- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
- Messages
- 7,440
Background:
I have owned two Rampless Gunny's. I sold one, well, because I was stupid - and then had to wait to find a good deal on another come up - which had a ramp, I sent it in to be ground off and get a Spa treatment - an then got it back. I always thought I had written a review on this blade - but must have overlooked something! Doom on me! Here was my first Olive Drab Gunny (which I still think is one of the coolest colored knives I have ever had, in a few pictures:
Disclaimer:
I am from Michigan. I love the state and wish to move back there soon. My first REAL bushcrafting knife of good quality was a BRKT Aurora that I ordered from Crystal Falls Michigan (With matching custom Firesteel thank you very much) and I loved that damned knife. I have a soft spot in my heart for BRKT - they are 'local business' to me in a way.
With that said - I have owned quite a few Bark Rivers in my time and I have no issue with selling one that does not fit me - or calling BRKT to get something fixed or adjusted if I don't think it is perfect.
I have owned:
Aurora
3 Gunny's
A KF Forum Knife
Kephart
Kephart Companion
Ultra Light Bushcrafter
Liten Bror
Mikro Canadian II
Mikro Tusk
and a few others I am sure I am forgetting right now.
Specs:
OAL: 8.505
Blade Length (from handle): 3.725
Edge Length: 3.681
Blade Thickness: 0.153
Blade Height: 0.892 at rear of blade
Steel Type: A2
Handle Length: 4.589
Handle Thickness at butt: 0.911
Handle Thickness at Pinky: 0.775
Handle Thickness in middle: 0.964
Handle Thickness at front finger: 0.736
Handle Thickness at Ricossa: 1.076
Handle Width: About 0.800
Handle Material: Olive Green and Blade Micarta (Two different knives.
Pins and lanyard Tube: Stainless Steel
Packaging:
Bark River ships their knives in small rectagonal boxes, sheathes the blade in a cardboard cover, wraps the knife in tissue paper and plastic and sends the accompanying sheath in a separate plastic pouch. I have yet to receive a BRKT with any trouble in shipping. I bought this knife 'used' (very lightly - honestly - I couldn't even tell) and it came wrapped very similarly to the factory. No damage - the blade looks great.
This picture is borrowed from the Austalian Blade Forums site to show how a Bark River typically comes
Fit and Finish:
I talked to Jackie at BRKT a while back (I had sent a Gunny in to get the thumb ramp taken off) and I asked them not to touch the blade grind in any other way. It came back with the grind touched up and the etching put back on. When I asked why - she said they had changed policies lately on how they were sending out their blades and all blades that come in for spa treatment get this upgrade.
I didn't really think about it too much at the time - but now that I recall all the Bark River's I have owned - I think BRKT has made some improvements to their Quality Control in the last steps in blade finish, polish, and consistency.
The first generation Gunny's that I have owned were from the previous methods of grinding and polishing and could leave the blade a little rough in some areas. I was very happy to have the Spa treatment done on this knife when I sent it in to get the thumb ramp taken off (15 dollars - mostly just to pay for shipping) and see how even, smooth, and matte their finish now is. They put the original etching back on the knife and sent it back to me in factory condition - despite it being used for some time.
The handle is very smooth and the pins blend seemlessly into the Micarta. I find very very little wrong with this knife (there is one small misque in the butt of the knife - but you have to have hawk eyes to find it). I think BRKT is really stepping up their fit and finish and trying to repair any blade that comes into their shop for Spa treatment.
First Sharpening:
If you have read my other reviews you can see how anal I am when it comes to sharpening my knives and making them as perfect as I like them before using them. I might give an out of the box knife a text swipe or three at some wood or paper - but I usually break out the stones first thing.
This Gunny was no exception. I got out my Japanese water stones and made the bevel in a manner that I liked it. This is not to say that the knife didn't come well convexed and sharp. I am just anal. Anyway, I took a little material off the front of the knife (where the blade sweeps up to meet the tip) as I thought the convexing there was a little thick and I evened out and thinned out the convex grind toward the edge to make it move more smoothly from the saber grind to the edge.
I then moved to the Wet Dry sand paper, cleaned up any markes that were left from the stones that were not even and matched the matte finish of the blade from the factory by carefully running some wet/dry in a perpendicular manner to the edge. Once this was done, I carefully used wet dry up to worn 2000 grit and moved to a JRE Strop Bat and through three compounds and ended up on bare leather.
The A2 is very easy to sharpen, getting and holding an edge with ease. I find that worn 2000 grint on any semi firm background will make an edge perfect after a long day with these knives.
Blade Geometry:
The spine of the blade slopes every so slightly down from the mid point of the knife and then has the slightest drop point. It is a VERY high sabre ground full convex grind. The blade moves flat along the majority of its length sweeping up to the tip and creating a little belly. Due to the thickness of the steel the convex grind is steeper than some - but by no means too steep. It is a very robust edge designed for hard work and although it may sacrifice a little ease in slicing - it makes up for it by being strong and capable of other feats that a thinner steel may not be up to.
One thing that potential users should note is that the blade is fairly thin in terms of height from edge to spine. This blade is not the widest blade in the world (under an inch) and when choking up a person can run out of real estate pretty quickly. However, due to the overall design of this knife - this width fits this knife.
Balance:
The balance of this knife is right at the back portion of the front pin and right behind where your front finger falls naturally on the blade. It is slightly butt heavy - but not so much as to hinder performance and I didn't even realize it was this way until doing this review.
In Hand / Handle Design:
The handle design has always been a little bit of a conundrum to me as I prefer a more neutral handle and the Gunny is fairly contoured. However, where Mike excelled in this handle design was by carefully rounding off all the corners of the contours and the result is a very comfortable blade. Being contoured however, it favors the hammer and reverse grip - but can easily be pressed into service choking up, in the chest lever, and other positions.
This handle design makes sense as this knife was not made to be a Bushcrafter - it was meant to be issued to Military personel as a smaller option to the Bravo 1. However, Mike made this knife with some thought - and thus it can be easily used in bushcrafting. I really like the thought behind this blade design.
I will say this though. If you have a large hand the gunny may be on the tad small side for you. I wear size L gloves and find that it is one of my smaller handles in my hand. However, for some reason this doesn't seem to bother me like other knives have. I find it nimble and nice to use.
Sheath Shots:
The sheath that came with both of my Bark River Gunny's were the Sharpshooter Sur-Loc leather sheath.
Over time I made a sheath for this blade - here was my original one when I was fairly new to leather bending.
After a few years I made this sheath for my second knife:
Overall feelings after nearly a year:
I have come to love this blade. I will not be without a Gunny in my lineup for some time. It simply works. This review has almost seemed lackluster but this is because the knife does what I want it to do when I want it to. It is nimble and could be used for a myriad of projects, whether in the field or bushcrafting. This is absolutely one of my favorite knives - especially from Bark River.
TF
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