"200 g is too much, I have to cut that in half for backpacking." Me, probably 30 kg (60 lbs) overweight: Oh, I have a problem.

I do a ridiculous amount of hiking in the mountains of Western Maine and NH and the single most significant and noticeable weight change I've ever experienced was when I went to lighter......shoes. I still applaud your quest for a light durable fixed blade and I can't wait to see what you create.

My knife is probably the last place I'd personally choose to save on weight. I want a knife I can chop down a tree with. But the video was interesting. One thing that came to mind to me was that you could probably save some weight by using flared tubing as oppose to loveless bolts. You'd still have a mechanical connection due to the flare, but it would be a lot less material than loveless bolts.

I’ve advertised for Mora knives for years, I’m a barber and a customer told me he was skinning a bear next to a buddy and he said he had to sharpen his knife 3-4 times but his buddy never stopped skinning so my customer is a believer now! Lol Swedish metal is very good

I love my Mora Basic, it's my favourite knife regardless of cost, since I'm a UK hunter which is basically just field dressing rabbits, pigeons, squirrels etc, I don't need to baton or start fires etc. So it's literally perfect.

I have been carrying the exact same knife for years - and I've had plenty of knife snobs make comment about it. The batoning is a legit drawback - but I have stopped doing that and begun making feather sticks instead. It works great for that, and I can even start fires with damp wood!

I used to go backpacking with a small cast iron pan strapped to my backpack, and I caught a lot of grief from guys who would spend an incredible amount of money on freeze-dried foods and paper-thin, flimsy cookware, to save a few ounces of weight. But you'd be amazed how they lined up in the evenings to use my pan when I was done with it....

Couldn’t you save the $50, give it to your buddy and have him carry your backbreaking knife for you? Problem solved. You have a nice knife to use, you’re 3.5 ounces lighter and not just a fraction of an ounce, and your buddy is richer and in better shape. I’m really good at problem solving.

How about you just befriend a beaver? You won't have to carry it, just attach a leash. It can fulfill all your wood processing requirements!

That Mora is awesome, I use them daily

The ultimate knife is always going to be a custom made knife to suit your particular needs :P

personally, i'm not concerned with the weight of my knife. love that knife ! cool concept though, wish you success.

Man, I am super excited to see what comes of this project. I just finished my woodelore clone and the difference in weight to my previous backpacker is incredible. I can’t imagine a completely usable knife under 3oz. Good luck brother!

Moraknive sells blade blanks. I just ordered one and am going to make my own handle for it. No idea what kind of steel it is, but I just want to try and make the handle as my foray into knife making.

You can still skeletonize the handle after epoxy. Maybe 5/16" to 3/8" holes. Three or four would help drastically reduce the weight.

Not finding the perfect knife for me personally is exactly why I started making knives. Watching your journey has helped me immensely. Thank you.

Daniel Boone would laugh at the term "light weight gear".

Good point about needing to use the paracord.

I really like this. Incredible attention to detail, copious amounts of knives, and you really know what you're talking about.

I really enjoyed this one - thanks for talking us through the design stage.

I decided to reduce weight in my backpack by removing other items which I could do without and keep a decent knife on my utility belt and a decent bedding also.

I have a chest full of knives. The MORA #1 was my EDC for a few years before I went to a multi tool. Shape as hell, cheap and worth it. I still use that MORA at least once a day.

love this video. I'm working with knife design myself so I love this challenge you set yourself

Great video man! Looking forward to seeing where you go with this 👍

I'm rooting for, and heckling you at the same time.

I can send you a carbon fiber plate from the aircraft plant I used to work at, it's about 12x12x 1/4" thick

I love how much this guys loves his knives.

I’ve been using a morakniv 4.1 inch for a few years now, and it has not disappointed. Retains its blade, even after many uses, like woodcarving and general cutting

Generally, I would say that "I want a knife that does a thing and meet a certain criteria, and it also happens to be an interesting engineering puzzle" is a good enough reason as any to make a knife.

I'm all for designing your own knife, and I know you'll do a fantastic job, but I myself personally wouldn't be able to tell or physically notice the difference of 5 ounces in my bag. I'd happily carry the larger knife no matter what kind of hiking or camping I'm doing.

I totally agree with you on the paracord only handles speech. Haha. I use the Mora Classic no. 2. I love that for camping. Feathersticks, battoning kindling, etc...

That's very true. Mora basic carbon is the knife. Got them three.

I few ideas came to me watching this! Taper the tang, use carbon fibre or aluminium pins and maybe wood is a lighter handle material? I was thinking about beech or birch for handle scales.

excited for this project. you might want to consider leaving 1 or more diagonal pieces of metal in the center of the hollowed out handle to add some rigidity. like a truss bridge. contouring your handle even more than the prototype might help as well. my concern with thinner stock is that you want a wedge shape to separate the wood while batoning. a thin knife will have a tendency to get stuck. perhaps you can get away with a thicker stock knife that is less tall to save weight (meaning from cutting edge to spine). maybe with a scandi grind?

I want more of this! You’re definitely into it

Can’t wait for the next video. Thanks Alex!!

I've had a mora robust for a while and the only thing I would change about is adding just a little bit of length, looks like your ultimate knife is pretty much what I'd want out of mine as well

Okay, you have my full attention. 😲 This is something I've thought about before, so, can't wait for the next installment! 👍

I agree 100% on the weight. When I first started on hunting, I geeked out on specs of my shot gun and wanted to have the best with me but I learnt quickly that after a few hours walking in the rainforest, the weight can feel 2-3x the actual weight. That adds up when you need to carry your animal back, it's crazy. Now when I shop, I see first is the weight. It has to be some of the lightest I can find and the specs would be secondary. As long as it doesn't get lots of complains, I'm good to go. I'd get a light knife too when I'm walking that long and far

As some others have said, tapering the handle a bit, adding some jimping, and maybe removing part of the scales in the center where you cut the steel.

Happy to hear of your plan to go much thinner! I just bought a knife from a small, up-and-coming custom maker. It's 0.072'' thick CruWear with a scandi grind. Even thinner than a Mora basic. I haven't used it much yet, but I'm really excited to try it out. Seems perfect for my normal hiking/backpacking use. I hear excellent things about the toughness of CPM 1V. Maybe look into that?

What about a tapered tang? I'm also thinking about using a light wood. It would be a lot cheaper than carbon fiber and maybe even lighter.

Criminally underrated channel. Maybe try G10 pins instead of brass. Drill countersunk lightening holes above the grind line?

Always doing great stuff man. Love your content! Keep up the good work

Take a look at the construction of the scales on the dpx hest original, they're slightly smaller than the tang itself (surprisingly comfortable) and they've been hollowed out for storage. Could shave a bit of weight that way. And I've seen some designs where the tang tapers off towards the back, likely for balancing but also would shave some grams. Good luck with your diet!

Idk... My 45 is a lot heavier and I happily carry that all the time.

I totally agree with all this extra paracord stuff like boot laces and all that I feel the same about messing something up for some cordage.

Such a cliffhanger!!! Cant wait for the follow up video!!

How much for the orange 1084 prototype?

Hollow grind would take out more material than a convex

Best info in this video is the fact that many internet "maps" are wrong and could leave you very sorry as well as crippled or dead. Make sure, when relying on a map for your drive, ride, or walk/hike, that you have a real map and not just any old map printed from a website. I was in Payson, AZ and finding a reliable map was not so easy, but it must be done. Many people suffer for want of proper guidance or A MAP. Another example: People who watch CNN, MSNBC, and 99.9% of other media stuff are using maps that are designed to mislead and trick. Many will suffer and die for the lack of a true map.

I absolutely love the first knife you've made!!!!....and it's orange!!

My Mora 2000 lives in my haversack, for day excursions, it's maybe just a packet of chewing gum heavier than your specifications. !! Lol,,, If you can nail down your parameters, I'll buy one, for sure,, (but only if it's stainless,, 12C27 ?), ha ha,, can't wait for the next installment,, cheers,,,,

love the idea. sounds like a great knife. For me though, id rather save weight elsewhere over my knife. This is coming from a guy who carries a kukri though lol

I can't wait to see where this goes. Very cool project. The toughness testing should be fun. Good luck!

Alex, you don't have to explain it to anyone, if you want to try and make it, good luck, I'm with you all the way!

Okay so I'm a lazy slob but a morakniv robust would seem to come close enough to me to meeting your standard and they are cheap.

Make a walking stick knife. Then the weight won’t be a issue. When hiking or in the woods you can’t skimp in a good knife and pistol

I used to go backpacking for around a month more or less every summer. However I definitely didn't hike 15+miles every day, I didn't even hike every day. When I found a nice spot near a nice trout hole or a waterfall swimming hole I would spend 2-4 days enjoying that place and that was the best thing about having no schedule, phone, or companions for the trip. That 25-30 days of relaxing, solitary, self reliance and freedom made the rest of the year much more tolerable and kept me in a much better place mentally. Anyway people who spend their vacation behaving like a drill instructor was barking at them make me confused and suspicious.

I made my own bushcraft knife because I couldn't find anything like it. It has 4.5" long, 3/16th" thick 1095 blade, chisel grind, full tang, and a hole in the center of the blade 1.5" from the end. Weird, I know. Why it works for me: - It can cut, whittle, skin, batton, strike ferro, and do anything any other knife can do, just about as well. - However, It can also function really well as a chisel, and be added to a quick bushcraft hand plane. - The hole at the end is great for cutting small dowels, or even wire. - The hole mates up to a hole in the kydex sheath that lets me flip the sheath and pin it with a dowel, giving me handles at both ends of the knife to act as a really good draw knife. It has really changed my bushcraft game.

Taper the handle to shave off a few grams of weight

once you get your mars station knife figured out.. kickstart the sucker cuz I want one. ;-)

The Mora might look like something the cat dragged in, but, don’t forget that it was designed for the Swedish army. We used it in extreme conditions and cold weather, abused it, batoned it, splinted wood and everything that you can and can’t do with a knife. And it held up. It endured the torture of nordic mountain ranger service. It looks like a toy but it does what it was designed to do. It’s a light, versatile and virtually indestructible knife which is unbeatably cheap to produce in mass production. Bam💥, Swedish FMV (Försvarets Materielverk) did it again. Brilliant engineering.

Great work. Looking forward to the next steps

Hollow carbon fiber pins are not expensive, and much lighter than your brass pins !

**heavy breathing and watching with interest**

I really like the first test blade. Nice job.

I'm not a knife person, but I have repeatedly come back to Mora and Spyderco over the last 20 years. They are generally a good value for what you are getting. Not much more I could ask for. It is reassuring coming to knife channels and them being commonly used.

Excellent video my friend, that's food for thought or is it fool for thought.?Just buy a Mora companion knife that's all I use hunting or fishing or hiking and a black plastic sack and Butchers twine.I leave all my rifles and my huge knife collection in the gun room,i just subbed.Stay safe.

First comment. Nice vid Alex. Can you do a vid where you show how to convert a v edge into a convex? Thx

Makes me think of the story of the guy who was the first guy to make it across the Atlantic Ocean and he cut PARTS OF HIS MAP OFF TO SAVE ON WEIGHT

This is awesome, can't wait to see this unfold 🤘

@outdoors55 can I have the prototype 😐

I've got it a Bladeless knife without a handle.No,no don't thank me your welcome.

Thanks for the education!

Very cool project! Putting the work in to make the ideal design is worth it for sure. #greatness

All depends on intended use, there is no ultimate universal knife.

Eat your Wheaties. And hike with dehydrated water in your canteen. Ha.

Well done brother. Looking forward to the next installment.

Love the edits, full value I actually got to the end and wanted more

I like your vision and trying to achieve a goal for your personal wants in a knife. Myself, I choose the knife that I feel I'm going to need in any possible situation, while backpacking, camping, fishing, hunting, and whatever the weight is, that's what I have to carry. I've carried my Kukri on many occasions, but found it to be too big for some tasks, and I've carried inexpensive fixed blade garbage knives from the army surplus store. But my go to knife for the last 20 years or so is my Gerber LMF. It's in my opinion the perfect all around, do everything knife. The only other knife I would carry if I owned one would be the Gerber BMF. I still want to buy a BMF but they cost a lot of money. The size of the BMF is pushing the comfort zone in some situations but its size will be a life saver in some situations, also. The LMF is in the Goldilocks zone, not too big, not too small, but just right.

i do really love my mora, it - being a budget knife - is truly amazing. Now this knife you made... Want

Incredible places you hike to.

MORA are amazing knives. When my Grandfather passed away i found one of the original ones in his basement while cleaning out his house. It had a lil cheap red plastic handle and thw bolster was loose. It had a flimsy plastic sheath, and want nearly as stout as the modern ones. But it only needed a lil cleaning as it had no rust, and a lil polishing to be an awesone knife.

I love my Mora. Super sharp and cheap. You can beat the crap out of it and not fret about it.

Tapering the tang will help, even a slight taper on the thinner stock you plan on using. If you want to keep the handle-pin attachment strength with the use of threaded pins, use some *aluminum* Corby bolts in a smaller diameter than 1/4" which is more than you need, 3/16 or even an 1/8" Corby bolt head should be fine. Or just get some carbon fiber pin stock. Sand blast and thoroughly clean you tang finishing with denatured alcohol because it doesn't leave any residue like acetone does. Proper epoxy preparation with a good slow curing epoxy (such a g-flex) can make all the difference between it merely being used as a sealant from moister and it being a good and strong bond. Always make sure to properly measure and throughly mix the epoxy for _at least_ a few minutes. These may seem not that important but it can really make a big difference in its overall bonding strength, then almost negating the need for any pins, and something like carbon fiber pins would be just fine when good quality epoxy is used to is full potential. Also, for the large cut out in the tang, I would make a cut out using some light poplar wood (or the like) to fit inside of there and then just drill a few holes in the wood for some epoxy rivets. That large hole requires a lot of epoxy to fill up, which can add some extra weight verses filling most of that room with a very light wood. Carbon fiber is light with regard to its strength to weight ratio versus steel, but it still isn't super lightweight in itself for a handle material. It may not be as indestructible as carbon fiber, but some curly Maple scales (or walnut) would also reduce the weight and still be pretty strong, you could even dye them orange for better visibility if you wanted lol. Maple and walnut have been used of guns for centuries.m some other lighter and yet strong synthetics would be neoprene rubber sheets, which apparently some hunters enjoy on their knives. Obviously some of these recommendations or a bit over the top, but since you're trying to shave a few grams here and there, then shave it in every single material you use on the knife. Looking forward to seeing your tests and the results. Take care :)

I love your input on that morakniv. I had one break on me not too long ago. Was not the plastic part though.

after 35 years of knife-collecting there are only 3 knives that i use: glock m78, opinel n12 carbon and the sak spartan. all three have one thing in common..they are cheap and easy to resharpen - the 2 most important features

Great vid. I like the Mora Basic handle. I would start there. A lite comfortable handle that really fits your hand. Yes I know everyone is a critic.

3v and S7 are some really nice and tough steels. A8 mod is really tough stuff too. You might try Titanium, it can be heat treated and/or have the edge carbidized. Don't know how well it'll do on batoning, but it will be much lighter. Other ways you can save weight is make the knife narrower, skeletonize or drill holes in the scales, shape scales(contour or anso pattern), tapered tang, crown the spine(help with batoning by removing stress points and feels nicer but no ferro rod stricking).

You could add a hollow to the inside of the scales to shed more weight along with a tapered tang, also a fuller on the blade would shave off a couple of grams. Using carbon fibre pins instead of loveless bolts would be another area for weight saving👍🏻

Just found your channel. Learning alot! Just bought a mora for hiking. Checked those Spyder knives to but holy crap are they expensive.

Couple things I thought of. Carbon fiber pins Taper tang Shift your blade all the way to the top of your scales. It looks like you have almost 1/4 inch between your handle and your plunge line

Great project!

Ahh geeky knife video…exactly what I was looking for!

You got me hooked with this proyect!

Great video and looks like your having a lot of fun with this one.

The first knife with the orange handle is beautiful

Hey Alex I really like that first prototype. That is a great idea for an ultra light and very capable knife. I would not complain at all about the weight either but I’m still interested to see what you come up with. Great video! 👍🏼

Looking forward to seeing what the super knife winds up looking and cutting like...