BRKT: Fit & Finish?

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Hey guys, what's your experience with BRKT's fit and finish, what's do you expect with a BRKT?

I just got my first BRKT, a Mikro Canadian, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. the bottom 3-4mm of the edge isnt sharpened, which normally wouldnt be a huge deal but with only 45mm of blade length, that little bit makes a big difference. One of the finger ramps is a little crooked and has one of the corners of the apex ground down a bit, and there's still deep tooling marks near the tip of the blade.

Maybe it's my expectations that are out of line, but a lot of people told me BRKT's fit and finish is as good as or better than Fallkniven (for example) so finding this many imperfections is pretty disappointing.
 
I don't have enough Bark Rivers to be able to say, but from what I hear, what you're seeing isn't spectacularly unusual. And I wouldn't rate Fällkniven's fit and finish anywhere above "good", either. I'm sure, though, that if you were to contact Bark River, they'd fix it up for you - the warranty is great.
 
Bark River has about the best customer service I have ever seen. Give them a call on Monday and they will arrange to make things right.

Bark River in general has excellent fit and finish. However, each knife is hand ground and sometimes an imperfection slips by the inspectors. Call up. Donna will probably be the one to answer the phone, and she will be able to help you get things straightened out.

BTW. Bark River is having some phone problems. They aren't ignoring you they have a second line that is ringing but won't let them pickup the call. If you get ringing with no answer, try calling back a little later or send an email.
 
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I'd send it back. I have never seen any fit and finish issues with Fallknivens myself. Once in a while a bad Barkie slips through. Both makers knives are hand sharpened...so I suspect it was made either on a Monday or Friday.
 
BRKT doesn't advertise its knives as William Henry level of fit and finish. Nevertheless, I have 9 of them now, and have handled many others, over a range of sizes and designs, and I find them all solid, well-made, well-finished knives, with no outstanding problems on any of them.

But they are made to be users, even those with more expensive materials. And I never worry about factory sharpening too much, since I need to be touching up my users soon enough anyway, and with Bark River, that's been easy.
 
I think it largely depends on folks' definition of "good fit and finish." Some people can look at a knife that has uneven grinds, scratched up handles and dinged spines, choils or ricassos and still say the fit and finish is flawless. Some people consider it nowhere near flawless at that point. And yet both kinds of people can often agree the knife is perfectly usable at that point, and works, and doesn't need a warranty return or any work on it.

When it comes to users, which most Fällknivens and apparently Bark Rivers too are, cosmetic fit and finish issues like random dings here and there and uneven grinds or even somewhat bent blades can be seen as meaningless, but they are fit and finish issues, nonetheless. I wouldn't call it a problem, but I would say that one can expect much lower fit and finish from these knives than from some other knives that probably are designed more for collecting and less for use.
 
I only have one, an Aurora, and fit & finish were perfect. By that I mean, you can't feel the seams between the scales and tang, they exactly match. The blade grind was even on both sides, and shaved hair right from the box.

Everything I read about them (and their forum on the "other" board, is that if you aren't satisfied, call them, they'll have you send it back and they'll make it right.
 
I have quite a few Barkies, and generally speaking, their fit and finish is quite good. Having said that, I have had four with which I was very disappointed. One was a Gameskeeper which had totally uneven grind lines. One was a one-off custom that had a really unevenly ground blade. Two were as dull as toast, seriously.

But, the vast majority of the knives I have from Bark River are top notch in fit and finish.

Andy
 
Andrew Colglazier said:
....I have had four with which I was very disappointed........Andy
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Of twenty five Barkies, I have had a more than a few "disappointments," but the few that I have kept are absolutely outstanding knives. I think it takes some "sorting" and patience because the "good" ones are great ones.
 
A lot of knives come out of that factory with numerous defects and blemishes. I recently got one of the 1855s with all the extras (burl, turquoise spacer, etc) which was pretty much the most expensive one of the lot. It had some serious grinding mistakes of the flats. It really isnt worth the trouble of posting it back from Australia. I sold it to a mate and he was happy enough with it. A lot of mates in Australia have received even worse knives. I personally will steer clear of them now.
 
Rather than having to send them back etc maybe they should tighten up their quality control and offer the blades which are seconds at discounted costs, much the same as Cold Steel do ?
 
I think it would be good if BR tightened up QC a bit, but I don't want to create a false impression by anything I might say here.

I do think that Mike Stewart is very interested in customer satisfaction, and I think he would do his utmost to take care of a problem for a customer.

While I have had some knives from BR that I felt weren't up to snuff, I think the company makes a very fine product generally, and will step up to take care of anything that isn't acceptable. The flaws that I found in a few knives will not keep me from buying knives from Bark River in the future!

Andy
 
Interesting thread. I've heard this before about BR. I have 5, and all have very good fit and finish, they just don't have the type of knife that I'm generally interested in. That's why I only have 5 (knife knut).... :D
 
The bottom line is that Bark River makes knives for users at reasonable prices.

If you have a problem, they will fix it, no questions asked.

If you need a thicker edge for chopping or a thinner edge for slicing, they will do that for you.

If you are looking for perfect show piece, look else ware and prepare to spend a lot more.
 
Big Mike said:
The bottom line is that Bark River makes knives for users at reasonable prices.

If you have a problem, they will fix it, no questions asked.

If you need a thicker edge for chopping or a thinner edge for slicing, they will do that for you.

If you are looking for perfect show piece, look else ware and prepare to spend a lot more.
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There are a few manufacturers out there now that have great customer service in that if the blade is faulty just send it back no questions asked !
But why should we have to send them back ? Why do these seconds keep appearing ? Bark River is not the only company, I have heard of people recieving Busse/Busse Kin knives that also have issues...although all my Scrapyard and Swamprat knives have been good !
When you spend your hard earned money on a quality product you don't want to have to be posting them back again !!!:(
 
I have a lot of Bark Rivers. Some are perfect. Better than a custom. Others have had uneven grinds a few sloppy thumb grooves, have one that has some gaps in the liners. I've only had 2 I've ever sent back and they were fixed as good as any custom.

Now to go that one more had LOTS of customs with the same problems.
 
I have a dozen or so barkies. All of their larger knives that I have show great fit and finish, the smaller ones all have minor defects such as you describe. I use most of them, and after a few sharpenings and a little work, you would never know there was a problem. I would rather just fix them then have to send them back. Never have had any handle issues, just some bad grinds on the blades that have generally been easy fixes. I agree that their QC could use a little work now and then, but I buy them anyway for the steel and general usability of their stuff.
 
I was getting ready to drop $170 on a Bravo 1, but now I'm having second thoughts.
 
B Hess said:
I was getting ready to drop $170 on a Bravo 1, but now I'm having second thoughts.
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Yeah me too. :confused: I don't want to have to send one back, but will if necessary. I may just wait...I have too many darn knives right now anyway. (Did I just say that?)
 
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