ESEE 6 vs Bark RIver Fox River Magnum

[Balboa256]

It must have come dull from the factory then. I just recieved this knife four days ago.

Sounds like Your Aurora could need some sharpening!


Regards
Mikael

 

[Mikael W]

It must have come dull from the factory then. I just recieved this knife four days ago.

That happens with most of my knives, regardless of brand or cost , also with my Solingen models.


Regards
Mikael

 

[Balboa256]

That happens with most of my knives, regardless of brand or cost , also with my Solingen models.
That's unacceptable to me. I have never gotten a dull Mora, a dull Kabar, a dull Spyderco or even a dull Linder. To boot the sheath that comes with the brkt aurora is garbage. They charge $69 for a new one. I have an Amish gentleman near me that makes me custom bowie sheaths for $20 dollars out of leather twice as thick. I guess we all have different expectations of what we get for $200 plus.

 

[fingerjonsin]

Fingerjonsin, I agree with You, but I took the liberty to add spacing in my quote of Your post.
This makes it easier to read for me.

I too still buy Bark River Knives and as You say, Derrick & Wendy at KSF are good people to buy from! :thumbup:

My latest arrival from KSF was a second BR Rogue.
I had an opportunity to inspect a Rogue, bought by a collegue here in Sweden and got impressed.
The QC and specs has improved from the earlier Rogue I bought in 2007.

This older Rogue has now got a thicker edge, by carefully reset the edge with a thicker convex bevel.
It now holds an edge also when chopping.

My use of the new knife is in the "break-in" phase, but the improvements are solid and the knife feels more robust than the first one.
You may say the first is a slicer and the new is more towards chopping.
Still, the new one has a lot of capacity in finer work and this makes it a cross-over knife for a lot of tasks in the Outdoors.
This was what I hoped for and I'm certainly pleased with what I got!

The shipping and EU taxes have climbed to huge sums and are more than 50% add-on costs upon US pricetags.
This has nothing to do with BR, but makes me plan my US purchases more carefully nowadays.
Nevertheless, I find it worth to still be a KSF and BR customer!


Regards
Mikael

Ya the a2 seems to have no problems and it gets scary sharp, I thinned out the edge of my gunny and its glory has returned. I love Bark River but I really think as a company they need to step it up like these other companies do and focus more on customer satifaction. I work retail and I know if a customer has a bad experience then they will not return, we have to smile, greet, engage, sell and thank. Lol. It's the SaveMart way, or should I say Slavemart lol. Customer service is number one for any business that sells anything.

 

[Mikael W]

Ya the a2 seems to have no problems and it gets scary sharp, I thinned out the edge of my gunny and its glory has returned. I love Bark River but I really think as a company they need to step it up like these other companies do and focus more on customer satifaction. I work retail and I know if a customer has a bad experience then they will not return, we have to smile, greet, engage, sell and thank. Lol. It's the SaveMart way, or should I say Slavemart lol. Customer service is number one for any business that sells anything.

I certainly agree!

I too has to work a lot to make our customers satisfied, so I do know what You mean.
Improvements in customer service, are always important Q's for any buisness.

When it comes to semi-production knives like Bark River and Fällkniven or any knife I get, I have learnt that a small home workshop is valuable.
If I can fix it myself and avoid a USD $52 return shipping under warranty, every powertool I get is a good investment.
It adds greatly to the hobby and a dull edge is no problem for the 1" x 30" beltsander.

If I can't fix it myself, both Bark River and Fällkniven have proven themselves to stand up for me as their customer.
So has also other brands like Leatherman showed themselves.

So really, I have always been treated well by the various customer services of the knife industry.
I know others have had differrent experiences and customer service is a field, that always will need improvements.



Regards
Mikael

 

[Mikael W]

My use of the new knife is in the "break-in" phase, but the improvements are solid and the knife feels more robust than the first one.
You may say the first is a slicer and the new is more towards chopping.
Still, the new one has a lot of capacity in finer work and this makes it a cross-over knife for a lot of tasks in the Outdoors.
This was what I hoped for and I'm certainly pleased with what I got!

I took the new Rogue out today and used it in chopping firewood for a coffeebreak.
Unfortunately the edge didn't hold up and it chipped.
It's 3 typical halfmoon chips around 1/16" deep.

I can reground the edge myself on the beltsander, but naturally I'm not happy with this.
The Rogue has a lot of belly and by making the edgeprofile more straight, the chips will be gone.

So far I think also the new Rogue has a too thin edge for chopping.
I will give it a new try-out, when the new edge is in place.

The coffee tasted good, but I wish the Rogue would have scored better!


Regards
Mikael

 

[Mikael W]

Here's an update on the reprofiling of the chipped Rogue!

Instead of sending it back overseas, I reground it myself on the 1" x 30" beltsander.

Testing it on Pineknots showed excellent performance!

The blade lost 1/16" bladeheight and 1/10 of an ounce in weight.
The weight is now 338 gram and it was 341 before the chipping.

My conclusion is that the edge indeed was too thin, for my kind of use.
Hopefully the knife will be a good tool from now and that this will be the end of trouble.


Regards
Mikael

 

[chiral.grolim]

Thank you for these honest updates, Mikael, though they drift from the OP and might actually deserve their own thread. I would have done the same thing in your situation - why pay more to send the knife back when I have the tools to do what needs to be done here at home. :thumbup: That assumes that grinding the edge thicker will solve the problem, and BRKT would certainly have done the same. It is too bad it (1/16"-deep chipping) happened to begin with, but as long as the thicker edge still serves your needs without much loss of cutting performance, it seems you saved yourself a headache and some $$ not sending it back :thumbup:

 

[Mikael W]

Thank you for these honest updates, Mikael, though they drift from the OP and might actually deserve their own thread. I would have done the same thing in your situation - why pay more to send the knife back when I have the tools to do what needs to be done here at home. :thumbup: That assumes that grinding the edge thicker will solve the problem, and BRKT would certainly have done the same. It is too bad it (1/16"-deep chipping) happened to begin with, but as long as the thicker edge still serves your needs without much loss of cutting performance, it seems you saved yourself a headache and some $$ not sending it back :thumbup:

Agreed!

This was the easiest way to go, as I had the beltsander since long.
The 1" x 30" has saved the day many times by now.
It's well worth the investment!

Regards
Mikael

 

[hollowdweller]

Been said, really, but my 2c.

I like both knives.

I like thin edged knives with pretty high cutting efficiency, so I have more Bark River.

If I wanted to do a lot of really rough work with a blade I'd choose the Esee since the edges are thicker and steeper.

 

[Hale Storm]

Finally had to add my .02. First on the warranty of the BRKT and Esee brands. I own both. As a matter of fact, I own every Esee knife except the Laser Strike. I didn't see it mentioned so I'll do it. BRKT has a lifetime warranty and stories abound of both good and bad experiences with warranty work, crappy regrinds that change the blade someone ordered to begin with etc. . I too feel if I send BRKT a damaged blade under warranty, I want to get back what I paid for originally, not just grind away until the problem is fixed and my knife is now completely different. Most of us buy certain blades because of the grind, geometry, etc.

Secondly, Esee's warranty is FOREVER, not lifetime, but FOREVER, and UNCONDITIONAL. NOT left up to someone's discretion on whether I was an idiot when using my knife and it's "not covered " for whatever reason. Esee has the best warranty on the planet and I'm not sure how anyone can dispute the words, "UNCONDITIONAL AND FOREVER". Stories abound about that warranty and how it's unsurpassed anywhere and they're all positive. Break an Esee, send it in and get a new one. Period. You can lay it on the railroad tracks or blow it up with a grenade if you're so inclined to be that stupid and Esee will add you their list of idiots but they WILL send you a new one the first time out.
I've never broken one, or damaged it where it needed to be covered under warranty, and I use them constantly. I've batoned hundreds of logs up to 7" or 8" with my Junglas and it's still going strong.
So, the warranty question seems simple to me. Name ONE other company that has a warranty as strong as Esee. UNCONDITIONAL AND FOREVER.

On to other things. Mike Stewarts criminal past, character, etc. Personally, I could care less about his criminal past unless he hurt some kids or something egregious like that. I don't even know what he did and why, or if the stories are even true. I can't walk on water so try not to judge others too harshly. I know plenty of honorable men who made mistakes in their youth, and paid their dues for it, and are stand up guys, no matter what, in every situation, even when no one is looking.

Honor and integrity are not flawless or timeless.

Having said that, there are many stories of the warranty issues at BRKT and an equal number of positive tales. Simple again. If you don't like his knives or he and his company treated you badly on an issue, by all means, speak up, poist, buy elsewhere, etc. That benefits everyone and if that reputation continues, then BRKT won't be around later anyway.

I'm not a fanboy of any brand, knifemaker, company and try to be honest in my opinions and keep an open mind. I've never had any issues with my Barkies, I wear my Necker in 3V 365 days a year. I have 2 Goloks, a Bravo 1, and just bought an Ontario Heavy Machete that was customized at Mike's shop.

This forum is among the best in the world. In regards to any issue with blades and warranties on any brand, you can simply spend a few minutes here and among the opinions you will find the facts. BRKT has had warranty issues. Esee warranty issues don't seem to happen.

Again, just my .02.