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Santa Claus just delivered my late present yesterday. I've been playing with it quite a bit between snowshoeing this morning and dinking around here at the house. I've always really liked my Mora/Light My Fire Fireknife. It's been a standard in my kit ever since Biathalonman gave it to me after our bowhunting trip in The Bob. My Fireknife has been beat to hell, it gets batoned through lodgepole to make kindling quite often (standing dead Lodgepole is something that NW Montana has no shortage of) Over the last couple years, I've just wanted a beefier version of that knife. A bowhunting friend of mine was shocked I hadn't heard of Morakniv's Bushcraft knife. He fancies himself as somewhat of a Bushcraft kind of guy... I give him [bleep] constantly. He'll ask me if I want to go practice some Bushcraft, I tell him it sounds like a great idea because I like walking less than a mile and making camp for no reason but to play with axes and knives. His nickname is Martha (Martha Stewart...)

Anyhow... Once I started looking for Morakniv's Bushcraft knife, I found a version called the Bushcraft Survival Knife. At first, I thought maybe it came with a fishing kit, useless wire saw, and an autographed picture of Rambo. It's the Bushcraft knife, with the addition of a 600 grit diamond hone on the sheath, and a 2 1/2" ferrocium rod (which I would've guessed was made by Light My Fire) The big difference between the Bushcraft, and all the other Moras, is that it's 1/8" thick steel, instead of the .075" stock used in the rest of the product line. In stainless trim, it's the same Sandvik steel used in the rest of the Mora line. It's also made in carbon steel, and it's alluded to that the carbon steel is harder than the stainless. I went stainless because, I like that Sandvik steel (it holds AND takes an edge extremely well) and I abuse and neglect my gear a lot. Also, the Carbon version is all black, I like the Hi-Viz approach on the stainless version. This Sandvik steel gets along extremely well with Lansky crock sticks (the 4 stick Sharp Box is all you'll ever need to keep these knives spooky sharp) I always have one of the long gray sticks in my possibles bag.

Both knives, pictured together. The Bushcraft Survival is 7.2 ounces. The Fireknife is 3.4. During hunting season, I plan on packing them both. The skinny tip on the Fireknife works awesome skinning tricky areas. Both knives together could bone out an elk without touch ups. I've taken apart, and butchered two whitetails with the Fireknife.


The handle on the Bushcraft knife is an ergonomic, non slip rubber. You have to use this thing to fully appreciate it. It's the first knife I've ever used that I can say "melts into my hand"


Showing the difference in thickness...


Also worth noting, the back of the Bushcraft is ground flat, just like the Fireknife, 90 degrees to the blade. That is done to facilitate use with a Firesteel. It also makes a great scraper for fatwood or other tinders when you want to make something fluffy to catch a spark. ALL Bushcraft knives are ground this way, there is some misinformation on the Interwebs, suggesting that only the Survival model is. That is incorrect...


The diamond hone mounted on the sheath is much too aggressive for this knife. Unless you damage it badly, a gray crock stick from Lansky will give you a much better, and longer lasting edge. But, it does have it's upside... You might actually damage a knife that bad in the backcountry. It works good on broadheads that might have gone through a critter like a grouse, there a "toothy" edge isn't a bad thing. Even better, that diamond hone works awesome on the flat grind that they put on the spine of the knife for taking out the little nicks that Firesteels like to make, or unplugging the steel after scraping fatwood. Also, you can hone the spine of the knife in a fashion that will reprofile the edge to leave a slight burr on the side of the spine. That helps rip off just a little bit more spark than in stock trim. Sometimes that's the difference between making fire, and getting cold.

Which brings me to my last point.... This is not a Firesteel brand rod. I've used enough of them over the years to know. This is a softer rod. Combined with the fact that it's 2 1/2" long, and I couldn't help but make the spine on my knife more aggresive, this is the most horsepower I've ever seen in a firesteel. This thing throws massive quantities of pissed off "dancing sparks." You can literally say "one thousand and one" and still see embers glowing. If you have ever used both V1.0 and V2.0 brand Swedish Firesteels side my side and noticed the difference in spark, this knife compared to a V2.0 Firesteel is that much more spark than the V2.0.

This thing is going to see a lot of miles... The only way I'll give this knife up, is if Mora makes the same exact knife, but full shank.

Good read. Found a German YouTube review.

Any clue where Santa found yours? Google wasn't too helpful in 4 pages of returns. A few carbon. No Sandvick/orange

Amazon. Prime, free shipping. 60 bucks.

Try Morakniv Bushcraft Survival, it should come up in the top 10

Thanks for the review.

Dan, good job on the thoughts on the blade, and uses/possibilities of the diamond stone and blade spine. Really good stuff, and so much coolness going on with the fatwood, ferro rod, and blade.

You can pay more. But you are not gonna get a whole lot more for the money then these.
I have one I have put through the ringer, cuts, cuts, and keeps cutting.
Good edge holding.
Like I said you can pay more but your not gonna get a whole lot more in a good carbon knife.

You and Ed are where I learned that. I keep a stick of it along for the 90% of times that you need to build a fire, but it isn't life threatening.

I've been pretty vocal about my dislike for D2 and S30V and the rest of the "super steels" for quite a while. Knives like this one just get it done. I plan on showing it no love... It's a 60 dollar tool, that's ugly and lacks anything that resembles a soul. I treat rented mules better than my knives.

About the same as you treat the whores you coral back to the crib no less.....

I was given the mora bushcraft black with blackened carbon steel blade for Christmas after getting a Fireknife for myself last summer. The fireknife proved to be worth the money after I took it out on the salt for 3 days using it as a bait knife rinsing it in salt and then cutting up 4 Rockfish and still having a shaving edge and no rust evwen though it was rinsed in salt after each use and kept outside at night. I have to agree about the handle of the bushcraft it is comfy its already handled battoning wood like a champ as well. I think the survival will make its way to me eventually for hunting.

After having and using the two moras I think that cutco's are extremely over priced

http://www.knifeworks.com/morabuschraftsurvivalorangeandblackstainlesssteelblade.aspx If you are still looking.

http://www.bensbackwoods.com/mora-of-sweden/

Also look at the HD Companion...same thickness as the Survival but only $19...

Without the sparker and a normal sheath.

http://www.amazon.com/Morakniv-Bush...3&sr=8-6&keywords=mora+bushcraft

I'll be waiting for updates as you get more time with it. I'm still not sure I wouldn't just buy three more fireknives if I had $60 to burn and put them in all my bags.

These Scandi-grind knives seem to be quite popular. I'm not yet convinced they are better. Could someone share their advantages?

From what I can tell on Morakniv's website, the spine on that knife is not ground flat, but left unfinished.

Of course, a guy can make that happen with a grinder and a couple hours time. But I'd rather spend the extra 15 bucks on the Bushcraft.

I've got a couple older Companions here around the house. One gets used all the time as a kitchen knife. They work, and are cheap. I've never been shy beating them up.

Get together a "possibles" bag. Then you can justify spending the 60 bucks once.

At least get one of the 2 1/2" long Mora firesteels. You'll like it.

I like the fire steel to start my stove but I find one of the half dozen bic lighters I have around more better for starting a fire! Kind of like your earlier comments about practicing "bushcraft."

Montana style Bushcraft is badass.

Let us not forget Brother Ed's ability to start fire with a half smoked Camel Straight, and the Sacred Native Fire Tube of the Kooney.




Because spending half a day in camp fixing a compound bow is FUN