Mora Companion HeavyDuty (C)

User review of the Mora Companion Heavy Duty MG - Jan Pokorný

Knives made by the Swedish company, which is based in the city of Mora, are, as I found out, a big hit these days. Perhaps on every forum of knife lovers or outdoor and bushcraft enthusiasts in some thread you will find a number of links, comments or just photos of a Mora knife that its owner wants to show off. It's very much a fashionable thing, just like bushcraft and survival.

Mora by Sweden was formed in 2005 by the merger of two companies, Frosts Knivfabrik and KJ Eriksson. Knives from this company are currently branded with the Morakniv® trademark. You can still find logos such as Frosts Mora Sweden or E. Jönsson Mora Sweden on older Mora knife models today. These are also originals from Mora. I also have these logos on my old Mora knives.

The first thing that strikes you about this knife is its name. Especially the two abbreviations HD and MG. The first one stands for "Heavy Duty", that is, designed for heavy work, popularly speaking "in the thick of it", and MG is a sign that the knife is made in military green, that is, "Military Green". Perhaps that's why it's so popular among survival enthusiasts. But surely that won't be the only and main reason.

That, in my opinion, is the second thing that catches your eye about this knife - its ruggedness. Although it doesn't look like it in the picture, compared to its older and more subtle brother - the Mora Companion - it is more massive and especially its blade is thicker. This makes this knife suitable for rougher handling and harder ("heavy duty") work.

The blade of the knife is, as we are used to with MORA knives, carbon (but it is also available in stainless steel). This makes it easy to sharpen, it can be sharpened to a poisonous sharpness, but again it loses its edge more quickly, and if you leave it in the damp it will get a classic patina (I blackened my Mora right after I bought it and cut myself with it the very next day). The shape of the knife is identical to the Mora Companion, differing only in blade thickness and texture, solidity and handle material. At first glance you can see that you have a piece of iron in your hand.

The handle is made of plastic (green guard and pommel) and hardened rubber. It has a comfortable grip that makes it secure even with a wet hand, but it takes some getting used to - especially if you were used to other MORA knife types. It fits well even in a larger hand. The MORAKNIV logo is embossed in the rubber on the right side of the handle.

The plastic sheath may look cheap (Mora sheaths always look to me like a vacuum cleaner nozzle for sucking out gaps in a radiator), but it performs its function excellently. It is self-locking and has the traditional drain hole at the bottom. Then you have a thumb rest on the back for easier removal of the knife from the sheath. The green color adds a military look. What I personally like about this sheath is the attachment system. The sheath can either be hung from a button (I have never used that) or from a belt. On the belt loop, two beaks snap into each other to prevent the belt from coming out of the loop and you losing the sheath and knife. I've tried, it's not that easy to just "scrape" the sheath out of the belt. In order to remove the sheath from the belt (or put it on the belt), you need to move both sides of the sheath at least half an inch sideways from each other, which is not easy to do on your own. There is also the MORAKNIV logo on the top of the holster. If you don't like this holster, you can make your own out of kydex, leather, wood... On the internet you can also find various other modifications to the plastic holster, but they are usually done with insulation tape, or in the best case paracord. However, these are not staggering modifications. Usually the author of the modification wraps the case to attach the Firesteel to it.

Working with Mora is a joy. It is excellent for classic activities. The popular kindling shavings you see in every bushcraft video today go beautifully with this Mora. Batoning is also not the slightest problem, if you have a sharp knife, splitting smaller logs goes very easily. I haven't tried "boyish shenanigans" with this knife and I'm not going to. I don't think it's designed for that. It doesn't get lost in cooking either, although the thicker blade can make it a bit clumsy for fine slicing. When you're halving an apple, for example, you don't get a clean cut all the way through, but the apple will burst halfway through the cut. But this is also a matter of practice and overall skill. On the other hand, this is not a kitchen knife. That's where the Mora 2000 works very well, for example. The Companion HD MG is a knife for the woods.

Speaking of the Firesteel, the famous flint knife. The carbon blades of the MORA knives are very good at shaking sparks about the firesteel. With this knife, however, the blade spine needs to be modified. It is slightly rounded and smooth from the factory, so you won't be able to shake the spark out of the flint with it. You have to roughen the blade tip with a few strokes of the file first. After that, starting a fire with flint is much easier.

I must say that I am very satisfied with the Mora Heavy Duty. When I saw it on various outdoor forums, I was skeptical at first. I'm not a fan of fancy stuff. And Mora knives hold the top spot in this "ability to become a fashion item". But then I got this knife at a very good price (which it is on the Improvement) and after trying it out, it fit me. The grip suits me, the length of the blade suits me (which I'm used to with Mora knives), after all I like the green color, and I don't mind the carbon blade (which I always blacken). The belt sheath holds very well, it can also be attached to a backpack. The knife isn't too heavy to bother me on my belt or at work, yet it's sturdy enough to handle most common outdoor activities. I don't "mess around" with knives, so I'm comfortable with the knife and I'm not worried about not being able to hold onto it in a rock climb. I don't intend to do anything like that with this knife.

I can recommend this knife to anyone who wants a knife they can carry that they won't pay an outrageous amount for, while still being assured of quality and reliability. And of course to those who want to be "in" on some of the outdoor discussion forums.

Jan Pokorný