Bark River Knives/Mike Stewart's Reputation

[OmegaMan73]

I don't post stuff very often here, just read and learn a lot of information from a lot of good people here. So to get to the point... I have a bravo-1. It's my first and only bark river and I really like this knife. I had a problem with it recently when I was hiking in the heat. (AZ, 112 outside) some brown sticky stuff started to come out from between the handle and the tang of the knife. So I called bark river and spoke to some guy there and he said that the is absolutely something wrong with it and I should send it in. I was treated well and I actually got a call from the company letting me know that they took care of the issue. I was concerned about a rework because I have desert ironwood scales on mine and I didn't want them to get damaged if they had to take the scales off. This has been my only experience with the company and it has been a positive one so far. So there's my opinion from an average dude.

 

[wackafew]

I have a few Bark River knives and like them quite well. :thumbup:

 

[MatthewSB]

A few pics of failed knives that you could find with any company.

You've successfully sifted through all the nonsense and arrived at the truth.

But I can't find any reliable information that confirms or disproves any of the more serious complaints about the company and the owner.

Many of the loudest negative posters admit to never owning one of the knives in question. Their opinions are based on second and thirdhand accounts from the interwebz.

I'ved owned more than a dozen BRKT knives. I had problems with 2 of them, problems that were quickly "made right" by BRKT. Mike Stewart himself is a phonecall away and has been nothing but helpful to me when I needed a knife replaced, repaired, or modified to suit my tastes. There's not many companies who you can mail a knife in to have a thumb ramp ground off, a swedge added, or the blade profile changed from a clip point to a drop point or a spear point all for the price of a sharpening and shipping.

My favorite all around knife, a Bravo 1 in S35VN with black canvas handles and red liners:

 

[Brisket]

I have some (dozen?) Bark River knives some of which I feel are well designed & constructed. The only performance issue I have had with any had to do with an edge that was ground too thin which made it susceptible to rolling and I corrected the issue myself. All except one of my Barkies were purchased on the secondary market for substantially less than MSRP and were a mixture of NIB, LNIB and light users. My only dealer purchased Barkie was from Derrick Bohn (knivesshipfree) who is very reputable and reliable. My only experience with BRKT's customer service was purchasing a knife from an individual that utilized the refurbishing service and after witnessing the before and after of that knife I am favorably impressed with that service. I purchased another knife here on the exchange that had just gone through the refurbishing service and it could have passed as NIB. I have had no warranty experience with BRKT whatsoever simply because I have not had a need for it.

Which models are your considering?

 

[Dan57]

You've successfully sifted through all the nonsense and arrived at the truth.

Really? Catastrophic failures of the knives being posted regularly on forums for the last several years, Mike Stewart's decade-plus long history of fraud and lack of ethics, (as attested to by several high-ranking members of the knife community*)... you think all that is completely made up?
Stories of good experiences with Bark River and Mike Stewart don't magically make the bad ones go away.

*Will Fennell, former VP of Camillus; Jerry Fisk, ABS Mastersmith; Mike Turber, former owner of Bladeforums. Just off the top of my head.

 

[Mikael W]

I have at least twenty Bark River Knives and I'm not selling!

I have used the warranty once, when my Golok chipped.
It came back reground into a thicker edge and today it is my best chopper!

I have heard Mike's view on things from himself and I think he adds more than he takes.

Sometimes I feel that I want to reassemble a handle or change a grindline.
I have a home workshop, so I can fix my knives myself.
This also goes for other brands I use and it's a part of the fun with the hobby.

By using Bark River's I have extended my knowledge of knives way more, than without them!

And it has been fun!


Regards
Mikael

 

[jbmonkey]

You've successfully sifted through all the nonsense and arrived at the truth.



Many of the loudest negative posters admit to never owning one of the knives in question. Their opinions are based on second and thirdhand accounts from the interwebz.

to be fair and accurate.....i think it works both ways. just like you said above......very true no doubt about it.

on the flip side lots of positive opinions from collectors who have never used their knives beyond very minor tasks, or at all. just like any brand, there are naysayers and fans. both tend to exaggerate a bit, sometimes allot. it is what it is.......

to clarify my position, i'm neutral......got no reason to complain or give praise.

 

[Mikael W]

on the flip side lots of positive opinions from collectors who have never used their knives beyond very minor tasks, or at all.

:thumbdn:

Here's a pic of my "never used" Bark River made knife....

It does seem to work for me!


Regards
Mikael

 

[jbmonkey]

:thumbdn:

Here's a pic of my "never used" Bark River made knife....

It does seem to work for me!


Regards
Mikael

you didn't understand what i said. nice pic though. i appreciate knife pics in action, thanks for sharing.

 

[Sonnydaze]

I don't care if the guy does porn or drugs as long as the knives are good and the Customer Service is good.
We are hearing this all the time...about Strider (forever) and Chris Reeve (more recently). Strider has the best CS that I've ever seen. It's great. Strider folders are great. Obviously, so are Chris Reeve knives and their CS. Somebody needs to get some air.
I'm not shopping for personality. Do you do this when you buy a car? Is this why you ride a horse?
Sonnydaze

 

[Mikael W]

you didn't understand what i said. nice pic though. i appreciate knife pics in action, thanks for sharing.

Ok, if so I'll back-off and apologize!

My opinions are always based on my own firsthand experience with Bark River Knives and Mike Stewart himself!


Regards
Mikael

 

[Fanglekai]

I don't post stuff very often here, just read and learn a lot of information from a lot of good people here. So to get to the point... I have a bravo-1. It's my first and only bark river and I really like this knife. I had a problem with it recently when I was hiking in the heat. (AZ, 112 outside) some brown sticky stuff started to come out from between the handle and the tang of the knife. So I called bark river and spoke to some guy there and he said that the is absolutely something wrong with it and I should send it in. I was treated well and I actually got a call from the company letting me know that they took care of the issue. I was concerned about a rework because I have desert ironwood scales on mine and I didn't want them to get damaged if they had to take the scales off. This has been my only experience with the company and it has been a positive one so far. So there's my opinion from an average dude.

That sounds like they didn't epoxy the handle correctly to begin with.

There are plenty of threads on here about people having an issue and instead of getting a replacement they get their knife ground down. There are far too many stories and issues being mentioned about this company for me to want to take a chance. Plus knowing that the owner committed bank fraud and did who knows what else I'd rather give my money to a more reputable company.

 

[PharaohX3]

There is a lot of negative info out there about Bark River and I have some first hand experience with customer service issues. OP, with just a little digging you can find quite a bit of info about Bark River and Mike Stewart, some of it disturbing, but most of it will be internet hearsay. Its the sheer volume and similarity of complaints that is what is alarming to me. You will just have to look at whats out there and draw your own conclusions I think.

For a long time I was a huge fan of BRKT. I've owned more than a dozen Barkies and only had a problem with one. After purchasing a new Golok (my 3rd Golok) and chopping with it I realized there was some serious damage to the edge. Not chipping or rolling, it almost looked like someone had taken a friggin hammer to 2 different spots on the edge. I called it in and was basically told by MS that the damage was my fault and I shouldnt be chopping at wood with the Golok, a knife designed and marketed as a wood chopper. He did offer to re-grind. The nature of the damage led me to believe that there might have been some HT issues. He flat out refused and said that HT issues were impossible, with out ever seeing the knife. He pretty much acted like a jerk throughout the conversation. I never sent the Golok in, I figured why waste money on shipping for a re-ground lemon?

I feel like the quality is definitely there with BRKT but the customer service is another matter entirely. For the price of the knives and my long time loyalty as a customer I feel like MS should have let me send the knife in and at least examined it before blaming me and refusing to acknowledge that there may have been an issue on his end. Seriously, all I was doing was chopping wood using proper technique and a lifetime of experience. Imho the issue was with production and I feel like he should have stood by his product instead of passing the buck. And telling me that chopping wood with a wood chopper was some kind of abuse is ridiculous.

I'll not buy from BRKT again. The ones that I already own I will continue to use and enjoy (excluding the lemon Golok, of course), keeping in mind that if I ever have another warranty issue I'm on my own.



Yes, yes, these BRKT threads come up often but so what? This is a knife discussion forum and and the topic is a well known and often controversial knife company. The fact that this topic has been covered many times before is meaningless, there are always new people to weigh in and give the opinions that they are entitled to. Not everyone spends 5 hours a day on BF and when they do log in they want to participate in an active thread, not just read an old one. As long as the thread stays civil, and hopefully it will, there is no reason to lock it. People that dont want to participate should avoid doing so.

 

[Minnesotapride88]

There is a lot of negative info out there about Bark River and I have some first hand experience with customer service issues. OP, with just a little digging you can find quite a bit of info about Bark River and Mike Stewart, some of it disturbing, but most of it will be internet hearsay. Its the sheer volume and similarity of complaints that is what is alarming to me. You will just have to look at whats out there and draw your own conclusions I think.

For a long time I was a huge fan of BRKT. I've owned more than a dozen Barkies and only had a problem with one. After purchasing a new Golok (my 3rd Golok) and chopping with it I realized there was some serious damage to the edge. Not chipping or rolling, it almost looked like someone had taken a friggin hammer to 2 different spots on the edge. I called it in and was basically told by MS that the damage was my fault and I shouldnt be chopping at wood with the Golok, a knife designed and marketed as a wood chopper. He did offer to re-grind. The nature of the damage led me to believe that there might have been some HT issues. He flat out refused and said that HT issues were impossible, with out ever seeing the knife. He pretty much acted like a jerk throughout the conversation. I never sent the Golok in, I figured why waste money on shipping for a re-ground lemon?

I remember that thread; that one and a few others have put me off buying Bark River for good. They're beautiful knives, but I don't have the cash to take a chance on a company with a questionable reputation.

 

[CapitalizedLiving]

I always liked BRKs. I found that they were easy to sell when I didn't like them, and easy to replace or fix when I damaged them. I also decided that for the money I'd rather buy full custom knives by individual makers, simply out of personal preference. I do know from experience that some BRK blade grinds, heat-treatments and/or steel choices were less than optimal. I also know from experience that I never lost much money, if any at all, by asking them to fix the issues or just selling the blades and buying new ones.

I turned several people onto BRK who, as far as I know, never turned off. No one has come to me and said I did them wrong by telling them to buy a BRK Bravo or Bushcrafter. No one has bought a BRK they didn't like and had trouble getting their money back or trading for something they wanted. Others may have different results, and certainly I can understand others being upset by the high degree of censorship on the BRK forum regarding criticisms or concerns, no matter how minor.

In sum: BRK is a love-them-or-hate-them kind of outfit. I have personally experienced both sides of that coin and ended up in a neutral stance.

 

[dax0007]

My experience with BRK and Mike Stewart is nothing but the BEST! I have owned 3 of his knives and I amextremly happy with fit and finish.. THen again I am NO RAMBO so i did not cut down any trees, but his knives in my opinion are extremly high end productions.. Just as nice as my ALMARS which I am very partial too..

My experience Mr.Stewart has been great.. I have ask for his help maybe 5 times in the past few years and he always offered me an option(he repaired a AL MAR Bowie for me).. The guy is top-notch and it a shame this thread is even up!

 

[Will Power]

This one will run and run......And has done many times before and likely will again in the future. That should tell you volumes.

Customer Service that is often Chameleon like, it changes according to who is doing the complaining. But there seems to be quite a lot of people needing to use that CS. what's the refrain? "Just send it in and all will be fixed"

I've had 8 or so of their knives, at first I was very impressed but then quality issues kicked in and my own experience of CS was not at all good. OK just one example, the other models that had issues I sold on as seen. Yes, they're easy to sell . The knives are cleverly marketed, the fanbois over at another place where guess who is the Mod do a fine job of villifying or jeering at anybody who dares complain, then offending posts are removed so the pristine picture is retained.

Buy a few and judge for yourself, you may well be pleased or you may sell them on. But the background hangs over the whole set-up, maybe it doesn't matter? Judge the knife and think of its origins, if it works well for you, great. There are undeniably other US makers that are good too and don't seem to have this colorful baggage attending to them or previous business incarnations.....

 

[ebidis]

I can't say anything about their CS, as I have never had tou use them. However, I do own a current production Blackjack model 1-7, and can only say good things about this knife. Very high quality piece, and no issues whatsoever. All materials and fit and finish are of the highest quality.

 

[Moses2792796]

There is a lot of negative info out there about Bark River and I have some first hand experience with customer service issues. OP, with just a little digging you can find quite a bit of info about Bark River and Mike Stewart, some of it disturbing, but most of it will be internet hearsay. Its the sheer volume and similarity of complaints that is what is alarming to me. You will just have to look at whats out there and draw your own conclusions I think.

For a long time I was a huge fan of BRKT. I've owned more than a dozen Barkies and only had a problem with one. After purchasing a new Golok (my 3rd Golok) and chopping with it I realized there was some serious damage to the edge. Not chipping or rolling, it almost looked like someone had taken a friggin hammer to 2 different spots on the edge. I called it in and was basically told by MS that the damage was my fault and I shouldnt be chopping at wood with the Golok, a knife designed and marketed as a wood chopper. He did offer to re-grind. The nature of the damage led me to believe that there might have been some HT issues. He flat out refused and said that HT issues were impossible, with out ever seeing the knife. He pretty much acted like a jerk throughout the conversation. I never sent the Golok in, I figured why waste money on shipping for a re-ground lemon?

My initial thoughts were the same as many others, that seemingly consistent complaints indicated that there was almost certainly a problem. However, many of these complaints don't seem particularly justified and I still find anything I read on a forum to be unreliable evidence. For example, one person with a chip on their shoulder about Mike Stewart/Bark River could easily post numerous complaints about him under different names. This kind of thing is extremely common on forums. I'm not saying this is the case, I'm just pointing out why I don't really like to draw conclusions from this kind of evidence.

As to your particular case, I thought the explanation that the geometry was too thin for the wood you were cutting seemed plausible, and their offer to change it was reasonable. Whether you were treated well or not I really don't know, the two sides of that story were quite different and there is no way I can know which was true. I don't mean any offense by this, but it's simply common sense that if I read two conflicting stories from people I have never met before, I can't really be expected to know who is telling the truth. That was in a way the whole reason I started this thread, to see what solid evidence was out there.

The guy is top-notch and it a shame this thread is even up!

I didn't make this thread to criticize Bark River or Mike Stewart, I'm just as interested in the positive accounts as the negative.

Buy a few and judge for yourself, you may well be pleased or you may sell them on.

I think at this point that is my best option. I may as well reserve judgement on all the other stuff until I have some first hand experience.

 

[jbmonkey]

Ok, if so I'll back-off and apologize!

My opinions are always based on my own firsthand experience with Bark River Knives and Mike Stewart himself!


Regards
Mikael

No apology needed, no Sir. I appreciate your firsthand feedback to the thread. I should apologize as sometimes I forget my manners and I come across in typing gruff or short and might be considered rude to some. I can't seem to type my southern manners well.

I guess I should clarify my statement...I meant there are folks who don't own or never owned bark river who say bad things about them, and there are some folks, not all of course, but some who own bark rivers but never used them...since they are collectors, or use them lightly who praise them. Course that don't apply to all or even most.....just was trying to point out to the fellow that vocalizing for or against a brand can go both ways.

Hope that made better sense? If not I should give up cause writing ain't one of my few skills. Also to clarify my stance I got no issues with bark river or mike. I am as neutral as switzerland pretended to be. just kidding my swiss friends.....