Mathias Outdoors

How to make a mora knife with a custom handle.

First why make a Mora knife? & What is a mora knife used for?

Mora knives are a decent bush-crafting knife made from Swedish carbon steel. Swedish knives are considered to be some of the best knives and recognized world wide. I personally have wanted a Mora knife for many years, but every time I went knife shopping I was looking for bigger, full tang, heavier duty knives, hence I have yet to purchase a Mora knife myself.

These knives may not be great for larger field work such as batoning or splitting wood, but the edge is usually very sharp and great for other camp duties, such as food prep, whittling wood, camp crafts, ect…

Anyway the price points to these knives generally vary and cost anywhere from around $20CDN to $140.00CDN.

The knife I wanted was the Mora Bushcraft Black. The cheapest I found this knife for was about $79.00

So I decided to make this exact knife myself only I wanted to make my own deer antler handle with it to give it a personal creative touch.

Materials needed

A pre-made mora knife blade (blank) $33.00

A poxy compound $8 mixing brush, and syringe to fill handle

Antler from deer $0 if found to $40 at a pet store “I had a set of Mule deer antlers given to me by my good fiend in Alberta. I’ve had these antlers for the past 11 years and they have been across the country with me when I drove to the Northwest Territories Those antlers were strapped to the grill of my truck lol

A Grinder, or saw (borrow or cheap ones online are around $50 not including this in price of knife. )

Dremel tool for fine grinding work (hopefully you have or can borrow this tool) you can use this for drilling as well or

A drill with proper size drill bit for the tang of the blade to fit in the handle.

A vice or clamp to keep knife sturdy while drying (hopefully you or a friend has one to borrow )

Scotch tape

A marker

A 1095 mask ( important, you do not want to breath in the dust from the antler.

Sand paper 120 grit $5

Sheath that fits the knife $20 off Amazon

These are the materials needed to be able to make a decent antler handle knife.

Total cost of the knife I made was $66.00

The specs of this knife is right on the package however it may take a bit of research to find out the actual steel that is used in this case I believe the metal is 420 high carbon steel. I had tried to reach out to the company to find that out however I asked Amazon for a product inquiry and that is what came back?

How to make it. First gather all the materials, 2nd clasp your Antler securely to the vice without warping it. 3rd mark the length of handle you need, mark it and cut. 4th make sure the length of the Tang of the handle will fit inside the antler without going straight through the opposite side. 5 mark a drill bit with tape, the length of the tang and don’t drill into the bone past that point. 6th drill the bone as straight as possible in the centre. 7th clean out the bone of any residual dust to get maximum bonding. 8th place the blade exactly how you want it inside the handle and mix the poxy. 9th with a syringe insert the mix into the handle while making sure the blade is straight. 10 let set for 24 hours.

11. After 24 hours you can take a dremel tool with grinder bit and bevel the edges and grind out any imperfections on the handle itself.

12. After it’s how you like it. Sand down lightly any rough areas from the grinding

13 . If you wish to make this a sharp looking knife, treat the handle with Teatree oil, between each coat let set for 24 hours.

After 24 hours of your last treatment, The knife is now complete and ready to use.