Friday, April 3, 2015

Best Knife for the Money.

  Mora Sweden is the home of Moraknif.  Moraknif makes the famous Frost Knife, the traditional sloyd knife from Scandinavia.  It is worth watching Roy Underhill's video, Who wrote the Book Of Sloyd.

   


  I have several Mora knives.  In fact I have a couple of 'Frost' knives from before the two companies were amalgamated.

  I have been to Sweden thrice in the last five years and each time I have brought a knife home with me.  The most recent in the lower left knife, it is a Basic 511. The Basic 511 is razor sharp when you buy it and.....it cost $7.50 Cdn.  Yes it comes with a terrible snap-in plastic sheath but so-what! As a rule the Mora knives are all about the blade, you can re-handle them and make a fancy leather sheath if you'd like. By focusing on the blade and leaving the fancy work to others Mora provides an outstanding tool of an amazingly reasonable price.

  The two knives with the dirty wooden handles have history. The short bladed knife was my Father's whittling knife, the blade started life the size of the knife in the middle bottom, my whittling knife. The knife with the long blade and stained handle has kicked around my shop since forever.  I remember scrapping the paint off the handle 32 years. Ironically this Frost Knife is so good that I don't use it much in the shop now, I beat up other knives instead.

  On my second trip I bought the Push Knife (across the top). (or some one brought it for me?? now I am not sure) It is like a draw knife for dummies.  I find it much easier to control than a traditional draw knife, and since don't use a draw knife often I likely won't develop the skills it demands.  The push knife gives me nearly as good a tool for less learning time.

  I have been quiet on this blog for sometime, but I have not forgotten it.  

cheers, ianw