Dive knife - Mora Sweden?

[Mr. X]

I've had several dive knives Spearfishing over the years, some good, some bad and some indifferent.

As well as the varying array of products available now (the choice is much better now), some people suggested using stainless steel kitchen knives, such as old Sheffield-made "Kitchen Devils". With that in mind, I bought numerous old kitchen knives at car boot sales and charity shops. However I never used any of them for diving! However, I now have a kitchen drawer full of rather nice vintage kitchen knives, including a range of rather good "Kitchen Devil" knives from different periods.

Greenwood, woodcarving and woodworking has become another hobby of mine, possibly influenced by those clever Guernsey Spearos, such as our old friends the late, great OldManDave, his brother Foxfish and also Magpie, among others.

The Swedish company Mora made most of my excellent woodcarving, bush and "Sloyd" knives (although Ben Orford in England made 2 of my more specialized woodcarving knives ). I normally buy Mora's excellent laminated carbon steel bladed knives. But a while back I decided to try one off their less traditional designs. I forget the model number, but based I think on the very popular wooden handled, laminated carbon steel bladed 106. However, this model has a black plastic handle and black plastic sheath and a stainless steel blade that * takes and holds a sharp edge* and has a normal, narrow pointed end that should be appreciated by Spearos for iki jime use. I don't know how it would stand up to use as a dive knife/spearfishing knife in saltwater but it looks like it has potential!

 

[vrokhlenko]

As a fish finisher this knife is not appropriate - too long and you can damage the hand that hold the fish head while the knife is going through. It has to be re-shaped (stiletto style) and shortened. As a knife to get you out of trouble it might work. The question is - is the latch on holster reliable enough? In my opinion it is not. I modified a chinese copy of Mora - got 2 for 4 dollars total with free shipping. I built a stainless spring-loaded latch and screwed it into the holster. Works well. It is called a "Wahoo Killer" : https://www.budk.com/Wahoo-Killer-Knife-1038

 

[Mr. X]

Hmm. Looks live a good price but... I was just reading an article by Paul Sellers (Master woodworker) where he was lamenting the huge hidden loss of skills resulting from buying cheap foreign knock-offs (and the likes of Ikea mdf products - ironically Swedish made too!).

The blade on my Mora carving (not bush or sloyd) knife is slim (much slimmer than your's shown at the link above, which appears to be based on the popular Clipper model I think, I own 2 Mora Clippers both carbon steel but stainless steel versions of those are available too I believe - again excellent, inexpensive knives, or they were, sigh) and probably slightly shorter than my current Spearo dagger and my Mora 106 woodcarving knife (perhaps because some of the blade is moulded into the handle?). As I said, I haven't tried diving with it, but on dry land at least it clips positively into its deep plastic sheath; and leaves a positively shaped butt protruding to ease removal from the sheath.

Yes it is very sharp , so cutting yourself is a possibility. Iki jime is normally through the skull and/or perhaps beneath the gill-cover, so perhaps less likely to cut through the fish? And the handle provides a positive ridge to help prevent the user's hand sliding on to the blade (as recommended by the late, great Swedish Sloyd woodcarver, Wille Sundqvist).

 

[vrokhlenko]

My Mora is almost identical to the chinese fake. The holsters are interchangeable! I have a stainless version with a 4" blade. The blade is maybe 0.5mm thicker than on the fake one. But in my opinion the latch is critical - even 100 dollar knives have crappy latches and are lost easily. I will send you later some photos of what I did. It is a bit crude but reliable

 

[Mr. X]

Here is an image of the knife in question. The model number is probably 906 (or possibly 920 - but I think that is a shorter, wider version, a plastic & stainless steel version of the excellent 120 wood & laminated carbon steel woodcarving knife).

 

[FlotsamBob]

Here is an image of the knife in question. The model number is probably 906 (or possibly 920 - but I think that is a shorter, wider version, a plastic & stainless steel version of the excellent 120 wood & laminated carbon steel woodcarving knife).

View attachment 60022

I used a carbon steel version of this last summer in Finland when I lost my dive knife, very successfully I might add. Worth mentioning my glove preferand always has an aramid palm which may have save me a good litre of blood as these things are wicked sharp!

I keep almost only Mora brand knives on the main boat back home in Norway. The floating handled models are ace. Worthy mentions for fish processing knives are (industrial Frosts brand of Mora) 1-1040 SP which doubles as a proper survival knife and the filleting 9174 PG.

 

[Mr. X]

Yes, all of my Swedish tools ( I have several, as well as knives) arrived "wicked sharp" and remain so .

Even my Gransfors Bruks froe! (Froes are not supposed to be too sharp, as they are supposed to split wood rather than cut it).

Yes, a knife-proof glove sounds like a prudent investment! . Even the late, great Swedish Sloyd carver Wille Sundqvist was known to sport a few plasters (US. bandages) from time to time.

Mora's with floating handles sound interesting/good. Hmm.

 

[FlotsamBob]

Yes, all of my Swedish tools ( I have several, as well as knives) arrived "wicked sharp" and remain so .

Even my Gransfors Bruks froe! (Froes are not supposed to be too sharp, as they are supposed to split wood rather than cut it).

Yes, a knife-proof glove sounds like a prudent investment! . Even the late, great Swedish Sloyd carver Wille Sundqvist was known to sport a few plasters (US. bandages) from time to time.

Mora's with floating handles sound interesting/good. Hmm.

Yep Fiskars axes and Mora knives are staples for wood processing here, can't beat the quality to price ratio.

I'm in the process of making a cork floating handle for a Titanall titanium knife I use for diving. That thing is too dearly priced to be claimed by the abyss .