Orange Companion. 9.99
911 around 10 bucks as well.
Old school Clipper the same.
Funny green Companion 8 bucks last week!
Mora number 2. Maybe I paid 10.99 but not sure today.
What to do? The Mora 911 and 946 had to die despite being fantastic knives and probably great sellers. The 911/946 handle was to be incorporated into the more expensive, exclusive Bushcraft line. How another person spends their money isn't my biz and clearly I am a Mora customer of all kinds. Just saying sacrifices were made in the past IMHO.
Rant over.
Now on to the Mora Firecraft. Don't get me wrong, ranting is fun but practicing skills is better. For today's firecraft practice I am going to start two fires, one sustaining with only a Mora 911 and firesteel. The other will be getting flames but not a sustaining fire as that would have already (with luck) been accomplished with the 911. I will need to find everything else in the woods. For the second fire I am going to use just a Mora #2 and either charcoth or chaga. The rest of what's required like the ferro rod fire will need to be foraged.
Tulip Poplar bark is a step below cedar bark IMHO but really not all that bad. I need a tinder bundle for the chaga or charcloth. Will also ignite with a ferro rod.
Quartz will both strike a spark off a ferro rod or high carbon steel. Found these rocks then processed them for sharp angles aka smash!
I think this is dead dry Golden Rod. If not something like it so will make for a good first layer kindling. It rained all night so wanted stuff off the ground. Anything off the ground tends to have less moisture.
Yellow Birch bark. Hydrocarbon rich. It's my go to tinder in my AO. Burns like gas soaked rags.
At this point my camera battery died so had to use the Sony AS20's camera for pics which isn't as good. Plus it's kinda hard to take pics and film video at the same time from the same device. Basically sorry for the bad pics. We are all setup for the Mora firecraft.
Ferro rod and traditional flint and steel methodologies. I will be using the Mora 911 and Yellow Birch bark to start a sustaining fire. After that the Mora #2, charcloth, foraged/processed rocks and foraged/processed Tulip Poplar bark to get flames.
Raised back trig fire in an U ring. The ferro rod and Mora 911 easily ignited the bark. Took all of a few seconds. The Mora #2, quartz, charcloth and tulip poplar bark took maybe 10 minutes as required more processing and effort. It didn't go easy but worked as seen in the video.
Here is a video showing the actual ignition and rant! Crazy ranting!
[video=youtube;nPP1Mnl4GWc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPP1Mnl4GWc[/video]
Thanks for watching.
Rant mode.
As Bushcraft increased in popularity gear makers naturally wanted to cash in. Seems anything with "bushcraft" within the product description means a premium in pricing so Mora needed to do something which is only natural. So how does one make a Mora Bushcraft knife? Simple...... Lets go back maybe 10 years to the 911. What is a Mora 911 and why can't you buy it? Well that's all part of the rant. What knife is that on the top with black and red handle? It must clearly be a Mora Bushcraft line knife as it has the exclusive Mora Bushcraft style handle and sheath. These are all features of Bushcraft line.
Maybe it's the new Mini Black? A more economic carbon bushcraft knife for 20 dollars without a funky coating as some believe not coated knives cut better? No it's around a decade old if my memory is correct and was one of the most popular Mora knives. The 911, which predates the Mora Bushcraft line. Remember Bushcraft and survival was and still is on the rise!
So how did they make the lower green handled knife, the Bushcraft Triflex? First Mora took the handle and most of the sheath from a 10 dollar knife, the 911 and then the Blade from a 12-15 dollar knife, the Mora 780 Triflex. Combine them together and I mean everything including both prices and we had a 25-30 dollar knife. It was magic and there would be more to come.
But there was a problem. Everyone knew the 911 is or rather was a 10 dollar knife. There was a 946 in 12c27 as well. Worse still everyone knew Mora knives were great but inexpensive. How exactly does Mora expect to one day sell a Mora Pathfinder? What to do? Just look at the magnitude of the problem. Mora had to get people to pay more money when their 10 dollar knives really did most things many Mora customers honesty needed hence why they were and still are popular.
Orange Companion. 9.99
911 around 10 bucks as well.
Old school Clipper the same.
Funny green Companion 8 bucks last week!
Mora number 2. Maybe I paid 10.99 but not sure today.
What to do? The Mora 911 and 946 had to die despite being fantastic knives and probably great sellers. The 911/946 handle was to be incorporated into the more expensive, exclusive Bushcraft line. How another person spends their money isn't my biz and clearly I am a Mora customer of all kinds. Just saying sacrifices were made in the past IMHO.
Rant over.
Now on to the Mora Firecraft. Don't get me wrong, ranting is fun but practicing skills is better. For today's firecraft practice I am going to start two fires, one sustaining with only a Mora 911 and firesteel. The other will be getting flames but not a sustaining fire as that would have already (with luck) been accomplished with the 911. I will need to find everything else in the woods. For the second fire I am going to use just a Mora #2 and either charcoth or chaga. The rest of what's required like the ferro rod fire will need to be foraged.
Tulip Poplar bark is a step below cedar bark IMHO but really not all that bad. I need a tinder bundle for the chaga or charcloth. Will also ignite with a ferro rod.
Quartz will both strike a spark off a ferro rod or high carbon steel. Found these rocks then processed them for sharp angles aka smash!
I think this is dead dry Golden Rod. If not something like it so will make for a good first layer kindling. It rained all night so wanted stuff off the ground. Anything off the ground tends to have less moisture.
Yellow Birch bark. Hydrocarbon rich. It's my go to tinder in my AO. Burns like gas soaked rags.
At this point my camera battery died so had to use the Sony AS20's camera for pics which isn't as good. Plus it's kinda hard to take pics and film video at the same time from the same device. Basically sorry for the bad pics. We are all setup for the Mora firecraft.
Ferro rod and traditional flint and steel methodologies. I will be using the Mora 911 and Yellow Birch bark to start a sustaining fire. After that the Mora #2, charcloth, foraged/processed rocks and foraged/processed Tulip Poplar bark to get flames.
Raised back trig fire in an U ring. The ferro rod and Mora 911 easily ignited the bark. Took all of a few seconds. The Mora #2, quartz, charcloth and tulip poplar bark took maybe 10 minutes as required more processing and effort. It didn't go easy but worked as seen in the video.
Here is a video showing the actual ignition and rant! Crazy ranting!
[video=youtube;nPP1Mnl4GWc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPP1Mnl4GWc[/video]
Thanks for watching.
Pinnah, I just prefer the feel of the 911 over the Companion. The little finger notch gives me a better grip. But I wouldn't turn down a Companion. It needs no defending, it's a solid design!