Is the Mora Garberg a Puukko?

[Nix]

I had a chance to get my Garberg out for a little fun and use today. A great day for a hike: cold, but dry. Nice and sunny. As a I walked along, I thought about Aloha's thread about Iconic knives. The Puukko had been proposed as an 'Iconic' knife, which I'd agree with. Thinking about the Garberg though, I just wasn't sure the Garberg should be considered a Puukko.

These distinctions are arbitrary, but seem fun to contemplate: is the Garberg a Puukko?

Consider it in relation to these other Puukkos:


Mora Garberg, Frosts Puukko by Mora, Ahti Puukko


Points in favor:

1. It's the right size for a Puukko. Some Puukos are shorter, some longer, but the Garberg seem to hit a happy, familiar zone with a 4.3" blade.
2. The handle is designed like a Puukko: not much guard,  nice palm swell, and allows versatile grips. To me it looks like a Puukko handle.
3. Straight spine. In my mind a classic Puukko has a straight spine. However, some Puukkos, especially those designed for hunters, may have a drop point. The Garberg has a nice short clip that seems to follow this design.
4. Flat spine. The Garberg has a nice flat spine, excellent for using a thumb to apply a bit of pressure when making precise cuts. And, that flat spine, 90º to the sides, allows one to throw some great sparks from a ferro rod.
5. Scandi grind. I don't know that all Puukkos have a Scandi grind, but I sort of think a Puukko should have a Scandi grind.
6. General purpose design. I think Puukkos were designed with versatility in mind. The Garberg likewise seems to be a general purpose knife, maybe with a bit of a bias toward 'bushcraft' or woodcraft.


Points against:

It doesn't look like a Puukko to me. The blade seems a bit wide. While the Garberg reads 'bushcraft' to me, I'm not sure it's as inherently versatile as the Anti Puukko pictured above. I don't have a lot of experience with this knife, but it has done really well with several mundane camping/woodcraft  tasks.

So, I'm curious to know what you guys think: Puukko or.....'Bushcraft' Knife...or both?

Now, I figured that I'd go for my Mora user badge while I was at it.  The above two Moras represent my entire Mora collection at this point. I had another Mora at one point, but gave it away. I've always been impressed by the value that Mora provides with their knives. That Frosts in the above picture was given to me by Mrs Nix over 20 years ago. I think she paid a bit over $20 for it. It's just a phenomenal knife and gets razor sharp. It goes into bags once in a while, but the handle is a bit small for my big paws, as a result it does not get much carry time.

The Garberg is a different story.

This Mora has a wonderful handle, and provides an excellent grip. The handle material is a resilient plastic that has a nice rubbery feel to it. I'd probably prefer wood or stacked leather or Micarta, but it's hard to argue with the practicality of this handle material: light, durable, waterproof.

My Frosts Mora has a laminated steel handle. Wow! Incredible sharp, and yet, still quite durable and rust resistant. One of the features that got me interested in the Garberg was it's steel. Mora is using Sandvik 14C28N steel. This formulation apparently creates very small carbides, allowing for a razor sharp edge. Edge retention was said to be good. I was intrigued.

So size, steel, shape, and a Puukko-like resemblance got me to pick one of these up. Pricey as far as most Mora knives go, but for the steel upgrade and full-tang design, I still think this represents good value.

I also liked the plastic sheath option. This lets the Garberg's sheath reconfigured in a number of different ways. The Garberg 'snaps' into the sheath with a reassuring snap. It is securely retained (within reason), but is easily withdrawn with one hand. For today's hike, the Garberg ended up being tethered in a side pocket of my daypack.




Early in the afternoon, I decided to make some tea. I had brought a water bottle with my canteen cup and tea bags, but I thought it might be fun to make a fire and melt some snow to provide my tea water.  So first order was to get a fire together.

The Garberg did an excellent job making fine curls of wood from a pine stick. I find it tricky to make a decent feather stick from this brittle, twisty wood, but the Mora did a fine job. (I was just making a twig fire, so I cut the curls off to use as dry kindling.)




The bandana just makes it easier to collect up all my little curls.

I collected up some tinder, added my curls and some dry twigs. I set up the fire between some rock I could use to balance my cup while melting my snow and bring it up to the boil.




While battoning apart some sticks to make more kindling, the edge of the Garberg touched a rock. (My bad) The edge took a very small chip. I didn't mean to test the Mora in this way, but it was interesting to see that it chipped with very little force. It's hard to read too much into this; steel vs rock never comes out well.

The spine of the Mora threw some great sparks. It took a few tries to get my tinder going, but the Mora did really well with that ferro rod.




So, canteen cup went on the rocks and I kept feeding the little twig fire until it was really hot.




Snow melted fairly quickly, but it took a while, and several handfuls of twigs, to get it to a proper boil.




Note the water bottle is still full and my "Oolong Snow Tea" was nearly ready.

After tea, I made sure my fire was well out and soaked with melted snow. The canteen got a nice coating of pitch, but that will clean off with a bit of elbow grease.

Once home I took the Garberg to a couple of stones to grind out that chip. I have to say, the 14C28N sharpens quite nicely. And it really does take an excellent edge. After a a little while on the stones and a brief strop, the Garber was simply wiping hair off my arm. Feels like one of the sharper knives I own. And should be...as long as I keep the edge away from rocks....

 

[CallsignBadger]

Nice Mora’s 

I should buy a companion some time

And reguarding the classification, although I enjoy knives like these, I am not well versed in the differences 

[Nix]

Maybe I'm not either..... 

[Nix]

But vote in the Poll! 

[CallsignBadger]

  Will do 

[CallsignBadger]

I voted "I don't know", but by the looks of it, it could be a cross between both styles of blades

[Nix]

    

[SteveC]

Badge awarded , congrats ! 

[CallsignBadger]

Hooray for Nix   

[SteveC]

Nice pics Jack !   

I voted yes it's a Puukku. Seems like it's a modern puukku with a full tang.

[RF52]

Great pics! And it sure looks like a lovely day to go hiking
Congrats on the badge

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

[styx]

congrats on the badge and nice write up.

as far as if it is a puukko, it might be hard to say without considering other styles. we've recently touched on the Barlow knife and to be fair LionSteel had some excellent modern Barlows with modern materials.
Maybe an even better comparison would be the Kephart knife. The original knife and the versions today are sometimes only connected by the name with the handle and blade profile changed, all sorts of grinds and yet it is always seen as a Kephart knife. On the other hand you have some makers who don't even want to mention the Kephart knife because of minute differences, so it has to be something personal.

For me the Garber is a an updated, modern version of the classic Puukko design that is still far enough from it to be it's own thing

[Mechanickal]

[AlephZero]

I voted "No, it's not a Puukko, it's a Mora knife"

Simply put, it's similar in use, function and partly tradition, but it and also the Norwegian Tollekniv are their own entities.

So, I would say Garberg is modernized Mora knife (Mora is much more than just a trade mark) 


Also, no Finn would ever call a Mora "Puukko" and vice versa for the Swedes 

[Mechanickal]

I'm undecided here...

[RF52]

I voted "No, it's not a Puukko, it's a Mora knife"

Simply put, it's similar in use, function and partly tradition, but it and also the Norwegian Tollekniv are their own entities.

So, I would say Garberg is modernized Mora knife (Mora is much more than just a trade mark) 


Also, no Finn would ever call a Mora "Puukko" and vice versa for the Swedes 

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

[Fuzzbucket]

Voted don't know. I think it looks like a puukko, but that is based on assumption not on any meaningful knowledge... and certainly after what Alephy and RFingy have just said, I would be hesitant to contradict them as they're in a position to know a lot more than me.

Pssst Nix... still looks* like a puukko though...





*Doesn't mean it is.

[Don Pablo]

Voted don't know. I think it looks like a puukko, but that is based on assumption not on any meaningful knowledge... and certainly after what Alephy and RFingy have just said, I would be hesitant to contradict them as they're in a position to know a lot more than me.

Pssst Nix... still looks* like a puukko though...





*Doesn't mean it is.

Same boat here! I'm still unclear on what a puukko is.

[hiraethus]

My understanding is that a puukko is a traditionally styled small knife with a straight 3-4" fixed blade, rat-tail tang and a natural (wood, horn, leather, etc) handle.  The Garberg could be seen as a modern interpretation of the puukko, but it's not actually a puukko IMO.

[Dean51]

My professional opinion is, I don't know smurf. 

[Aloha]

I voted "No, it's not a Puukko, it's a Mora knife"

Simply put, it's similar in use, function and partly tradition, but it and also the Norwegian Tollekniv are their own entities.

So, I would say Garberg is modernized Mora knife (Mora is much more than just a trade mark) 


Also, no Finn would ever call a Mora "Puukko" and vice versa for the Swedes 

Glad he said it   .  With so much history for each style knife is their own thing.  Mora is as much a company, as a place, as a knife/s.  With 125 years and counting they earned it.   

[Nix]

Also, no Finn would ever call a Mora "Puukko" and vice versa for the Swedes 

    Well, there's that then, too...   

[Fuzzbucket]

My professional opinion is, I don't know smurf. 

  

[SteveC]

Would it be safe to say that it is a modern modified Puukko geared towards bushcraft knife 

[SteveC]

I want to change my vote to .....sort of a Puukku   

[Nix]

Let's just call it a Puukko....... 

[Nix]

These guys think it's a Puukko:




....and a bushcraft knife... 

[Steinar]

I voted "No, it's not a Puukko, it's a Mora knife"

Simply put, it's similar in use, function and partly tradition, but it and also the Norwegian Tollekniv are their own entities.

So, I would say Garberg is modernized Mora knife (Mora is much more than just a trade mark) 


Also, no Finn would ever call a Mora "Puukko" and vice versa for the Swedes 

 

[SteveC]

It's a a Bushpuukkocraft knife

[Dean51]

My professional opinion is, I don't know smurf.