Bark River Aurora woodcraft knife

riddleofsteel

riddleofsteel

Joined
Apr 13, 2001
Messages
546
I finally got my hands on one of the new Bark River Aurora woodcraft knives. I had one on preorder and it came in yesterday. This is a stock picture of one identical to mine;
Aurora_Ant_Stg_Bone_Mosaic.jpg


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Overall Length: 9.5 Inches
Blade Length: 4.5 Inches
Blade Steel: A-2
Hardness: 58-59 rc
Blade Thickness: .170 Inch
Weight:6 Ounces

Compared to my Stewart Marsh Woodlore clone it is almost identical except the Bark River is a slightly larger knife. The handle is better suited to larger hands. The blade is exactly the same length and of similar thickness. Due to the slightly larger grip my knife seems to have the ergonomic edge over the Stewart Marsh.
The Bark River is a convex grind knife and comes hair popping sharp. It remains to be seen how it will do at everday camp chores but I have high hopes. I have other convex grind camp knives like a Falkniven A1 and a Bark River Northstar. I love the way a convex knife with good steel touches up on a piece of leather or a strip of cardboard charged with polishing compound.
This weekend is the start of the muzzleloading deer season here in my slice of heaven so a head to head test against the my Stewart Marsh Ivory Micarta Woodlore clone may have to wait a while. Comparison pics and data to follow.
 
I have been looking into that one for a while. I have liked every BRKT I've owned so far! Congrats:cool:
 
This is a stock picture of one identical to mine;
Click to expand...
You should compare the photo to your knife very carefully. Since each run of Bark Rivers only has a couple of knives with each handle material, there is a fair chance that your knife was photographed.

After comparing the wood grain patterns in my Bark River to the advertisement photo, I'm convinced that my knife was the photo subject.

My knife:
BarkRiverTanto.jpg


Ad photo from Bark River:
tanto.jpg


I really like your knife by the way. I've been meaning to add a Mountaineer to my Bark River collection, but the Aurora looks like a contender too.
 
D*MN that is a pic of my knife exactly. The random marks on the antique stag bone match EXACTLY.

(Theme from Twilight Zone plays)
 
Yeah, that Tanto is the same too!

I got my Aurora a few days ago - sheep horn. I love the handle! Very comfortable and ergonomic! As usual, great blade too! But that handle is just above and beyond!
 
A beautiful knife to be sure. I have a Mini-Slither, Darter, and Mini-Canadian on order. These will be my first Barkies and I can hardly wait.
 
Very nice looking knife! Not many knives more addicting than BRK's, eh?


At first when I saw your pics I thought they'd made a Scandinavian ground knife. I was already digging for my credit card!:D (Yup, I'm wierd that way...)
 
Have you seen these?
Click to expand...

I have one of the original Tapio Wirkkala-designed Hackman knives. Really interesting: it is not a traditional style, it's very "modern", although the blade is more like a puukko than the handle is.

If the fit and finish of the Cold Steel is anything like the Hackman, it might be a good buy, but I paid about $30 for mine at the time. :D
 
is that a kinda diamond shaped handle on it? It seems really similar to a Helle Fabrikker...

One of the nicest knives I've seen offered from Cold Steel in quite awhile...

$240 would getcha a couple REALLY nice Bark Rivers afterall.....:D
 
Yes, it is a diamond shaped handle and it is similar to the Fabrikker. I think it's funny that Cold Steel is pushing Lynn Thompson's Finnish connection when real Finnish or other Scandinavian knives of serious quality can be found for a fraction of his knife's price.
 
Nice score. I'm trying to hold back, but I have a feeling I'll be getting an Aurora soon as well. Mike put out so many great new knives that it's hard to keep up!!!
Alex
 
I got off work a little early this PM so I took the two knives down to the back of my woods and did a little woodcrafting. I was in the mood to build some small wood fish/crayfish baskets so I cut some green limbs off of a gum tree and selected part of a wind broken swamp maple that was naturally split. The design I used is like two cones made of branches laced with natural fiber cordage. One cone fits down into the other with a small opening for the fish to swim in. Once in they cannot swim out as easy. An old and proven design.
I started out by using the knives to cut the limbs into sections and round off the points. Then I proceeded to bore holes in both ends of the sticks. Over the years I have found the bindings stay on better passing thru holes rather than just wrapped around the bundle.
20 holes later, 10 for each knife I reached a conclusion. The SM/Woodlore tip drills better than the Aurora. No slight on the Bark River tip design. Some knives bore better than others. The SM knife drill cleaner holes faster than the Aurora, it’s that simple. Comfort and edge holding was not an issue in either knife. Both would still shave arm hair right at the tip after the job.
Next I cut some vines and stripped the bark for cordage. Again I used both knives. The vines were wisteria vines about thick as a man’s thumb. No issue on this task. The Aurora did show better control when I went to cut bark strips against my makeshift split maple workbench. I would have expected this from the thinner edge Bark River.
When I went to split some sticks to make the handle I noticed the flat ground SM seemed to shave wood better.
Humm maybe not better, different. Kind of like a plane or chisel. The Aurora was so sharp and with its rounded edge it seemed by the time I rolled it into the cut it bit to deep. I don’t like splinters on my handles and split wood handles are easier to bend. It was more of a test of wood planning and smoothing anyway.
At that point I stopped and split a couple of rough slabs off of the maple chunk.
Both knives split wood well and a light baton made the job safe quick and easy. My intention was to carve a set of spoons from the dry split maple. Both knives took to carving like ducks to water. I had the two rough forms cut out in short order. Nothing fancy just flat slab spoons.
Again the test was the ability of the knives was to shape and smooth wood. The SM knife is a woodworking tool. It planes and smoothes very well. The Aurora requires a little different technique. Not so much difference in the wood crafting projects I have taken on with my North Star or my Falkniven A1. When it came time to hollow out the spoon to make it a useful shape the rounded profile of the Aurora did a great job. Choking up on the blade was easy and natural. In the final smoothing of the back of the spoons once again the flat ground blade seemed more controllable. Time will tell.

I guess so far the knives are pretty even. If you throw out drilling the other differences are pretty subjective. I think the flat ground knife smoothes and planes green wood better but the convex knife cuts green wood like a chain saw if you are cutting across the grain. Even up here…
One observation;
I have had my Stewart Marsh for almost a year. It has cut wood, meat, leather ect on a regular basis. I clean it but take no particular pains with it. It has yet to stain on the blade potion at all. I even leave it in the sheath, known to be a no no for knife care. I have had my Aurora for three days and it is already taking on blade stains that I can only guess will lead to a patina. Not rust mind you just stains.

I like both knives…more to follow.

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lower knife is Stewart Marsh knife

stewbark4.JPG

upper knife is SM knife

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stewbark6.JPG


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oh GOD. just when I thought I was done buying knives for a while. Strider GB and PT this month alone and its only the 2nd. Now you go and get me wanting a Bark River!

I hope you are pleased with yourselves! :D
 
It will be a while before I can continue the testing. My Aurora is on the way back to Mike at Bark River. My oversize Antique Stag Bone handle never really fit all the way down into the sheath supplied with it. I had to wet the sheath to form it to the oversize grip slabs. I thought I had let it dry throughly. I let it sit out on a shelf over the heat radiator for 24 hours. However, when I finally put the knife in it only took 2 1/2 hours in the sheath for a coating of brown rusty looking mess to set up on the blade and exposed spine of the knife. I polished it off but an overnight stay in the sheath proved disasterous and the knife was brown again. Only the portion of the knife exposed to the section of the sheath I wet formed was affected. Unless I am dead wrong on this BEWARE. If your sheath gets wet be sure it is al the way dry before leaving you Aurora in it. I will amend that opinion if Mike comes up with something different.
I contacted Mike and he requested the knife be sent in for his inspection. As always, Bark River service is the top of the industry. Real American humans you can talk to about your problems. Not some dealer of an importer of a company in China.
To his credit Mike even offered me a loaner to use while my Aurora was in transit. More to come when all this gets sorted out.
 
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