Brief thoughts on the Mora HD/Robust

Relatively recently Morakniv of Sweden bowed to the wishes of the modern cutlery consumer and introduced a line of knives having thicker blades and larger bi-compound molded on grips with a very pronounced palm swell when compared to a standard companion. Sold as either the "HD" or "Robust" (dependent on the presence of a button nubbin on the sheath) and available only in carbon steel, presumably due to the difficulty of stamping a blade blank in stainless.
Retail cost is usually within a couple bucks of a standard companion.



So... is it any better than a standard carbon Companion?

The answer is a resounding meh.

Standard Companion on top.


The HD/Robust palm swell is oddly positioned for my medium sized hand. While it doesn't present any ergonomic difficulty and undoubtedly improves the security of the grip the palms well feels wrong and I haven't acclimated to its presence despite using it daily for many weeks.

The HD/Robust is 3.2mm thick compared to the 2mm of a reg'lar companion. While that doesn't sound like much, for a scandi ground knife it makes a huge difference in how the knife behaves since as the thickness of the blade stock increases the thickness behind the edge necessarily increases as well. This isn't an issue when cutting thin or flexible materials but drastically increases the force required for slicing through thicker, firmer mediums...like a potato or a turnip.
To rephrase: A HD/Robust Mora doesn't so much slice an apple as beat it into submission, despite being hair-poppin', mono-molecular edge sharp.

Standard Companion vs HD/Robust Thickness


If someone feels that they would prefer a larger more secure grip on a Mora type knife, I'm of the opinion that the Mora 7xx would be a superior alternative to the HD/Robust

The grip of the 7xx series is a bit larger than the HD/Robust, non weird in proportion and has the thinner, better slicing blade.



HD/Robust at work.

jerkface11 said:

In the top down picture it looks like the blade is laminated is that just a trick of the light?

Click to expand...

It is shadow. Give me a sec and I'll shoot everyone a better pic.

The HD/Robust spine is actually finished, whereas the thinner carbon blades are left as stamped.

to wit:

Robust:


Companion:


Mora 711:

hso said:

Try to put a full height convex on it and see how it behaves then.

Click to expand...

That is on the short list for quick projects.

I've FHCed quite a few companions over the years and they are thin enough that you can get a big slicing performance bump just by knocking the shoulders off of the bevel.
Just spitballing, but I'd figure 30-40% increased force required for slices into hard media (taters, eggplant) for the HD/Robust vs a standard Companion. That sorta jives proportionally with the stock thickness increase, more or less.

The Hultafors GK has the same relationship to their products as the HD/Robust has to Morakniv, being roughly the same thickness.

I think it might be telling that Hultafors grinds them with a secondary bevel. Presumably their tech folks don't think that a "true" low scandi works with this stock thickness.

Full height convexed a HD/Robust.

My calipers tell me it lost just under 1mm thickness at where the bevel was.
I took the finish up to 2000 grit.







It is stupid, scary sharp.

Now I have to go find something to cut.

Hot Butter?

No problem.

It works either way don't it?