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DukeJockey
81
Sep 26, 2020
Most of the entry level Moras are 3/4 tang, which won’t stand up to much heavy wood prep. If you anticipate batoning much wood, upgrade to a full tang knife. There are many choices of material and point of origin for much less than $110. I’d recommend the US made Kabar Mk I Navy knife, although you have to sand the coating off the spine to strike sparks with it. Condor makes lots of carbon steel knives in Costa Rica El Salvador [thanks, @Axeguy]. Their Hudson Bay camp knife is about as close to the 250 year old original design as you can get, for about $70. They make a mini version of it, too, but that makes me scratch my head over it’s intended use. Their “Swamp Romper” would be a much better choice, and would be a direct competitor to the Haswell for about half the cost. Condor use 1075 steel, which is super tough. What it lacks in edge holding it makes up for with ease of sharpening. The list goes on and on. Buck, Ontario, Case, etc.
(Edited)
Kavik
5531
Sep 26, 2020
DukeJockeyThis brings up another point I was wondering about....who uses a 3.5-4" knife for battoning anyway? Lol What's that let you split, about 2" thick wood, if that, unless you want to be hammering directly on your tip?
Leoanger
355
Sep 27, 2020
DukeJockeyI've beat on the Frosts carbon Mora I found in a pawn shop harder than I would one of my nicer knives - mostly to see how it would hold up. The only damage so far is a small crack in the thermoplastic handle where the blade inserts. Considering the construction and the relatively thin blade, the thing is quite tough. Just need to exercise a little common sense if you really want to avoid breaking one. @DukeJockey, splitting a 2" or smaller stick is useful when prepping kindling for a fire in an area with little wood and conditions less than perfect. So to answer your rhetorical question, I do (:
Axeguy
1372
Sep 28, 2020
DukeJockeyCondors are made in El Salvador, actually.
DukeJockey
81
Sep 28, 2020
AxeguyOops, fixed. Thx.
Omniseed
1972
Oct 8, 2020
KavikI absolutely adore hammering directly on my tip ^_*