Why the Mora 510 ?

[upnorth]

I just placed an order for another batch of Mora's. A bit of a mixture with one of the new Heavy Duty Pro S? Robusts in there. I saw the reissued black 510 on my ordering site also. I believe that it was called a carving knife or some such. This must be the seemingly legendary old 510 model that was discontinued. It didn't look like anything special but then pictures don't tell the full story. I almost grabbed one, but passed. To those of you that have handled the 510, what makes it different or special ? Thank you.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Extra light and low profile without a guard.

Note that they do also sell a detail carving knife with the 510 handle, but it's not the 510.

 

[upnorth]

Extra light and low profile without a guard.

Note that they do also sell a detail carving knife with the 510 handle, but it's not the 510.

Thanks. On a side note I added a hot pink Companion to the group, for myself. I could care less about the colour connotation, it's high vis. if dropped, and this should not alarm the joggers\dog walkers close to town. I can play with the MG's and fluorescent orange in the bush, but I wanted something that wouldn't register as a threat to the young women running their dogs, and zoned out on their Ipods.

 

[jdk1]

Thanks. On a side note I added a hot pink Companion to the group, for myself. I could care less about the colour connotation, it's high vis. if dropped, and this should not alarm the joggers\dog walkers close to town. I can play with the MG's and fluorescent orange in the bush, but I wanted something that wouldn't register as a threat to the young women running their dogs, and zoned out on their Ipods.

You won't be the weird guy with a knife, you'll be the breast cancer awareness guy On another note, after enduring month upon month of my buddy praising the Mora LMF knife, I picked up an orange one. I'm ready to give an ultra-light Mora a try. I don't know how it compares to the 510, but my buddy swears it carves like a laser due to the thin blade. One nice thing is my knife (and sheath), fire steel, and Emberlit Fireant will all weigh about 6 ounces

 

[collim1]

There are a ton of Moras available with very subtle differences. Most all of the standard profile bladed knives have very similar capabilities and personal preference over the handle material and shape is the only real difference. The 510 is a little lighter weight and has a thinner blade that will be a good cutter for wood.

Sometimes I have to take a deep breath and tell myself to stop buying new Moras. At one time I wanted one of each, but decided there are just not enough differences in all of them.

 

[Tye Possum]

I have an older 510 with the red/orange handle but the new black handled ones supposedly have thinner blades (2mm vs. the old 2.5mm I think) and the grind isn't as high so they'd perform a bit differently.

I'm not sure there's anything really special about them. I like that the handle is straight in-line with the blade, I don't know why but I've always preferred that over the more "ergonomic" sort of shapes like the clipper/companion models. It's also a more basic styled handle which works well in any grip compared to say the bushcraft/survival lines. The blade isn't really any different than most other Mora's except that it may be a bit narrower than some which helps it maneuver through wood. Really I think what I like about it is that it's not special, it doesn't have a bunch of extra design features, it's just a functional tool. The one thing I'll say about it is that the handle can get a bit slippery so for certain tasks a different model may be better.

 

[dogstar]

I have an older 510 with the red/orange handle but the new black handled ones supposedly have thinner blades (2mm vs. the old 2.5mm I think) and the grind isn't as high so they'd perform a bit differently.

I'm not sure there's anything really special about them. I like that the handle is straight in-line with the blade, I don't know why but I've always preferred that over the more "ergonomic" sort of shapes like the clipper/companion models. It's also a more basic styled handle which works well in any grip compared to say the bushcraft/survival lines. The blade isn't really any different than most other Mora's except that it may be a bit narrower than some which helps it maneuver through wood. Really I think what I like about it is that it's not special, it doesn't have a bunch of extra design features, it's just a functional tool. The one thing I'll say about it is that the handle can get a bit slippery so for certain tasks a different model may be better.

I agree mostly with what you say. the 510 is just a no frills knife; it is well regarded because it gets the job done without bells and whistles, kinda like an Opinel, sodbuster, or any peasant knife.

Regarding the height of the grind, for the same grind angle, the grind will extend higher on a thicker blade. So, it is likely the Moras of different thickness are ground to the same angle. To think of it another way, if two blades of different thickness are ground to the same height, the thicker blade will have a more obtuse grind angle.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

^What he said. The 510 has always (to the best of my knowledge) had Mora's standard 23° (11.5° per side) grind, so a change in stock thickness is what's causing the different visual bevel width.