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written by Nelis , March 11, 2008

Hi Wolf Cub,

If you are new to bushcraft you might be better off buying a cheap but good knive (i.e. a frosts mora model 740). This gives you the oppertunity to discover the pro's and con's of a knive before you invest in an expensive model. Having said this, you will find that when you get experienced in using a knive, there is no model you can buy in a store that suits you perfectly. My solution, I eventually made my own knive. Another option is to have one custom made for you. Several good knivemakers in the UK.

If you do want to buy a standard knive the foremost thing you want to look out for (in my humble opinion) is to buy a knive that has an cutting edge without an secondary bevel, this is called a scandinavian grind, these are easiest to sharpen. And yes, sharpening a knive well takes practice, you probably don't want to practice this on an axpensive knive.

Having said that, I think the Fallkniven (having a convex grind on the cutting edge is not a very good choice for an inexperienced user. These knives have very good cutting quality's, but are difficult to sharpen, particularly in the field.

Of course the above is my opinion and experience, probably loads of people that think differend. But then again the choice for a knive is very personal, therefore I can only talk about my own experience.

If you have more questions, feel free to post them.

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written by doubletap , March 11, 2008

I Agree, it's very difficult to get a knife that will perfectly suit all your needs. You may find that you end up with a knife that is excellent in some areas but not so good in others. I carry several knifes to overcome this. I would recommend the MoD knife, it is a full tang so it's unlikey to snap off at the handle, it had a good weight so is good for heavy duties, such as chopping, and initial carving when you need to shape the wood. It is easy to sharpen and will have a good edge to it for a long time. Don't let it get too blunt as it is difficult to get back.

For finer activities, it's not so good. For this I use either a crook knife or a small blade off my swiss-army knife. You'll only know what's right for you when you're out in the field, don't spend too much initially, go for the frost's brand, they are excellent when just starting out.

Frost Mora
written by Nightwalker , March 15, 2008

The Frost Mora was one of my best Knife buys! I consider it an absolutely superb knife for the price. Many years ago I'd paid three times the price of a Frost-Mora for a knife that wasn't half as good. Its a good investment.

Or make your own!
written by Nightwalker , March 15, 2008

You could always have a bash at making your own bushcraft-knife! I knew nothing about knife-making or metal working and I managed to have a good go!.. checkout my article on it: http://www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk/making_my_first_bushcraft_knife.htm

Sowhat did you decide?
written by scottgriffiths , May 24, 2008

I am now in the same situation as you Wolfcub, so what decision did you go for in the end?
I currently have the Mora knive and find it to be excellent, however am looking at various custom knifemakers.

would be a nice conclusion to this post to see how your story ended?!

Scott.