I might get bashed for saying this, but you will be better off to research the knife on other forums. Bark River has a bad reputation with many on this site, and that stems from issues with the owner, the incorrect labeling of steel, bad heat treats, you name it. There are also a lot of people on this forum that have no issue with their knives and it becomes an argument thread instead of anything constructive. The funny thing is, if you look at the threads where people post their knife pics, especially the fixed blade ones, there are a ton of Barkies shown.