Mors Kochanski

IN MEMORY OF Mors Kochanski (1940-2019)

The legendary Mors Kochanski is considered by many to be the father of modern “bushcraft”. He has devoted his entire life to studying and teaching bushcraft and survival skills. 

Mors is also an acclaimed author with many books published, among them the Northern Bushcraft (1988- ISBN 1-871890-30-6) the bible for those who study and practice these skills.

He's saying “the more you know, the less you carry” has become a motto for the bushcraft community, and his knife preferences are an example of this.  

To know more about his life visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mors_Kochanski or even better, listen to Paul Kirtley's podcast episode, where he interviews Mors https://paulkirtley.co.uk/2019/mors-kochanski-paul-kirtley-podcast/.

Early in his career as a survival teacher, he and Tom Roycraft (probably late 1960s) put together the requirements of a basic yet practical knife for his students to use: blade around 4 fingers long, with a continuous curve and with a tip that allows making holes. Handle that fits well in the hand and gives reference to the direction where the cutting edge is facing. 

He made these knives himself, from big band saw blades in the school grounds with very simple tools.

 

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzGbwT4qVw0

In the article "wilderness blade" for Field & Stream magazine from 2004, Mors writes: "The knife is the balance point for survival in the bush.". Without it, you have to stay on the move. With it, you create the opportunity to rest.” 

In the 1980s, Mors began using Mora knives. He bought them from a local camping outfitter in Edmonton. 

 

Mors Kochanski with the Mora knife around his neck became one of his trademarks. Mors popularized the idea of carrying the knife around the neck, influenced by the First Nations people and the Nurses that wore their scissors around the neck on small medical transfer airplanes. In this picture, Mors has a KJE/Morakniv 510 and an N.1 (probably KJE or Morakniv) around his neck.  Source: http://www.mungosaysbah.com/2007/11/bushcraft-course-with-mors-kochanski_21.html 

The Mora knife would fulfill all the requirements he defined years before, inexpensive, well built, and easy to maintain by his students in the field.

For many years his choice was the classic N.1, from both Frost and KJ Eriksson. 

In the book Bushcraft, all knife drawings have a striking similarity with the Mora Classic.

  

According to Jonathan McArthur “Mors really spoke highly of the knives from the Mora region. Later when Morakniv started making the outdoor line, it was the Eldris that really spoke to him. He really liked it over the Kansbol and Garberg.”

For many years he carried the classic N.1 until he discovered the KJ Eriksson 511. 

https://oldmora.blogspot.com/2021/08/KJE-510-511.html 

Thru out the years, he was seen carrying several different models from both KJE and Frost and later on from Morakniv.

   Frost 740

   

Not so common sigh, Mors is carrying a KJE/MORAKNIV 546 (it’s the stainless version of the 511)

  

KJE / Morakniv 510

 

Frost 740

Mors carrying what it looks like a Frost 640 Viking or Frost 740. Although the sheath looks like from a KJE 511

In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quClK2AzPvQ Mors carrying a Frost 640 Viking from the versions generation with hallow handle.

  

In this video,  Mors is using a Frost/Morakniv Clipper

Some of Mors personal knives. On the first picture: On top, a blue Eldris (this was the last new Morakniv he got); A n.1 Swedish civil defense model made by Frost; an n.611 cannot confirm the maker of this one, maybe Frost; Looks like an n.2 Premier private label made by KJ Eriksson (Cody Lundin also favored this Premier labeled KJE)

 

One of the knives that used to belong to Mors was a re-handled 511 that a fellow instructor had done. On the Canadian Ranger Survival course, they made the old-school birch bark sheaths. Kelly Harlton made up and gave to Mors for his new knife. This knife was given by Mors to Jonathan McArthur's wife. 

He also liked to make birch bark sheaths for these knives. In this video from 2010, Mors shows how to make a birch bark sheath for a KJE 511. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naI_ss9CbY

Most of the KJE 511 Mors were modified to best suit his needs

• The finger guard was sawn off

• The spine was sharpened to aid in scraping ferro rods

• Hole at the end of the handle to attach a string to help in case the knife get dropped on the snow

• Hole in the middle of the handle, for a wrist lanyard 

Ear Mors explains these modifications https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehjbNLy387k

My attempt to replicate his modifications

Mors Kochanski demonstrates 'The Burtonsville Rig'. In the video he used a 511 in different task including light battoning

In International Survival Conference that took place in Sweden in 1995 is seen using a Frost 700 and a KJE 510/511. Full video here https://youtu.be/u6Vr6v6ZCeM. 

 

KJE N.1 that was gifted by Mors to Jonathan McArthur

 

Mors and Cody Lundin in the Rabitstick randevu, both are known Mora knives users. Mors has around his neck a 511 sheath. 

Some videos where Mors talks about his preferences regarding knives

Mors Kochanski on Knives Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO0WX-aZGLw 

Mors Kochanski "Knives I've Used Throughout my Life" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BXKHRzn_yE 

What is a Survival Knife? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lll-4jDAVzA 

Mors Kochanski Survival Knives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14hrK7XCpSs 

Knives in My Livelihood as a Survival Instructor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxuBi0Ci1eM

My video on Mors Kochanski's sharpening method from his book "Bushcraft"

Classic, probably made by Frost or Morakniv, N.1 

On the right bottom is a Canadian Forest Knife by James Andal and behind it Skookum Bush Tool by Rod Garcia. On the back, an orange handle Civil Defense Mora knife.

Other knifemakers later found him and built knives around his ideas. Two knifemakers distinguish from all the others: The Skookum Bush Tool by Rod Garcia from Whitefish, MT, USA, and the Canadian Forest Knife by James Andal, Prince George BC, CANADA. The Canadian Forest Knife was highly prized by Mors. 

 In the Picture Jonathan McArthur and Mors(Mors is carrying what it looks like a Mora N.1 in a Frost/Morakniv Clipper sheath)

His legacy will perdure for many generations to come, thru many of his students like Kelly Harlton, Jonathan McArthur, and the rest of the instructors at the Karamat Wilderness Ways school (https://karamat.com) and all the instructors all over the world that he trained.

Special thanks to Jonathan Jonathan McArthur, personal friend and student of Mors, for his contributions to this article.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/keith-mccafferty/2004/06/wilderness-blade/

Transcription of the article: “A knife is the most important tool that a man can take into the wilderness. It allows him to spark a fire, cut saplings to fashion shelter, or whittle the trigger for a figure-four deadfall trap. As master woodsman Mors Kochanski says, “The knife is the balance point for survival in the bush. Without it, you have to stay on the move. With it, you create the opportunity to rest.”

But what exactly is the ideal outdoorsman’s knife? Most survivalists cover the bases-and skirt the issue-by recommending two blades, a small knife for intricate work and a chopping blade for felling trees, limbing, and splitting wood. However, few hunters and fishermen carry axes. And in the right hands, a fixed-blade knife of modest dimensions can help a person fashion all the tools needed for living off the land. Kochanski’s concept of a bush knife won’t meet with universal agreement-there are few more hotly debated topics in survival forums-but it’s hard to dismiss the advice of a man who can topple a 7-inch-thick aspen tree in as little time as it takes to read this article, simply by pounding the point of his knife into the trunk and jerking the blade back and forth.

Points of Interest

The blade of your knife should be extremely strong, easily resharpened, and capable of holding a fine edge. If you can touch it to your throat and draw blood, whack it against a frozen deer bone without rolling the edge, and pound the tip 2 inches into a tree trunk at a right angle to the grain and stand on it without breaking it, you’ve got the prerequisites of a woodsman’s knife. In addition:

The blade should be as long as the width of your palm, with the metal extending the full length of the handle.

The back of the blade should run in a straight line with the back of the handle and be wide and flat so that it can be used with a baton (a stick used as a hammer).

The cutting edge should curve gently from tip to guard to facilitate sharpening, with the point falling in line with the center of the handle. It should also have a flat grind (hollow-ground blades bind when driven into wood). Serrations have no place on the blade of your knife-they can’t be resharpened easily and they occur on the part of a blade you need for most detail work.

A small, lower finger guard is acceptable but not necessary. An upper guard is an abomination, interfering with placing the thumb or forefinger along the top of the blade for control.

The butt should be flat and durable enough for you to pound on.

Many commercially made blades meet these requirements, but most are heavy and expensive. Kochanski, who conducts a school on bushcraft in British Columbia, recommends that his students learn basic skills with the Swedish-made Mora knife, which costs about $10 and has been the woodsman’s standard for centuries. A Mora is lightweight, so it can be carried on a cord around the neck (sheathed), where it’s least likely to be lost. In addition, several models are available with carbon rather than stainless-steel blades, which allows you to strike sparks with a flint.

Keep in mind that a knife is only as good, and as safe, as the person who wields it. Its primary functions-making traps, butchering game, rendering tinder, whittling bow drills, slicing wedges for log splitting, felling saplings to make shelter-demand skills that are best learned by studying with a master.”