Bark River Aurora LT 1st Run Production

K

Knife_Nirvana

Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
4
Long time lurker, first post. :)

I finally found my dream knife, sort of. I have wanted a Bark River Aurora LT in 3V with a wood burl handle for a long time, but it's always out of stock.

Well, I got my hands on one in A2. I'm not unhappy that it's A2, though I would have preferred 3V.

My issue is, it was not advertised as a 1st production run blade, but that is what has arrived.

Are there any problems, benefits, or otherwise with the 1st run of this knife I should look out for? I'm not really a 1st run type of guy, more of a tried and true type of guy.

Were there any problems with this knife's first run that you are aware of?

Additionally, there is a slight edge where the wood scales meet the tang. The wood is very slightly raised above the tang. It's not much, but enough that I can feel a small, sharp edge when I run my fingers across it. Any way I can fix that, and is that normal for these?
 
if you can feel the wood raised above the tang with your fingernail, that means the wood was too dry when it was put on the knife and has expanded because it has more moisture in it now. did they claim it was stabilized wood ?
 
Nothing in the ad about stabilized wood. It has a limited description on it's page. "Bark River Knives: Aurora LT - Hormigo Burl" with specifications about blade steel, length, thickness, etc. and a picture, but nothing about 1st run or stabilized wood.

The weird thing to me is, these knives have been around for quite a while, and that particular website has been out of stock every time I checked for at least a year, yet suddenly it has a 1st production knife? I'm wondering if it was returned or something.

If their 1st production of these is just as quality as later runs, I don't have a problem with that. However, if they had issues with heat treatment or anything else that they ironed out later I would be kind of unhappy and probably return it.
 
unfortunately even if you ordered 3v, you may have ended up with a2, as this was a common problem for them (you can read many threads about it here)... personally, I like the look of their designs a lot but I'm just not willing to trust that they've fully resolved the 'labelling issue' since it was repeatedly happening over the course of years

hopefully you paid a lower price for it; a2 is not stainless, you'll need to clean/oil it to keep it from rusting but otherwise it's a tough steel which should hold up well in terms of toughness and wear resistance
 
Knife_Nirvana said:
Long time lurker, first post. :)

I finally found my dream knife, sort of. I have wanted a Bark River Aurora LT in 3V with a wood burl handle for a long time, but it's always out of stock.

Well, I got my hands on one in A2. I'm not unhappy that it's A2, though I would have preferred 3V.

My issue is, it was not advertised as a 1st production run blade, but that is what has arrived.

Are there any problems, benefits, or otherwise with the 1st run of this knife I should look out for? I'm not really a 1st run type of guy, more of a tried and true type of guy.

Were there any problems with this knife's first run that you are aware of?

Additionally, there is a slight edge where the wood scales meet the tang. The wood is very slightly raised above the tang. It's not much, but enough that I can feel a small, sharp edge when I run my fingers across it. Any way I can fix that, and is that normal for these?
Click to expand...

I have several 1st production BRK's and there are no noticeable difference between them and regular production models.
BRK have produced the Aurora for over a decade and the first batches were A2 at 0.170" spinethickness.

Your knife is from the first batch of LT's and You can assume that it is produced the same way as any other BRK in A2.
If Your knife is a good one or not, can only be determined after it has been used.
There has been Aurora's with issues that needed warrantywork and Aurora's that has been perfect.
Mine is perfect but anyway, for me it takes some time to break-in a new knife regardless of brand.

Wood is a natural material and it swell or shrink as moisture levels vary.

Sometimes older knives pop-up on the sites and for any reason. It can be a knife forgotten in a corner of the storeroom that finally surfaced.



My Aurora in 0,170" A2 when new:
Aurora-001.jpg


Regards
Mikael
 
Last edited:
Bark River has a very active Facebook page. Any question or concern you may have will be answered there quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top