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Bark River Knives/Mike Stewart's Reputation

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Moses2792796

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I've been looking into buying some Bark River Knives recently. One thing that concerns me are the various complaints surrounding this company and their owner, Mike Stewart, regarding their customer service, quality control and possibly immoral business practices.

On the one hand I find it hard to believe that the huge amounts of complaints are totally unfounded.

On the other hand I am loathe to form an opinion based on forum posts alone, with no reference to reliable sources.

So my question is, can anyone provide links to reliable sources that either prove or disprove the claims made against this company and Mike Stewart?

***

I know many people out there have strong opinions about this brand (positive and negative), but unless you can provide some reliable reference to go with it I won't find it particularly useful since at this point I have not been able to discern who is telling the truth based on forum posts alone.
 
oh boy.....

in before the lock.....

there are threads the search engine will find for you with details and some of the things you are asking for.....
 
I've read some of the threads and all I can find are people either praising or criticizing the company. A few pics of failed knives that you could find with any company. But I can't find any reliable information that confirms or disproves any of the more serious complaints about the company and the owner.

Also I don't see why this thread should be locked, the whole point is to avoid a debate about the company, I'm just looking for solid info not the opinions of forum members if that makes sense.
 
What is "reliable information"? How do you decide if it's reliable or not? Isn't most "reliable information" starts and comes from user experiences in and of itself? If user's experience is not reliable, then what is?
 
LadyEarth said:
What is "reliable information"? How do you decide if it's reliable or not? Isn't most "reliable information" starts and comes from user experiences in and of itself? If user's experience is not reliable, then what is?
Click to expand...

Any kind of media outlet for a start (I know I know they're not really unbiased or reliable). The thing is people on forums can literally say anything, make up anything or pretend to be anyone they like, that is why I can't really allow myself to form an opinion on these issues when I'm only getting my information through forum posts of members who are very obviously not neutral one way or another.
 
Understandable. But you have to stop and think, at the end of the day it is the money that talks. If they're not buying into a company, there will be reasons. All we have to do is keep eyes opened and mind ready to see why and judge for one's self if it's true or not. Eventually, the answers as well as the experience will create a collective that voices the same thing and that to me will be as close to "reliable information" as we can get. When the media comes into play, that's when they notice something going on with a gathering collective that is forming around issues with a company. Rarely does a media speak out by itself as a lone entity against a company and their own work ethics/quality of manufacturing, etc.

In another word, it will all be what you decide to make it out to be based on what you see in front of you. Best of luck! :)
 
How would anyone prove it on the internet. Either you trust peoples stories or not. There are tons of info on this forum about Bark River and Mike Stewart's rep. Do your research and form your own opinion. They take your chances.
 
All I can say is that I have been dealing with Mike Stewart/Bark River Knives for the last seven years and never had anything but positive experiences with him or his company.




Big Mike
 
Well at this point I think I will just buy a Bark River Knife. Then I will know for sure if the knife is good or not even if I don't know anything else about the company!

The reason I made this thread is because, despite the fact that there are a lot of "horror stories" on the forums about Bark River, many of them seem strangely inconsistent and unreliable. I haven't really seen anything that convinces me about the company one way or another.
 
beer-mug-chips-22055376.jpg


(Beer and chips, then puts his feet up. . .)
 
I can tell you my experience. I love the knives. I probably have more BRKTs than any other single brand (6 of them). They feel great in the hand and have all performed excellently. I think they're beautiful knives.

I've seen Mike Stewart act pretty unprofessionally on the other forum (some would say he acts like a jerk). I still like his knives though.
 
At the end of the day the only opinion that really matters is your own. As you said, buy one and form your own opinion.
 
I've sent in one of the dozen or so I have owned, working directly with Mike on knifeforums.com and he not only handled the issue well, he decided he didn't like the fix so he had a vendor send him a good copy of that particular knife so he could inspect it and send it on to me. I've never had any other issues with any Bark River product.

I've read all sorts of interesting things, but none of it has ever happened to me. And I'm just a normal dude from SC, nobody deserving or receiving preferential treatment.
 
I've read some of his postings on the other site, he has strong opinions on some things I don't agree with, but that's hardly a problem. I have one Bark River, a Bravo Necker 2 - the heat treat, fit and function are all very good or excellent, especially the heat treat. I have two other knives made of the same steel and his takes and holds the best edge.
 
I have no opinion regarding the quality or the knives nor the CS (probably the biggest issue that one reads about) of BRK&T. But...

I can find comparable knives elsewhere that don't have the baggage nor the controversy attached to them that BRK&T does. So, even though BRK&T may be great or may be an issue, I can't find a reason to try them out. Just too much has been said by both parties (BRK&T and some of its customers) to make me willing to take a chance. I just have an issue with the "where there's smoke, there's fire" scenario that we've seen play out. Personally, I haven't seen any other knife manufacturer associated with as much controversy as BRK&T.

I don't want to take a chance that the knife fails and I have an issue with CS trying to get the knife fixed - properly - when I know that I can get what I want elsewhere and know that the other companies will stand behind their product. My money, my time, my thought process. YMMV.
 
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Mike Turber used to be the owner of Bladeforums, if you don't know who he is.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...k-Jack-knives-I-could-not-talk-about-til-now-)

The URL for the article no longer works, but the Wayback Machine has it in their archives.

There's also this commentary on a video of Bark River's factory. It's agreed that most of the issues with Bark River knives are caused by improper factory grinding, which is shown in the video linked in the description.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io38wpBLNfg

In this case, proof was sent to anyone who asked for it, though it wasn't posted publicly.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/585934-Bark-River-has-taken-16-000-of-My-Money
 
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They are a fine company and make a fine knife. They do make a few duds like ANY company does once in a while. They have good customer service and will take care of you, but it will be your fault. :)

BTW I love my Gunny in 3V :)
 
Big Mike said:
All I can say is that I have been dealing with Mike Stewart/Bark River Knives for the last seven years and never had anything but positive experiences with him or his company.

Big Mike
Click to expand...

Same here. I got no links or testimonials for you except mine. After at least a dozen Bark River Knives and one shop repair of my carelessness, I have only good things to say about their service, their attitude towards me as a customer, and their products. I carry a Bark River now as a daily carry FB and I'm 100% satisfied with it.

If you think you like a Bark River model, I'd recommend buying it and deciding for yourself whether you like the knife. You probably won't know anything about CS from one model because chances are, it'll never need anything from the shop again.
 
I can only speak to my own experience.

I no longer own any BRKTs, but when I did about five years ago, I posted a pic of my olive wood scaled Gameskeeper. I wasn't complaining about it, I was showing it off.

Mike saw the photo and thought my olive scales weren't showing good enough grain figure.

For the price of round trip shipping, they upgraded my scales to something approaching presentation grade olive wood scales on their dime.

They might make mistakes now and then, but they seem to care about the impression their products leave in the buyers, even when unbidden.
 
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