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Yikes. That sucks. Looks like you are at the mercy of BRK. Good luck.
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Bark River- who’s fault?
- Thread starter Jonah Shorter
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Except all the many many knives that have come out of his shop, that are in fact bad.
Look, the hardcore barkites are like a cult, it is a mentality MS has developed over the decades. Classic us vs them. Brilliant marketing. Nothing he can do is wrong in the eyes of the devout. The reason you don't see many of them around bladeforums these days is because we have been shutting down their hero worship nonsense for years, using facts, reason, science, and knowledge gained through experience. Mike Stewart doesn't do well with those sort of things so his gang doesn't do well here...
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Even some of their biggest fanboys have had enough. Take time to listen to them and hear their concerns, read the comments below the video. It's chock full of bad experiences.
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Some people just don't get it.
Sure, there may be a very few examples of a BR knife that have no issues, but every time someone on this forum defends BRK and Stewart because of that VERY LIMITED example, all they do is show their ignorance and willfully turn a blind eye to the huge train wreck that is right in front of them.
The PROOF is overwhelming. BR knives suck, as does its owner. One or two good knives doesn't change that in the slightest.
Sure, there may be a very few examples of a BR knife that have no issues, but every time someone on this forum defends BRK and Stewart because of that VERY LIMITED example, all they do is show their ignorance and willfully turn a blind eye to the huge train wreck that is right in front of them.
The PROOF is overwhelming. BR knives suck, as does its owner. One or two good knives doesn't change that in the slightest.
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4.5mm Thick, that's a lot of blade stock, good to chop.
The blade in the video has convex grind, might not be as good for chopping as the the low V, still has strong structure and good average thickness, good for chop.
A2 is not a mystery, at 60HRC, good to chop.
43cm knife, a dedicated blade?
30cm blade, a dedicated blade?
What delicacy do you cut with such massive and thick blade? Even butcher knife and dressing are only about 3.5mm.
Triton
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I'm always perplexed by the attitude fanboy types exhibit. I'm not sure of the mental gymnastics that have to be involved. Do they think that the op is a liar? Is there some conspiracy out to get brk? Why would that be?
I do think some of it is ego. I.e "I paid a lot of money for this knife therefore it can't possibly be a bad knife or knife company I'm too smart to make those sorts of mistakes."
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Agreed.
There is no other logical explanation why - in the face of overwhelming proof - people continue to defend an inferior brand and/or its unscrupulous owner.
The other possibility is that they don't know what a good knife is or how it should perform, and therefore have no frame of reference.
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But in this video even the DBK boys said that break was clearly an issue with a contaminant in the steel itself... that's not on Bark River, that's on Crucible for letting a contaminant into their steel. And once again I'm not some BRK fanboy but it wouldn't be very interesting to contribute to the circle jerk now, would it?
scdub
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I question the steel identity though based on their history of deception/mis-labeled blades - I wonder if (hope) Crucible has purchased any Bark River Magnacut and tested it…
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I get your point, but I felt compelled to jump in and defend those who’ve paid their time and are actually looking for employment. I’d much rather see that than repeat criminals. If done right, I think trades are a wonderful tool to rehabilitate prisoners.
But I digress, my main point was that I have a Marbles made under Stewart, and the heat treat and function work beautifully. I haven’t exactly pounded it through logs, but it holds a sharp edge well and acts like the steel should. However, I also had more recent experience with Bark River and the steel did not perform like I expected at all, it rolled like crazy. So I have assumed that somewhere along the line there’s corners cut whether intentional or not.
I will say that the cult following on Facebook leads me to believe that Mr. Stewart just plain doesn’t care about the criticism. Why would he? Half the time people are calling him “knife making god” and the other half they jump in and tear up anyone asking about a poor performing knife. He does have a strong double sided legacy good and bad. I’ve firsthand seen his interactions with people and that alone make me disregard Bark River as an option.
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I know of a couple'a Barkies (ours) that have skinned and quartered a couple of dozen deer that worked flawlessly and held their edge like a champ. So why should I join the bandwagon here of haters? The "man"? No, I actually use my Barkies. Heck, one of you here said that they bought Barkies, Never Used Them because of the negative reports he heard, and sold them because of that. Said he was glad he never used them as he could get a good price for his resale.... No experience with using them and sold them because of what he'd heard. That's nothing. FUBAR. Why even post? Had he bloody'd them up a bit he'd may have discovered that the blades work. They (as all you BRK haters know) hand grind and sharpen and thus not flawless.... Issues at time with plunge lines and edges? Sure. What manufacturer doesn't have issues from time to time. Heck I got some of Lon Humphrey's knives that are surperb...and yet the edge grinds aren't symmetrical. Should I trash his knives? Not hardly. They are superb as he made them. Not a so called BRK "fanboy" here. Guess that's the slam here...Not someone who has a couple of Barkies and feels he's got to justify his $ spent (as has been mentioned more than once here). Just a man who actually uses his knives and would trash anything unworthy. My Barkies work. And hard. They are worthy IMO... Flame on BRK haters... 
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Your post had me wondering where you going. I was just about to ask if you were related to Mike.
I'm glad you ended it with the sensible conclusion.
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Sad state of affairs that merely stating YOU have had a good experience with your knives and that they perform well is immediately labeled as fanboying, even in my case where I'm repeatedly stating that the performance of my knives doesn't change the shady shit Mike Stewart has done. Like I think Greg Medford is a fucking tool and that his knives are gaudy, overpriced and way too thick, but if someone was saying "yeah Medford is a prick, but his knives are built tough, and they work very well for me" I'd be like "cool, atleast his knives are useful to someone" and move on, rather than dogpiling and accusing them of being a fanboy or whatever.I know of a couple'a Barkies (ours) that have skinned and quartered a couple of dozen deer that worked flawlessly and held their edge like a champ. So why should I join the bandwagon here of haters? The "man"? No, I actually use my Barkies. Heck, one of you here said that they bought Barkies, Never Used Them because of the negative reports he heard, and sold them because of that. Said he was glad he never used them as he could get a good price for his resale.... No experience with using them and sold them because of what he'd heard. That's nothing. FUBAR. Why even post? Had he bloody'd them up a bit he'd may have discovered that the blades work. They (as all you BRK haters know) hand grind and sharpen and thus not flawless.... Issues at time with plunge lines and edges? Sure. What manufacturer doesn't have issues from time to time. Heck I got some of Lon Humphrey's knives that are surperb...and yet the edge grinds aren't symmetrical. Should I trash his knives? Not hardly. They are superb as he made them. Not a so called BRK "fanboy" here. Guess that's the slam here...Not someone who has a couple of Barkies and feels he's got to justify his $ spent (as has been mentioned more than once here). Just a man who actually uses his knives and would trash anything unworthy. My Barkies work. And hard. They are worthy IMO... Flame on BRK haters...
Your reading comprehension is seriously lacking.I know of a couple'a Barkies (ours) that have skinned and quartered a couple of dozen deer that worked flawlessly and held their edge like a champ. So why should I join the bandwagon here of haters? The "man"? No, I actually use my Barkies. Heck, one of you here said that they bought Barkies, Never Used Them because of the negative reports he heard, and sold them because of that. Said he was glad he never used them as he could get a good price for his resale.... No experience with using them and sold them because of what he'd heard. That's nothing. FUBAR. Why even post? Had he bloody'd them up a bit he'd may have discovered that the blades work. They (as all you BRK haters know) hand grind and sharpen and thus not flawless.... Issues at time with plunge lines and edges? Sure. What manufacturer doesn't have issues from time to time. Heck I got some of Lon Humphrey's knives that are surperb...and yet the edge grinds aren't symmetrical. Should I trash his knives? Not hardly. They are superb as he made them. Not a so called BRK "fanboy" here. Guess that's the slam here...Not someone who has a couple of Barkies and feels he's got to justify his $ spent (as has been mentioned more than once here). Just a man who actually uses his knives and would trash anything unworthy. My Barkies work. And hard. They are worthy IMO... Flame on BRK haters...
But buy all means, keep discounting the experiences of others here simply because your BRK "knives" work or whatever.
Interestingly, not one single inquiry as to where to get a 1909 Michigan Bowie (the one I, you know, chopped with) for the low low price of 2 bills. Must not be the good deal I thought it was.
Triton
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I would suggest that you are practicing the exact behavior that you are decrying. I.e. calling people haters because they take issue with poorly performing knives produced by a guy with known ethical issues. Do you think that the tales of poor performance and duplicity are fabrications? Is there some plot to ruin a good knife company? Is it possible that these people are not haters but simply people that dislike poor workmanship and dishonesty?I know of a couple'a Barkies (ours) that have skinned and quartered a couple of dozen deer that worked flawlessly and held their edge like a champ. So why should I join the bandwagon here of haters? The "man"? No, I actually use my Barkies. Heck, one of you here said that they bought Barkies, Never Used Them because of the negative reports he heard, and sold them because of that. Said he was glad he never used them as he could get a good price for his resale.... No experience with using them and sold them because of what he'd heard. That's nothing. FUBAR. Why even post? Had he bloody'd them up a bit he'd may have discovered that the blades work. They (as all you BRK haters know) hand grind and sharpen and thus not flawless.... Issues at time with plunge lines and edges? Sure. What manufacturer doesn't have issues from time to time. Heck I got some of Lon Humphrey's knives that are surperb...and yet the edge grinds aren't symmetrical. Should I trash his knives? Not hardly. They are superb as he made them. Not a so called BRK "fanboy" here. Guess that's the slam here...Not someone who has a couple of Barkies and feels he's got to justify his $ spent (as has been mentioned more than once here). Just a man who actually uses his knives and would trash anything unworthy. My Barkies work. And hard. They are worthy IMO... Flame on BRK haters...
I did a little experiment.
Took a fairly new BR Aurora II and tried to damage the edge. The edge on the Aurora II was very thin and I had only put it on fine stones when I first got it, so I didn't remove very much material.
My thinking for this test was that the edge was too thin for serious work, and something bad would happen.
I found a block of wood with a knot in it and batonned through it. I got a small ripple in the edge. I re sharpened my knife starting on coarse stones and removed the ripple easily. I made sure to make the edge thicker this time. I batonned through another section of the knot and got no damage.
Took a fairly new BR Aurora II and tried to damage the edge. The edge on the Aurora II was very thin and I had only put it on fine stones when I first got it, so I didn't remove very much material.
My thinking for this test was that the edge was too thin for serious work, and something bad would happen.
I found a block of wood with a knot in it and batonned through it. I got a small ripple in the edge. I re sharpened my knife starting on coarse stones and removed the ripple easily. I made sure to make the edge thicker this time. I batonned through another section of the knot and got no damage.
Upon further inspection, it looks like I got a small edge roll where I went through the knot.
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