I have been diving head first into green-woodworking lately and the carving end of this craft, and in doing so I had to start purchasing some knives. Based on the solid recommendation by Jogge Sudqvist, I also believe he is a spokesman for Morakniv, I purchased a set of Morakniv's.

First off, they are very reasonably priced. In the green woodworking world you can spend upwards of 200 dollars for a hand made Slojd knife by reputable makers, they forge them and make the handles, each one with attention to detail. Are the more pricey knives worth it, I'd say so! The craftsmanship that goes into these knives is incredible.

But, I am frugal, so I set out and purchased several less expensive Morakniv's to start off my spoon carving journey.

 

Morakniv – A part of you

MORAKNIV.SE

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Morakniv har varit en del av svensk hantverkstradition sedan 1891. En Morakniv är alltid tillverkad i fabriken i Mora med de...

 

The Morakniv's are made in Sweden, and shipped to the states, you can find them on Amazon and other retailers, and they all sell them at the same price mostly.

You can see a few of my Morakniv's in the image below. From the top one right below my hatchet, is the 120, then the middle knife is the 164 hook, and then the 105 at the bottom just above the froe. I also have the 106 and 122 and the 163 double edge hook. Each knife runs between 19 and 25 bucks, they are an incredible value, and they are the darlings of Swedish folks.

The Morakniv's are to the Swedes, what Buck Knife is to us Americans. The Morakniv can be found strapped to the belt on anyone living in the suburbs and rural areas of Sweden, and young boys have them strapped to their belts as well.

 

 

Here is a closer look at my Morakniv's. For the spoon that I recently carved I used three of the knives, the 164 hook that is to the immediate right of the spoon I used for dishing out the bowl of the spoon, the 105 that is at the far left for heavy stock removal, and the smaller curved 120, third from left for smaller curved work. Of course I used my hatchet to rough out the spoon blank before I pulled out my Morakniv's.

 

As you can see there are sheaths for the knives, they are plastic, with a belt loop insert so you can pull it through your belt and carry the knife at your side for those bush-craft forest outings.

The 163 slight hook at the far right came with its own leather sheath above it, that was nice. These knives come incredibly sharp out of the box, there is no need to do a single thing with them before you start carving. They are ready, and they hold an edge very well, I have carved three spoons and still have not even stropped any of my knives yet.

The spoon below is my latest attempt, and I finally got something that resembles a spoon. This spoon is awaiting the finish, which will darken it up and hopefully show off what little grain it has, and provide a barrier for moisture and every day use.

 

 

Morakniv's sheathed.

 

 

I have been reading and using these two books for a guide into the art of green woodworking, spoon and bowl carving, and the making and set up of pole lathes. I have not began my pole lathe yet, but it's on my to-do list this summer.

 

Here is my gallery of my trials and tribulations.

 

And here is a nice video from a wonderful Slojd artist, reviewing the Morakniv 105. I have come to trust this carver at YouTube Channel Woodsmans Finest.

 

 

And of course you have Jogge Sundqvist showing us all the knife grips at his YouTube Channel for Morakniv. He has a wonderful series for the Swedish Knife Grip Sessions, of which I have used about 5 or so grips, I am becoming very comfortable with these grips and really, there is no other way to efficiently carve than the Slojd way, it's amazing how well and efficient you can work with these techniques.

 

 

So that's it for now, I am having a blast, it's fun just walking out to the backyard, yank a piece of green wood from the pile of cut limbs of our Chinaberry tree I pruned weeks ago, and just start woodworking. It's a very liberating and simple way to get back to our roots, and enjoy the fresh air.

Thanks for reading.

 

Thanks for the lessons. 

My last attempt at carving was when I was a boy scout.  I probably was using (or trying) an old Barlow pocket knife, likely is was not too sharp.  My results were less than satisfactory and I never tried it again.

If you haven't already, pick up a copy of Wille Sundqvist (Jogge's father)  "Swedish Woodcarving" book.

1 hour ago, Cal said:

Thanks for the lessons. 

My last attempt at carving was when I was a boy scout.  I probably was using (or trying) an old Barlow pocket knife, likely is was not too sharp.  My results were less than satisfactory and I never tried it again.

That's not the first time that's happened to many of us Cal, just like picking up our very first hand plane and having a horrible experience with it, mainly because it wasn't set up right and not even sharp, and many of us just say the heck with it.

If you had a beautifully sharp knife made for carving for your first experience, you'd probably be carving today. Try it again Cal! This time with good tooling.

5 minutes ago, kmealy said:

If you haven't already, pick up a copy of Wille Sundqvist (Jogge's father)  "Swedish Woodcarving" book.

Hey Keith, this is the third or fourth topic you have suggested that book, and within those topics I have actually displayed that book as one of my bibles for this art-form. I am thinking you are not reading my topic all the way through.

In this topic, if you look above, you'll see my review of the book you talk about, just raise your eyeballs above my "Gallery Album" I embedded in this original topic here on this page. Yes! That book is wonderful! It's right by my bedside along with his son's Jogge's book.

Thanks again Keith for the book recommendation, for about the 5th time now.  

I'm laughing with ya Keith, not at ya.

2 hours ago, John Morris said:

That's not the first time that's happened to many of us Cal, just like picking up our very first hand plane and having a horrible experience with it, mainly because it wasn't set up right and not even sharp, and many of us just say the heck with it.

 

 

My only real experience with carving green wood was with a USMC issued K-Bar.  It was sharp, the scary sharp kind.  At the time I didn't get real fancy, I was kinda rushed for those particular projects and quality was not high on the list either.  More of function over form was my mantra.

 

Pictures, ummm, well, at the time pictures were, umm.  

 

Okay, okay, so I was sharpening the ends of sticks for some booby traps.  

2 hours ago, John Morris said:

Hey Keith, this is the third or fourth topic you have suggested that book, and within those topics I have actually displayed that book as one of my bibles for this art-form. I am thinking you are not reading my topic all the way through.

In this topic, if you look above, you'll see my review of the book you talk about, just raise your eyeballs above my "Gallery Album" I embedded in this original topic here on this page. Yes! That book is wonderful! It's right by my bedside along with his son's Jogge's book.

Thanks again Keith for the book recommendation, for about the 5th time now.  

I'm laughing with ya Keith, not at ya.

Yeah, sorry.   I don't remember everything and were I post it.  And I was getting ready to rush off to church and didn't read the whole post.

I have heard there are two things to do to better remember stuff.   The first is to write it down and the second one... I can't remember it.

Edited February 23, 20205 yr by kmealy

38 minutes ago, kmealy said:

Yeah, sorry

Not necessary, I completely relate. Believe me, as far as I know I am not narcissistic enough to believe everything I post here is so important to everyone else!