BarkRiver Ek Night Fighter

MUTT,
, I met Gary again awhile back ,he told me he was making some knives,the OLD EK WAY! You & I may like them but you must understand,lot has happened in the knife world since then,steels,shapes,diff.trends etc.Would they sell?? Ahh,who knows.Had a famous maker friend tell me in agreement with another maker,Jim,when all is said an done,A Buck 110 could fill every knife need you may possibly have! Sort of agrees with the thread on ,"Are we spoiled with so many new knives"!Interesting comment!
Be safe,
Jim
 
The reason I wanted to look into this is that my wife's father owns a cutlery and woodworking factory that supplied the barbecue tools for Target for about 5 years running. He makes them the old fashioned way... by hand on simple machinery, one by one... I showed him my Ek collection and he said his crew could crank them out a three to four hundred a week, using any American or Japanese steel, American Hardwood or Micarta, heat treated to any specs, qualitywise indiscernable from any of my 20 or so Ek knives...

Problem is, the factory is in Taiwan... it would never really sell here... The only company who's broken that barrier, yet still struggles with the stigma is CRKT. Now, if he got on a plane and shipped his machinery to the US, and started making them in New York, he'd have a cult following...
 
I would venture to say that craftsmanship in Taiwan and Japan would easily surpass the quality of my Effingham Eks
 
While at one time Mike Stewart did have the rights to the Ek name, with regard to the knives in question, my understanding is that while Mike Stewart's Bark River Knife and Tool company did produce some of the EK knives in question, he did so for and under license to the current registered holders of the name. Bark River Knife and Tool has produced knives for several other companies.

At the moment I have approximately 40 knives that Mike Stewart has been associated with under the Blackjack, Marbles, and Bark River names. I admit to never owning an Ek of any kind, but I have found the others to be well made knives.
 
Personally I have no reason to doubt Mike Stewart. He has proven to me to be a fine upstanding gentleman and one hell of a knife maker.

It looks to me like someone here is trying to justify their own desire to make cheap Taiwanese clones.
 
Mykl Clark said:
Personally I have no reason to doubt Mike Stewart. He has proven to me to be a fine upstanding gentleman and one hell of a knife maker.
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Try asking the folks that worked for him in Effingham. There have been rumors in the industry for quite a few years that he isn't the greatest of people. A search should bring up the old threads.

The man does know how to make a knife, though.
 
Mykl Clark said:
It looks to me like someone here is trying to justify their own desire to make cheap Taiwanese clones.
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No, simply a reillustration of the fact that a few bladeforums members are inclined to allow double standards for whites as opposed to asians.
 
bob bowie said:
Try asking the folks that worked for him in Effingham. There have been rumors in the industry for quite a few years that he isn't the greatest of people. A search should bring up the old threads.

The man does know how to make a knife, though.
Click to expand...

Bob, spreading rumors and gossip may give satisfaction to some but establishes very little as truth.

I have read old posts in three forums (KF,BF,USN), and not a single one supplies first-hand knowledge on the matters at issue in this thread -- the legal rights to the "EK" mark when these knives were made and whether one holding that right ordered the knives in question from Mr. Stewart's present company.

Those loudest in the attack recently do not even seem to know the names of the players in this story, either the individuals or the artificial entities. Those names are available in federal records.

Again, to keep a mark one must use that mark in the relevant market. That would incent holders of the mark to get knives with that mark out there in the marketplace.

By the way, ever wonder why it is that we hear no complaint from the owner of the mark or the principals in that entity?

Tom
 
Stop and consider what the automatic stereo-typea are around here... Yes, even 20-30yrs ago Japanese steel and work wasn't considered high quality. Look at your collection... how many actually read "made in the usa" I only have 1 in my collection and thats a spyderco military in CPM440V.

Over the last 10-20yrs chinese steel and workmanship wasn't up to american standards... many ppl still don't think it is but 90% of that is just pig headed stubbornness. In the last 5-10yrs even Taiwanese work is up with "american standards".

I'd wager that in a blind cutting test 95% of us couldn't even tell the difference between 1095 and s60v. My 2 favorite beaters? a custom in 5160 and a custom in 440c... I can go harder on those 2 than on my *all american made* spyderco military.

if some of these companies business practices actually came to light would you continue to buy thier knives? Unless I'm mistaken on my laws, for something to be labled "made in ___" it has to be assembled there. Which means parts can be imported from worldwide and be assembled in an american plant to be called american product. I work in a tarp factory and we get materials from India, Iran, Kuwait, China and Taiwan... think we label it as one of those 5?

the stigma that all asian cutlery is crap is exactly that... crap. If you get over the mindset that "country defines quality" or that "supersteels are MUCH better than high carbon classics" and start doing blind tests or opening your mind to the possibilities that racist behavior from decades ago isn't gonna work today, you'll realize the folly of your behavior. Do you think it'd go over well in today's world if you said all african americans are a subculture not worth wiping your shoes on? It worked in pre-ww2 didn't it? Will you get your head stomped in by it today? damn right.

Would you all prefer sterile knives, marked with simply the maker's mark and nothing else? bunch of mall ninjas and steel snobs.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Bob, spreading rumors and gossip may give satisfaction to some but establishes very little as truth.

I have read old posts in three forums (KF,BF,USN), and not a single one supplies first-hand knowledge on the matters at issue in this thread -- the legal rights to the "EK" mark when these knives were made and whether one holding that right ordered the knives in question from Mr. Stewart's present company.

Those loudest in the attack recently do not even seem to know the names of the players in this story, either the individuals or the artificial entities. Those names are available in federal records.

Again, to keep a mark one must use that mark in the relevant market. That would incent holders of the mark to get knives with that mark out there in the marketplace.

By the way, ever wonder why it is that we hear no complaint from the owner of the mark or the principals in that entity?

Tom
Click to expand...
The facts and actions speak for themselves... the loudest of all facts, the fact that Stewart marked the knives Expedition Knives...
Many other makers out there have been in business much longer than Stewart, and have managed to run their businesses without one single character complaint. Stewart has racked up quite a few die hard haters in three short years...
Then, you've got a few numbnuts who think it's alright for a white guy to counterfeit a name and knife but not alright for an asian guy to copy a knife design.

Oh, and we don't hear from the Richmond Ek shop because they're not computer savvy. They still take orders by mail and only mail and can only be contacted by phone. They're still living in the previous generation and making knives by hand just like they did twenty years ago.
 
Actually, I make no claims as to understanding the EK thing, as that story has been going on for years, and I've never gotten a clear explanation on everything.

If one looks through the link I posted, they'll see that many widely respected people in the industry recount their troubles with Mr. Stewart first hand.

Just pointing out that Mr. Stewart is not above reproach.
 
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