The Loadout Room
Professional Gear Reviews
I see a lot of people spending a lot of money on features they either don’t need or that don’t make sense when it comes to survival knives. There are quite a few survival knife manufacturers out there. In the following video, take some time to touch on some of the survival knives that I have used or seen used in hard use environments for extended periods of time. As always, the video merely serves as a primer. Figure out what you need and what your price point is and go from there.
Mora Knives may not be the household name that Gerber or Kershaw is but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Hailing from the land of beautiful women and Vikings this Swedish based company is producing some refined and well-designed knives. Mora Knives is a one-stop blade shop that builds every kind of knife you could imagine, from the kitchen to the camp. Today we are gonna take a peek at the Mora Garberg. The Garberg is an outdoors knife designed for fishing, hunting, survival and tactical use. This particular model comes equipped with the Mora Multi-Mount.
The Mora Garberg Sports a 4.3-inch long blade and has an overall length of 9 inches. It weighs 8.5 ounces with sheath and multi-mount and is a full tang knife. This is actually the first full tang blade Mora has produced and did so based on customer demand. The blade is made from carbon steel, which offers its advantages and challenges. Carbon steel can get exceptionally sharp and is quite easy to sharpen. Edge retention is great, but carbon steel has one fatal flaw. Corrosion. Corrosion can take carbon steel from nice and shiny to dull and rusty if you aren’t careful. It’s best to keep this blade nice and dry. To keep rust at bay you need to apply a little blade oil here and there.
Mora Garberg: Defining Simplicity” width=”1024″ height=”576″ />
The blade has a clip point with a nice round belly. Its perfect for cleaning game. The grind is a Scandi (Did you expect anything different?) and this particular model features a dark black finish to reduce glare and help aid corrosion resistance.
I will say the Mora Garberg is refreshing in its simplicity. It doesn’t try to be revolutionary, it just tries to cover the basics of being a good knife, and it does so well. The grip is made from a stiff polymer with a nice hand swell and shape. It’s a wide grip that gives you a nice comfortable means to hold the knife. It feels solid in the hands and is textured for a solid grip. It’s comfortable with a standard strong grip and with a more precise thumb behind the grip hold. The bottom of the grip has a small lanyard loop and the tang is exposed slightly to work as a glass breaker.
The Blade of the Mora Garberg is razor sharp. The edge is absolutely brilliant. Today I needed to butcher two chickens and decided it was a good time to test the Mora Garberg out. It sliced through the chicken skin, meat, and muscle with very little effort. Controlling the blade was easy and separating the skin, and guts from the chicken was a breeze. The blade’s belly makes skinning game and separating meat from bone remarkably simple.
Outside of that the blade sports a square spine with sharp edges. It’s perfect for batoning wood, and striking ferous rods. The hard edge is especially handy with these fire starting rods. The blade is nice and tough. It’s simple but it works.
The Multi-Mount sheath system is also quite unique. It gives the user a wide range of options for mounting the knife. It can be used with something as simple as MOLLE with the included velcro straps. You could also mount to nearly anything with zip ties or even screws or nails. The knife can be mounted nearly anywhere, and multiple mounts will give you a QD method of moving the knife around.
My only real complaint comes from the sheath itself. The knife goes nearly all the way into it. This can make drawing the knife a little tricky. You can’t get a real solid grip on the handle with your full hand so you have to use just a few fingers. The knife isn’t going to escape from the sheath though.
Overall, this is a simple knife, but a strong one. It’s easy to use, and robust enough for fieldwork. The Mora Garberg is an excellent knife and one I’d have no issues suggesting to our readers.
After a long wait, the Mora Eldris is trickling out to North American dealers. You can finally get your hands on one of the last big releases of the year. And with a street price that starts at just $22, the Eldris is a knife that almost anybody can afford. Ever since its debut at the IWA Outdoor show earlier this year, we’ve wondered how this pint-sized contender from one of the fixed blade heavyweights would hold up. After some hands-on time with the Eldris, here are our observations.
Blade Shape, Cutting Performance, and Ergonomics
The Eldris gets a lot done with its 2.3” 12C27 blade. The compound grind gives you two very different cutting edges for added versatility. At the base of the blade, the edge is thicker for when stability and leverage are key – like for whittling wood. Fine slicing and detail work are a breeze with the thinner grind on the belly and tip. We were impressed by what this stubby little drop point could do. It feels like you’re cutting with a much bigger knife.
Many small fixed blades sacrifice ergonomics for size, but not the Eldris. Its barrel-shaped handle allows for a full four-finger grip, and is comfortable no matter how you hold it. With the center of gravity in the middle of the handle, the Eldris is balanced to give complete control over the blade. The rubberized outer edge stays grippy even in wet conditions.
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When it comes down to purchasing a fixed-blade knife for outdoor use, whether it’s for camping, backpacking, or to practice bushcraft and survival skills, you could potentially drop a lot of cash on something you don’t really need.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t spend the extra money on a quality knife, but if you’re just starting out, you can still obtain a quality blade for less money as your build your skills. As time goes on and you advance your skills, you can then upgrade to a nicer knife. The knife I recommend as a good-quality ‘beater’ knife is made by Mora of Sweden. Most bushcrafters can attest to their quality. Mora is the name of a town in Sweden, as well as a knife-making company renowned for producing good-quality but inexpensive knives. One of the most common blades they make is known as the Mora Companion.
Like most Mora knives, the Companion has a Scandi grind and comes very sharp from the factory. The steel is hardened to HRC 58-60. The knife tang narrows and extends into the handle about 3/4 of the way in; it’s not a full-tang blade. Scandi grinds are among the easiest knife grinds to sharpen in that there is only one fairly large bevel that is laid flat on a sharpening stone.
The handle is ergonomic and fits the shape of your palm and fingers, providing a very natural and firm grip. The back of the handle is also flattened and smooth, so you can place your thumb there for greater control while implementing certain types of cutting techniques. The molded rubber used on the handle retains a positive grip even in wet conditions.
The handle shape of the Companion also enables the knife to be comfortably and securely held in a number of different hand grips, useful for various types of cutting tasks. It is easy to control and can be used over extended periods of time for carving tasks without tiring your hands, as is the case with larger fixed-blade knives.
Mora has always been known for their simple sheaths and the one that comes with the Companion is no exception. It comes with a one-piece hard plastic sheath in military green. There is a belt clip that forms the upper part of the sheath, and a small drainage hole at the bottom. The knife is secured in the sheath by way of a friction fit between the upper portion of the handle and the sheath. There is a small thumb ramp on the back of the sheath to assist in drawing the knife.
Due to its light weight, the Companion is easy to use as an everyday carry fixed-blade knife. When worn on a belt, the knife is hardly noticeable and does not pull down on either the belt or your pants. Because of this, it is more likely to be on your person in an emergency or survival situation. Large, heavy knives can become a burden and are more likely to be left behind at camp or inside your backpack. Along with its synthetic handle and sheath, these factors make the Companion easy to maintain compared to other types of knives. Overall, the design of the Companion is slim and sleek.
The only modification I made to the knife itself was to square off a section on the spine of the blade for striking ferro rods during fire-making. This can be accomplished with either a hand file or bench grinder. I suggest using the hand file so you don’t take off too much steel. I also plan to upgrade the sheath to a more modern Kydex sheath. The sheath I decided on is an IWB (inside the waistband) design made by Green Force Tactical. This sheath will make this knife a truly everyday carry knife.
