Bark River mystery. Any experts out there?

W

Wade B

Joined
Jun 7, 2018
Messages
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I am trying to identify a Bark River knife. My dad was a long time member here(udtjim). I inherited quite a few knives from him including a fair number of Bark Rivers. Overall Barkies are not my favorite knives but I do like some of them. Most of them are still in the boxes but one is in a perfectly nice box with no label. It has what looks to me like Blaze Orange Linen or Canvas Micarta scales, two pins with holes that go all the way through the handle(but no lanyard type hole at the end of the handle) and the North, South compass/star logo on one side of the blade. No stamp for the steel type. I like this one and would appreciate any Bark River experts who may be able to tell me for sure what it is. I have looked online to compare to any and it is similar in ways to several (Ultra Lite Bushcrafter, Bird & Trout, Aurora, Aurora II and Kalahari Thorn), but I don't think it is any of those unless it's a previous year model than any I can find. My dad died in 2011, so it is at least that old. I have a Fox River that I really like and I like this one too, but it's bugging me to not know what it is. Thanks for any help in advance.
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I'm no BR expert but I think the Northstar had the compass logo. You should check on that model.
 
It's probably an obvious suggestion but send your pics and question to Bark River too.
 
I believe it's a special model made from a batch of thin stainless steel.
Mike sometimes gets hold of leftover blanks from knifecompanys no longer in buisness.
It wasn't possible to determine what steel it was, but it behaved well at rc57.
I can't remember the name, but it was something like "Ultra-Thin Buschcrafter".
Certainly a seldom seen knife.

Regards
Mikael
 
Thanks for the responses. I will try to ask someone at Bark River also if they can identify it. It's a nice knife.
 
I think that one is the Ultralight Bushcrafter. If I recall correctly, they were made from blanks of a "mystery steel" which Bark River called "Hobson's Choice".
 
Wade B said:
Thanks for the responses. I will try to ask someone at Bark River also if they can identify it. It's a nice knife.
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There is also a Bark River Collector's Club web site. You can get the web or Facebook addresses through Google. They may be able to help you identify that one, especially if it's an LE or a sprint run of some unusual steel or profile.
 
As previous posts stated, it looks like the original Ultralight Bushcrafter. They were made from blade blanks Bark River acquired. I have one and used it as my lunch box knife for a few years.
 
riversidedep said:
As previous posts stated, it looks like the original Ultralight Bushcrafter. They were made from blade blanks Bark River acquired. I have one and used it as my lunch box knife for a few years.
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Looks like it would make a great steak knife or kitchen utility knife.
 
me2 said:
On a side note, I always enjoyed your dad's posts.
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Yeah, dad really loved collecting knives and probably visiting about them at least as much. For most of his last couple years he couldn't really get out to do much using of his knives, so collecting and discussing was the next best thing for him. I know he got a lot of joy from guys on the forum.
 
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