Morakniv Garberg? No Thanks for That Price.

I would like to get my hands on a Morakniv Garberg knife – one of their latest creations – I really would.  But there’s no way I will be for $125 CAD/$85 USD.  It’s insanely expensive for a small chunk of stainless steel with a plastic handle molded into it.

This knife is Mora’s response to all the bushcraft wannabes whining about the Mora Bushcraft knives not being full tang knives, and the entire bushcraft community had an orgasm when this full tang knife was announced.  I don’t know what people are really using their knives in the forest for, but all these woodland hipsters are always talking about batoning wood and driving their knife into things with a hammer or something.  If you are doing that…  either it is an extreme emergency situation or you are just using the wrong tool, period.

The even worse part about it is obvious Morakniv realized how much these overenthusiastic woodland nymphs are willing to pay for something deemed a real bushcraft knife, and they are certainly making lots of money on these Garberg knives.  Morakniv knives used to represent really good value for money – I think I paid $50 CAD for my Morakniv Bushcraft Black knife – and this thing is more than twice the cost of that.  I just can’t see how it is worth it.

The blade is available only in stainless steel as well.  Everyone that really knows knifes knows that, other than with exotic specially alloyed steel - in general high carbon steel is the best knife steel.  High Carbon is easy to sharpen and holds an edge much better than most stainless steel knives, and is much less expensive material with the downside that it may rust if you don’t take care of it.   

My Bushcraft Black is high carbon stainless and is a beauty to sharpen, when I rarely need to, due to it’s edge retention.  To be honest, I think I'd even rather like the Morakniv Companion Black better than my Bushcraft, and think it's a better all around knife.  The Bushcraft's blade is as thick as a 2x4(well, not really, just a slight exaggeration), and the companion would be much better at slicing while still having enough strength, provided you're not trying to pry up nails and floorboards with it.   I have read reports of the handle of the Garberg being very hard plastic instead of a nice dual shot molded handle with some grip as well... I can only go by that since I haven't held one in my hand.

In the end, I would like to keep an open mind and would like to give this knife a fair shake, but I certainly won’t do that when I would have to spend $125 for this knife.  It’s obviously overpriced to cash in on the knife hype.  I’ll stick with my Bushcraft Black for now.