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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Bark River Knives
- Thread starter Hammerhead7050
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2006
- Messages
- 7,250
The new, stainless Bravos use CPM154, which is a totally different animal than 154CM. CPM154 is a relatively new, powdered "supersteel". It's supposed to be very good- tougher than 154CM..
And for what it's worth, Bark River does make wonderful knives. Much ado has been made of (what looks to me) like a single business deal gone wrong. You can choose to shun Bark River because of that if you want to, but you'll miss out on some of the best knives on the market.
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2008
- Messages
- 1,551
I'm with Tony on this one.
Mike Stewart has said many times that he would not publicly air his grevences with the other party.
I don't know the whole story but I do know that Bark River and their dealers have always been straight with me and have delivered a good product at a reasonable price and have stood behind their work.
I am not going to make my ethical decisions on half of a story.
Mike Stewart has said many times that he would not publicly air his grevences with the other party.
I don't know the whole story but I do know that Bark River and their dealers have always been straight with me and have delivered a good product at a reasonable price and have stood behind their work.
I am not going to make my ethical decisions on half of a story.
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2008
- Messages
- 716
after reading through quite a bit of that thread, i would never purchase a bark river.
It's smooth yes, but I wouldn't describe it as slick or slippery. Sticky isn't quite the right word, but it does have a certain grippiness to it.
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2000
- Messages
- 3,208
Bark River makes great knives. I read the negative post also and I don't think it tells the whole story. Running your own business is no piece of cake and disagreements happen. I don't want to get into a pissing match about this but BRKT has been good to me and by passing them up you will miss a good knife at a good price. As for the Bravo, I would go with the natural handle because it comes with a leather sheath. The kydex sheath for the bravo isn't very impressive IMO. To buy the micarta bravo and the leather sheath is more expensive than just getting the natural handle. Knivesshipfree.com is a great place to get barkies and Derrick is a good guy to deal with.
I am firmly in Mike Stewart's corner. He has always been top drawer with me and everyone I know. I won't let a very one-sided diatribe re a business deal affect that. His product is great, too. I have a small collection - mainly with his lower cost handles - Micarta - an extra cost choice in some knifemaker circles. They are all users - and the handles are fine - even in wetter conditions. As stated, they can be 'roughed up' a bit, should you need more friction.
The natural handled Bravo-1s come with a leather sheath; the man-made handled ones have a kydex Molle-style sheath. I have only seen a couple of the CQ-1s mentioned at 'knifesshipfree.com' - and none at 'dlttradingcompany.com', another great dealer to shop with. KSF does state that the CQ-1, new last summer, has a convex grind on both it's original and it's secondary bevel. As no mention of a sheath is made, I wonder about the inclusion of one, although I have never bought a Mike Stewart knife without a sheath.
You mentioned the Buck #895 Simonich Raven Legacy. I don't remember it's secondary bevel being sharp, having last handled one last autumn. I do remember the scales being a bit thin for my tastes, making the grip a bit less comfortable than I like. The kydex Molle-style sheath didn't impress me, either. My John Greco 'tacticool' knives fit better - as do Busse's big knives (Except for the cost!) - both generally come without sheaths. Rob Simonich's widow, Christine, still sells his custom knives (simonichknives.com), with the less expensive Raven line offering a model on both sides, larger and smaller, than the variant that Buck sells. They all use the same Paul Bos heat-treated S30V blade metal; .125", .140", & .200".
Interestingly, my late Dad's old KaBar from the S. Pacific in WWII has a dull secondary bevel - my recently made KaBars are sharp. That is still a useful 'utility' knife, like the BRK&T Bravo-1. I have the very similar 'Gameskeeper' knife, which the Bravo-1 was actually based on. Great bushcraft knife - to me. I just can't think of a use for the BRK&T CQ-1 or the Simonich/Buck. Knives are tools to me... my legal civilian self-defense weapons are a lot louder.
Stainz
The natural handled Bravo-1s come with a leather sheath; the man-made handled ones have a kydex Molle-style sheath. I have only seen a couple of the CQ-1s mentioned at 'knifesshipfree.com' - and none at 'dlttradingcompany.com', another great dealer to shop with. KSF does state that the CQ-1, new last summer, has a convex grind on both it's original and it's secondary bevel. As no mention of a sheath is made, I wonder about the inclusion of one, although I have never bought a Mike Stewart knife without a sheath.
You mentioned the Buck #895 Simonich Raven Legacy. I don't remember it's secondary bevel being sharp, having last handled one last autumn. I do remember the scales being a bit thin for my tastes, making the grip a bit less comfortable than I like. The kydex Molle-style sheath didn't impress me, either. My John Greco 'tacticool' knives fit better - as do Busse's big knives (Except for the cost!) - both generally come without sheaths. Rob Simonich's widow, Christine, still sells his custom knives (simonichknives.com), with the less expensive Raven line offering a model on both sides, larger and smaller, than the variant that Buck sells. They all use the same Paul Bos heat-treated S30V blade metal; .125", .140", & .200".
Interestingly, my late Dad's old KaBar from the S. Pacific in WWII has a dull secondary bevel - my recently made KaBars are sharp. That is still a useful 'utility' knife, like the BRK&T Bravo-1. I have the very similar 'Gameskeeper' knife, which the Bravo-1 was actually based on. Great bushcraft knife - to me. I just can't think of a use for the BRK&T CQ-1 or the Simonich/Buck. Knives are tools to me... my legal civilian self-defense weapons are a lot louder.
Stainz
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2008
- Messages
- 7,702
To lighten the thread, I offer Bravo-1 pron! Yay! 
In all seriousness though, Bark River makes great knives and all the dealers through which I've purchased their products are truly top notch. Furthermore, I have heard NOTHING but good things about their customer service. Sure, read that infamous thread and whatever else is out there, but decide for yourself. I choose to support Bark River because ultimately, at the end of the day, what matters most to me is the trust I have in the tool in my hand. Everything else is secondary.
And since it's been brought up, if you end up getting a synthetic handled one, the kydex sheath supplied with the knife could use some serious work. I would suggest pitching in the money for the leather sheath (or go with natural handles as suggested above) or look for an aftermarket sheath. I asked BF member Martin Swinkels to make a leather wrapped kydex sheath for me, and it turned out beautifully. I'm sure you could find kydex benders who are willing to make you something better than the stock kydex sheath though. Pics below are from Martin.
Ok, I'll stop spamming pics now and go to sleep.
In all seriousness though, Bark River makes great knives and all the dealers through which I've purchased their products are truly top notch. Furthermore, I have heard NOTHING but good things about their customer service. Sure, read that infamous thread and whatever else is out there, but decide for yourself. I choose to support Bark River because ultimately, at the end of the day, what matters most to me is the trust I have in the tool in my hand. Everything else is secondary.
And since it's been brought up, if you end up getting a synthetic handled one, the kydex sheath supplied with the knife could use some serious work. I would suggest pitching in the money for the leather sheath (or go with natural handles as suggested above) or look for an aftermarket sheath. I asked BF member Martin Swinkels to make a leather wrapped kydex sheath for me, and it turned out beautifully. I'm sure you could find kydex benders who are willing to make you something better than the stock kydex sheath though. Pics below are from Martin.
Ok, I'll stop spamming pics now and go to sleep.
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shunsui
Gold Member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2008
- Messages
- 5,797
The Bravo-1 is a very nice knife available in either A2 or CPM154 steels. If you want to go elsewhere, you can pick up a Rat Cutlery RC-5 which is a new knife similar to the Bravo-1 but a little bit bigger in all directions and made of 1095 steel (shipping now). If you want something sleeker, there's the Fallkniven H1 available in your choice of two laminated stainless steel blades. One of those babies should work fine for you.
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