Bark River knives?

Thomas Linton said:
OK. You believe. Where? When? How long?

The accusations are at least seventeen years old, but no proof of conviction can I find. I have tried multiple times over the years and even wrote the federal court but got no answer.

Claim a guy went to jail? Man up and post some evidence beyond belief. Otherwise, I have a belief about you.

ED: It is claimed multiple times that "Mike Stewart" is not his real name. That could bollix up searches. The link you most leads to no proof - just more claims.

As for those who lost money when Blackjack (the company) went bankrupt, they are understandably upset and like to say they were "robbed" and Stewart is a "thief." Understandable. But not factual. Like it or not, when a company goes bankrupt, creditors, even national living treasurers, lose out. The law so provides. You get pennies on the dollar - at best. It happened to me - twice. Didn't hardly leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling about the bosses and owners, but I didn't commit defamation by calling them crooks.
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https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...knives-i-could-not-talk-about-til-now.123670/

I could not find anything on whether he was convicted or not (court records do not seem to be available on-line from cases that old) but it sure seems like he was indicted since that quote is a cut and paste from the Effingham Daily News so I admit that I jumped the gun based upon everything that I have heard and read over the years.

http://www.wildernesstoday.com/blackjack-model-125-hunting-knife-review/
 
coinbuysell said:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...knives-i-could-not-talk-about-til-now.123670/

I could not find anything on whether he was convicted or not (court records do not seem to be available on-line from cases that old) but it sure seems like he was indicted since that quote is a cut and paste from the Effingham Daily News so I admit that I jumped the gun based upon everything that I have heard and read over the years.
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I did a PACER search for federal cases involving Michael Stewart as a party in federal district court in Illinois between 1999 and 2003, and could not find any matches. It looks to me like nothing went beyond the indictment stage. This is not meant to imply anything in favor of Mike Stewart, just reporting the results!
 
To the OP. I have been satisfied with my Bark River knives, and I have been buying them for about ten years now. They are not inexpensive, but you get what you pay for, and I find the A-2 steel just fine for my uses. I have a few Bravo series knives as well as a Gunny, and they have stood up well. I sent one back for a spa treatment, and it came back looking like new.
 
brancron said:
I did a PACER search for federal cases involving Michael Stewart as a party in federal district court in Illinois between 1999 and 2003, and could not find any matches. It looks to me like nothing went beyond the indictment stage. This is not meant to imply anything in favor of Mike Stewart, just reporting the results!
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PACER is the federal courts record system.
 
hiwa said:
Here's a question for the steel knowledgeable.
If I had 2 BR knives or others , one in A2 and one in CPM3V , would there be a " home" test I could do to check it ?
I know A2 can rust/discolour , and 3V gets slightly pitted when exposed to corrosive elements and moisture.
Would a possible test be to salt-water spray them ( akin to CedricAda's vid) and see what develops ?
This thread has got me curious , as I own some BR knives.
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I have thought about it too. Not that I know much.... All steel will rust. Blade HQ has videos of salt spray tests they did. Short of some chemical composition testing, at home would have to scrub the blade with cleaner and then test. Blade has to be cleaned to remove oil and metal dust in the "scratches" of the grind or in the oil on blade. Oil protects the steel, any steel dust will rust really quick. Then it would seem would need to test the questionable blade against a known sample or samples (maybe one a2 another in 3v.) Same solution, temperature and exposure time.
 
I've owned a lot of Bark River knives over the years (bought almost all of them from Jason at DLT), Northstar, Woodland Specials, Highland Special (wish I had that one back), Gunny's, Bravo 1's, Bravo Necker and Necker II, Aurora's and some others. Most have been A2 and one or two were 3V, 12C27 and I think one of the Neckers was 154CM it seems like.

I liked the A2's the best and still own (recently bought but made a while back) an Aurora which is my favorite bushcraft knife of all time, in A2 steel. I've tested it in hard and soft wood and the edge is fine on it from what I can tell.

One of my early 3V Gunny's chipped a lot. Small micro-chips. I sharpened them out and it quit so I think the edge was brittle.

One of my A2 Bravo 1's rolled a lot when it hit up against deer bone. I figured that was normal but I had others that didn't do it. I never could get that one to quit rolling the edge. It would sharpen back up quick but wouldn't stay that way long.

One of my Aurora's in 3V was impossible to sharpen. I'm not the best at sharpening a convex edge (especially back then), but man that thing was hard as anything I've ever tried to sharpen. Other 3V knives, Bark Rivers and other brands were nowhere near as hard to sharpen.

One of my others had some wood scale shrinkage and I PM'd Mike on KF and he said send it in to his attention. It did take forever and I had to keep pestering him, but he finally got back with me and said they couldn't be fixed and what did I want to replace it with.

So other than these I've not had any issues with any of my Bark River knives. Looking back it does seem like this is a fair number of problems for the 15 or 20 I've owned and used (and believe me, I've used them all. I'm not a collector. I am a user and if I don't use it, I don't keep it).

So if I had to guess (and I'm not an expert), I'd say it does seem like they have or had some possible heat treat issues (that one 3V shouldn't have been near that difficult to sharpen, and that one Gunny chipped like crazy no matter what I cut with it) and maybe some grinding issues. I do know their primary grinds have seemed to change and gotten steeper, if that makes sense. And they are grinding in a secondary bevel now which kind of sucks because convex works so well IMO.

If I was going to buy one today I'd stick with A2 and plan on working out the secondary bevel they grind in because more than likely they burned the edge. But once it's back to an actual full convex to the apex, I'd use it and trust it without any issues.

Just my two cents, worth exactly what you paid. :P
 
This is exactly why I don't post on BF anymore. Someone asks a simple question and they are dog piled, their post is hijacked and everyone posts all their "facts" about some issue. Always the same people chasing posts around. If you guys would use even a part of that energy doing something productive just imagine the possibilities. If we listened to every complaint and accusation on BF there wouldn't be one brand we could buy. Oh well. Back to watching the exchange I guess....
 
I'm usually a Rapid River knife guy (native Michigan guy here) so I did order a Bark River Bravo 1. so far it's ok, no heavy wear though. I usually clean my deer with a old Buck knives skinner with a gut hook. I have a Rapid River skinner blade and its great.
 
Jamboi said:
This is exactly why I don't post on BF anymore. Someone asks a simple question and they are dog piled, their post is hijacked and everyone posts all their "facts" about some issue. Always the same people chasing posts around. If you guys would use even a part of that energy doing something productive just imagine the possibilities. If we listened to every complaint and accusation on BF there wouldn't be one brand we could buy. Oh well. Back to watching the exchange I guess....
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What in the hell are blubbering about?
 
Jamboi said:
This is exactly why I don't post on BF anymore. Someone asks a simple question and they are dog piled, their post is hijacked and everyone posts all their "facts" about some issue. Always the same people chasing posts around. If you guys would use even a part of that energy doing something productive just imagine the possibilities. If we listened to every complaint and accusation on BF there wouldn't be one brand we could buy. Oh well. Back to watching the exchange I guess....
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+1

Nailed it!!
 
Jamboi said:
This is exactly why I don't post on BF anymore. Someone asks a simple question and they are dog piled, their post is hijacked and everyone posts all their "facts" about some issue. Always the same people chasing posts around. If you guys would use even a part of that energy doing something productive just imagine the possibilities. If we listened to every complaint and accusation on BF there wouldn't be one brand we could buy. Oh well. Back to watching the exchange I guess....
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Dito... this thread is a disgrace
 
Jamboi said:
This is exactly why I don't post on BF anymore. Someone asks a simple question and they are dog piled, their post is hijacked and everyone posts all their "facts" about some issue. Always the same people chasing posts around. If you guys would use even a part of that energy doing something productive just imagine the possibilities. If we listened to every complaint and accusation on BF there wouldn't be one brand we could buy. Oh well. Back to watching the exchange I guess....[/Q

I agree!!!:thumbsup: John
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You don't like hearing other people's opinions and experiences so you say you don't like the platform? Lol
 
ridnovir said:
Dito... this thread is a disgrace
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So selling knives in the wrong steel isn't the disgrace? Is mike stewart stealing from Brian Evans a disgrace?

The thread is a disgrace but not those other things? Peculiar.
 
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