In my latest review, Pear of Cydonia, I got surprised by the chemical reaction when cutting quinces with the Morakniv ; immediately the quince’s juice and its high concentration in tannins combined with carbon steel blade lead to dark traces on the fruit and accelerated the blade’s patina. Many thanks to Max Wedges for his explantations:
“Now quince is high on Tanins, & the “1095” steel in the Carbon is high on Manganese… thus black staining. (Natural “bluing”… like on O1 that has even more Manganese) I never use Carbon with Quince, or Pumpkin (funny “sardine” taste”).”

So I had stopped testing the knife in those conditions. That was frustrating and is why I have extensively used it this morning in the tamed outdoor wilderness of my garden!

The Morakniv Pro C is classified among the Construction Knives by the manufacturer. By construction they refer to building worker professionals like electricians, carpenters, roofers… The knife is comfortable in the hand even when applying force. The blade grind is a Scandi type (or Zero ground Saber) and the steel in this case is the Carbon steel that needs to be kept dry and is subject to patina. For more information, best is to go to their website and view their page Pro C .

Step 1: easy stuff. Pose with the metallic mosquito, partly laying in sage and on the dried stems it just cut. It was very easy and fast to cut the stems taken as a handful. Pro C was really sharp and gently pushing through was sufficient.

Step 2: getting a bit tougher. The Mexican orange bush. Pro C cuts these thicker stems very easily. More than just a decent cut, you get a cut with de scent!

Step 3: larger diameters and the stems are getting tougher. Pro C does great bevel cuts in Kerria given it’s a bit tricky as the exterior is hard whereas the center is soft and foamy. By the way bevel cuts is the secret to keep flowers longer in a vase because it does not crush the canals in which the water circulates (unlike when using a shear).

Step 4: Small branches from a birch and from a Blue Ceanothus. I use the Latin name because I cannot find the English translation. In French: “Céanothe Bleu”. Here it was necessary to use both hands and the toughest was the Blue Ceanothus because the branches were dead and hence very dry and hard. So the right hand holding the grip and the left pushing the blade’s spine. The spine being not grinded, but polished makes it soft when pushing the blade with the thumb; no sharp edges. The scandi shaped blade reveals its power here; it sinks into the wood while always being in control.

Step 5: The wood gets harder. In one case I have cut dead and dry rose bush branches and equally dry bamboo. In fact, Pro C is really a workhorse both in a controlled push configuration (rose bush) and in a fast yank against the bamboo. In both cases the result is very neat and we are not in the hands of… defeat!

Step 6: we now know that in Pro C, “C” does not only stand for Carbone… and no I did not cut my neighbor’s cat!

In summary I have been really favorably surprised by this knife’s capabilities. Once all these tests done, the edge needed to resume its initial state and the Carbone steel is one that makes that a friendly task.