I’ve been bugging RidgeRunner to write up something to post here, since he is a wealth of useful information about many of the skills our society has forgotten. Today, I’m posting something he was telling me about. While it is short, it is full of useful ideas, and is worthy of being published for others to learn from it.

At one of his recent Green Earth Survival School classes, he was showing me his khukri, and I ended up getting one, since he talked me into thinking I couldn’t live without one (I still agree, it’s HANDY!). In return, I did what I could to let him know he needed a Mora knife…he got one, and immediately modded it:

Here’s what he said to me about it:

Got that Mora a couple of hours ago. I wasn’t sure I’d like it but turns out I really do. I added a few essentials as you can see in the photo : 8 feet of paracord, a fire steel secured with 3 ranger bands and several cotton balls soaked with petroleum jelly tucked down inside the sheath tip. I squared off the blade drop top edge and it throws sparks like crazy. I’m thinking of adding a dimple in the handle for the tip of a bow drill spindle but I’m not sure how heat resistant that handle is. Got any ideas for other mods ?

(The only thing I could come up with in reply would be an aftermarket or home-made Kydex sheath.)

HE then followed up with this:

Just blued the blade just for grins and because, just like my guns, I don’t like shiny  things in the woods.

(Blueing is a process in which steel is partially protected against rust, and is named after the blue-black appearance of the resulting protective finish.)

And please note, the knife in the picture is sitting on one of the rabbits hides I provided to him, all tanned and sleek looking.

Leave it to a ridge-running hillbilly to take a simple design, and more it MORE useful!