Short Girl Bushcraft Tool Review - The Mora Companion Knife

I finally got to put my Mora Companion through its paces outdoors this past weekend. I trimmed a few branches off a tree, cut cord, and carved a notch in the hearth board of my bow drill set.  It was all smooth and easy. I even managed to do that all without injuring myself. Of course, my primitive skills instructor did forbid me to pay attention to any boys.

I really like the knife, with one little not-so-much.

The Good

The blade is great. Sharp right from the factory. Love that! A couple of my knives needed sharpening right out of the box, which I find terribly annoying. People buy knives to cut/carve/chop things. You can't do that (safely) with a dull knife. Why would any company deliberately leave their blades dull?

I also love the handle. Because of the rubberized, non-slip handle, it is very easy for me to hold onto. It's a slim handle to begin with, but the extra grip helps anyone with freakishly small hands control their blade. (My pistol coach told me I have the smallest hands he's ever seen, even for a woman.)

For a $15 knife, it is incredibly sturdy as well. It's solid and has a decent weight to the knife. For me, that means it has enough heft to be sturdy, but not be so weighty that it is tiring to use. It's well balanced.

Even if it weren't, for the price you won't be too sad if you lose it. One friend mentioned that he's lost two. He keeps replacing them because they are good knives. Of course, he gets nice brown and green knives that blend in with the leaves and grass beautifully. Mine might be an insanely obnoxious pink (magenta if you go by Mora's color chart), but if I drop it in a field, I can spot it from half a mile away.

The Not-So-Good

I've mentioned previously that I'm not a fan of the sheath. No need to unearth and beat that horse. It's already dead.

The only thing I didn't like about the knife is the spine of the blade. It has ever-so-slightly rounded edges so it won't create a spark on my fire steel. My Mora-losing friend mentioned that this is a change from his Moras. I don't need a knife that does every little thing, but I got a carbon steel-bladed knife so that it would work with a fire steel.

I can take a file to the spine and flatten it so that it will work with a fire steel, and eventually I probably will. I just shouldn't have to do that. It is a little bit of a bummer, but not enough for me to go looking for a different brand of knife.

The Summary

This is a great little knife that passes the short girl/little hands test. The key to passing the test is it has to do everything just as well as any other knife and be safely usable for a small-handed person. I know I make a fuss about having small hands, but it is very scary to have a knife slip out of your hand because the handle is too large and you just can't hold onto it.

Overall, the Mora Companion is a good utility knife. The sheath is standard for the inexpensive Moras. Someday, I might get a better sheath.  Someday sooner, I'll file down the back so the knife can be used to spark a fire too.