HELP: Choosing a Bark River (the first one...)

M

Mikel_24

Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Messages
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After buying, using and loving an F1... now I feel hooked to convex grinds and small blades (around 4" I mean). I am sure I will be even more hooked on them as soon as I figure out how to propertly use a mousepad-sandpaper setup to keep the edges at least factory sharp. :D Keep in mind that strops and polishing compounds are not as common here as they are in USA (at least for sharpening related purposes).

Now the question is... I like the looks (sheeple friendly) and blade shapes of quite a few knives from Bark River. I will probably be buying one any time soon.

I don't plan on killing too many zombies with them. Neither chopping down whole trees for kindling. I don't expect to do much of game butchering because I am not a hunter (I don't need a skinner for the same reason). I do fish (spear fishing) but I bet that unless I plan on fileting stuff (long thin flexible blade is needed) any knife would do in a pinch. I will do with them the same things I do with my current knives: a fair amount of food prep and some of those so called bushcraft chores (sharpening sticks, making shavings for fire ligthing, every once in a while some splitting to reach dry the dry core and wood carving). I hope you get the picture.

The million dollar question is: Which one do you think would be the best Bark River?

Fox River and North Star have the same blade size but I like more the blade shape of the Fox River (the North Star is pointier... and seems weaker). The blade lenght seems correct for me.

Woodland Special is a bit short (but as thick as the above mentioned ones).

Huntsman is something in between but it is even thicker than my F1. Does this thing slice at all or just splits the things being cut? Just kidding... sure it cuts like a lightsaber.

Bravo1 and Sandstorm look good but they are way too tactical for what I am looking for (and for that price I think I will be better off with an A1 which is thicker btw).

Please don't tell me that the one that fits my hand the best... because here in Spain there is no chance of handling any of them. :D

I don't have any real preferences about handle stile and since I plan on buying the cheapest model of the selected knife... I really won't care much. Textured orange handles will be easy to find if dropped and the most slip resistant when wet but I would take green canvas micarta any time for blending with the sorroundings (more sheeple friendly) if it is cheaper.

Ok guys, it is your turn now! Just two more questions: anyone here thinks that I might be disapointed about A2 after using LAM VG10? and where do you guys get them? There aren't many of them on eBay (I buy most of my stuff there... somehow customs pay less attention to those packages than the ones that come covered with logos from a store... you know what I mean).

Thanks in advance,
Mikel
 
I would recomend the North Star or Fox River, going by your post of course...If it was me...I would by an Aurora.
 
gunknifenut said:
I would recomend the North Star or Fox River, going by your post of course...If it was me...I would by an Aurora.
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I saw a picture of the Aurora on their web but the site is screwed up and I can't see the specs (anyone has them?). Don't you think it would be too pointy?

Mikel
 
Follow this link to the Bark River section on Knife Forums. There is a great deal of information there and many knowledgable people.

Me personally I love the Canadian Special. I think it can do all that the other 2 can and it feels great in the hand.
 
Mini Northstar makes an excellent food prep, EDC and general duty knife, it's stainless too.

Classic Lite Hunter is also stainless and is a tremendous all rounder, has a guard too.

The BRKT website is not as good as it should be,cumbersome and not up to date.

The 'other' forum has a BRKT thread which is very useful-at times-but it can be a bit of a "we all love the owner more than you do" adulation group.That's what you tend to get where you have a ton of adverts....

I know of reliable dealers but don't know if I'm allowed to endorse them here, e-bay has a few outlets but not too many. Like you, I'm in the EU and with the Euro = a Dollar and a half it makes good sense to buy American! Good luck.
 
I would definitely go with the Fox River. It is and will always be my number 1 choice.
Oldman/Marty Simon
 
I personally love the NorthStar, but since you think it's too "pointy", I would go for the best all around Bark River. The Canadian Special. It's a do all knife. Plus, the A2 steel is great with Mike's heat treat. You won't be sorry.
 
I own an NS,B1 &PSK,mikro canadian...To me the northstar handle feels to small and I have medium size hands..so it is my sons blade.I just love the Bravo-1...feels great in-hand and to me it is a great woods blade not to tactical for me at all .
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Canadian Special or Fox River- both of these models pack a lot of knife in
for their size and weight. Look at the Bravo 1 for heavier duty chores.
 
Hey Texastony, what is the little knife pictured with the Bravo? And is that sheath setup available from Bark River?
 
I like the North Star a LOT.

But if you already have an F1 why not try one of the little Bark Rivers like the PSK, Mikro or one of those?
 
there are so many nice bark rivers out there.... it's hard to decide on the first one, because most folks usually end up buying more...:D that's the problem with barkies...

going by your post... i would recommend the north star or the fox river also... the little creek just came out and that is a great EDC small knife, as well as the mini-north star....:D
 
Rockywolf said:
Hey Texastony, what is the little knife pictured with the Bravo? And is that sheath setup available from Bark River?
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PSK(personal survival knife)..it goes with my Bravo1....It came with a kydex neck sheath but I prefer it attached to my Bravo1 via leather as seen in picture.Bravo 1 camp chores and PSK food prep..yes everything came from Barkie...Left hand sheath for both B1 & psk...attaching hardware sold separate(home depot)
 
willgoy said:
Mini Northstar makes an excellent food prep, EDC and general duty knife, it's stainless too.
Classic Lite Hunter is also stainless and is a tremendous all rounder, has a guard too.
Click to expand...
Mmmm somehow I thought that BRKT only crafted his knives with A2 but I noticed that they use 12C27 Sandvik steel. Should I stay away from them or they just perform as good as the tool steel ones? I don't mind taking care of blades. I usually clean them and oil them after every outing already.

willgoy said:
The BRKT website is not as good as it should be,cumbersome and not up to date.
Click to expand...
True. I found an eBay store that has more models in stock than the BRKT website. The bad news is that all they seem to have are ivory handles (there are some exceptions though). They only ship Express mail and that is like $40. Those are the only downsides I can find.

willgoy said:
I know of reliable dealers but don't know if I'm allowed to endorse them here, e-bay has a few outlets but not too many. Like you, I'm in the EU and with the Euro = a Dollar and a half it makes good sense to buy American! Good luck.
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You can PM me with those outlets if you think they may come handy. I was planning on spending about 100 Euros (shipping included) that is like $150 or so. I will probably try to share shipping expenses with some friends ordering more stuff from the same store at the same time. That is what we usually do and ir works great! But that will work for me as long as I keep their interest in knives... and the sad truth is that they are not knife nuts at all and now that they have some Spydercos and Byrds... they have their needs pretty well covered.

According to the specs the NorthStar is way ligther than the FoxRiver... I guess is just the blade width... because the thickness is the same.

Texastonydobbs,
In the second picture you posted there is a yellow handled NorthStar and below... is that a FoxRiver with some filework at the beginning of the blade close to the edge? I mean in the round part. I just checked a few pictures on the web and they don't have that feature!

Thanks you all for the info! Keep it comming,
Mikel
 
I purchased all my stuff from DLTrading....the second knife is a 1st production Northstar and I sold it ,it was thinner than the Yellow G10 scaled NS , big difference.the lanyard squared loop was realy thin compared to the newer version NS, only picture I have comparing the 2.
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Bark River knives are made to be users - they keep a very good edge, but are ridiculously easy to keep sharp in the field. You won't be disappointed!

For the uses you describe, you would do well with the Fox River, Northstar, Aurora or Canadian Special. The Aurora is basically a larger Northstar with a larger contoured handle.

Note that A2 is not stainless - it will pick up a patina from use, and rust if left wet. That said, I've had no rusting issues with mine.

My favorite from the above is the Canadian Special, but you're going to have to make your own choice! :D
 
Mike's heat treat of 12C27 brings it very close to the A2 in terms of sharpening, toughness and edge retention. The A2 is still a bit better in each of those.

There are more choices for your purposes in A2 than in 12C27 from Bark River. I don't know if that's due to the popularity of Mike's A2, or the difficulty of getting the 12C27 in the right thickness.

PM sent!
 
what ever you choose ,if it is not what you hoped for; it will sale /trade on here no problem...to many blades and handle choices make your head spin....Dang it you BRK&T
 
texastonydobbs said:
...to many blades and handle choices make your head spin....Dang it you BRK&T
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True, there is just waaaaaay too many blades and handle choices. The problem (well, maybe it is not a problem at all...) is that I will probably narrow my choices to the knives in stock I can find in eBay stores (well, maybe I will have a look at non-ebay stores as well). As I said, I would love to have yellow or blaze orange handles for easy spotting or plain green micarta handles just because they are the cheapest :D

grampa said:
Mike's heat treat of 12C27 brings it very close to the A2 in terms of sharpening, toughness and edge retention. The A2 is still a bit better in each of those.
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Nice to hear that... After having sharpened a bunch of diving knives with super STAINLESS steels :barf: I try to stay away from them. Of course they were not made of such a good steel...

Mikel
 
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