Bark River- who’s fault?

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scdub said:
To answer your question - I believe you should try to get a refund for this knife, or a replacement if not (that you can immediately sell).

That knife, in “A2?”, or really ANY quality steel should not have bent so severely just doing what I’d consider light chopping.

My Siegle has a ~.025” wide bevel, and the thickness behind the edge (so .025” from the edge) is ~.020”. Zero edge deformation after maybe 3-5 hours total chopping various wood (including dry).

If your knife was ground substantially thinner than that, they made it too thin and it’s their fault. If the knife is ground properly for its size, and it rolled like that, then either the HT is bad (likely imho) or the steel is junk (also sadly possible given the history). (Also their fault).

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That is a beautiful blade!
 
Looks like a bad HT to me. That's a shame. I have a couple older Barkrivers in 3V and they're nice. I probable got them 6 or 7 years ago.
 
This happened to me with a Bark River 1.25 in 3V after whittling on some seasoned wood, no chopping or batonning.

The edge was simply ground too thin. I sent it back and they made it right. The grind near the edge is now slightly thicker and I haven't had any issues since.
 
Gil P. said:
This happened to me with a Bark River 1.25 in 3V after whittling on some seasoned wood, no chopping or batonning.

The edge was simply ground too thin. I sent it back and they made it right. The grind near the edge is now slightly thicker and I haven't had any issues since.
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Did they send you a new knife, or just grind down the one you sent in?
 
Jonah Shorter said:
Did they send you a new knife, or just grind down the one you sent in?
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They ground it down a bit, I noticed the damage quickly and not much material needed to be removed.

Bluntcut has some videos showing "wavy" edges after using very thin knives hard.

It's good to get the experience in my opinion. It teaches you what to expect with very thin edges. The next time I get a knife with a paper thin edge like my 1.25 had, I'll thicken it up before I use it.

I also sharpen all my new knives prior to using them to reduce the chance of issues caused by over heated edges. You knife could have had an over heated edge, combined with being too thin at the edge for your intended use.
 
Gil P. said:
They ground it down a bit, I noticed the damage quickly and not much material needed to be removed.

Bluntcut has some videos showing "wavy" edges after using very thin knives hard.

It's good to get the experience in my opinion. It teaches you what to expect with very thin edges. The next time I get a knife with a paper thin edge like my 1.25 had, I'll thicken it up before I use it.

I also sharpen all my new knives prior to using them to reduce the chance of issues caused by over heated edges. You knife could have had an over heated edge, combined with being too thin at the edge for your intended use.
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The bends on my knife extend probably a quarter inch behind the edge, so I think to thicken it up enough I would have to take off too much knife anyway.
 
Jonah Shorter said:
The bends on my knife extend probably a quarter inch behind the edge, so I think to thicken it up enough I would have to take off too much knife anyway.
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When they repair it, I'm sure you'll lose some blade height. Just keep it in mind when you buy other knives, if its really thin and slicy and you want to chop wood with it, thicken it up a little bit. You would not have had to remove a quarter inch from your blade height to make the edge durable enough to chop with. A little goes a long way.

Send it to Bark River and have them fix it. It will look fine and they'll re grind the whole blade to make it look good. And definitely sharpen it before you use it. Make sure you remove the possibility of having edge issues due to an over heated edge.

I have an Aurora that had a very fine tip when it was new. I sharpened it before I used it the first time and noticed when sharpening the tip, the steel came off the tip very quickly, almost like it disintegrated. I lost very little length on the knife when I was done sharpening, and and still had a sharp tip. Had I not done that, I may have broken the weak tip off in use and lost a noticeable amount of blade length. A little bit of precaution goes a long way.
 
Gil P. said:
When they repair it, I'm sure you'll lose some blade height. Just keep it in mind when you buy other knives, if its really thin and slicy and you want to chop wood with it, thicken it up a little bit. You would not have had to remove a quarter inch from your blade height to make the edge durable enough to chop with. A little goes a long way.

Send it to Bark River and have them fix it. It will look fine and they'll re grind the whole blade to make it look good. And definitely sharpen it before you use it. Make sure you remove the possibility of having edge issues due to an over heated edge.

I have an Aurora that had a very fine tip when it was new. I sharpened it before I used it the first time and noticed when sharpening the tip, the steel came off the tip very quickly, almost like it disintegrated. I lost very little length on the knife when I was done sharpening, and and still had a sharp tip. Had I not done that, I may have broken the weak tip off in use and lost a noticeable amount of blade length. A little bit of precaution goes a long way.
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It's not the OP's fault that this garbage knife failed on him.

If you have to "sharpen" a knife before you can use it, there is something wrong with the knife.
 
Tough to say if it is a heat treat or grinding issue. Definitely a Bark River issue though. Premium tool steel with a premium price tag, should be replaced and not reground. I have chopped larger branches with an old hickory butchers knife with no damage, and they can be bought new for under $30, or at a garage sale or thrift shop for $4. I hope Bark River makes it right.
 
Jonah Shorter said:
If they ever respond to me I figure that’s what they’ll do. Send me back a toothpick. Not to mention the grind is horrendous just curves off to one side. I sent the first one back too because of the grind but settled on this one even though it’s no better.
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Did you buy through a dealer?
 
Gil P. said:
When they repair it, I'm sure you'll lose some blade height. Just keep it in mind when you buy other knives, if its really thin and slicy and you want to chop wood with it, thicken it up a little bit. You would not have had to remove a quarter inch from your blade height to make the edge durable enough to chop with. A little goes a long way.

Send it to Bark River and have them fix it. It will look fine and they'll re grind the whole blade to make it look good. And definitely sharpen it before you use it. Make sure you remove the possibility of having edge issues due to an over heated edge.

I have an Aurora that had a very fine tip when it was new. I sharpened it before I used it the first time and noticed when sharpening the tip, the steel came off the tip very quickly, almost like it disintegrated. I lost very little length on the knife when I was done sharpening, and and still had a sharp tip. Had I not done that, I may have broken the weak tip off in use and lost a noticeable amount of blade length. A little bit of precaution goes a long way.
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No one should have to do this on a brand new $200+ knife. For what one of these goes for, you could get 3 Beckers that don't need to be babied to be used.
 
Kiteman72 said:
It's not the OP's fault that this garbage knife failed on him.

If you have to "sharpen" a knife before you can use it, there is something wrong with the knife.
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I doubt it's a garbage knife and it is partly the Ops fault. Nobody made him chop a tree with a paper thin knife. You live and learn. I do stupid things sometimes too. Bark River likely over heated the edge,but we'll probably never know. I've heard of people getting custom knives with over heated edges as well.
 
Gil P. said:
I doubt it's a garbage knife and it is partly the Ops fault. Nobody made him chop a tree with a paper thin knife. You live and learn. I do stupid things sometimes too. Bark River likely over heated the edge,but we'll probably never know. I've heard of people getting custom knives with over heated edges as well.
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If you are so confident that the OP's knife is not total trash, you should offer to buy it from him after it gets back from "warranty" work.
 
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