Companion Heavy Duty Knife with Sandvik Carbon Steel Blade, 0.125/4.1-Inch

I'm a bit a bit of a knife snob. A good knife, I assumed, started somewhere north of $100. But having seen these knives on Amazon on quite a few occasions got my curiosity up. I have always believed that a strong fixed blade knife design is my first choice for nearly all purposes, and with the rave reviews posted, decided to give this knife a full hunting season of use. As of yesterday, my hunting season ended with a young cow elk which was quartered for packing out. This brought the total of work for this knife, this season, to: 3 bull elk, 7 cow elk, 4 buck mule deer, 150+ pheasants, 23 chukar, and a lost count of waterfowl. Oh, and fish galore. Yes, I am actively involved in the outdoors and hunting, and the assisting of others in the same pursuits. I think that I can say that I put this knife through more use to this point in time than most will ever see. This knife is just flat incredible. Anytime you are cleaning and processing game, your knife is going to become wet and/or bloody in some way. The ergonomics of a knife will either shine positively, or fail miserably. In all conditions, this has been the most comfortable knife that I have used. Ever. Never was an unsure grip a problem. The rubber/plastic grip material always retained a grippy feel to it, offering great purchase, even in cold freezing conditions. The blade itself is maybe the most amazing part of this knife. It is made of a 1095 steel, suitably hardened to a level that I am not aware of, that holds an edge, in my experience, fantastically well. Knowing that this was a carbon steel blade, and would therefore rust if not cared for, I was curious to see the appearance of the blade after some use. Arriving with a signal mirror finish, after several head of game use, the blade showed no signs of rusting, but did show some staining from blood being left on the blade intentionally to see the results. Afterward the blade was buffed with steel wool, and given the boiling vinegar treatment to force a patina to the metal, resulting in a blade that hasn't stained since with the same treatment, and has not ever rusted. Upon arrival, the blade was nice and sharp, almost shaving so. I then stropped the blade with green compound which brought it up to shaving quality (arm hair). The knife was used on two successive elk, and one deer, before any re-sharpening was done. This involved gutting, quartering, and boning out meat from these animals. I would normally strop a blade between animals to retain a shaving edge, but went three to determine at what point the edge became dull enough to make work difficult. It didn't. While it did lose it's shaving quality edge, the edge never dulled to a degree to render it unusable, or dangerous. Sharpening this blade has never required more than stropping with grey and green compounds from Bark River knives. Again, this blade has never once seen a stone or other sharpening device other than a stropping board, with the above mentioned compounds. That, ladies and gentlemen, denotes a blade steel of outstanding quality! This knife has far outperformed almost every knife that I own. I don't own a knife with a more comfortable grip for all-conditions use. I certainly own more expensive knives made with blade steels that perform no better, and worse, than this blade. At the absurdly inexpensive price point of this knife, I have not come across a better value, and am happy to make it known to friends, clients, and all others, that they really should own this knife! If you are a user of knives, you really have no good excuse not to.

This is simply a great knife. Noticeably thicker than the Mora Craftline Q, which is also a great knife (especially for children, or those who aren't used to being, cooking, cutting in the great outdoors). Says it's suitable for batoning. I haven’t used it for that, but have used it for fuzz sticks, making notches, stripping wood, etc. The handle feels great in my hand. I got the hi viz orange. I'm a backpacker - I want to be seen, and not lose anything 3 days in to a 5 day hike. For me personally, I put this in the category of "all around camp knife." It's the one everyone can use to do pretty much anything around camp. For general weekend backpacking or car camping, I pair this with the also excellent Light My Fire Scout, Smiths PP1 two stage sharpener and a swiss army knife (for cutting meats, veges, etc.). To contrast philosophy of use, for my distance hikes in Montana and Alaska, I do take the Bear Gryles Survival knife. In my opinion, the knife, sharpener, and fire rod aren’t as optimized as the previous set of kit, but it’s meant for a different purpose. Nice tidy, survival oriented, something just got really weird and I’m 2 days from anyone and it’s time to go, kind of kit. So with that contrast, the Mora is a smaller blade. It’s definitely a higher quality steel than the Bear Gryles. Honestly the Mora just feels better. It just feels like a knife optimized as the all-around, all-purpose camping, fishing, hunting, and backpacking knife that you can beat the bojangles out of. Also, I like to introduce people to backpacking and camping. This is a knife people can feel comfortable using and experimenting with to build skills with. And if it gets damaged, I don’t care. This is a EXCEEDINGLY HIGH value knife at the price it’s being offered for. As an example, my girlfriend said “the Bear feels like a Rambo-knife… no thank you… Mora please…” That is a direct quote. The knife is robust, sharp, high quality, and feels good in the hand. AND… it’s an exceedingly high value purchase. Highly recommended.

There are quite a few Mora knives around my place. They are used for everything from gardening chores to cutting down cardboard boxes. I have them in each vehicle, toolbox, range bags and emergency bags. I decided to give the Mora Companion Heavy Duty MG Knife a try and I am not displeased at all with it. The knife locks solidly in its plastic case and the plastic case locks firmly onto the belt (up to 3/4") when carried OWB or IWB. The handle of the knife is thicker than my other Mora knives and I like that feature along with the rubberized, textured grip that helps keep the knife in the hand when the hand is wet. A hole in the bottom of the sheath allows draining should liquids invade the sheath. The knife comes in my favorite color - O.D. Green. If you are concerned about loosing this knife amongst the flora and fauna then don't drop it or you may be looking for a while. Order the fluorescent green or orange version of the Mora knives, if need be. You will have a great knife at your disposal whatever Mora knife you choose. The knife comes sharp but not that sharp. A few good swipes with a diamond knife sharpener Smith's DCS4 4-Inch FINE & COARSE Diamond Combo Sharpening Stones and the blade is ready for business. Because the blade is carbon steel, it must be maintained to prevent rust. I use Balistol Ballistol Multi-Purpose Oil, Aerosol spray, 6 oz on all my carbon knife blades to keep them in top shape. Just spray it on the blade and let it sit for a short while to dry. What you will have is a good blade with a protective coat. I have always preferred a good fixed blade knife over a locking folder; I just don't trust my digits to a lock that may or may not work when put under stress. The Mora Companion Heavy Duty MG Knife is an inexpensive knife that is a workhorse when tasked to work within its limits. This is not a knife to baton with and it was not intended to be one. It is not a fighting knife, but it has the capability to be one in a pinch. It is an excellent product and you should avail yourself to several.

(My thoughts on the Mora Heavy Duty Carbon Steel Companion Knife and about putting a patina on the blade) Don't let the price fool you this is NOT a cheap knife, it’s just very inexpensive. If I hadn’t read so many good reviews about it, I would never be interested in a knife that costs less than $20 because usually you get what you pay for. Swedish products do have a reputation for substantial quality though. I classify knives in terms of quality by the material the blade is made out of. What makes this such a good knife is the blade is forged from tool grade carbon steel which makes it hard enough to hold a REALLY sharp edge and tough enough not to break when you push it. It's not often that you find a carbon steel knife at this price point and like many other people, I feel like I got way more than I paid for. I'm probably never going to push this knife to its extreme limits in a survival situation, but it’s nice to know that if I ever have to, it can take it. I picked this knife first, because of the hordes of good reviews and the price being a close second. I know Mora make stainless steel knives too, I’ve heard the same good things about the quality of those. If you want to see how good the knife is, just go to youtube where you can find tons of reviews from people who show how the knife performs in practical situations. I was surprised to hear that the knife is not full tang because you would never know it. Its only ¾ tang but it’s as solid as can be. The way it is manufactured into the handle will ensure that it won’t ever come apart. This knife comes really, really sharp out of the box and what’s scary is that you can even make it sharper if you want to, one of the benefits of carbon steel. The handle is very comfortable and the whole knife has a really solid feel. I really like the sheath too, you can wear it on a belt or just clip it on your pants with no belt. It has a nicely designed catch that prevents it from slipping off your pants. One problem you have with carbon steel over stainless, is that carbon steel will rust if you don’t take care of it. I think the benefits are worth a little extra effort to take care of the blade, like keeping it cleaned and oiled. I’ve seen a lot chatter about people putting a patina on the blade because it’s supposed to protect the blade from rust. It’s a dark coating that you get from a chemical reaction by soaking the blade in boiling vinegar. I tried it and one thing I found out is the plastic handle stands up to boiling temperatures with no problem at all. After doing it, I guess I wouldn’t recommend the patina, because you are actually eroding the steel on the blade away. The video I was watching said to do the process 5 times. When I was done I had a nice dark satin finish on the blade, it looked pretty cool but there were a few splotches, so I tried to scrub it a little to blend them in. Nothing seemed to make a difference until I tried an SOS pad and some dish soap. That’s when I found out that the patina finish is not permanent, it can rub off. I also noticed that the etching on the blade was gone. There had to be quite a bit of erosion to take it down far enough to erase the deep etched logo and text that were there before I started. The knife is still good and I will be able to use it fine, it’s just the erosion makes it look like it’s been heavily used for many years and I just got it yesterday. I didn’t think the patina thing was worth the time and trouble especially since it damages the surface of the blade and it’s not even permanent. I ended up buying a second knife because they are so affordable. Now I’ll have a nice new looking one and another I can beat on without feeling too guilty. I would recommend this for anyone, especially outdoorsmen. I think people who don’t know about them would be pleasantly surprised but the quality of such an inexpensive knife.

If you're into camping or find yourself just needing a really awesome knife you should definitely purchase this. I bought this knife for my bug out bag and I immediately fell in love with it. It fits perfectly in its case without any type of rattle whatsoever. For the price of this knife you are getting a lot for your money. Why you should: Extremely durable, well-made carbon steel knife. Craftsmanship is on point and so is the value for money! This brand in particular makes very high quality knives at excellent price points. I would not only recommend this knife but any knife in their line of products. This thing is beefy for the size, extremely durable and will last you a lifetime. I am extremely happy with the case that it came with. This knife pops in and out of it with a really great snap, it sits well on your belt or bag, does not rattle at all and there's no chance that it's going to slip out of its place in your belt unless you physically want it to. Why you shouldn't: Carbon steel in general does it necessarily hold an edge for long. This knife is no exception. You will be sharpening this knife as much as you will be using it. While extremely sharp It does not hold an edge for long so I recommend purchasing an on-the-go sharpening kit. All in all this knife is a fantastic purchase and I highly recommend that you look into it! It is strong, dependable, very well made and ergonomic. While it does not hold an edge for too long I would not blame the knife because all carbon steel is very similar. Buy a mobile sharpening kit and you will be good to go!

Just received my Mora Companion heavy duty....after reading many reviews I decided to take the plunge on this "cheap" knife and see what all the smoke was about. Let me preface my review by saying I restore old hand planes and am familiar with both carbon steel blades and the much harder and modern A 2 steel blades. I sharpen both regularly to hair popping sharpness and know what a good piece of steel feels like and how it responds to being sharpened. I am quite frankly, at a loss as to how Mora can sell this kind of quality for so little money. Out of the box it was shaving sharp - no exaggeration here. The heft and stability of the blade are quite impressive for a knife of any price much less for one that costs about 16 bucks. I took it down to my shop and ran it over an 8000 grit polishing stone and it did improve the smoothness of the edge a bit but not that much. It was already very sharp out of the box. I would give this more stars if I could - it's a ridiculous bargain given the price - I will be ordering more for my garden, the woods and work - why not? I have paid 2 to 3 times as much for knives that went belly up after a few months of use. I have not beat on it yet but I am sure that it will be just fine. As a piece of advice - I have read several reviews which stated that some people were disappointed the carbon steel knives rusted or pitted - listen, carbon steel is a wonderful metal - it is used in the finest Japanese hand plane blades / but it is not stainless - you must oil and clean the blade after use. It's the price you pay for enjoying this type of metal. There is nothing I do not like about this knife. The scabbard is utilitarian but totally functional. The blade is thick and SHARP. I know the carbon steel will hold an edge very well and be very easy to sharpen, especially with the scandi grind - it's fool proof. If you need a quality piece of steel for work or play at an insane price - buy one - or as I plan to do - buy several and ENJOY! Highly recommend as I am HIGHLY surprised by the quality of this knife at this or any other price. And guys - do yourself a favor and get off of the bigger is better thing - you don't need a foot long knife to get the job done. Relax <G>

Wow, from the description of this product I decided to take the chance and purchase it. I have the Morakniv Gargerg and I feel that this one is a little better. If you are weight conscience and want a lightweight strong steel knife this is your ticket. This is one of Morakniv's better blades and I love it. It is highly functional if your goal is to do some close-up woodworking. Razor sharp and as far as I am concerned this is the tool that is needed. Highly recommended. I may buy another one for a family member. Thanks for the great product and great customer service.

It’s perfect for me. It fits my hands. Blade is sturdy. I mean it’s not a $200 blade but it is a perfect hunting or edc knife.