Bark River Bravo 1 concerns......

So did the BRKT guys just say the blade was ground down too fine at the edge then? The knick is there plain as day in the pic...mighty disturbing too.

My Smoke Jumper is 50-100B carbon steel. I liked the heavy leather sheath and meaty tang on it more than the Bravo, but I thought the A2 was lots better steel. Hmmm???
 
**cutup** said:
...but I thought the A2 was lots better steel. Hmmm???
Click to expand...

No, but they're both good in their potential as blade steels--they simply have to be heat treated correctly. That said, if there was a good, hard piece of grit down in the wood (not uncommon in the desert) and he was just unlucky enough to hit it square on, you can still get chips even if the steel is done properly. Same is true with 3V, 5160, or INFI. Many minerals are significantly harder than steel.
 
**cutup** said:
So did the BRKT guys just say the blade was ground down too fine at the edge then? The knick is there plain as day in the pic...mighty disturbing too.

My Smoke Jumper is 50-100B carbon steel. I liked the heavy leather sheath and meaty tang on it more than the Bravo, but I thought the A2 was lots better steel. Hmmm???
Click to expand...


I am still waiting to hear back from BRKT. It arrived last Friday in Michigan. I know they will make things right but like I said on my first post, I'm disappointed that the chip happened. I would feel better with a new knife. I believe it shouldn’t of happened chopping a soft stem of an Ocotillo. I know there are strong arguments about not using this knife to chop but it shouldn’t have happened.
 
Not a single argument that I've read here saying that it should have happened, or that the Bravo 1 is too delicate for this use, it's just so goofily small for a chopper that it's not very efficient.
 
**UPDATE**



Received the knife yesterday, overall fast turnaround. BRKT reground the blade and cleaned it up. I don’t think they took much off but you can tell that its ground back some. They also included a 12.00 bill for the shipping cost. I talked to Donna @ BRKT, she said not to worry about it. She was under the impression that it was a touch up job (that they charge for) compared to a warranty repair. I am going camping again this weekend using the same knife again. Ill report back if anything else happens.
 
cosmophonic12 said:
**UPDATE**



Received the knife yesterday, overall fast turnaround. BRKT reground the blade and cleaned it up. I don’t think they took much off but you can tell that its ground back some. They also included a 12.00 bill for the shipping cost. I talked to Donna @ BRKT, she said not to worry about it. She was under the impression that it was a touch up job (that they charge for) compared to a warranty repair. I am going camping again this weekend using the same knife again. Ill report back if anything else happens.
Click to expand...

Let us know how it worked out for you.

Ron LaBella
 
The same thing happned to me with a Gameskeeper. They won't replace the knife but they will fix the knife for free. The fingerguard on my Gameskeeper busted off really easy and I sent it back and I asked if I could have a different knife, as the knife I bought broke. They fixed it without puting the guard back on it, as I requested.
After seeing the knife, though and working with it I'm kind of dissapointed with the knife. Donna was really cool about it, though.
 
everything worked out fine. I didnt really use the knife hard. overall I am happy and glad I got the knife. I know better now not to baton or really use it in chopping large branches/logs.
 
you can baton with that thing just do it properly. I have batoned with things as small as my mini-canadian. Not the easiest of things to do but it got the job done on smaller stuff. Your knife is about the same size as my RC-4 and i can baton all day long with that thing. Just work on technique.
 
I'm still trying to find where anybody except the OP has claimed it couldn't. This was a defect, either in geometry or in HT at the edge.
 
I was thinking of this...

BigWhiteFord:
I think you chose the wrong knife for CHOPPING, but only because I don't think a 4" blade is designed for chopping.

t1mpani:
Agreed---4" is an awfully small blade to be chopping with just from
the standpoint of not being able to generate any momentum,
 
Good points ipm, and pics! I love my Bravo 1


Ron LaBella
 
Yeah, its reputation seems to be well deserved. no doubt about it. i guess its performance depends on who is handling the knife.

the guy in the videos seems to know a few things about knives and outdoors stuff as well. his videos are interesting to watch since he actually shows knives in use, not just table top looks while reading spec-sheets about length and blade chemistry.

i wonder if his modification of having Bark River grind off the thumb ramp actuially improves battoning? it makes sense that it could.
 
Nobody was saying that the knife was damaged because chopping with it was inappropriate, but that a 4" blade with a full tang and large handle was not balanced correctly to be much good for chopping. You're simply not getting any mechanical advantage with the impact happening so close to your hand--much like choking up on a hammer's handle until you're only just under the head and trying to drive a nail with it. It can be done, it's just a rather excessive expenditure of energy for anything but recreational purposes, when that first stick as a baton will get you so much farther.

By the same token, I don't think a Busse Battle Mistress is well suited to cuticle trimming, but if you damaged one trimming your cuticles and I say, "That blade's a little large for trimming cuticles" that doesn't mean that I'm saying the use was abusive.
 
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