Bark River Bravo 1 3V Field Knife with Redesigned Sheath: First Impressions

J

Jmboz

Joined
Apr 14, 2011
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246
Arriving on the week of Christmas was my new Bark River 3V Field Knife with Desert Ironwood handle (non-burl).

Shown with it below is my beloved and well used Bark River Bravo 1 SS with Hard Rock Maple handle.





First impressions out of the box:

PROS
  • Excellent fit and finish
  • Extremely sharp out of the box
  • Superb ergonomics and balance

CONS
  • Feels heavy (the 3V blade could have been made thinner without much loss of durability or strength)
  • Cuts well, but doesn't excel at slicing or chopping
  • New sheath is poorly designed and constructed (I will be purchasing a custom made sheath for it)

Here is a photo of the crappy newly desgined sheath with the much better built older sheath below it:





With the new sheath, the leather in the section between the blade and handle narrows to less than half the width of the base. This weakens the sheath, in my opinion, making it less durable than the deluxe sheath. As the leather softens the knife will tend to swing and get caught in vegetation while hiking/bushcrafting. I'm not sure why Bark River decided to change the sheath, as I think the orginal sheath worked extremely well. I've read elsewhere that you can still purchase the deluxe sheath, adding about $55.00 to the cost of the knife, which is ridiculus considering that I paid $262.00 for my knife and sheath.

And I'm not the only one disappointed with the new garbage sheath:

[video=youtube;5EkbEHhk4dA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EkbEHhk4dA[/video]

It appears as if Bark River is devolving their sheaths, which one can only assume is in the name of profits, and will eventually lead to a tarnished reputation and loss of sales in the long run.

Thank you for reading.
 
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I agree with you about the sheath, I had to order one of the old style sheaths for my new Bravo 1 SS with matching firesteel and when I traded the knife I actually took a loss because of the extra $56 bucks I paid for the quality old style sheath. Not Happy with the new sheath!!!!!
 
Nice to see some others fining this sheath do be sub-par. There was another post that I commented on about

this on some other forum and it was not received well by the owners/mods. I was chastised for doubting the

design of the almighty creator. That is all I will say about that. I will say that not all of them are that flimsy and

I am pretty sure that you can get a replacement. Just make sure you ask nice , they are kinda sensitive.
 
Reid Hyken (Sharpshooter) has a reputation for being an abuser, baiter and banner in the forum that cannot be named.

What is interesting is that the forum that cannot be named was recently bought buy the publishing/media company that produces several knife/outdoor magazines.

It just shows that some forums are more community base, like this one, and others are more part of the greater industry product marketing and promotion agenda.

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But let's not get distracted. I trust kharma will eventually come back to those who are most deserving.

The weight of the new 3V Bravo causes my sheath to do the exact same thing as in the video.

I'm currently looking at getting a JRE sheath made up for the Bravo 1.

To Hades with spending my money on a PoS sheath from Sharpshooter Systems.
 
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Thanks for the info. I am looking to get a Bravo-1 field knife in A2.
Do you like the ramp less design better than the original? Is the the only difference besides the steel?
 
I find the thumb/firesteel ramp a bit of a marketing gimmick and can't really see any practical purpose other than maybe low light conditions.

Even though I can live with it, given a choice I would go rampless.

The only difference I can see between the original and the rampless is the removal of the thumb ramp.

They also have drop point and spear point rampless versions as well.
 
Gotta agree with you, love the knife (and the steel), hate the sheath. Mine had so much excess glue, I had to literally use the knife to cut it's way into the sheath - keeping my fingers out of the way. It's so poorly done, I'm still not sure I have it between the 2 correct layers of leather. The knife is a brute, though, and should be able to stand up to most any bushcraft task.
 
Just received my bravo 2, I love the knife, but the sheath is the same design as the new bravo 1 design....CRAP.. sharpshooter did not come through on this, such an awesome knife--both the 1 and 2, very solid and the finish is great!, but the sheaths are just how the video shows, floppy and the button retention puts scratches in the blade, hopefully he will can this "new design".
 
From what I have read on some other forum there are some adjustments being made to the new sheaths. I do not know if you can get one if you send the flawed one back. I am very let down by how the owner has handled this problem. He plays the "victim" role very well. If he had just accepted a bit of criticism and swallowed his pride this might have been seen in a better light. I am no expert here but one sheath does ruin a company.
 
I agree that Mike Stewart's and Reid Hyken's response to criticisms is disappointing, however, if they are able to redesign and build a greatly improved new sheath I will be content. They should consider it a lesson learned.

Perhaps Bark River will learn a lesson and actually do some market research before putting a new product into production. Mike Stewart has the gull to complain that he has to invest a thousand dollars into new tooling because of the number of complaints, when all he had to do was had make up a few sheaths, send them off to selected outdoors people for testing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that you don't cheapen an accessory on a top selling item. I would have paid slightly more for a deluxe sheath upgrade had that been offered. Now at least (hopefully) I'll be able to send the sheath in for replacement with no out of pocket expenses.

It's interesting that Mr. Stewart's responses to those complaining about the new sheath has been deleted from the forum which cannot be named. It was mostly about him and how he, his family and company have been "severely disrupted" by the negative emails and telephone calls (which brought his daughter Jacqueline to tears). He goes on to whinge about how Virtuovice (from Youtube) bushwacked him and should do him the courtesy of removing the Bravo 1 sheath videos because of the negative, insulting comments by viewers. What Mr. Stewart fails to realise is the fact that Youtube posters have very little control what others write in the video's comments section.

In the end all Mike Stewart had to do was publicly apologise and admit the poor quality sheath was a bade decision, along with redsigning/building a better sheath offering to exchange it free of charge to those who were unhappy with it.

What is truly amazing is that both Mike and Reid continue to stand by their crappy sheath. Un-fraking-believable!
 
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I've been following this with some interest, as I want one of the new knives. I'm waiting a bit longer...
 
Jmboz said:
I agree that Mike Stewart's and Reid Hyken's response to criticisms is disappointing, however, if they are able to redesign and build a greatly improved new sheath I will be content. They should consider it a lesson learned.

Perhaps Bark River will learn a lesson and actually do some market research before putting a new product into production. Mike Stewart has the gull to complain that he has to invest a thousand dollars into new tooling because of the number of complaints, when all he had to do was had make up a few sheaths, send them off to selected outdoors people for testing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that you don't cheapen an accessory on a top selling item. I would have paid slightly more for a deluxe sheath upgrade had that been offered. Now at least (hopefully) I'll be able to send the sheath in for replacement with no out of pocket expenses.

It's interesting that Mr. Stewart's responses to those complaining about the new sheath has been deleted from the forum which cannot be named. It was mostly about him and how he, his family and company have been "severely disrupted" by the negative emails and telephone calls (which brought his daughter Jacqueline to tears). He goes on to whinge about how Virtuovice (from Youtube) bushwacked him and should do him the courtesy of removing the Bravo 1 sheath videos because of the negative, insulting comments by viewers. What Mr. Stewart fails to realise is the fact that Youtube posters have very little control what others write in the video's comments section.

In the end all Mike Stewart had to do was publicly apologise and admit the poor quality sheath was a bade decision, along with redsigning/building a better sheath offering to exchange it free of charge to those who were unhappy with it.

What is truly amazing is that both Mike and Reid continue to stand by their crappy sheath. Un-fraking-believable!
Click to expand...

Agreed!
 
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