Educate me on Bark River Products

G

GarMan

Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
46
Kinda overwhelmed with all the models Bark River puts out. Which one would be great for field dressing game? I am kinda digging the Canadian Special. Any advice appreciated!
 
The Canadian Special is a nice knife, have one and love it. Not sure how well it would do dressing game. You might consider the Fox River, maybe the Woodland Special if you're looking for something smaller. The Bark River enablers will be along shortly:D
 
IUKE12 said:
The Canadian Special is a nice knife, have one and love it. Not sure how well it would do dressing game. You might consider the Fox River, maybe the Woodland Special if you're looking for something smaller. The Bark River enablers will be along shortly:D
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HAHA. I am waiting! I just saw the trail buddy. That appeals to my traditional side. Looks like a Marbles Woodcraft that has been modified. Hmmmm...
 
The Canadian SPECIAL IS a favorite model for hunting along with the Mini canadian and the mini canadian. terrific knives. The Highland special may be the best of all.
 
The Canadian Special would do well for skinning. Also, the Fox River and Woodland Special mentioned by IUKE12 and Jim's mini-series and Highland Special. I own at least one of them all except the Fox River and Woodland, but the Northstar is very close to the Fox River in blade profile.

Bark River blades are production/custom, in my opinion. They are convex-ground blades which require a fresh perspective on sharpening if you haven;t owned one before. The beauty of these edges is how well they cut. At a steak restaurant in Phoenix with some buddies once, I offered up my mini-Northstar to be passed around. The only prohibition was not letting the edge touch the ceramic plates. Both of the other guys agreed they had never used a knife that cut so easily, cleanly, and with no lateral sawing. Granted, we're talking cooked steak here, but I just mention it as an example of the efficiency of the convex ground edge.

I killed a feral hog a couple of months back. I was wearing an EnZo scandinavian grind knife so that (and a Mora 510) is what I skinned him with. But when I got him home, I used a Canadian mini-Skinner and a Highland Special to bone out the meat. I could not have asked for better edges to do the work with.

The Highland is a thick, heavy blade, for its size. The convex grind is rather obtuse, but its intended use calls for that "thickness". The mini-Canadian and mini-Skinners have a more shallow grind to them (or is it steep?) - less obtuse is what I mean anyway. They are much finer and cut more easily, but are rather small for skinning.

You can;t go wrong with ANY of the Bark River knives, I don;t think.
 
One of my pet peeves with BR is that they make so many model that are almost the same.
 
udtjim said:
One of my pet peeves with BR is that they make so many model that are almost the same.
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Not exactly a pet peeve of mine, but I hear ya. Other than the Camp Axe and Golok, I haven't bought a knife from BR because I can't make up my mind as so many of them are so similar.
 
Sometimes you have a handle style on several models. I have two Custom Highland Specials, in CPM35VN. They are the same knife, but the handle scales are thicker on one. I understand they are "hand made", so there will be variations even with the same model.
That said, they are the sharpest, best cutting, and some of the most efficient knives I own.
Compared to ESEE, Ontarios, and other larger sized knives, the Barkies are often on the small side. Shorter handles, shorter overall lengths, and less height are typical, to my experience.
Sure, there are lots of models, but you have choices of steels, handle materials, and lengths that other companies don't offer.
Some bad reviewers may have gotten edges that were ground too thin, and maybe for some that's a bad thing. If you like knives that cut, use them for cleaning game and use something else for chopping wood, then a finer edge is great. If you expect it to chop down a tree, well get something with a thicker edge, ESEE 5 or Busse.
 
I have a Lil Canadian, great knife, the pattern is really nice in my hands, and the thin convex grind that Bark River uses really shines with small/medium knives
 
I have a Highland Special, I find it too small for comfortable gripping and I have medium size hands. The Fox River is pretty-much the same knife with a slightly larger grip.
 
udtjim said:
One of my pet peeves with BR is that they make so many model that are almost the same.
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Well, that is the problem. They have a ton of offerings, and that can be a bad thing. However, they seem to be of great quality.
 
great thread topic

been wondering myself about bark river knives

I really like the look of the Bravo 1. is it a suitable to take into the wilderness as your 1 knife like I am with my BK2?

thanks for the information so far
 
My two favorite Bark Rivers for big game use is the Drop Point Hunter (DPH) and the Manitou. I used both of them on the bull elk I took this year. Both knives were outstanding!

Between the two, the DPH is my favorite.
 
The Canadian Special dresses deer quite nicely, although I prefer a little more belly in a hunting knife. The Fox River remains one of the best all around field dressing (and woods) knives I've ever used. Much depends on your preference for blade size doing such tasks, and whether you will just be field dressing versus dressing and skinning with one knife.
 
Many have and do take the Bravo 1 as their main knife. Some youtube videos out there, some baton theirs, some chop with it.
I would not do that to mine, unless I had to. It might have a thick spine, but the edge is somewhat thin, and I like that. I find the Barkies to be awesome cutters. I would take my Bravo 1 and a machete/chopper or axe in the woods.
Stranded, need to chop/baton with the Bravo 1, hell yeah I'd do what it takes.
 
What no pictures???

Can't have that. My Highland Special is one of my favourites! I also have a Fox River and Mini Fox River on the way from the US as we speak (read?, type?).

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The collection so far (already out of date...):

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For me BRKT make a lot of similar blade LENGTHS not similar blades designs. There are very few knives over the 4" mark and even fewer over the 6". But it has also taught me the value of a good fixed blade that's small but punches above it's weight. A 3.8" or 4" blade can do a lot of things and you are only carrying 6-8oz.
 
the Bravo 1 in the middle looks really good

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on one of these shortly
 
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