For some, I’m sure the Morakniv new Ash Wood Outdoor Collection will seem a major departure from the company’s norm. After all, the full exposed tang and bolted-on handle scales is a new thing for them. Likewise, while it does happen occasionally, coated blades aren’t exactly common for them.

The Morakniv Ash Wood Outdoor Collection

With market trends being what they are—and have been in recent years—frankly, I’m surprised it took so long. With the near-constant pressure from consumers for more full-tang bushcraft knives and the ongoing renaissance in outdoor cooking, I’ve long assumed it was only a matter of time.

I am glad to see Morakniv stayed true to its Scandinavian roots and kept the blade stock nice and thin. Yet not so thin as to be fragile. Just enough to allow the edge to perform the ways we’ve come to expect from Mora’s knives. The larger of the four knives, the Lok, is quite robust with its 1/8-inch blade, but more on that later.

The Finn

I’ll begin with the smaller of the four, the Finn. With an overall length of 7-1/2 inches and a blade length of 3-1/2 inches, it is intended as the lightweight day-hiking, EDC, utility model of the collection. The blade thickness is a nice, slicey 3/32 inches, which is typical with all models except the Lok.

Its sheath is designed to be worn snapped onto a large button, like the big brass buttons on overalls or Mora’s button-neck lanyard. However, I’ve worn it using my pendant as a lanyard, and that worked well.

With a full 4-inch handle and a palm swell with an apple seed cross-section, it offers a pretty comfortable purchase. In my tests, I found it could serve well in lighter bushcraft tasks in a pinch. This includes whittling feather sticks to start a cooking fire or making cooking forks or skewers for primitive cooking.

Speaking of cooking, while cooking outdoors, I found it pairs well with the Rombo miniature Serbian Chef knife. The Finn’s narrower blade and pointier tip made quick work of tasks the Rombo’s larger and wider blade struggled with.

The Rombo

Having mentioned how complementary they are, I’ll continue with the Rombo. This one is obviously the group’s food prep knife. It is 8 inches long, has a 4-inch handle, and has a 4-inch blade. With the wide bull-nose blade, it has a profile that immediately brings to mind the Serbian Chef’s knife.

This model doesn’t have the Scandinavian edge geometry. Instead, it has a high saber grind, about 1-1/4 inches high, which gives it an excellent slicing geometry. It made very quick work of quartering tomatoes and onions, slicing and dicing bell peppers, and making thin slices of baby portobellos. It also had zero problems with thinly slicing some hard salami. So, I had all the ingredients to make some nice field expedient bush-kabobs.

And, as a side note, the Finn and Rombo also pair well for outdoor adventures in another way. The sheaths of these two models have retention straps, so they also pair safely in a pack. Which works out quite nicely, considering neither of these models are designed for belt wear.    

The Wit

This model is a little bigger and more of an all-around workhorse than the Finn. That shows in its features. At 8-1/2 inches overall it is roughly an inch longer than the Finn. So, while it does have the same blade thickness, it has 3/4 inches more blade length, a sharply squared spine, and a larger handle. This offers both more hand comfort, and more versatility.

It also has a pommel swell at the back end of the handle, which has a slight bird’s beak to it. This swell anchors the handle in the hand, and creates a secure purchase, when doing forceful pull cuts and chest-lever cutting. This is a feature neither of the previous two models have, it is only on the Wit and the Lok.

The Wit’s blade also differs from the first two. It has a swedged/faceted tip on the clip-point blade to aid in piercing penetration-resistant materials. It also has a squared spine, which works really well for scraping tinder materials and throws great sparks from a ferro rod.

This one has a slight bit of integral guard at the ricasso, which helps index the knife’s edge in the hand when it can’t be seen. It also serves as a speed bump for the forefinger between the end of the handle and the very sharp edge of the blade when push-cutting and boring holes as well.

The Lok

This model is said to be the Wilderness Knife of the group. With its larger size, heavier mass, and more rugged features it’s easy to see why. Coming in with 9 inches of overall length, 4-3/4 inches of handle and 4-1/4 inches of blade, and having a blade thickness of 1/8 inches—which is 1/32 inch thicker than the other 3 models—the Lok is certainly a beast by comparison to them.

The Lok also has a sharply squared spine and faceted tip. These do, in fact, allow the blade to serve very well in various types of cutting and boring tasks. It is ideal for making tools and utensils out of river cane and saplings, to scraping fine tinder materials and sparking ferro rods for starting fires.

It also has a very nice three-dimensionally contoured handle. The handle has a forward swell and a bit of guard, that offer a secure purchase in push cuts and leverage in boring work. However it also has a pommel swell and bird’s beak to the rear. This offers a secure grip in pull cuts and aids in snap cuts with a three-finger rearward hold. Which is great for getting brier vines out of the way.

To the Point

Having them all close at hand, I have been checking their edges prior to stropping. I am pleased with how well they have maintained their edges through the testing. Even more so after stropping the tree sap, food juices, and oxidation off their edges.

I’ve had a years-long relationship with various models of Morakniv knives. I’ve used their carving knives for decades. Likewise, I’ve given several of the more economical models to strangers and friends alike during bushcraft and wilderness skills classes. Not to mention, using one myself in those workshops, just to ensure we were all on the same page during the lesson.

I think the new Ash Wood Outdoor Collection may well be the best addition Morakniv has made to its line up so far.

For more information, please visit MoraKniv.se.