Bark River Knives?

Knives015.jpg


Knives017.jpg
 
..To be fair, while they do seem to have occasional QC problems, they probably wouldn't irritate people quite so much if BRKT's fans weren't so keen to blame sufferers. That and some other stuff like the Jerry Fisk thing...
 
I can't think of a single knife company who makes very many knives that doesn't have a few slip through QC.

That being said, I love the Bark River stuff. I carry it, use it, abuse it.
 
To my experience,the Bark River edges sometimes comes too thin for woodworking,wich is my main use of a sheathknife.
I prefer a thicker geometry already from the factory, but it's with BR's as with Mora's.
They need a "break-in" procedure before they become fully usable for my needs.
This goes for my Fällkniven knives too and most other knives as well.

There are very few knives that are ready for my demands straight out of the box.
If I can choose I would take the knife with thicker edge over the thin and put it on my beltsander, to give it my own geometry.

As I like performance in my edges, I have come to realize this is easiest done with my own beltsanding equipment.
So I bought a 1" by 30" simple beltsander and have learnt to use it, for home sharpening.
I do get a lot more out of all my knives in this way.

This doesn't mean I don't care for more QC controls.
It's the opposite and too thin edges on a heavy duty knife is frustrating also for me, but I now know how to fix it myself.
International shipping is too costly and I have enjoyed getting more knowledge in using the beltsander.


Regards
Mikael
 
meanwhile said:
Not unless you try to cut something:

Not this dull vid again. This guy has 0 sense. a few strops would have solved his problem he bashes the knife and BRKT for no good reason.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Bark River bashing tends to have more to do with the controversial history of Mike Stewart than it does the performance and QC of the knives. Good people can make flawed knives and flawed people can make good knives.
 
Cut the "Aaa"s and the "OK"s and get to the point. Watching that vid made me half sea-sick. Quality problems happen, although you don't expect them with such a high end blade. Relax and deal with professionals as a professional : before stirring up shit on the net, contact the brand, document your issue and I imagine a fine brand like BR, offering so many customization services, will step up. If not, it will be time for raising hell. Nuff said.
 
okbohn said:
I can't think of a single knife company who makes very many knives that doesn't have a few slip through QC.

That being said, I love the Bark River stuff. I carry it, use it, abuse it.
Click to expand...

A few, yes. But with BKRT it seems to be far more than that. Plus they tend to blame the users and encourage their Fan Boi Hordes to join in. Then there was that knife maker in NZ(?) who dismantled his Barkies after one lost a scale trivially and found that something like 8 in a sample of 40 were missing epoxy, while others had dead bugs and dirt in the epoxy. Which is more than an "ugh!" thing, because epoxy is where most of the strength of the join comes from and curing conditions are critical and will be carefully controlled in a high quality production process. Plus you have destruction test results where eg Noss found a Bravo lost a huge piece of its edge being batonned in a 2x6...

BKRT fans live to compare the brand to Busse, but with Busse - and even his cheaper spin-off brands - there is a lot of evidence that the knives are exceptionally tough and failures seem very rare. With BKRT you hear a LOT more about failures and absolutely nothing that would make a rational person think the knives perform well enough to justify their prices on those grounds - just "My knife is great!" stuff from fans of the brand.

Otoh, aesthetically, BKRT are exceptional - and let's face it, most knives in this price range are bought as collectibles.
 
Brisket said:
Bark River bashing tends to have more to do with the controversial history of Mike Stewart than it does the performance and QC of the knives. Good people can make flawed knives and flawed people can make good knives.
Click to expand...

I really don't think that Stewart's criminal record and apparent screwing over of Jerry Fisk (and, one hears, many others) had any any effect on this test:

http://www.knifetest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1715

Cutting: Very good

Chopping: Not surprisingly great but not bad for it's small size. The edge rolled enough to degrade the initial edge

Batoning: To small for a 4x4 so I batoned a few 2x6's. The edge bent out of shape in one place.

Tip: No problems on wood or metal but broke on concrete.

Hammer impacts: No breakage occurred but the edge continued to bend out of shape on wood.

Concrete: after just one hit the edge chipped out this continued through most of this test.

Body weight test: Survived the first position. 225 lbs bouncing load.

Flex Test: One pull broke at about 5 degrees based on viewing the tape.

Body weight test again: Broke in the second position first try.

Overall: I'm not impressed with the Bravo ones durability or strength. The edge is not strong or durable in anyway. The Bark River Boone II was a much better knife during d-testing as it handled all the stress much better. Since this will come up. I didn't see anything here that would lead me to believe it was the last knife standing in the mystery military tests. Nothing really stood out from the competition that says this knife is some indestructible beast. It's abuse threshold is low for a 1/4" thick knife. For a size comparison The RC-4, Boone II, and Gerber ASEK knife performed much better.
Click to expand...

Is the above fair testing of the Bravo? Well BKRT say that it is "a Heavy Duty Bushcraft/Survival Knife that can stand up to Abusive use in Real Time Situations." So yes, it is. And that Gerber is a LOT cheaper! What's even worse is that a Bahco Wrecking knife - about the same size - is only about $35 and I know it will stand up to everything up to the flex test point. (Which I have never tried.) Ditto for a $25 MTech 151 Trailmaster clone. A $200 Bussekin? Does anyone need to ask??? Steel is a tough material and $200 for a fairly small knife advertised as tough should buy you a lot of toughness.

But some BRKT owners... well, this is a guy who thinks he has proved that the Bravo is a "micarta and 6mm A2 beast". Marvel as he batons dead wood that a Mora Clipper could eat all day:

 
Last edited:
meanwhile said:
Is the above fair testing of the Bravo? Well BKRT say that it is "a Heavy Duty Bushcraft/Survival Knife that can stand up to Abusive use in Real Time Situations."
Click to expand...

Of course it isn't.

That is not a "real time situation" for a knife. Normal people do not stab concrete, hammer their knife (with a hammer), and snap their blade off in a vise. It would be like me being mad because someone sawed through my pickup truck with a humungous chainsaw, and saying that all Toyota pickups are junk because it didn't stand up to the abuse of whirring steel blades.

A Bravo 1 works great for shaving armhair, carving tools, processing wood for a fire, and constructing a hasty debris shelter. I've beat the crap out of my A2 and 3V Bravo 1s and other than some minor issues, caused by my mistake misusing the knife (that BRKT fixed for free) the knives are perfect. I just got a Bravo 1 in S35VN and can't wait to use it this Summer.

Bark River proves that you can have a knife that is as tough as it is beautiful. There's a reason that a zillion users love their BRKT knives, while a few people trash the brand most of which have never even owned or used one.

Busse knives are nice, but their owners get a bit too excited about having a knife that is capable of doing things that no one would ever do with a knife. Also, most Busse knives end up in a safe, drawer, or display case as well.
 
MatthewSB said:
Of course it isn't.

That is not a "real time situation" for a knife. Normal people do not stab concrete, hammer their knife (with a hammer), and snap their blade off in a vise. It would be like me being mad because someone sawed through my pickup truck with a humungous chainsaw, and saying that all Toyota pickups are junk because it didn't stand up to the abuse of whirring steel blades.

A Bravo 1 works great for shaving armhair, carving tools, processing wood for a fire, and constructing a hasty debris shelter. I've beat the crap out of my A2 and 3V Bravo 1s and other than some minor issues, caused by my mistake misusing the knife (that BRKT fixed for free) the knives are perfect. I just got a Bravo 1 in S35VN and can't wait to use it this Summer.

Bark River proves that you can have a knife that is as tough as it is beautiful. There's a reason that a zillion users love their BRKT knives, while a few people trash the brand most of which have never even owned or used one.

Busse knives are nice, but their owners get a bit too excited about having a knife that is capable of doing things that no one would ever do with a knife. Also, most Busse knives end up in a safe, drawer, or display case as well.
Click to expand...

I would put my Ratmandu up agisnt a Bravo 1 any day of the week. Both will need the edge touched up a bit the Ratmandu will need it thinned out and the Bravo will need a thicker edge but once that is done to them both I still think the Rat to be a better outdoors knife and for less money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top