BR Bravo handle question

hiwa

hiwa

Joined
Jun 7, 2009
Messages
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I'm asking this question here , as most likely there are more owners of this knife in this section.

I am wondering if the corby bolts on your Bravo (models 1, 1.25 ,2 etc) are made of aluminum.
( easy to check with a magnet)
All mine are from 2015 onwards. As I was cleaning them , I had a magnet handy and decided to check. It appears all mine are aluminum , including the lanyard tube.

I am not worried about handle integrity or strength , but just am curious about this as I thought they were all stainless.

I did my research on here and on other forums. I did come across a post ( which I won't copy here ) that stated BR was considering to use/make corby bolts out of 6061 Aluminum some time around 2012.
I am assuming they did, but just wanted to see what you guys have. Thanks.:)
 
Quite a few stainless steels are non magnetic, so a quick test with a magnet doesn't mean it's aluminum.
 
ilten said:
Quite a few stainless steels are non magnetic, so a quick test with a magnet doesn't mean it's aluminum.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware of that. I thought all stainless has at least some ferrous content.

supertac916 said:
If you have a FB account you could ask Mike Stewart on the Bark River page.
Click to expand...

Sorry , I don't do facebook. I did ask on the forum , but no major response yet.
 
ilten , Thanks for that. I did find this on Scientific American:

Thomas Devine, a materials science and engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, provides this answer.
Stainless steels are iron-based alloys primarily known for their generally excellent corrosion resistance, which is largely due to the steel's chromium concentration. There are several different types of stainless steels. The two main types are austenitic and ferritic, each of which exhibits a different atomic arrangement. Due to this difference, ferritic stainless steels are generally magnetic while austenitic stainless steels usually are not. A ferritic stainless steel owes its magnetism to two factors: its high concentration of iron and its fundamental structure.
 
I have never seen an aluminum corby bolt. The earlier Bark Rivers are pins and supposedly they changed over to corby bolts. If your knife has aluminum then they are probably pins. I would never machine a corby out of aluminum because the chips don't break which makes it a PITA. Edit*** Looked it up and there are aluminum corby available Edit***
If you know what to look for aluminum and stainless feel different when you tap them with a fingernail and have a slightly different hue. Stainless has a very faint blue color to it. It is kind of hard to quantify how they feel different tapping them with a fingernail, you just have to do it and see for yourself. Alternatively you can scratch the surface, aluminum is noticeably softer.
 
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Pretty sure most if not all Bravo's have corbys , except the antlered or some exotic wood ones. Mine are all Micarta or G10.Thanks for the tips to check if it's aluminum or not.:thumbup:
 
hiwa said:
Pretty sure most if not all Bravo's have corbys , except the antlered or some exotic wood ones. Mine are all Micarta or G10.Thanks for the tips to check if it's aluminum or not.:thumbup:
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I have taken off the scales and redone more than one Bark River.
DSCF0140_zps53dd2f63.jpg

I can assure you that the older Bark River knives used pins, not just for antlers or exotic wood. I have knocked out the pins on G10 and Micarta handled Bark Rivers. I haven't bought any Bark Rivers lately, but I did get one or two after they switched to corbys and they were a PITA because they had to be drilled before knocking them out with a punch, so I know for a fact they have used corbys. On the half dozen or so Bark Rivers I have seen the hardware has been stainless or brass. They do have micarta pins on a few of their knives as well.
 
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Thanks for the detailed answer Jhansenak47. My Bravos are from late 2015 to present . I am thinking they are corby bolts as I read on KF about all the "recent" bravos with synthetics having them. Even if I am wrong about that , I'm pretty sure they are on there solid. Thanks for the pic also.:thumbup:
 
The various knife supplier like Jantz do offer aluminum Corby's.As far as I know, many of the SS Corby's are 300 series steel. There are some handle fasteners out there made from 416, like "chain" bolts. 416 is technically a martensitic stainless steel.
 
hiwa said:
I wasn't aware of that. I thought all stainless has at least some ferrous content.
Click to expand...

Take a magnet into your kitchen and start testing all of the metal objects such as knives, pots, spoons, etc. I don't know if it is possible to generalize but it seems that higher carbon objects are more likely to be magnetic.
 
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