Review: Mora Swedish Army Utility Knife

J

JNieporte

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Nov 1, 2004
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Another Mora knife review! This one is the Frosts' of Sweden Swedish Army Utility Knife, model number 760. It's 8.75" overall, and really stands on its own as a utility / light survival knife. Here are the details...

Handle Specifications and Impressions: The SAUK's 4.5" long handle is made of plastic composition. This a a hard plastic, and grips very well due to the slight pebble texture to it. It has a lanyard hole recessed into the butt, and has small grooves on the sides to let the lanyard come out while still staying out of your way. There's a half guard to keep your fingers off the edge. The handle really fills my hand, which surprised me because I have large hands. Although it's plastic, it doesn't feel flimsy. Both sides of the handle have Frosts' logo stamped in. Oh, the handle is olive drab green in color.

Blade Specifications and Impressions: The blade is 4.25" long, and the cutting edge goes all the way into the handle. It ends in a clip point. The blade has a Scandanavian grind, and is made of stainless steel. I'm still not sure if all stainless steel Mora's are Sandvik or not, but this steel works great whatever it is. The right side of the blade is blank; the left side has the Frosts' logo with MADE IN SWEDEN over STAINLESS STEEL. The blade came razor sharp, and hasn't needed a touch-up since. I batoned it into pine, cut up food, and cut up everyday items. Cardboard, plastic tubing, paper, etc. It went through all of them with no problem. I dressed some rabbits with it, and it didn't seem affected at all.

Sheath Specifications and Impressions: The sheath is made of plastic composition, and is 9.5" overall. It has a belt loop that will fit on a belt up to 1.75" wide. The bottom of the sheath, on the inside, has a hole for water drainage. The back has Frost's logo on, with SWEDEN underneath it. There's no snap or closure on the sheath. Instead, the sheath has grooves in each side so that the knife can be inserted from either the left or right; the groove holds the half guard in place. The belt loop is attached via ridges in the plastic, which makes it feel cheap and flimsy. I don't like this sheath at all, but it hasn't failed or broken in any way (like the other Mora sheaths). Oh yeah, this sheath has the same olive drab color that the handle has.

Swedish Military Issue? This knife is billed as an issue knife of the Swedish military. To find out, I asked my buddy Alfrey. Alfrey was in the Swedish military from 1998 until 2006. More specifically, he was in SSG (Forsvarets Sarskilda SkyddsGrupp), a special operations group of the Swedish military. They're often tasked with dignitary protection roles and advanced marksmanship. So, what does Alfrey say about this Mora? He says a lot of them were issued, and what you buy in the store looks to be dead-on what you recieve from the Swedish military. Their sheath is black Kydex-like, but the rest is exact. These are issued about as much as our own government issues Ka-bars to Marines. So, I'm satisfied that this is the real deal.

Like the other Moras, I really love everything about this knife, except the sheath. I thought I was done with stainless steel knives, but this one turned me around. Maybe I'll just stick with Swedish stainless steel?
 
Thanks, JNieporte, I've enjoyed your numerous reviews of Mora knives. Seems you feel the same way I do about these Sandvik stainless steels.

If you're thinking about trying other Moras, I really like the Frosts 906, which is called a modern carving knife but just incredibly handy IMO for all-'round utility and workshop use. The laminated blade with an O-1 steel core at 61-62 HRC takes and holds a very good edge. The sheath is one of the worst of any of the Moras :) but actually makes a nice liner if you cut off the belt tab.

The Eriksson 911 (carbon) and 946 (stainless) I also recommend, the rubber-covered handles are very comfortable and hand-filling, and the swivel sheaths are very good. Eriksson does a great job with their 12C27mod stainless, more stain resistant and should be a bit tougher than 12C27 used in the Frosts, and also holds a great edge. The Frosts 893 short fishing knife also interests me, the thin blade with full flat grind rather than the typical Scandi grind should be a great cutter.

Gotta love these Swedes, they're a lot of knife of the money.
 
J, I was pursuaded by a couple of your other reviews to order a couple Frosts from Ragnar last night: 780 Triflex, and 860 Clipper in military green. The other one that really caught my eye was their 277 http://www.ragweedforge.com/277.jpg. Any experience with this one, by any chance? Thanks. :thumbup:
 
I was comparing some hunting knives a few years back. The ergonomics of this Mora were outstanding. The sheath is the pits. The steel is rather soft. I did some experiments where I chopped notches in the side edges of some beef bones. The Mora dented pretty deeply. I was able to steel and hone most of the dent out pretty well. This would be better with a laminated carbon steel blade or one of the new differentially hardened carbon steel blades.
 
G. Scott H. said:
J, I was pursuaded by a couple of your other reviews to order a couple Frosts from Ragnar last night: 780 Triflex, and 860 Clipper in military green. The other one that really caught my eye was their 277 http://www.ragweedforge.com/277.jpg. Any experience with this one, by any chance? Thanks. :thumbup:
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No experience with the 277, sorry. I tend to stick with the carbon blades, and I only bought the stainless one because it was recommended by my Swedish SSG friend.
 
I do not remember what knife I was issued when I did my national service in -91. I used a EKA Swede 60 instead.
In 1997 we got the green 760 knife with the homeguard. I then used the Fallkniven S1.
In 2001 however I was issued the Mora 2000 before going on mission to Bosnia. I left it at base and brought a F1 and a LM PST instead.

There is no official "Swedish army field knife" like the Kabar or the Glock. My guess is that the military ordered X Mora knives and had the supplier send what they had in stock, therefore different kinds of Mora type knives appear in the surplus stores. Initially the military issued the red handled Mora, painted green or not.
Since infantry were usually issued with the famous folding shovel and a bayonet, it left the pure cutting chores that was solved with a five dollar knife. Traditionally swedish conscripts were used to work with tools and used axes, saw, shovels, knives and others the right way. Nowadays there is a "knife and axe 101" for the few conscripts that remain.
One reason for the popularity of the Mora knives is that they are so cheap. You buy it, use it, misuse it, discard it.

When you go to a DIY store or hardware store you see Mora knives everywhere. When you buy your planks and nails and stuff you usually pick one or two Mora clones from the styrofoam stand next to the checkout, just in case. You usually get them for free as a "discount" on the stuff you buy.
 
Just FYI, the plastic used in the handles of these Mora knives is polypropelene, which is virtually indestructable. It will not crack, or break, and holds up to chemicals. It is used in car batteries so as to stand up to the acid inside. It's good stuff, yet inexpensive to produce.:thumbup:
 
Natural-Outlaw said:
Just FYI, the plastic used in the handles of these Mora knives is polypropelene, which is virtually indestructable. It will not crack, or break, and holds up to chemicals. It is used in car batteries so as to stand up to the acid inside. It's good stuff, yet inexpensive to produce.:thumbup:
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Mostly agree, but polypropylene will shrink, and can crack as a result ... I have two Eriksson 545's with visible internal cracking in the handles around the tangs.

.
 
There is a good solution to that. In swedish it goes like this: "Släng skiten och köp nytt." Throw it away and get a new one. Moras cost nothing anyway.
 
nodh said:
There is a good solution to that. In swedish it goes like this: "Släng skiten och köp nytt." Throw it away and get a new one. Moras cost nothing anyway.
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And there's an old American saying: "Waste not, want not." If the handles become unusable or crack off, I plan to have fun putting my own wooden handles on the blades. :) Eriksson and Frosts do such a good job with these inexpensive blades, it'd be a shame not to do something with them.
 
I got sent one of these knives by Frosts over 15 years ago, along with a carbon steel version, and a stainless model with a camo handle and sheath and a partially serrated blade. I've mainly used the first two, they've had a lot of use and have been outstanding.
 
Frosts Mora's are the best ! swedish knives are great like swedish women and swedish black metal music!
 
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