1st proper knife.

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Aug 2, 2006
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newcastle
Can anyone recomend a decent knife foor bushcraft? I was thinking of the mora training knife! Money is pretty tight at the moment. Not wanting to spend a fortune. Your advice would be appreciated. Cheers Loneranger.
 
Loneranger,
Why not try making your own?
Once you have a small amount of information and a handful of materials - you'll be away. The only downside is that if you get bitten by the bug, it tends to get expensive in the long run.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 
Am with O.T.T on this one! make one.. get a kit from Brisa and go for it!

It will be a custom knife for very little cash

Ogri the trog said:
Loneranger,
Why not try making your own?
Once you have a small amount of information and a handful of materials - you'll be away. The only downside is that if you get bitten by the bug, it tends to get expensive in the long run.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 
Making your own knife is a great idea...if you have time. It's always something I wanted to try but with work, family life and the usual hussle and bussle when I get some spare time (not all that often with a 2 & a 6 year old boys) I like to just get out out of the house and have a wander with the dog, or sit quietly outdoors and watch the world fly by.

If you can't or don't fancy making your own knife right now then the Frosts Clipper is a really good place to start. For sale widely on the net for around the £10 mark these are really good first knives to be using for bushcraft. As stated above two blade materials are available. I own a Carbon one, and to make it that little more interesting I purchased a leather sheath from ebay which has a fire steel loop. It cost around £20 but I really do prefer it to the platic one that comes with the Clipper.

I'm sure that many knives are relatively cheap and good for practicing bushcraft with, but many, including myself went down the "Clipper Road". I certainly wasn't disapointed.

I also own a Fallkniven F1, more costly at around £60 but well worth the money in my opinion. I use the F1 as my main fixed blade but always ensure the trusty Clipper is packed away just in case.

Hope this helps....ATB....Stu :)
 
Cheers for the info. Might take a look at the "clipper". Would love to have a try at making my own knife but a bit short of time at the minute. Definately one for the future though.
 
Another knife to consider is the Opinel Knife - No.8 - 84mm, lockable, high carbon steel blade, folder. Around £5 (Axminster have them for £4.79 I see on the above link)

It wont take the same punishment as a Mora but does other things very well. The blade is easy to sharpen and being a thin blade, cuts meat, veg, fruit superbly, more delicate carving, nice beechwood handle and can be carried in the pocket.

If you can stretch to it, the extra £5 will give you a great backup/ companion to a Mora and provide a lot of versatility.

If you are really on a budget then Axminster do a Frosts Utility Knife for £5.25 which is basically the same as the Frost Mora for £10. A nice 'no lose' red handle and handy measuring scale on the blade :) But is the same and comes with the plastic sheath.
 
I often disagree with cliff stamp and don't get on with his method of reviews at all

I haven't sharpen the mora 200 at all yet. I bought on from BB off somebody but it doesn't look like it's been used at all. There is a secondary bevel along the whole edge and the knife isn't very sharp, I tend to sharpen mora knives with the whole bevel flat and then give it a few strokes on the 30degree setting of the sharpmaker so that the edge isn't too think and weak. Wit the 2000 I intend to just sharpen the cutting edge of the flat section at 30degrees as well. I can imagin this been a bit odd if you have difficulty sharpening full flat grind blades freehand.

someone has asked me about the tang, it's not a full tang but looking at an x-ray someone posted it is much longer then a clipper
 
Echo both responses below. The frosts Clipper can take a MASSIVE amount of punishment and keep a surburb edge and is cheap as chips - Its really the only knife you need for bushcraft. I made a knife ffrom bits off the brisa website - quite economical (by comparison to commercially offered bushy knives) and was well pleased with the result (actually so was RM when i showed it on a woodlore course - chuff chuff) But its really no better at its job than the mora and i am MUCH more reluctant to batter it through wood etc.
Im just finishing a copy of the alan wood bushcrafter and im very pleased with myself having spent the sum total of £1.60 for some quenching oil, some sandpaper etc the rest coming from odds and ends lurking in the garage.
I would reccommend a procurement route along those lines and you wont go far wrong.

Cheers

Nick
 
I'm a big fan of the M2K. I've used one for about every chore one is likely to find in the field and have been impressed with it's cutting ability, edge durability, easy cleaning and maintenance and ease of sharpening. For the money invested, it's a whole lotta knife.
 

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