Mora knife in Swedish Morakniv. The "mora" is a term used to refer to a range of popular belt-knives manufactured by the cutleries of the town of Mora in Dalarna, Sweden, primarily by Frosts knivfabrik and Mora of Sweden (previously known as KJ Eriksson). Having been used as every-day knives in Scandinavia for years, the knife has found particular favour in the bushcraft community on the basis of its simple and robust construction, easy maintainability and general versatility of use, and, of course, its comparatively low price-tag. Mora knives come highly recommended by notable bushcraft teachers Ray Mears and Mors Kochanski. Furthermore, in Sweden and Finland, mora knives are extensively used in construction and in the industry as a general purpose tools. Most mora knives are similar in design to Finnish puukkos. The forging of Mora knife dates back to Medieval swordsmithing tradition. The blade of mora is forged of three slabs of steel. The heart section of the blade has traditionally been crucible steel of extremely high toughness and quality. The sides of the blade are of softer but more resilient steel. The result is an excellent tool which doesn't break easily, holds its edge well, and can cut even wrought iron and softer steel. Modern basic mora knives are blanked out of rolled steel and heat treated on an industrial line. "The Gear Junkie," a syndicated newspaper columnist in the United States, has an in-depth review of Mora knives here: http://thegearjunkie.com/gear-review-mora-knives
Types of Mora
There are two main styles of mora knife in common use today; the newer synthetic-handled varieties and the so-called "classic" style. The classic knife is the one deemed to be of most interest to bushcraft, and it is made in a large variety of sizes, using either stainless or carbon steel, by both Frosts of Sweden and KJ Eriksson. The proper way to pronounce "mora" is with long o, "moo-ra".
