Forgiveness I believe is our function here in this world. The past is dead and gone.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Over a short period of time I have seen Bark River in action and I believe they will make every reasonable effort, and sometimes more, to respond well to their customers. I have personally seen this on Bark River's sub-forum dozens of times.
"The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back."
A common mistake I see and have made is to respond to a product defect or perceived problem as a conscious effort to somehow defraud you, the customer, and to approach the small business from the very beginning as if that were the case. My guess is that any small business owner will push back, HARD. Running a business is a heck of a challenge every day and too many times a business owner sweats blood during the hard moments.
Asking reasonably can make all the difference. And if the other person seems unreasonable, well, tomorrow they may have an entirely different point of view. They are human.
HIGH VOLUME OF COMPLAINTS
Bark River apparently produces low volume runs, low for a production manufacturer that is, but they generate an amazing number of runs in a year. The variety is astounding for a small business.
My point is that there are a lot of knives produced, a higher level of perfection is expected from Bark River, and these may be the biggest reasons for the high volume of complaints, not the actual percentage of customers or knives produced.
In my amateurish opinion, Bark River is essentially producing custom, high quality knives in significant volumes for a lot less cost than custom manufacturers. We should be reasonable in our expectations, while still being the demanding SOBs we tend to be as customers.
REASONS TO BUY FROM BARK RIVER
* the consistently high quality of the heat treatment
* the most current, high quality steels for cutlery, and a variety for how and where the model knife is most likely to be used
* world class designs, going in new directions, which continue to improve over the years. Bark River is "design driven and research based". My impression is that a lot of prototypes are produced and tested before a new or modified model comes out. Also seeing the feedback on YouTube, I have concluded that the Bark River designs are world class.
* incredible variety, with a consistency of design principles and production standards that can be relied upon
* excellent overall quality, that comes from both high tech and earnest, low tech craftsmanship
* "the spa"
* the customer service
* etc.
* this is a small business that is feeding a lot of families and making it possible for other businesses to flourish as well. Don't get me flag waving, please.
Bark River knives I own in order to use them. I belong to the Bark River Knives Collection Association, not to collect but to learn from the many knowledgable, "salt of the earth" types that belong.
Am I totally pleased? No, I believe that almost all US knife makers make the knives way too thick. But then the Bark River UL Bushcrafter comes along and hope is restored.
(Part of the reason many products across many industries are overbuilt or made to underperform is because we customers abuse them and then expect the distributor or manufacturer to fix it for us. We do this stuff to ourselves.)
We are all in this world together. We all share the same wrong mind and the same right mind. Our function in this world is to forgive, and in so doing, find our freedom and deliverance. Let's get on with it.
