I posted this review of the Liten Bror from Bark River Knives on another knife related forum but thought those here might find it interesting. I posted the text in this thread but you will have to go to the other site to see the pictures.
http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/871193/
Well I got a nice present in the mail today - my Liten Bror I ordered from KSF one week ago. First off, kudos once again to KSF for a quick shipment as usual (especially impressed since I am traveling in New Zealand right now and it only took a week to get here).
This knife is my first Bark River knife and I am regretting not looking into this brand earlier. First off, the edge is probably the sharpest factory edge I have ever used - scary sharp. If I manage to tag myself with the edge someday it will not be pretty! I can't imagine what it is going to be like when I get back and put across my strop a few times.
Fit an finish is overall excellent. The pins are smooth and flush, the grind is even, and the scales are perfectly mated to the steel and are even along all edges. The only thing I could find in this area that was not perfect was right were the blade edge meets the handle. One side of the grind is a bit closer to the handle than the other (hope that makes sense). It is very minor and does not effect the function in any way.
I have read a few reviews that thought that the handle was a bit small, but I do not have real big hands so they seem to fit rather nicely. I went with the blaze orange color mainly due visibility concerns. I use a knife a lot for work and play in Alaska and it never fails that I set it down and go do something else. Having a neutral or natural colored handle makes it bit harder to spot once you have forgotten where you set it, especially in the woods. Bright unnatural colors are very easy to spot and I believe make a lot of sense in a knife that may have the potential to be used in a survival type situation (potential for that anytime you step off the pavement in AK ).
The sheath seems to be pretty good quality and has good retention while not being overly tight. I attached a few pictures of a few modifications/additions I did to the sheath. I had a Light My Fire firesteel so I put that in the loop on the side. The loop is VERY tight and there is no way that it will come out on its own. I took the striker that comes with that particular firesteel and attached it to the sheath as shown in picture 3. I simply used one of the hollow rivets with some paracord and put a knot on each side of the rivet to hold the striker. While the spine of the Liten Bror produces a good amount of sparks with the Light My Fire firesteel, the striker works better and produced more sparks. I then wrapped the bottom portion of the sheath in paracord which covered the striker, and then secured the cord using a couple more of the rivets. That combined with the crossweave lanyard I made for the knife allows me to carry a good amount of cordage on this little package.
I really won't get to put this thing through any real heavy usage until I get back to AK and start wearing the knife every day during fire season. I might get to use it a bit while camping/hiking here but not a lot. Up in AK, you can pretty much wear a fixed blade anywhere and nobody thinks twice. That sort of think does not fly here in NZ outside of camping in the woods. I will try to post another follow-up review later this year after I have used it a bit.
Overall, I am very happy with my first experience with Bark River products. It is a very high quality product that seems to rival a lot of much higher priced manufactured and custom knives I have seen in the past. While you can easily buy knives at a lower price (BRK is not a "cheap" brand) it seems you definitely get a lot for you money with BRK.
http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/871193/
Well I got a nice present in the mail today - my Liten Bror I ordered from KSF one week ago. First off, kudos once again to KSF for a quick shipment as usual (especially impressed since I am traveling in New Zealand right now and it only took a week to get here).
This knife is my first Bark River knife and I am regretting not looking into this brand earlier. First off, the edge is probably the sharpest factory edge I have ever used - scary sharp. If I manage to tag myself with the edge someday it will not be pretty! I can't imagine what it is going to be like when I get back and put across my strop a few times.
Fit an finish is overall excellent. The pins are smooth and flush, the grind is even, and the scales are perfectly mated to the steel and are even along all edges. The only thing I could find in this area that was not perfect was right were the blade edge meets the handle. One side of the grind is a bit closer to the handle than the other (hope that makes sense). It is very minor and does not effect the function in any way.
I have read a few reviews that thought that the handle was a bit small, but I do not have real big hands so they seem to fit rather nicely. I went with the blaze orange color mainly due visibility concerns. I use a knife a lot for work and play in Alaska and it never fails that I set it down and go do something else. Having a neutral or natural colored handle makes it bit harder to spot once you have forgotten where you set it, especially in the woods. Bright unnatural colors are very easy to spot and I believe make a lot of sense in a knife that may have the potential to be used in a survival type situation (potential for that anytime you step off the pavement in AK ).
The sheath seems to be pretty good quality and has good retention while not being overly tight. I attached a few pictures of a few modifications/additions I did to the sheath. I had a Light My Fire firesteel so I put that in the loop on the side. The loop is VERY tight and there is no way that it will come out on its own. I took the striker that comes with that particular firesteel and attached it to the sheath as shown in picture 3. I simply used one of the hollow rivets with some paracord and put a knot on each side of the rivet to hold the striker. While the spine of the Liten Bror produces a good amount of sparks with the Light My Fire firesteel, the striker works better and produced more sparks. I then wrapped the bottom portion of the sheath in paracord which covered the striker, and then secured the cord using a couple more of the rivets. That combined with the crossweave lanyard I made for the knife allows me to carry a good amount of cordage on this little package.
I really won't get to put this thing through any real heavy usage until I get back to AK and start wearing the knife every day during fire season. I might get to use it a bit while camping/hiking here but not a lot. Up in AK, you can pretty much wear a fixed blade anywhere and nobody thinks twice. That sort of think does not fly here in NZ outside of camping in the woods. I will try to post another follow-up review later this year after I have used it a bit.
Overall, I am very happy with my first experience with Bark River products. It is a very high quality product that seems to rival a lot of much higher priced manufactured and custom knives I have seen in the past. While you can easily buy knives at a lower price (BRK is not a "cheap" brand) it seems you definitely get a lot for you money with BRK.