Bushcraft Killed the Mora 911. Bonus Mora firecraft!!!!!

[AreBeeBee]

My excuse for reviving this thread is new (to me) information —

(Mods, feel free to move it.)

I have always been puzzled by the typology of Mora knife models, and all the above didn't jell. We have Clippers and numbered models and Companions and the 2000 and the Classic and ....

Problem was i was looking mainly at the blades. Wrong, very wrong. Look at the handles, which define the model lines, with the blades being a secondary characteristic (length, width, steel type, and thickness).

This page — by Ramblin' Jim — clarified things considerably: http://www.ramblinjim.com/articles/mora-knife-models-explained-and-compared/

Now maybe everybody here knew all about Mora's models, but it was new to me. Hope it helps you.

 

[tknife]

Thank you for posting this, that's a very informative link. I came to Mora's late in the game so I was not always up on all of the different models either. :thumbup:

 

[300Six]

I'm no "bushcrafter" (by any current definition) but have been hunting, fishing and plying the great outdoors north of the 49th parallel for 50 years. I got lost in the forest once (about 15 years ago) in late autumn and spent a miserable evening and overnight (after being soaked in a sudden wet-snow storm) in a cedar thicket and thanked my lucky stars for having had the presence of mind to 'salt' every pocket of my pants, coats and pack with Bic lighters. Ever since I also carry more than one flashlight. The fashionable steel & flint (that somebody had naively given me) quickly got tossed off into the underbrush 'excess baggage' pile; try lighting anything with sparks when it's soaking wet. I had a rifle, pliers, fixed blade knife (no, not a Mora) and a SAK with me and none of these were of any value in getting and keeping a decent fire going. When you can't see properly (because flashlight battery longevity is unknown and therefore at a premium, and Maglite bulbs are outright stupidity for trying to replace in the dark) you grab whatever leaves, branches and limbs that are close at hand. If Moras (and I do love carbon steel), in fact, are useful 'utility cheap' knives then figure on taping/tying Bics and small flashlights to them and laying-in a whole bunch. Manufacture, paint or colour these (Moras irregardless of shape/size/grip/finish) in reflective International orange while you're at it so that they can actually be found in low light if/when they fall in dirt, leaf litter or mud.

 

[SAK Guy]

Great post 300Six!! :thumbup:

 

[SAK Guy]

My excuse for reviving this thread is new (to me) information —

(Mods, feel free to move it.)

I have always been puzzled by the typology of Mora knife models, and all the above didn't jell. We have Clippers and numbered models and Companions and the 2000 and the Classic and ....

Problem was i was looking mainly at the blades. Wrong, very wrong. Look at the handles, which define the model lines, with the blades being a secondary characteristic (length, width, steel type, and thickness).

This page — by Ramblin' Jim — clarified things considerably: http://www.ramblinjim.com/articles/mora-knife-models-explained-and-compared/

Now maybe everybody here knew all about Mora's models, but it was new to me. Hope it helps you.

:thumbup::thumbup: Thank you!!! An informative article but I didn't understand how the author could say....

"This knife is, for all intents and purposes, a sharpened screwdriver"

...about the world renown, highly venerated and dare I say beloved 510.

Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the usefulness, popularity and the fanatical following of that model.

 

[AreBeeBee]

:thumbup::thumbup: Thank you!!! An informative article but I didn't understand how the author could say.... "This knife is, for all intents and purposes, a sharpened screwdriver" ...about the world renown, highly venerated and dare I say beloved 510. Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the usefulness, popularity and the fanatical following of that model.

I wondered about that. Perhaps it was the lack of any kind of hilt or fingerstop at the blade end of the handle.

Anyway, we all have our likes and dislikes — in this case, you'd have to ask the author. And I found that page greatly clarifying.

 

[SAK Guy]

I wondered about that. Perhaps it was the lack of any kind of hilt or fingerstop at the blade end of the handle.

Anyway, we all have our likes and dislikes — in this case, you'd have to ask the author. And I found that page greatly clarifying.

Thanks buddy! AreBeeBee, please know I meant no disrespect to you! The page was a good take at coming up with a system to keep track of of a often confusing line of models!!!! Very glad you posted it!!! :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[AreBeeBee]

SAK Guy —

You know, on his website Ramblin' Jim has another page on the goodness of the Mora 511 as a fixed blade for Boy Scouts.

My hunch is that his issue with the 510 is probably safety. The 511 has this big lip hanging down at the hilt which makes it very difficult for even a wet, slippery hand to slide forward onto the blade. Such caution is completely appropriate for beginners such as Scouts, and perhaps some of that caution spreads over the 510. Anyway, that's my guess.

His Mora-models page also helped put a small dent in my own finances, as it convinced me to get a Bushcraft in forest green — it's a model I don't have.

By the way, have you explored the Hultafors lineup of plastic-handled, inexpensive, scandi-grind bush knives? They look remarkably like some Moras — another Swedish company making low price knives?? — but they seem to be distributed mainly in the UK, not North America. It's whole other model line...!

 

[SAK Guy]

SAK Guy —

You know, on his website Ramblin' Jim has another page on the goodness of the Mora 511 as a fixed blade for Boy Scouts.

My hunch is that his issue with the 510 is probably safety. The 511 has this big lip hanging down at the hilt which makes it very difficult for even a wet, slippery hand to slide forward onto the blade. Such caution is completely appropriate for beginners such as Scouts, and perhaps some of that caution spreads over the 510. Anyway, that's my guess.

His Mora-models page also helped put a small dent in my own finances, as it convinced me to get a Bushcraft in forest green — it's a model I don't have.

By the way, have you explored the Hultafors lineup of plastic-handled, inexpensive, scandi-grind bush knives? They look remarkably like some Moras — another Swedish company making low price knives?? — but they seem to be distributed mainly in the UK, not North America. It's whole other model line...!

That's a pretty good page on the 511. Have several of them, so cheap and so great!!! I like stainless 546G's as well and was able to get some before they discontinued them.

Some of my UK buddies have been singing the praises of the Hultaors. Haven't seen many here in the states and the overseas shipping is too high in a 15-20 dollar knife. If I can pick one up over here for a reasonable price, I'll try one! I like the looks of that Outdoor Knife OK1!! :thumbup:

 

[upnorth]

+100 on the old 510's

I still have some of those little red Eriksson's somewhere. Out of the various models that I have, I prefer the Companions and the new Pro series. But to each their own.

 

[AreBeeBee]

I'm no "bushcrafter" (by any current definition) but have been hunting, fishing and plying the great outdoors north of the 49th parallel for 50 years. I got lost in the forest once (about 15 years ago) in late autumn and spent a miserable evening and overnight (after being soaked in a sudden wet-snow storm) in a cedar thicket and thanked my lucky stars for having had the presence of mind to 'salt' every pocket of my pants, coats and pack with Bic lighters. Ever since I also carry more than one flashlight. The fashionable steel & flint (that somebody had naively given me) quickly got tossed off into the underbrush 'excess baggage' pile; try lighting anything with sparks when it's soaking wet. I had a rifle, pliers, fixed blade knife (no, not a Mora) and a SAK with me and none of these were of any value in getting and keeping a decent fire going. When you can't see properly (because flashlight battery longevity is unknown and therefore at a premium, and Maglite bulbs are outright stupidity for trying to replace in the dark) you grab whatever leaves, branches and limbs that are close at hand. If Moras (and I do love carbon steel), in fact, are useful 'utility cheap' knives then figure on taping/tying Bics and small flashlights to them and laying-in a whole bunch. Manufacture, paint or colour these (Moras irregardless of shape/size/grip/finish) in reflective International orange while you're at it so that they can actually be found in low light if/when they fall in dirt, leaf litter or mud.

Sounds like one very bad day — but I'm glad you got out of it OK!

 

[AreBeeBee]

....Some of my UK buddies have been singing the praises of the Hultaors. Haven't seen many here in the states and the overseas shipping is too high in a 15-20 dollar knife. If I can pick one up over here for a reasonable price, I'll try one! I like the looks of that Outdoor Knife OK1!! :thumbup:

Yeah, too hard to find here, and the shipping works against them, especially as they are probably no big improvement (if that) over the Mora line.

Ross Gilmore, the fellow who runs the Wood Trekker site, has many reviews of knives, including Hultafors (knives and axes). Interestingly, he uses a red-handle Mora #1 as a comparison standard. But he seems to have found his grail ("The One") three years ago, stopping the reviews with a Mark Hill custom job.

 

[upnorth]

I'm no "bushcrafter" (by any current definition) but have been hunting, fishing and plying the great outdoors north of the 49th parallel for 50 years. I got lost in the forest once (about 15 years ago)QUOTE]

I did the same thing buddy and it scared the hell out of me. I got out, as I had a few items on me, including a pin on ball compass. but you couldn't squeeze a needle up my butt for a while there that day. It is a long story also, as they usually are. I remember spooking up a moose which went crashing through the bush. And trying to pour the back swimmers out of the brown bog water that I was grateful to guzzle. That exact experience is why I came to this site. I have spent 40 plus years with a fishing rod or .22 in hand. But I never took the survival aspect of it very seriously.

 

[SAK Guy]

Yeah, too hard to find here, and the shipping works against them, especially as they are probably no big improvement (if that) over the Mora line.

Ross Gilmore, the fellow who runs the Wood Trekker site, has many reviews of knives, including Hultafors (knives and axes). Interestingly, he uses a red-handle Mora #1 as a comparison standard. But he seems to have found his grail ("The One") three years ago, stopping the reviews with a Mark Hill custom job.

Thanks for the link!!

Watched this one earlier today...

Hultafors Heavy Duty vs Mora Robust Pro Abuse Test (Polskie Napisy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdahXnJTDy4

A Laminated Classic #2 is probably my grail Mora but as my RA gets worse, I have to be really careful with the Classics series.

I used to use this #2 a lot around the farm till I got a beat up old C. Andersson (bottom)and now it does most of the work. It's thicker, wider blades and bigger handle won me over.

 

[Hotshot10]

Nice post with a lot of information. But it does ignore the chief factors in price creep, namely the devaluation of currency exchanged and the ever rising cost of production, marketing and transportation. I recently did some investigation of one of my favorite patterns and found that the original MSRP of $20-$25 in the early to mid 1970's equates to over $100 today, figuring just the devaluation of the dollar over the intervening time period.

Inflation over time does make a significant difference. This model hasn't been around that long, though.

On a related note, the exchange rate has been in the dollar's favor. The Swedish krona has been whacked in the past five years versus it (http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=SEK&view=5Y), with the dollar gaining value against the krona. In theory, that should translate into cheaper Swedish goods for U.S. consumers.

I think the price of the Bushcraft model is mostly due to marketing. I'm not going to lie, I like the looks of it myself. I almost bought one. For $60, though, I'll stick with one of my Companions.

 

[Woods Walker]

Had a great 911 Quicksnap. Dog chewed up the handle. Rehandled it and back in business. I agree with the rant. The 911 rocks and should be brought back.

Zieg

Thats cool!!!

 

[jdm61]

Mora's strike me as being like a 1960's VW Beetle. Yeah, they are cheap and ugly and you may be embarrassed to show up with one around your friends, but you will probably never suffer from and significant buyers remorse if you score one.

 

[SubaruSTi]

I have abused my BCB for years now and it still holds on. The coating won't come off unless you sharpen it so the coating is the most durable I have found. It's insane how much abuse the edge and handle can withstand. I can't break it.

 

[upnorth]

Yeah, I'll be picking up a 510. Love the design and had one 100 years ago. Need another because I simply don't have enough knives. 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!

Zieg

I only had the 511 ? I believe it was called. The red Eriksson's with finger guard. I cut the guard off a few and lighter melted the junction, years ago. It was alright for what it was. I believe that I originally bought half a dozen and modified them for neck hang. My wife and her sister were doing a girls weekend camp out with a friend, and they all got a knife. Since I have picked up about half a dozen variations and likely have at least 20-25 Mora's, maybe more. Hard not to when you buy them 2-3 at a time. Some of the Eriksson's are probably somewhere about. Currently what I prefer are the Heavy duty Companions (a relatively poor slicer, but a nice cheap beater), the 911's for their grip, and the newer Pro C Heavy Duties. I have heavy duties, regulars, carbon, stainless, yada, yada. I am just as happy to have a plain Jane regular stainless as any other variation when it comes down to it. Low maintenance, dirt cheap, modified scraper spines, break it or lose it easily replaced, slices wonderfully, light weight, hi vis. if wanted, on and on. I have Mora variations everywhere, in bags, my vehicle etc. That is one of their primary charms for my interests, a cheap useful back up bag knife. I think that my Eriksson's were originally 6 bucks each in a hardware store. The value is still there in the common lines. I have no opinion on the ''upscale'' lines, IMHO they defeat the purpose of having a Mora, to a certain extent. But buy whatever tickles yer toe nails.

 

[The Zieg]

I think we're all on the same page here. The Moras occupy a vital niche in knife use and hearken back to a time when men and women had "a knife." They did with that knife most everything that needed to be done (with exception in the kitchen where the traditional chef's pattern wins the day) and no other blade was needed: Workshop, construction site, barn, garden; fishing, hunting, gathering mushrooms or ferns; &c. When a new student or young relative comes to our farm to work or spend time, there is always a knife waiting for him/her, which they are highly encouraged to keep on their person at all times, and it's an Opinel N° 8.* The Mora will now enter this grab bag, and it'll probably be a 511. I might prefer the 510, but newbs can use that finger guard, I'm thinking.

Zieg

*Unless they're already equipped with something suitable.