Another review for you; this one is a great outdoor knife and would be at home in any kitchen. It's the Clipper model 860 from Frosts' of Sweden. That's right, it's a Mora knife. You can find these for around $12. They're exactly the same as the famous carbon steel version, except these are stainless. Let's take a look...
Handle Details: The Clipper is 8-1/2" overall, with a 4-1/2" handle. It's hard plastic with a rubberized middle. The butt and fore-end (where the guard would be) are blue to indicate stainless steel (red indicates carbon steel). The handle is 3/4" thick at the center, and it feels good in your hand. I have larger hands and this is one of the more comfortable knives I've used. There's just not much else to say abut it; it's a very comfortable handle. There's no lanyard hole, but you can drill one quite easily. This isn't a full tang knife, as the blade tang only goes about 1/4 way through the handle. Thanks to Noss for showing us that :thumbup:
Blade Details: The Clipper has a 4" blade, and all of it is sharpened. I like this. It's just over 1/16" thick, and is stiff enough that there's no flex unless you put weight on it. More weight (or rather, force) than you'd use for hunting applications. Mine has very shallow stampings on it, but you can still make them out. The stainless steel being used by Frosts' is 12C27 at 57-58 on the Rockwell scale, and it's quite good. It takes a very wicked edge and holds it through some real work. I've used 12C27 before, but Frosts' does something great to theirs. Maybe it's the heat treat, I don't know, but they make it tough. It has the traditional, very-easy-to-sharpen Scandanavian grind. It's the typical clip point blade shape, and the shape and length make it a nice slicer. It's 13/16" wide, which is still narrow for me. It makes for a good, clean slicer.
The Sheath: The Clipper comes with the standard Mora hard black plastic sheath. It has two belt slots that can be snapped over your belt, as well as the traditional button slot between them.
The knife snaps into the sheath quite securely. While it's not a custom Kydex rig, it's secure enough to hold the knife in when upside down and shaken. The knife only goes into the sheath one way, which is different from the Mora Craftsman's sheaths. I have no problem with this.
Overall, the 860 Clipper represents one of the best no-nonsense knife bargains out there. It doesn't give you a beautiful exotic wood handle and it's not S60V or INFI, but it gets the job done. These have been in use for around 100 years now, and I can see why. It's a high-quality tool that costs very little money. You can afford to keep one in your toolbox, one in your car, a few in your survival kits, and a few more in the tool shed. As long as you don't go out of your way to break it or use it for unreasonable things that a cutting tool shouldn't be used for, the Clipper will last you for a long time. It's no wonder these have been referred to as "the beginner's bushcraft knife".
(All photos in this review are from other sources and are not mine; I simply used them for reference.)
Handle Details: The Clipper is 8-1/2" overall, with a 4-1/2" handle. It's hard plastic with a rubberized middle. The butt and fore-end (where the guard would be) are blue to indicate stainless steel (red indicates carbon steel). The handle is 3/4" thick at the center, and it feels good in your hand. I have larger hands and this is one of the more comfortable knives I've used. There's just not much else to say abut it; it's a very comfortable handle. There's no lanyard hole, but you can drill one quite easily. This isn't a full tang knife, as the blade tang only goes about 1/4 way through the handle. Thanks to Noss for showing us that :thumbup:
Blade Details: The Clipper has a 4" blade, and all of it is sharpened. I like this. It's just over 1/16" thick, and is stiff enough that there's no flex unless you put weight on it. More weight (or rather, force) than you'd use for hunting applications. Mine has very shallow stampings on it, but you can still make them out. The stainless steel being used by Frosts' is 12C27 at 57-58 on the Rockwell scale, and it's quite good. It takes a very wicked edge and holds it through some real work. I've used 12C27 before, but Frosts' does something great to theirs. Maybe it's the heat treat, I don't know, but they make it tough. It has the traditional, very-easy-to-sharpen Scandanavian grind. It's the typical clip point blade shape, and the shape and length make it a nice slicer. It's 13/16" wide, which is still narrow for me. It makes for a good, clean slicer.
The Sheath: The Clipper comes with the standard Mora hard black plastic sheath. It has two belt slots that can be snapped over your belt, as well as the traditional button slot between them.
The knife snaps into the sheath quite securely. While it's not a custom Kydex rig, it's secure enough to hold the knife in when upside down and shaken. The knife only goes into the sheath one way, which is different from the Mora Craftsman's sheaths. I have no problem with this.
Overall, the 860 Clipper represents one of the best no-nonsense knife bargains out there. It doesn't give you a beautiful exotic wood handle and it's not S60V or INFI, but it gets the job done. These have been in use for around 100 years now, and I can see why. It's a high-quality tool that costs very little money. You can afford to keep one in your toolbox, one in your car, a few in your survival kits, and a few more in the tool shed. As long as you don't go out of your way to break it or use it for unreasonable things that a cutting tool shouldn't be used for, the Clipper will last you for a long time. It's no wonder these have been referred to as "the beginner's bushcraft knife".
(All photos in this review are from other sources and are not mine; I simply used them for reference.)
