Is it just me or do the mora "spoon" knifes suck?

[geordienemisis]

Whittler Kev makes some real good spoon blades, I for one stand by that.

 

[Bardster]

its more about rounding the back so that its a smooth curve that can ride on the wood, rather than abrupt ridges/shoulders as seen on the factory finish. As can been seen in my pic, its a smooth continuous curve. Also the back edge is smoothed out as well. A narrow blade would be better too.

What is it people do to their mora spoon knives to improve them?

Looking at the pics above, it seems to mainly be thinning down the blade by grinding off a lot from the outside of the curve. I have the double-edged knife and do find it a bit frustrating - even when the blade is sharp, it doesn't want to cut in the same way as the small straight moras (or a simple opinel). Is it just a matter of the bevels being too steep?

 

[mr dazzler]

Depending on what wood type you are using and which area of the spoon you are working on, sometimes if you cut square on, the blade will chatter, and leave tiny parallel lines; the mora hooks cut cleaner and sweeter when they are skewed at an angle (as with any blade tool on wood). I rounded the outside of mine. I also strop it every few minutes

 

[Harvestman]

My first thought on reading this thread was "Oh good, it isn't just me then". However, the suggestion of modding it led me to put the tip in the vice and snap it off. I then used the DC3, a mini sharpening steel and some wet and dry to get a good edge on it, and hey presto I seem to have a useable knife again. Maybe 15 minutes work.

I've just been carving some very dry and soft wood, but I aslo tested it on some seasoned yew, and it cut beautifully. I think this is a knife that needs to be sharp or it just won't work.

 

[MartiniDave]

There's really nothing that unusual about having to prepare a tool to do a job. Many woodworkers will give a new smothing plane a real going over before using it in anger for example. I'm an instrument maker by trade, although I now work as a designer, it's extremely common to take a brand new drill bit, fresh from the box, and regrind the tip shape, rake & clearance angles dependant on what meterial you will be drilling with it. I don't see a knife, any knife, as any different in that respect.
Dave

 

[mrcharly]

Well, before heading to the grinder, I compared the knife to a gouge. The angle of the edge of the gouge to the wood was very very shallow compared to the mora (double-edged version), so I concluded that was part of the problem.

20min careful work on the waterwheel, removing steel from the outside of the blade, and I had something with a much better profile. Tried it on some crummy, crumbly pine, and it cuts as well as the gouge.

 

[Ian S]

I took about 3/8 of an inch off the end of my 164, then used the primary grind angle to work up the edge (getting rid of the secondary completely), then polished the outside and the inside of the curve. It works well, but takes a long long time to get there. A better knife might just need a quick tickle on a strop - that's all my Svante Djarv and Hans Karlsson knives needed.

Cheers