Morakniv Eldris

An interesting Scandinavian design, to make traditionalists smile, or frown. Tough, tiny, and tactile. Guaranteed to elicit strong opinions. Excellent Swedish steel—just not much of it.

I like small knives for a lot of purposes. We are only allowed to carry three-inch, non-locking, folding blades in public, here in the UK, so I'm used to those limitations. The Eldris, is a pocket knife-sized fixed blade, with a diminutive, 5.3cm edge of 0.2 cm thickness, made from 12C27 stainless steel, with a Scandi grind.

Short but strong, easy to sharpen, with a well finished spine, for firesteel use. The blade shape is classic Mora, but cut short. Curved, with an extra bevel, near the point. I would love a straight edge version, but that is more in the Sheffield than Stockholm tradition. 

The handle is TPE, of two different textures, which provide a firm, comfortable grip, in cold or warm weather.  It is 8.8cms in length, which would instantly rule it out of contention, for some folks. It feels pretty short in my size-ten hands.  A very tight fitting polypropylene sheath is provided, which allows for safe carry as a neck knife. The whole setup weighs a mere 61 grams, so I often carry mine in a shirt pocket.

We're talking about a knife with a blade which is only a centimetre longer than my first thumb joint: is it any use?

Like almost any similar product sourced from Sweden, the Eldris arrives sharpened to a hair-splitting degree, which immediately inspires confidence.  The Scandi grind is easy to touch up, but hasn't needed much work to keep in useable shape.  The grind allows delicate incisions to be made, with quite a fat piece of steel. Mora use a lot of 12C27 and their reputation for producing reliable, affordable tools is long established. 

Despite the lack of heft, the Eldris feels very solid. I think it would survive a good deal of the kind of abuse, which would reduce a folder to scrap, in short order.

So it does pocket knife things—pruning and other garden tasks, slicing and scraping indoors—which might make a bigger blade feel cumbersome. It's a willing whittler and carves precisely, if you can find a comfortable position to hold it safely, for such jobs.  If you're happy to work within the limitations of its dimensions, it can manage basic food prep and even a little field dressing of game.

I asked a couple of young teenagers with smaller hands to try it. One found the handle too burly (a feature that I liked) and another thought it was a perfect tool for daily life on the farm. He had concerns that he would forget it was in his pocket and take it into public places, by accident. Neither thought the short blade restrictive for the things they wanted it to do—tasks ranging from opening chickenfeed bags to sharpening pencils.

Grind marks on the blade would make sanitising the knife more difficult, if you were using it for meal preparation. The back of the knife is quite sharp, if you like to put your thumb on it, when carving. If I did a lot of woodwork, I might smooth out those sharp contours and get my fire sparks some other way.

If your idea of an EDC is a Bowie knife, this one will make you smile and walk away. I asked myself "how much blade, do I actually use and need from a knife?" For a lot of small, fine work, a five- or six-inch sharp edge is too much and gets in the way.

This is a typically left field design from Morakniv, which has sparked a lot of debate in the outdoor world and hopefully encourages other suppliers to think laterally about the uses and limitations of traditional cutting tools. The stubby-but-stout dimensions are perfect in the potting shed, my wife tells me. I just wish the handle and blade were each just a centimetre longer....

Background

About a year. I loaned the knife to a couple of young men for a month each and incorporated their views into my report.