Mora knife
Encyclopedia
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
manufactured by the cutleries of the town of Mora
Mora, Sweden
Mora is a locality and the seat of Mora Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 10,940 inhabitants in 2005.-History:There are signs of human activity in the surroundings of Mora dating from 4000 B.C. The earliest found buildings in Mora are from the 7th century...
in Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, primarily by Mora of Sweden. Having been used as every-day knives in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
for years, the knife has found particular favour in the bushcraft
Bushcraft
Bushcraft is a long-term extension of survival skills. A popular term for wilderness skills in Canada, The UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term was popularised in the southern hemisphere by Les Hiddins in Australia as well as in the northern hemisphere by Mors Kochanski and...
community on the basis of its simple and robust construction, easy maintainability and general versatility of use, and, of course, its comparatively low price-tag. Mora knives come highly recommended by notable bushcraft teachers Ray Mears, Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin
Cody Lundin is a minimalist and primitive skills survival expert and author of two books focusing primarily on survival topics. He is currently a co-star of the Discovery Channel series Dual Survival...
and Mors Kochanski
Mors Kochanski
Mors Kochanski is a Canadian bushcraft and wilderness survival instructor, naturalist and author.The Kochanski family immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1938 and Mors was born two years later , the fifth of six children. His mother named him "Morris", but because of a misunderstanding due to her...
. Furthermore, in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, mora knives are extensively used in construction and in the industry as general-purpose tools. Most mora knives are similar in design to Finnish puukko
Puukko
A puukko is a small traditional Finnish belt-knife with a single curving cutting edge and a flat back.- Design :The basic components of a puukko are a hilt and a blade along with a sheath, which can be attached to a belt. The blade is short, typically less than 100 mm.The flat back allows the...
s.
The forging of Mora knife dates back to Medieval sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
smithing tradition. The blade of mora is forged of three slabs of steel. The heart section of the blade has traditionally been crucible steel
Crucible steel
Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel in a crucible. Its manufacture is essentially a refining process which is dependent on preexisting furnace products...
of extremely high toughness and quality. The sides of the blade are of softer but more resilient steel. The result is an excellent tool which does not break easily, holds its edge well, and can cut even wrought iron and softer steel. Modern basic mora knives are blanked out of rolled steel and heat treated on an industrial line.
Types of Mora
There are two main styles of mora knife in common use today; the newer synthetic-handled varieties and the so-called "classic" style, made in a large variety of sizes, using either 12C27 stainlessStainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
, UHB-20Ccarbon steel or laminated (Mild steel and UHB-20C) carbon steel by Mora of Sweden.
The proper way to pronounce "mora" is with a long o, "moo-ra".
Popular Models
- Mora Companion MG High Carbon (replacement of the now discontinued 840 Clipper)
- Mora Companion MG Stainless (replacement of the now discontinued 860 Clipper)
- Mora 546 stainless
- Mora 511 carbon
- Mora Bushcraft Series