Bark River / Expedition Night Fighter in A2

[James Green Dragon]

There was a thread going about this knife about a month ago (?) but I had trouble finding it. To make a long story short, this knife was and may still be going to $49.95 from AG Russell. However, the knife has a serious cosmetic flaw in the way the blade is ground making it appear 'bent to the right' if you look at the spine. It wasn't really bent, just ground asymetrically though...

Since this knife is going for $130 elsewhere on the internet & being curious about A2 steel, I picked one up. After recieving it, I decided the jury was still out IMO on Bark River as far as QC was concerned; I felt the knife should have been branded a factory '2nd' by Bark River and / or marketed as such by AG Russell but the jury was still out on overall quality.

Enough background. I used the knife for a little while a couple of days ago & will post my impressions:

I was very excited by the edge this knife took - it was easy to sharpen & I really like the overall design of the blade. I have also heard good things about A2 as far as edge holding & strength go...

After repeatedly slashing, chopping & hacking at some dead oak (fallen tree)in my yard the edge was still hair shaving sharp & did not ding or bend when coming into contact with the dead hardwood. I will say that the lack of a full tang did create some uncomfortable vibrations in the handle though. However, the edge holding ability of the A2 steel was rather impressive.

Just messing around, I decided I would take a couple of throws with the knife; just half turn throws holding the knife by the blade & letting it do the 1/2 turn to hit a tree, point first. The 'tree in question' was a living scrub oak in my yard. I don't make it a habit to throw knives into living trees too often (for the tree's sake) but its not a very abusive test either... Not for a knife exceeding 3/16" in thickness.

I threw the knife no more than 5 times - each time it would chip out some bark & not stick in. But when I examined the knife afterwards, I noted a distinct bend to the left in the knife's tip, maybe 1/2 from the point!!! The damn thing bent!!! I was shocked!

Now I have thrown my CS SRK repeatedly, with no such damage. Same goes for my Ontario SP6. Neither of these knives had more then some cosmetic damage to the tips from many more throws than I subjected the Bark River knife to. IMO, the 1/2" bend - at maybe 20 degrees no less - is totally unacceptable.

Could it be that the asymetrical grind effected tip strength? Was it the heat treatment? Is it the A2 steel? I don't know. What I do know is that this will, sadly, be my last purchase from the Bark River Knife & Tool Co. That is 2 in a row with QC problems & though I did not buy either knife from BR directly, both have 'issues' & neither is marked as such from the factory.

I made a big deal in that other thread about giving these guys the benefit of the doubt. However, a knife more than 3/16" thick, made from high carbon tool steel should not take a 20 degree or more bend in the tip after being tossed at a tree a couple of times. I am not impressed.

Contrast this with some knives I have bought for the same $50, or even less, with no major 'flaws', cosmetic or otherwise, from Cold Steel & Ontario...

Anyone else have any input on the Bark River Knife they want to share? Anyone have any ideas why mine "failed" in this manner?

On a final note I will recomend what I feel to be the best value in a fixed blade knife in the $20 range; the Cold Steel True Flight thrower. I have thrown my TF more than 300 times - more like 500, with no damage other than a little blade coating coming off the tip. After adding one layer of paracord to the handle in a Japanese style wrap, the knife looks good, feels good in the hand & is as tough as nails. All for about $20.

Cheers,

James

 

[MelancholyMutt]

So what bothered you more? the fact that it's junk? or the fact that it's a counterfeit?

 

[James Green Dragon]

Ouch!

The fact it's junk. I could live with the legal BS over use of the name if it were a decent knife. I'm just glad I didn't buy it for the $130!!!

So, what do you think, Mutt, could it be that the asymetrical grind effected tip strength? Was it the heat treatment? Or is it the A2 steel?

Methinks there is a Swamp Rat in my future; perhaps not so near future but definately in the cards.

 

[MelancholyMutt]

I've been an Ek collector since I was 13 and have followed the history of the brand since then. Aside from the "don't throw knives" whole lecture, it actually held up very well.

Now, if you read in the previous debate over the knife, one came out of the box with a bend... QC simply sucks on the knife and no one really knows dfor sure if it was heat treated to snap or to bend. different designers have different ideas as how they want their knives to fail...

 

[Jeff Clark]

I would have expected the point to break off. Given the length of the blade and the way that it is ground this is good performance, not bad. It indicates that the knife was heat treated soft (at least at the point) to avoid breakage. It is remarkable that the edge stood up so well considering that the blade was optimized for toughness rather than hardness.

The Night Fighter has a full tapered grind, a narrow tip, and a false edge. Just like a double-edge dagger with a heavy handle, it was not designed for throwing. For throwing you want a thicker and wider tip. You particularly need a thicker and wider tip if the blade is long and the handle is heavy. A narrow and thin point will stick fairly deep into a target even when your throw is a little over-rotated. At that angle you have both the rotation of the knife and the knife's forward momentum trying to bend your tip. There is too much knife and too little tip strength to keep the blade straight. Either the tip bends or the tip breaks off. I have broken and bent a lot of tips so I have seen the pattern.

PS. I like the Cold Steel Tru Flight a lot, but you'll notice how thick the spine of the blade is up to the last fraction of an inch.

 

[GarageBoy]

Real Eks have full tangs!