Post by homerj on Nov 23, 2014 8:10:11 GMT
I have picked up a few new knives in the last few months and have been really trying to like Condors as a Mora alternative.
One of my new favorite knife companies is Condor Knife and Tool, really high value and good quality knives. They are full tang and come with awesome sheaths although every Condor blade I have received has needed some TLC to get the edge shaving sharp.
My first was the Hudson Bay Knife, a repro of a classic frontier knife, this blade impressed me greatly and is a great splitter and chopper and took one of the sharpest edges I own.
Next I bought a Nessmuk and a Kephart, also reproductions of the classic knives of outdoorsmen George Washington Sears (Nessmuk) and Horace Kephart. The Nessmuk is designed to be a dedicated skinner and part of the "Nessmuk Trio" Nessmuk would always carry into the woods (Small 2 blade folding knife, 2 bit hatchet, and skinner). Once sharpened it does light splitting, featherstick making, and general cutting pretty well but it is a pretty small blade and primarily designed to be used as a skinner.
The Condor Kephart was the first knife I hoped would be able to compete with a Mora in size and performance. It is slightly shorter than most of my Moras and a little thinner but is full tang. This knife has a micro-beveled edge, although it can be made razor sharp it is noticeably inferior to the scandi grind of a Mora. Although the full tang may give it an edge in long term durability, a Mora still has this knife beat all around and are cheaper.
In my research on Condor blades I have always heard the great reviews of their Bushlore line, I purchased the micarta handled version as their best competition to a Mora. Dimensionally the Bushlore is slightly shorter and thinner than a Bushcraft Black and is 2-3 times more expensive ($36 for wood handled $50 for a micarta handled Bushlore). But it comes with a full tang, quality leather sheath, and what was advertised to be a scandi grind.
I put this blade head to head with the Mora Companion Heavy Duty MG.
The stock edge of the Condor Bushlore was the sharpest of any Condor I had received and was hair shaving sharp even. But it was not a true scandi grind as advertised, it did have a micro bevel. Some Moras come with micro bevels as well but are less noticeable. This bothered me as It wouldn't be a true comparison with different grinds so I did my best to achieve a true scandi grind. I was able to thin out the bevel, the polished areas of the edge look like a micro bevel but they aren't that was just where most of the contact was and that bevel is flush with the unpolished part. The bevel was still thicker than the Mora with thicker blade. Both cut paper and shaved hairs but the Mora was noticeably sharper.
For my head to head test I batoned an equal ammount of wood in quantity and thickness, then made finer kindling and feathersticks.
The Bushlore batoned very well, even through some large chunks of wood where only a tiny piece of the tip was available to hit and I also had to drive it in straight down like a wedge so I could drive in some wood wedges to split a particularly stubborn and well knoted piece. The handle was comfy and did not transmit much of the shock to my hands. Some people complain that the handles are too large but they felt fine to me. The Bushlore split each piece of wood then made some pretty nice feathersticks which my poor skills probably dont do the knife justice. The edge had a couple of chips or rolls from knots in the wood and while still sharp the softer 1075 carbon steel was noticeably duller than when I first started.
The Mora Companion seemed to have more trouble batoning than the Bushlore, especially for the pieces of wood where very little of the blade is left to hit, batoning on the handle was not as effective as batoning on the Bushlore's micarta handle and the rubber Mora handle transmitted more shock to my hand. The Mora excelled at processing smaller pieces of wood into kindling and feather stick making. Even after batoning the edge was still razor sharp and curled wood with ease and very little pressure. Although the blade is slightly thicker than the Bushlore, the Bushlore has a wider blade which I think is why it batoned better. There was at least 2 pieces of wood that I couldnt baton through with the Mora. I ended up having to use the Bushlore and ended up damaging the blade further batoning through knots just enough to get multiple wooden wedges through. After seeing the damage I used the Mora Allaround 731, a 5.9" blade which gave me the clearance I needed to baton.
After the wood work the Mora sliced through paper and shaved just as well as it did before, the Condor sustained so much damage trying to baton through the last knotted pieces of wood that I gave up trying with the Mora that it couldnt even cut paper reliably. The chipping\rolling were repaired after a little less than an hour of re-sharpening, now it is back to razor hair popping sharp and I can hardly see any indicators that there was damage.
In conclusion the Mora was the obvious all around winner as a secondary knife, it is the better value, sharper, lighter, and with the better track record. I would carry carry either as a secondary knife to my Helm Forge Benghazi Warfighter or bigger knife but would lean towards the Mora for being lighter and better with small tasks. The testing I think would be more realistic for a larger primary knife or a one knife solution blade, while maybe asking too much for a lighter duty knife I wanted to see how they could handle this. If I had to choose either of the blades as a one blade solution or primary blade I would lean more to the Bushlore. With the full tang and micarta handle it is more durable and held up to more abuse, while the softer metal was damaged it was easier to repair and I have had the same chipping and rolling with a Mora classic which was my first Mora and first test of a Mora, so it isn't necessarily an inferior blade. The Condor also has a 90 degree spin, I need some light file work on all of my Moras to throw sparks from a fire steel.
One of my new favorite knife companies is Condor Knife and Tool, really high value and good quality knives. They are full tang and come with awesome sheaths although every Condor blade I have received has needed some TLC to get the edge shaving sharp.
My first was the Hudson Bay Knife, a repro of a classic frontier knife, this blade impressed me greatly and is a great splitter and chopper and took one of the sharpest edges I own.
Next I bought a Nessmuk and a Kephart, also reproductions of the classic knives of outdoorsmen George Washington Sears (Nessmuk) and Horace Kephart. The Nessmuk is designed to be a dedicated skinner and part of the "Nessmuk Trio" Nessmuk would always carry into the woods (Small 2 blade folding knife, 2 bit hatchet, and skinner). Once sharpened it does light splitting, featherstick making, and general cutting pretty well but it is a pretty small blade and primarily designed to be used as a skinner.
The Condor Kephart was the first knife I hoped would be able to compete with a Mora in size and performance. It is slightly shorter than most of my Moras and a little thinner but is full tang. This knife has a micro-beveled edge, although it can be made razor sharp it is noticeably inferior to the scandi grind of a Mora. Although the full tang may give it an edge in long term durability, a Mora still has this knife beat all around and are cheaper.
In my research on Condor blades I have always heard the great reviews of their Bushlore line, I purchased the micarta handled version as their best competition to a Mora. Dimensionally the Bushlore is slightly shorter and thinner than a Bushcraft Black and is 2-3 times more expensive ($36 for wood handled $50 for a micarta handled Bushlore). But it comes with a full tang, quality leather sheath, and what was advertised to be a scandi grind.
I put this blade head to head with the Mora Companion Heavy Duty MG.
The stock edge of the Condor Bushlore was the sharpest of any Condor I had received and was hair shaving sharp even. But it was not a true scandi grind as advertised, it did have a micro bevel. Some Moras come with micro bevels as well but are less noticeable. This bothered me as It wouldn't be a true comparison with different grinds so I did my best to achieve a true scandi grind. I was able to thin out the bevel, the polished areas of the edge look like a micro bevel but they aren't that was just where most of the contact was and that bevel is flush with the unpolished part. The bevel was still thicker than the Mora with thicker blade. Both cut paper and shaved hairs but the Mora was noticeably sharper.
For my head to head test I batoned an equal ammount of wood in quantity and thickness, then made finer kindling and feathersticks.
The Bushlore batoned very well, even through some large chunks of wood where only a tiny piece of the tip was available to hit and I also had to drive it in straight down like a wedge so I could drive in some wood wedges to split a particularly stubborn and well knoted piece. The handle was comfy and did not transmit much of the shock to my hands. Some people complain that the handles are too large but they felt fine to me. The Bushlore split each piece of wood then made some pretty nice feathersticks which my poor skills probably dont do the knife justice. The edge had a couple of chips or rolls from knots in the wood and while still sharp the softer 1075 carbon steel was noticeably duller than when I first started.
The Mora Companion seemed to have more trouble batoning than the Bushlore, especially for the pieces of wood where very little of the blade is left to hit, batoning on the handle was not as effective as batoning on the Bushlore's micarta handle and the rubber Mora handle transmitted more shock to my hand. The Mora excelled at processing smaller pieces of wood into kindling and feather stick making. Even after batoning the edge was still razor sharp and curled wood with ease and very little pressure. Although the blade is slightly thicker than the Bushlore, the Bushlore has a wider blade which I think is why it batoned better. There was at least 2 pieces of wood that I couldnt baton through with the Mora. I ended up having to use the Bushlore and ended up damaging the blade further batoning through knots just enough to get multiple wooden wedges through. After seeing the damage I used the Mora Allaround 731, a 5.9" blade which gave me the clearance I needed to baton.
After the wood work the Mora sliced through paper and shaved just as well as it did before, the Condor sustained so much damage trying to baton through the last knotted pieces of wood that I gave up trying with the Mora that it couldnt even cut paper reliably. The chipping\rolling were repaired after a little less than an hour of re-sharpening, now it is back to razor hair popping sharp and I can hardly see any indicators that there was damage.
In conclusion the Mora was the obvious all around winner as a secondary knife, it is the better value, sharper, lighter, and with the better track record. I would carry carry either as a secondary knife to my Helm Forge Benghazi Warfighter or bigger knife but would lean towards the Mora for being lighter and better with small tasks. The testing I think would be more realistic for a larger primary knife or a one knife solution blade, while maybe asking too much for a lighter duty knife I wanted to see how they could handle this. If I had to choose either of the blades as a one blade solution or primary blade I would lean more to the Bushlore. With the full tang and micarta handle it is more durable and held up to more abuse, while the softer metal was damaged it was easier to repair and I have had the same chipping and rolling with a Mora classic which was my first Mora and first test of a Mora, so it isn't necessarily an inferior blade. The Condor also has a 90 degree spin, I need some light file work on all of my Moras to throw sparks from a fire steel.
