Just saw this.....Bark River is no more?

Folks, while not a fan of Bark River or its owner, please stay on topic...that is, whether Bark River is out of business or not.

This is not the thread to dredge up the past and muddy up this particular thread...there are many threads on those issues.

And if you are going to quote someone, do it properly and with attribution. Off-topic posts, or failure to provide attribution will lead to posts being moved offline.

Just the facts. Thank you.
 

"@billjanke72​

2 hours ago
Unfortunately it's true. I feel horrible for the employees that didn't get a check yesterday and are now going to be struggling even more. As you mentioned the Chinese steel is also true. That was a recent thing when Bark River couldn't afford CPM steels. Every supplier cut them off and they had no money for materials and steel. Instead of just calling it a day and ending things they bought Chinese steel knife kits in bulk and told the employees to take the "Made In China" label off. The steel on those models is 9CR18MOV or supposedly equivalent to 440C but thay doesn'tmatter. It was stamped CPM-154 or in some cases 145CM which is bot true. The employees felt absolutely horrible being forced to work with "kit knives" from a large supplier as this was dishonest to the customer and the steel was going to be mislabeled on purpose. They bit their tongue and stayed quiet because they live paycheck to paycheck and 'That was payroll" Now those kit knives aren't an exact 1:1 copy using the Chinese blank as is. Mike knew people would catch on and had the employees modify the kit knives (added swedges, ground off finger grooves, ect) enough that people wouldn't put two and two together. The kit knives are as follows. Gladstone Hunter, Highwayman 4, Trailing Point, Mini Manitou, Camp Bolo, Bitterroot Caper and the Bark River Club knives (2019 and up)for Bark River Club members only. If you follow the drops you will realize these knives mentioned were the most recent runs they had and all marked CPM-154 or 154CM. So unless you have one of these models mentioned you have the real deal steel. All the rest of the knives besides those are legitimate real CPM or Bohler equivalent knife steel they used on older models. This has been confirmed by an employee and it absolutely pained them to even admit it. The employees are the real loss here. As an attendant of every single Bark River Grind in from 2021 on they are like family to me. Mike Stewart with all his flaws was like a father figure to me and this whole situation is very disturbing. The signs were always there and deep down I knew his past dealings with the knife industry.(Blackjack, Marbles) but it was because of the family connection that I continued to support and buy their knives. I worked side by side with these hard working employees and know more about them than I do about some of my own family members. I ask that people not take out their aggressions and frustrations on the employees. Some of these employees are really struggling right now and this company's abrupt ending has made their struggling even worse. I hope they get paid their last check and hope they can find employment soon."

Attribution - first pinned post on that Youtube video.

There was also talk along the same lines on the Bark River Facebook groups.
 
Mike said he is making a statement Monday and it looks like from all the FB post in the groups the employees are not employed as of yesterday. So it’s true yes, they are shut down the reasons are not specified in the group. For all we know it’s a massive restructuring, or folded who knows. Could be a temporary shut down. But yes it is true according to employees in the group and Mike saying he will make the official statement Monday.
 
Who is Bill Janke and how does he know that the knives he listed were actually made with Chinese kits?

I probably should have done my homework, I recently picked up a few BRK's with no knowledge of the company or any of the controversy. Genuinely clueless. I guess I just hope the steel is okay. 😵

Good luck to the employees! I genuinely wish them well.
 
I've been told to be careful talking about this, but the kit knife accusations aren't new. Here is a reported ex-Bark River employee's wife reporting similar -

https://www.ripoffreport.com/report...ed-knives-are-100-american-made-but-ar-170631 .

Here's an old Sheffield Supply catalog from the same time period, in case people wish to compare the mentioned models in that post to the kits supposedly used -

http://web.archive.org/web/20051029052839/http://www.sheffieldsupply.com:80/catalog/SupplyCat.pdf .

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Also Bark River has been honest about repurposing things in the past, eg - Ontario machetes as the base for the BRKT machete, and the reworking of the Vaughn mini hatchets back in the day.
 
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If Mike knowingly mislabeled steel because he knew the jig was up, that's criminal. Years now some of us have been warning people about the knives in the wrong steel from them. Hope the workers blow the whistle and tell leo about Mike's bait and switch about steels.
 
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Alberta Ed said:
Too bad. I have a couple Marbles in 52100 from Mike's era there and they are two of my most prized knives. I picked up one of his Woodland models in A2 later on when he started Bark River; my BIL has it now. His heat treat of A2 is hard to beat IMHO.
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I do as well. Three or four.

Having questionable character does not mean someone doesn't have talent or ability. We see it every day in the real world. And it's not likely to change anytime soon.

(I just try not to support those with questionable character if I'm aware of it up front.)
 
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