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

jbmonkey said:
im hoping they just fell for the lies(if they are lies?) like the customers did and none were directly involved or knew about any of this.....maybe im being naive though...sure hope not......

if i was a dealer id be pulling the inventory I have left for sale off my site and checking my general liability and umbrella polices for exclusions right now.....
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Only if the dealers knew at any point the BRK product was not made as contracted and then willing sold at a massive discount fraudulent product should they be in trouble without informing their customers.

Some of this will be on the dealers. As soon as they knew they should have pulled all inventory product from listing and either sued or come up with a game plan to inform all unsuspecting customers.
 
JearBeatus48 said:
Agreed and they shouldn’t. Especially if they knew at some point while carrying the inventory of Chinese made blanks. There should be some legal repercussions if they were known to be selling falsely made goods without notifying the buyers. Could be a class action lawsuit against all parities.
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If Stewart was buying blanks, regrinding them, obliterating the China markings and rebranding them as Made in USA Bark River knives, how are the dealers supposed to know? Unless you can prove collusion, Stewart and whoever else knew at BR are solely responsible for whatever happened. The dealers were duped just like everybody else....
 
Arathol said:
If Stewart was buying blanks, regrinding them, obliterating the China markings and rebranding them as Made in USA Bark River knives, how are the dealers supposed to know? Unless you can prove collusion, Stewart and whoever else knew at BR are solely responsible for whatever happened. The dealers were duped just like everybody else....
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thats kinda what im thinkin......but who knows.....

course none of that stops lawyers....or judges.
 
Arathol said:
If Stewart was buying blanks, regrinding them, obliterating the China markings and rebranding them as Made in USA Bark River knives, how are the dealers supposed to know? Unless you can prove collusion, Stewart and whoever else knew at BR are solely responsible for whatever happened. The dealers were duped just like everybody else....
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Logic would dictate the dealers knew back in Nov or Dec with the crazy deals. That’s way before now. Given this shouldn’t the dealers have accountability for selling these false products.
 
JearBeatus48 said:
Logic would dictate the dealers knew back in Nov or Dec with the crazy deals. That’s way before now. Given this shouldn’t the dealers have accountability for selling these false products.
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Again, you would actually need to prove they knew.....having a sale means nothing really, its evidence of nothing except somebody was looking to move inventory.
Given Stewards history of public denial of any wrong doing, I doubt he would tell the dealers anything about whatever fraud he was perpetrating on his customers.
Bottom line is there's no evidence of dealer collusion, and until there is Stewart is the only one responsible for the choices that were made.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
But, I have a few. I will Always feel bad for people who may lose their jobs, that Sucks.

BR was often a gateway of sorts into the knife world.... I had a couple Beckers and ESEE, but BR was my first edc fixed knife I carried. Legally.
It was perfect for me then for what I wanted.
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I used to live in the UP. I’ve got three Blackjacks bought directly from them and often stopped by whenever I would visit the area. Sad for the folks that work there. I met quite a few back in the mid 2000’s. Good solid people.
 
DrRollinstein said:
Excited to see the new emerging hot knife brand from Mike Stewart next month, Woof Lake. 5th or 6th times the charm i guess.
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I should steal the name...haha.
We have a little ditch/creek/river near me called Bark River. It kinda spread and flowed all over. I used to fish in ditches for huge rock bass when I was a kid. It was almost embarrassing because they were ditches. Nobody knew you could fish there...But the culverts (steel tubes at the end of the driveway) would have fish in them...idk How fish got in them??? But I did it.
Big rock bass. Fun for a 15 year old me.
 
Sad to see any American company fail. Even sadder to me to see an American company run this way. Disgusting and dishonest. I own one bark river knife I love the design that's about all I'll say. Who knows if it's really 3V steel.
I really can't have much compassion for the employees and if that pisses everyone off well I guess it does. I'm not a liar nor a thief and would never work for one or be forced to do dishonest things. There's always a job somewhere might not be as cool as making knives might not pay as much but long before I do something like I'm reading they did I'll find that work and be able to sleep at night.
Hopefully Mike will be held accountable and honestly his employees may just go with him as what they were doing is IMO illegal as well.
 
waynemanning74 said:
Sad to see any American company fail. Even sadder to me to see an American company run this way. Disgusting and dishonest. I own one bark river knife I love the design that's about all I'll say. Who knows if it's really 3V steel.
I really can't have much compassion for the employees and if that pisses everyone off well I guess it does. I'm not a liar nor a thief and would never work for one or be forced to do dishonest things. There's always a job somewhere might not be as cool as making knives might not pay as much but long before I do something like I'm reading they did I'll find that work and be able to sleep at night.
Hopefully Mike will be held accountable and honestly his employees may just go with him as what they were doing is IMO illegal as well.
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To be honest I'm surprised Mike made it this far, 9 or 11 years when he stole from Brian (maker here at the time) I thought for sure the community would shun him, but nope. Most people don't know, many don't care and there's only a handful of us who even mentioned the f'ery when bark river knives would come up in gkd. Pretty terrible pos and I know it goes back well before Brian.
 
Blues said:
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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Well said. I have a few pieces from a less than reputable individual I bought before being enlightened.
I like the pieces and do use them but I also won’t buy any others.
 
marcus aurelius said:
Do you know when the whole Chinese steel situation started? I guess what vintage of knives we start thinking are mislabled?
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I don't know, the wife of the disgruntle employee claimed they were doing the same sorta thing with Japanese blanks as early as 2005 (scroll down - https://www.ripoffreport.com/report...ed-knives-are-100-american-made-but-ar-170631 ) for certain models.

The second fella claims he saw similar from 2019 - .

So at this point, I don't think we'll ever know what was truly up with BRKT, you can only know if your specific knife is meeting your expectations.
 
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