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Saturday, 11 September 2010

Review: Fallkniven F1 Vs Mora Forest


Lets get ready to ruuuuuumble! Two giants of the swedish knife making industry are squaring up to.... Nah it's not really fair, one is a heavy weight survival knife that can happly be used to pry floorboards up and the other is a svelt bushcrafter.

I've never had a survival knife that was so confidence inspiring as the F1, maybe it could be an inch (25mm) longer, but then it wouldn't be quite as wonderfully stow-able as it is. The blade could be a tad thinner, but then it wouldn't be as strong as it is. It could be easier to sharpen, but then it wouldn't hold an edge as long as it does. I've beaten it into a log 'till the mallet disintegrated, I've pried 70+ year old floorboards up with it, I've taken it into the Tuscan hills and used it for everything (food, firewood and green wood) for a week and it would still take hairs off my forearm. It's weaknesses are it's strengths. Hell of a price these days if you buy it in the UK, still very reasonable in the US of A.

How do you take the worlds best value utility knife and make it even better? Well the chaps at the Mora knife worx must be talented because they've made it look easy. I'm hoping to get a few years of use out of mine so I haven't pounded it into any logs, but on past experience of their other products I suspect it would come out, if not unscathed, at least still useable. It's certainly a better food preparation knife than the F1, easier to use, and easier to sharpen, like all Mora knives it takes a wicked edge and holds it well to. As well as the F1? No - but very few steels hold an edge like VG10, all of them a lot more costly than the bargain Mora Forest knife.

But which is best?
To be frank with you I wouldn't be without either of them, the Forest knife is the one I reach for for most tasks, it's an excellent craft knife and butchery tool. But on a canoe trip, or hunting in the Tuscan hills I'd want to know the F1 was there.


My other reviews of the F1 are here and here


Hope this helps
Your pal
SBW

18 comments:

  1. Hubert Hubert11 September 2010 at 09:38

    God, the width of that F1 blade! It's like a bloody axe! (Wish I had one!)

    HH

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Suburban Bushwacker11 September 2010 at 09:47

    HH
    Very thick blades are an article of faith for fallkniven. good for lots of thing but sometimes a little unwieldy.
    SBW

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hippo11 September 2010 at 14:03

    I'd love to see you do a review of knife sharpeners. I have some nice drop forged steel kitchen knives but try as I might, I cannot get a decent edge on them using a traditional steel. I think the knives are harder than the steel that is supposed to be sharpening them. Either that, or I am just cack handed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Suburban Bushwacker11 September 2010 at 14:56

    Hippo

    I've been thinking about a post like that for a while, although I'm considerably better than I used to be, i'm still far from truly expert. Thanks for the request though - i'l start on one asap

    SBW

    ReplyDelete
  5. BeMistified11 September 2010 at 17:01

    I got all giddy seeing that your post was about the knives again! I may be the collector of pretty knives, but a knife that can gut something that is after me and then able to cut a tomato, count me in!

    ReplyDelete
  6. murphyfish11 September 2010 at 21:45

    Hey SBW,
    Sold to the short guy from Wales, now about that sharpener review......

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Suburban Bushwacker14 September 2010 at 10:47

    Murphy

    Cute aren't they.

    I've started the sharpener review - well it's more about sharpening but I need to catch up with my dad to take the close up pix that will illustrate it. Funny because it was only when I started to write it that I realised how far my sharpening has come in the last few months
    Your pal
    SBW

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Suburban Bushwacker14 September 2010 at 10:49

    Be Mis

    thanks for your kind words and feedback. Lots more 'sharps' posts to come and I've got most of my tool in one place now so some knife and sheath pimping can take place too.
    Your pal
    SBW

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jack/Black Scout Survival7 April 2012 at 16:18

    great comparison article on two awesome knives

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Suburban Bushwacker7 April 2012 at 20:02

    Cheers Jack
    SBW

    ReplyDelete
  11. Swedenish8 September 2013 at 14:17

    I own an Mora and I like it, it`s worth his money.

    ReplyDelete
  12. BlueTrain22 October 2013 at 16:42

    I have a Bundeswehr utility knife that has a blade that's about as thick as the F1. It has a spear point and a convenient but heavy metal sheath. However, it won't take much of an edge and it doesn't really get used very much.

    I did buy just a few weeks ago a Mora Companion (love the name) partly to replace a Finnish Pukko with a razor-sharp blade, mainly because the Pukko just seemed a little too strange to carry around. Not very logical, is it? But I still felt the need to have a good, stout knife with a sharp blade, even if I never expect to pry up floor boards with it. For that, I always carry a crowbar anyway. It's still hard to get by without something smaller to go along with it, mainly to peel things.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Suburban Bushwacker23 October 2013 at 06:24

    Blue Train

    I know I'll be drummed out of the knife-nuts club for saying this, but... a potato peeler really is a great invention LOL

    SBW

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  14. BlueTrain23 October 2013 at 14:05

    It is but not for potatoes. Great for carrots, though. My standard for a pocketknife is that it has to be good for peeling potatoes, which isn't that simple a standard. Besides, all a potato peeler is good for is peeling, unlike a pocket knife, which you'll probably have with you anyway.

    No offense to the potato peeling interests out there. Those Mora knives are incredibly good for what they cost, by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  15. bdc1 January 2016 at 22:11

    I wonder if a lanyard hole can be drilled into the Mora. It is not a full tang. If so, what type of drill bit would be used.

    F1 knife. You can put it in a pants pocket of a suit within the factory sheath. Another plus.

    ReplyDelete
  16. bdc1 January 2016 at 22:12

    Can you drill a lanyard hole through the Mora? It is not a full tang. If so, what type of drill bit would you use.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The Suburban Bushwacker2 January 2016 at 13:07

    An old one I didn't plan on using for anything else
    SBW

    ReplyDelete
  18. Vet2 July 2020 at 04:54

    That's a lovely width on the F1, I love a blade that holds good weight

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave comments. I really enjoy hearing what readers think. The rules are the same as round my dinner table:

You're welcome to disagree, life would be way too boring if we all agreed with each other and we'd never learn anything.
I like to think that we're all grown up enough to argue every last point, right down to the bone, without bearing a grudge afterwards.



Come on in the waters lovely
SBW