broke my bark river kephart...

I've seen tangs that short before ... on cheap, supermarket kitchen knives. Wow.

The "piece-it-together" version of handle making seems a bit short-sighted, as well.
 
aahh.. man what a bummer....:eek: i'm sure they'll take care of you.. they have a great warranty..

that is a short tang on that thing that is for sure...:eek:
 
halfcocked said:
Question: If a full-tang Kephart replacement isn't possible when I talk to Bark River tomorrow, what do you guys feel is the best full-tang replacement option for general camping/bushcraft? Aurora? Northstar? Bravo-1? Canadian Special?

I'm kind of leaning towards the Canadian Special because I like the look of the blade shape, but I don't know whether those finger grooves would create hotspots during prolonged use...
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Have you considered a Fallkniven F1? I would highly recommend one, and IIRC (could be mistaken) are considerably less that the mentioned Barkies. You can get F1's for under $90.
 
It looks to me like the steel on the tang has broken. The end looks torn. The first hole is right where it should be. I believe there is more steel stuck in that handle. But its hard to tell from the pic. Lots of things could have happened to make the tang snap in those conditions. The micarta loosing its integrity certainly is part of the process of the tang failing.

They'll take care of it. I think light chopping is NOT abuse.
 
fishshooter said:
Am I mistaken, or is that tang not the same length as the blank posted over at the BR forum?
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It's not the same length, but my blade is etched "First Production Run," so that could explain it. I still don't see why they don't put some pins in there if they already have the holes.
 
Very poor consruction. The short tang would be fine if there was some sort of fastner such as a corby rivet squeezing it all together, this would at least be a bit stronger construction for this size of knife. The 3 piece epoxied handle and a tang just glued in place is a sure recipe for disaster.....as you know.
 
Fiddleback said:
It looks to me like the steel on the tang has broken. The end looks torn. The first hole is right where it should be. I believe there is more steel stuck in that handle.
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No steel left in the handle and the end of the tang is radiused, not broken. I know neither of those things is clear from the pics though.
 
halfcocked said:
It's not the same length, but my blade is etched "First Production Run," so that could explain it. I still don't see why they don't put some pins in there if they already have the holes.
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I think there was just one production run, all of them I've seen are either marked "Prototype" or "First Production Run". They'll make it right, but it worries me, as I use one just like yours, but green canvas micarta, a lot.
 
Seeing that failure I’m not surprised that the new Kephart will have a Full Tang.

You can rest assured that the Bark River warrantee will cover that knife, there is no limitation on what’s covered; chopping and baton work are not considered abuse, but regular usage for a Bark River field knife.
 
siguy said:
......think that a mortised type made with just two pieces with a slot cut into them would be much stronger and probably not give you any problems...
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Mine was Antique Ivory Micarta and was definitely as you describe, Simon. Not sure if they were all like that or not, but mine was broken in a similar manner - new in the box. It had a very distinct part line where the halves were glued together.

halfcocked said:
Question: If a full-tang Kephart replacement isn't possible when I talk to Bark River tomorrow, what do you guys feel is the best full-tang replacement option for general camping/bushcraft? Aurora? Northstar? Bravo-1? Canadian Special?

I'm kind of leaning towards the Canadian Special because I like the look of the blade shape, but I don't know whether those finger grooves would create hotspots during prolonged use...
Click to expand...

If you can score a CS, get it. It's the one Barkie I kept besides my Mikro Canadian and Pro scalpel. The finger grooves are not an issue. I hate finger grooves but gave the CS a chance after respected forum-member (another forum) endorsed it. It's just a flat-out great all-round knife.
 
Here's a question for anyone who might know:

If the handle is two peices glued together and then sanded, is it possible the heat from the sanding weakened the epoxy enough for the scales to come apart with the next stress?
 
hollowdweller said:
Here's a question for anyone who might know:

If the handle is two peices glued together and then sanded, is it possible the heat from the sanding weakened the epoxy enough for the scales to come apart with the next stress?
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Yes that could happen. Especially if someone got crazy with the buffer. No idea what epoxy they use but some stand up to heat better then others for sure.
 
This is a good example of why I don't care for epoxy to fill those handle voids. Epoxy is inexpensive, and I suspect that is why it is used so often for those applications. Too, epoxy has a relatively short life all-around.

I have been using Acraglas for many years for a couple of my gun projects. After speaking with a number of ABS knifemakers, I found that it makes a superior knife handle filler too. As an experiment, I filled a Mora handle with the mixture, and when I got the time, I beat the handle to pieces with a hammer. Everything broke but the Acraglas around that tang. IIRC, Acraglas has a 50-year hold life, too. Acraglas is expensive, but I have found nothing better to use on those stick or stub tangs. :)
 
halfcocked said:
Well, I guess this just goes to show why I don't own very many hidden tang knives. I was doing some "backyard bushcraft" and practicing my fireskills, when an inadvertant chop (forgot I was using a knife without a full-tang) resulted in a wiggly blade. I figured it was already loose, so I would see what would happen with another few chops. I didn't make it to chop four before the knife was done for.

Now, I know people will say you're not supposed to chop with a knife like this and I know that. It was a mistake and something you might easily do if you didn't have your wits about you in the wilderness and you're used to using knives that can take a little more abuse.

Anyway, I've seen talk on the forums that hidden tang knifes are just as tough if you baton with them level and hold your left leg off the ground while doing the sacred chant... but I've never seen this happen with a full-tang.

I'll be calling Bark River tomorrow to see if they'll fix it for me, or better yet, let me return it for something with a full-tang.

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And I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo, but there is a fracture down the spine of the handle that is the width of the blade...

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Oh, and the worst part? This was only my second time to use this knife. :(
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At first glance that looks like a mora knife. How much did it cost you? This is one of the reasons that I don't like the idea of batoning with knives, even though many people on here do it.
 
hannibal lecter spyderco said:
At first glance that looks like a mora knife. How much did it cost you? This is one of the reasons that I don't like the idea of batoning with knives, even though many people on here do it.
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To be fair, this doesnt happen when battoning most knives, full-tangs in particular. My DP Camp Master could probably baton through just about anything you can throw at it, and never break a sweat. It's built like a tank.
 
I just talked about this with Mike Stewart, and he suggested that you get in touch with him, either by calling the Bark River shop or posting on the Bark River page of the "other forum".

He said that this has happened to two other Kepharts (both wooden handles), and he's replacing them with the full-tang Kepharts which are coming out next week.

So you're covered - you just need to get in touch with Mike!
 
I just talked to Mike Stewart about this knife.

He said that they had issues with this particular knife and to send it in to him and he will replace it with a full tang Kephart.

That is why they changed the design of the knife in the first place.


*******oops..looks like Grampa beat me to it
 
I knew they would do you right on the warranty:thumbup:

Danny? So I was wondering: Is acraglass heat resistant? I would think since it's meant to set against a hot barrel it is but I've never read it is.
 
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