What's going on with the Mora 2/0 Classic supply?

[KHarper]

My 2/0 is one of my favorite knives, always hanging around my neck no matter what else may be rotating in and out of my pockets. However, I've been worried for a while that it will get lost, ever since I dropped it in the snow hunting for a Christmas tree, and had to go and dig til i found it the next day. And now the blade is getting significantly worn down from sharpening all the time.
I always figured "no big deal, I'll just order another one if I ever loose this one". But when I finally tried, I can't find any place still stocking them! They are all out of stock. I even tried ordering from a Mora dealer in Poland; I waited two months and it never showed up. I finally got in touch, and they say the package was probably "returned due to Covid epidemic". They gave me a refund, but now their page also says "out of stock". There is a single seller listed on Amazon, but he has two reviews, and both of them complain that they ordered an item and it was never shipped so I don't want to mess with that. There is someone selling one on Ebay for $100 (for a knife that is steep at $25-30) but I don't think that's just the 2/0, because I see he is selling regular No.2s and 3s for the same price...apparently with plenty of satisfied consumers who aren't aware they are paying three or four times the market value (I won't say 3-4 times what they are worth, because they may be WORTH that much, really).
So has Mora stopped making the 2/0 Classic? Or have people just bought up all the stock because of the coronavirus panic? I think...I hope....I have found a source that still has them in stock. At least they don't say they DON'T have them, but I won't name them until they are safely on the way. I ordered a couple, which will hopefully last me a while. And at the usual price of $16, not the inflated $25 or $30 others are charging (or $100 when they can get away with it)
Here's my old Mora and its sheath, both a bit worse for the wear after a year. The tip of the Mora was rounded off when I dropped it on asphalt a week after I got it, and it's gotten worse with sharpening. But I like it this way; it works wonderfully well as a sharpening knife, and it's the best potato paring knife I've ever used, like it was designed for it. I keep meaning to make that the subject of the thread whenever I'd prepping potatoes....

 

[afishhunter]

No clue.
The Classic Number 1 I ordered just before this pandemic hit came in, no problem.

Question:
Did you sand down the handle on yours and stain it brown?
My Number 1 and 611(?) both have the painted red handle.
(until I get around to sanding that ugly red paint off and putting a nice maple stain on, at any rate.)

 

[Corso]

I believe they were running out of the paint which was a by-product of mining

seem to have rebranded the range for 2020 with a red stain rather than paint

New releases of Morakniv Classic No 1/0, No 2, No 2F (finger guard), and No 3 but no sign on their website of the 2/0?

I believe the sheaths have had a make over and yes they trippled the price too

 

[KHarper]

No clue.
The Classic Number 1 I ordered just before this pandemic hit came in, no problem.

Question:
Did you sand down the handle on yours and stain it brown?
My Number 1 and 611(?) both have the painted red handle.
(until I get around to sanding that ugly red paint off and putting a nice maple stain on)

I wish you the joy of it; the scandi grind isn't as good for many things as a flat grind, but it does good enough, and it's sharp. use the whole bevel when you sharpen it; apparently that's the correct way. The blade shape is good for carving with, although the 2/0 is a better size for that, generally.
I didn't stain it, but I did sand it. I liked the red paint, but I wanted to see what it'd look like without, and round the corners and stuff off. The dark color is from putting olive oil on it and baking it in the oven. Works well so far, although sometimes I fear it weakens the wood. Have had some spoons break after that treatment, but never a knife handle yet. I would caution others considering sanding their handle to do it BEFORE you get a sheath for it, because it will be loose in the sheath afterwards. This one adapted itself but I had a No.3 I did the same thing to and it ended up far too small for the leather sheath afterwards. KInd of frustrating since the sheath had been too small when I got it. It stretched with use to fit, but it was harder to shrink it to fit the smaller sanded handle. I ended up ruining it trying to heat it in the oven, and so I just bought a new one instead.
Of course if one just limited themselves to removing the paint it wouldn't be such a problem, but I couldn't resist reshaping it and making it slimmer (my hands aren't very big I guess), so it was totally loose after I finished sanding and seasoning it. But the new sheath works great (I recommend them highly; I think $15 from the Harry Epstein Company on Amazon; very workmanlike, like a leather hammer holster or tool belt, riveted and sewed. I can't stand those junky plastic ones that come from the factory. Not quite worthless but pretty close.)

 

[KHarper]

I believe they were running out of the paint which was a by-product of mining

seem to have rebranded the range for 2020 with a red stain rather than paint

New releases of Morakniv Classic No 1/0, No 2, No 2F (finger guard), and No 3 but no sign on their website of the 2/0?

I believe the sheaths have had a make over and yes they trippled the price too

That's not good. I really hope I can get a couple more. I just can't believe they are ALL gone; you'd think there would be used ones and a few remaining in stock here and there. A lot of people liked that knife, even though it wasn't their best seller. The tripled price is surprising, but still worth it. The $99 is just ridiculous.

 

[waynorth]

K KHarper or afishhunter , are those knives still made in Sweden, with laminated steel??

 

[KHarper]

K KHarper or afishhunter , are those knives still made in Sweden, with laminated steel??

AFAIK they are still made in Sweden, yes, but the Classics and cheaper models do not have laminated steel blades. Just good 1095 carbon, or something like that. They are good knives, always been a great bargain at less than $20 apiece. But apparently their marketing department convinced them they needed to start charging more; perhaps because it looks like they've upgraded their sheaths. Personally I'd rather pay the $15 and buy my own sheath. So you're now paying $15 for a knife and $20 for a sheath which still doesn't look as good as I'd like it to be.

 

[Will Power]

Something worth noting, Sweden has not approached Covid the same as other countries in that it's had a much more measured approach to it. No hysterical total lockdowns after the virus already arrived....as in many places. Shops, offices, schools and manufacturing have all remained open but with some cautions/measures. So Mora is likely making knives OK but with international postal systems and deliveries all gone haywire then deliveries to retailers/outlets abroad will have been compromised. Or dealers facing the pinch in other countries have not been able to restock due to finances etc. So, I'd wait a bit and not pay some inflated price, they'll be back soon enough. And, Mora make their knives in Sweden, you can go to their website morakniv.se and if you don't speak Swedish as I do you, can contact them via e-mail in English for concrete info.

I'd relax about this and not pay through the nose.

 

[afishhunter]

K KHarper or afishhunter , are those knives still made in Sweden, with laminated steel??

I bought the carbon steel flavor.
Mine was made in Sweden. As far as I know they still make them in the carbon, stainless, and laminated flavors.
The laminated being more difficult (and more expensive) to find on the big river site.
As far as I know, Mora still sells all three flavors as a blade only for those who want to put a custom handle on.

EDIT
So not to give false information and/or hope, I just visited the morakniv dot com/en website.

For blades only you make and install your own handle, they list carbon steel, laminated steel and stainless steel for the Number 1.
Numbers 106 and 120 are laminated only.
Number 2 and 2/0 and Number 3 are carbon steel only.
The Number 2000 is stainless steel only.

For knives with handles, the new "Classic" series may only be available with carbon steel.
I didn't check the other models listed above

 

[Henry Beige]

A few months ago, I noticed the Original Classic No.1 was showing up as out of stock in a number of places. This was not too long after Mora announced its new red-stained lineup. It took some hunting around to find one in stock, but I thought it might be headed for extinction and I wanted a backup of the laminated blade.

With the close-fitting fiber sheath, it is very light, compact and easy to drop in a pocket, as well as light enough to make a decent neck knife, if you are so inclined. It is also really, really sharp, probably the sharpest knife out of the box that I have ever bought.

I haven’t shopped for Moras lately, or seen any with the new stain, but I’d bet that stocks of the older models are probably running out. Nothing cool ever lasts.

 

[Frailer]

I hope they haven’t discontinued the model. I’m not normally a neck knife guy, but a 2/0 in a neck sheath is my preferred fishing knife.

 

[KHarper]

So I contacted Mora customer service, and it's true. They have stopped making the Mora 2/0 Classic. It has been replaced with the more expensive "Mora 1/0 Classic", which is 3.1 inches instead of 2.9 (I think that's the size of the old 2/0), and which costs 3 times as much, but with a fancier sheath (which I don't want). I guess I'm just surprised, because to me the "Classic" line is "the good old standbys we've been making for a hundred years", and that means you should KEEP making them, not go mucking around with the formula. But I guess even "Classic" Moras only resemble the actual old models, and are not exact copies. Who knows how long they've been making these particular models in truth. I thought the 2/0 was going to be around forever, now I'm kicking myself for not ordering a couple more when I had the chance. I might be tempted to give the 1/0 a try, even if I am kind of annoyed at them for messing with things, but as far as I can see it isn't actually for sale anywhere yet.
Oh well, I still have my old 2/0, and the blade won't totally wear out for another year or two if I don't loose it, so it's hardly urgent. Maybe I should go and start putting up want ads on Craigslist (is that still a thing?); there must be thousands of used ones out there. I don't know why they aren't all over ebay, to be honest. I guess Mora users like to keep their knives?

 

[Henry Beige]

I was going to suggest the Marttiini Lynx Lumberjack as an alternative, a small knife with a birch handle and carbon steel Scandi blade, but the Marttiini site shows it as discontinued as well.

 

[Blue Sky]

Might want to check out Ragnar’s...

 

[abcdef]

Just a thought, but all the free bang for the buck advertising on sites like this might lead to upticks in demand that make the makers realize "hey, we're not charging enough". Maybe some of our academics should put out a questionnaire and do some quant analysis on that.

 

[afishhunter]

Just a thought, but all the free bang for the buck advertising on sites like this might lead to upticks in demand that make the makers realize "hey, we're not charging enough". Maybe some of our academics should put out a questionnaire and do some quant analysis on that.

I've noticed some Rough Rider/Rough Ryder patterns are approaching CASE prices (if CASE makes the pattern) at some dealers/sellers online.
OH well ... at least they are not selling for GEC prices ... yet ...

First gasoline and diesel, (when I started driving a gallon of Regular Leaded gas was 16.9 to 18.9 cent a gallon (including Federal and State fuel taxes), and diesel was at 5.9 cents a gallon, (again including State and Federal fuel taxes.) then motorcycles and scooters, automobiles ...housing, food, clothing ... it all getting too expensive.

DaRn Greed and minimum wage increases ...
Even when gas was under 20 cents a gallon at full retail, oil companies were making billions in profits a year. The State's and Fed were collecting enough to maintain the roads, bridges, tunnels, and expand the highway system. "How much is enough?"

 

[screened porch]

You guys almost panicked me into buying a lynx with a 4+" stainless blade. But you're talking about 3" carbons. So I'm safe.

 

[Blue Sky]

There are also 2/0 blades-only around still, if you feel up to putting a handle on one.

 

[waynorth]

What's the difference in blade length between a 1/0 and a 2/0??

 

[KHarper]

Might want to check out Ragnar’s...

That was the secret place I hoped would have some left that i didn't want to name, just in case it started a run. But I just heard from him. He's totally out, not even any personal ones left. Great store though, good old fashioned business, personal touch.

You guys almost panicked me into buying a lynx with a 4+" stainless blade. But you're talking about 3" carbons. So I'm safe.

Not from what I just heard. I heard they are phasing out ALL the Classic line, starting with the 2/0. They are apparently all, or mostly, going to be replaced by these new stained, more expensive ones. Ragnar said that they are switching to in-house production of the handles. And presumeably trying to move upmarket. I guess they figured out that you don't make money by selling a good knife without a (real) sheath at $15 - you make money selling a good knife along with a mediocre sheath for $30 instead, forcing the customer to pay $15 for a sheath whether he wants it or not, while it only costs you $5 to make it. I guess they figure the kind of person who wants a CLASSIC, not a regular plastic handle work knife is willing to pay a premium, but they needed an excuse to just jump the price that far. Adding a sheath helps. They could have just started offering an optional sheath for $15 and left it up to the buyer. I like to get my own sheaths, I shouldn't have to pay extra for a sheath I'm not going to use. But maybe their marketing guys just told them they are loosing too many sales to casuals who don't like the cheap plastic junk sheath and are too cheap to buy their own sheath or make one: "damn knife was supposed to be a good deal, only $15, but I had to buy a sheath, and that cost me another $25. What a ripoff, I'm not buying any more Moras!"
Each to his or her own.

There are also 2/0 blades-only around still, if you feel up to putting a handle on one.

That's a good idea. I'm sure I could figure it out.

What's the difference in blade length between a 1/0 and a 2/0??

3.1" for a 1/0, 2.9" for a 2/0. Which makes no sense to me because AFAIK the Classic 2 is larger than the Classic 1, so why they made the Classic 1/0 larger than the Classic 2/0 I have no clue. Maybe I got it mixed up. Whichever one I got is slightly smaller than the 2, and it seems like it was a 1, and that the 3 was even larger than either and rarely seen.