Bark River Knives... Heat Treat, Edge Retention and A2???

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tiogatires

tiogatires

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I am thinking about picking up a bravo 1.5 in a2. I've had a few of their knives over the years with no complaints but remember hearing about heat treat and edge chipping issues. Any thoughts and/or experiences? Also how does their a2 hold up?
 
Have purchased many of their knives over the past several years and have never had a problem with any of them. In addition they have the best warranty around.
 
No chipping on my A2 Bark Rivers!
Heat-treat is outsourced to Peter's I believe.

Sometimes they grind the edges too thin and I have had minor rolling on a Journeyman.
The Rouge had a larger roll after chopping in hard dry pearwood, but it will vanish with use and today I don't use it for hard chopping.
The Scagel Large Bowie also in A2 has enough thickness in the edge and cope with the heaviest work in frozen Maple.
No problems at all!

Try to get one with a thick edge and it will work just fine!


Regards
Mikael
 
I also have not experienced any chipping that might indicate heat treating issues. Like Mikael I have experienced an edge ground too thin on a Sandvic Barkie that made it prone to roll an edge. A quick thrill ride on the belt sander put a stop to that nonsense. No problems at all with my A2 or CPM-3V's.
 
My experiences are the same as above. No problems with knives, grinds or heat treat. I did have a barkatario machete that rolled the first time I used it, but that went away after I put a new edge on it. Just had too thin of an initial edge from the regrinding process. (all the edges were reground when modified from original Ontario machetes.)

I know some people don't like BRKT, and others don't like the owner, but I have not had any negative experiences with Bark River over the roughly ~15 years I've been collecting them.
 
Bark River friggin rocks! I've seen tons of armchair internet warriors trying to knock them over the last couple years and I just dont get it. I own 11 Barkies and they are all amazing knives, never had an issue with any of them and they all have been "users" at one time or another. Top of the line blades and Mike Stewart really stands by his products(hes one heck of a nice guy too).
 
I own quite a few and haven't had any rolling edges or chips or whatever. I've got thin edges and thick edges and they all work well in A2 and CPM-3V. I'm partial to A2 personally. Easier to maintain with strops.
 
I've bought a number of knives from Mike Stewart, Marble's blades in 52100 from his time there, and Bark River knives in A2. One of the best makers around IMHO.
 
Good to hear the positive reviews. I'm leaning towards the Bravo 1.5 in A2 with matching firesteel to complete the package. I have heard the blade edge issues but cannot remember from where. The blade shape of the Bravo 1.5 really appeals to me as a general duty woods knife.
 
I would echo good words above. I had bought many of their knives and had no problem.

Bark River indeed sends the knives to Peters Heat Treating - leaders in the field

Since the knives are hand ground by different employes it is possible to get some minor imperfections there but I have yet to come across it.

Buy with confidence.
 
tiogatires said:
Good to hear the positive reviews. I'm leaning towards the Bravo 1.5 in A2 with matching firesteel to complete the package. I have heard the blade edge issues but cannot remember from where. The blade shape of the Bravo 1.5 really appeals to me as a general duty woods knife.
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The Bravo 1.5 is a great choice. Don't sweat the edge, man. I seriously doubt you will have any issues with it. If you do, try to clean it up on your own but if you still aren't happy with it contact Bark River, I promise they will make things right instantly. Good luck and welcome to your new addiction, you will be buying more Barkies :)
 
I just ordered the Bravo 1.5 and am looking forward to receiving it. I am curious why Bark Ricer doesn't have much of a presence her on BF? They are in fact very nice knives from what I've seen and others say....
 
tiogatires said:
I just ordered the Bravo 1.5 and am looking forward to receiving it. I am curious why Bark Ricer doesn't have much of a presence her on BF? They are in fact very nice knives from what I've seen and others say....
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That is because they have a dedicated corner at knifeforums
 
They are pretty active over there. The thing that has always surprised me was not seeing Mike Stewart and Bark River at BLADE in Atlanta.
 
jvan said:
Have purchased many of their knives over the past several years and have never had a problem with any of them. In addition they have the best warranty around.
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This is completely untrue - BKRT's warranty is one of the worst available. What their "lifetime warranty" often means in practice is that if you buy a botched knife with an edge that chips - one of the commonest BKRT problems - then they'll regrind it until they reach steel that hasn't been ruined by over-aggressive grinding. This can mean that you lose a lot of steel and have a knife that has nothing life the geometry you wanted and has almost no resale value. By comparison, Essee and Busse simply **replace** failed knives with new ones - generally, even when the knife failed for reasons other than poor workmanship or materials. Come to think of it, I've never heard of any Esee or Busse failing because of poor workmanship and only one Esee that seemed to have failed because their supplier had let them down. But accounts of BKRT flaws - blown edges, epoxy with bugs in, no epoxy at all - are pretty common. It's a shame, because BKRT does make them pretty, a lot of people like the ergos, and they have some interesting designs.

The good news is that their A2 knives seem much better than their others.
 
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meanwhile said:
This is completely untrue - BKRT's warranty is one of the worst available. What their "lifetime warranty" often means in practice is that if you buy a botched knife with an edge that chips - one of the commonest BKRT problems - then they'll regrind it until they reach steel that hasn't been ruined by over-aggressive grinding. This can mean that you lose a lot of steel and have a knife that has nothing life the geometry you wanted and has almost no resale value. By comparison, Essee and Busse simply **replace** failed knives with new ones - generally, even when the knife failed for reasons other than poor workmanship.
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I will second this statement. Bark Rivers warranty isnt even in the same ballpark as ESEE and the Busse family of knives.
 
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