Mora Plays it Safe with New Knife for Kids

After an enterprising 2016 that saw the introduction of the award winning Garberg, the Kansbol, and Eldris, Mora is taking a less ambitious approach to 2017.  The company’s new for 2017 model will be the Rookie, a knife intended to maximize safety for children using knives for the first time. Mora is targeting parts of the world with negative perceptions of knives and knife skills, and hopes that the safety first design of the Rookie will introduce a new generation to knife culture.

“The biggest focus with this new Morakniv Rookie was to welcome a new group of users into the world of carving,” says Morakniv’s Niclas Wiklund. The Scout 39 Safe, another Mora designed for kids, has a blunted tip, but Mora is taking things a step further with the Rookie. The new knife comes with a completely rounded over front end.

Wiklund is confident that even without a tip the Rookie’s 12C27 blade still holds its own against the rest of Mora’s knives when it comes to woodcarving. “The cutting and carving performance is still as good as any other Morakniv product.”

“Taking away the pointy tip was a must,” Wiklund continues. This was a concession to places outside Mora’s native Sweden where knives and knife skills are viewed less favorably. “The starting point for [the Rookie] came from our users outside Scandinavia that have a more strict view regarding safety.”

In Scandinavia, there is less taboo surrounding knives. Learning how to properly use a cutting tool is considered a must-have skill growing up. “For decades kids have been introduced to carving and the security around knife handling,” says Wiklund. There are even preschools in Denmark, called ‘forest kindergartens,’ that emphasize outdoor skills, knife use chief among them. “We live in a part of the world that doesn’t see the knife as a weapon, for us it has always been a must have tool.”


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Wiklund hopes the Rookie will help introduce this way of thinking to more people around the world. “It is very important to take the ‘edge’ off the discussion that it is dangerous or unsafe to use a knife. It is all about how we respect and treat the product.” Morakniv says the Rookie will be available by June.


Knife featured in image: Mora Rookie