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

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Matthew Gregory said:
A good friend of mine shared this gem with me. You can’t make this shit up. Something to cherish!

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As I’ve never met the man, I’m basing this only on what I’ve been told and read, but I’m assuming that Stewart was a dynamic personality, a convincing one, much akin to what you’d expect from a cult leader. For decades, he’s pulled the wool over people’s eyes, convinced them to do things they’d otherwise never do. DECADES of this. That doesn’t happen if someone is just a simple bullshitter. This guy obviously knows how to pull strings. You can see it exemplied even now, where people are actively talking about sending him money to help ‘right the ship’, or forgiving him and giving him a pass for coming clean. He’s scammed vendor after vendor, time and time again. Screwed lenders, partners, friends… and always there’s someone there defending him. Stockholm Syndrome personified.

I’m not saying that his employees ought be just be given a pass for the transgressions that have taken place, but sometimes desperate, and perhaps abused and weak-willed people make bad decisions, and if they’ve been properly groomed for it by a master in the art, they’re not themselves.

Just a thought, something I’ve been pondering over the last day or so.
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That text from MS shows why he got away with so much. Its not the truth, but it s not a lie either. His version of reality seem to be deception with enough truth mixed in to be believable.
The text is kinda like his CPM154. The steel isn't CPM154 but very much like it. The post is not the truth but sort of like the truth. He didn't buy Chinese blades that were 100% finished, put handles on them and say he made them. He bought Chinese blanks, reground them, finished them out with handles and said he made them....He didn't buff out the Made in China markings, he peeled off the stickers.....
 
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Arathol said:
That text from MS shows why he got away with so much. Its not the truth, but it s not a lie either. His version of reality seem to be deception with enough truth mixed in to be believable.
The text is kinda like his CPM154. The steel isn't CPM154 but very much like it. The post is not the truth but sort of like the truth. He didn't buy Chinese blades that were 100% finished, put blades on them and say he made them. He bought Chinese blanks, reground them, finished them out with handles and said he made them....He didn't buff out the Made in China markings, he peeled off the stickers.....
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Apple pie is very close to apples...
 
He's not the first guy around these parts to have done this stuff...

On one of the last ones, I was actually in touch with sources both here in the U.S. and China before it got put to rest. And the jackass still went down kicking, screaming, and threatening all the way until he was banned from the site.
 
beeinak said:
Don’t be hard on yourself- the handle material assortments alone brought in many buyers, and they had some nice designs. I have 2 BRK- a Crusader and a Cub. I like them and will keep them (I will also not buy another, but that has been my sentiment for a while after becoming aware of things).
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I'm considering them valueless at this point and I won't sell them off to someone else either.

I did a cut test on a 2x4 yesterday with one of my Blackjacks. Not sure how great of a test it was, as douglas for is pretty soft, but I whittled it down pretty good. It was still razor sharp after and I didn't see any edge deformation, so there's that.

I was thinking about my collection of a few hundred knives that many never get used, so from that standpoint, things could be worse.
 
Matthew Gregory said:
A good friend of mine shared this gem with me. You can’t make this shit up. Something to cherish!

IMG_2226-X2.jpg




As I’ve never met the man, I’m basing this only on what I’ve been told and read, but I’m assuming that Stewart was a dynamic personality, a convincing one, much akin to what you’d expect from a cult leader. For decades, he’s pulled the wool over people’s eyes, convinced them to do things they’d otherwise never do. DECADES of this. That doesn’t happen if someone is just a simple bullshitter. This guy obviously knows how to pull strings. You can see it exemplied even now, where people are actively talking about sending him money to help ‘right the ship’, or forgiving him and giving him a pass for coming clean. He’s scammed vendor after vendor, time and time again. Screwed lenders, partners, friends… and always there’s someone there defending him. Stockholm Syndrome personified.

I’m not saying that his employees ought be just be given a pass for the transgressions that have taken place, but sometimes desperate, and perhaps abused and weak-willed people make bad decisions, and if they’ve been properly groomed for it by a master in the art, they’re not themselves.

Just a thought, something I’ve been pondering over the last day or so.
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Jokes aside, it's oddly specific of a line for Mike to make. Others may have reservations, I'm convinced he's done this before. It's 100% fact he's had steel "labeling" issues all along. Maybe the label issue was "made in china".
 
draggat said:
I'm considering them valueless at this point and I won't sell them off to someone else either.

I did a cut test on a 2x4 yesterday with one of my Blackjacks. Not sure how great of a test it was, as douglas for is pretty soft, but I whittled it down pretty good. It was still razor sharp after and I didn't see any edge deformation, so there's that.

I was thinking about my collection of a few hundred knives that many never get used, so from that standpoint, things could be worse.
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So if any BRK’s are safe queens presently, now you won’t feel bad beating the snot out of them.
 
shinyedges said:
Jokes aside, it's oddly specific of a line for Mike to make. Others may have reservations, I'm convinced he's done this before. It's 100% fact he's had steel "labeling" issues all along. Maybe the label issue was "made in china".
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I always figured he was using the Hamburger Helper recipe for years. Get some of the real blade steel to make knives for important customers, but bolster production numbers by mixing in some cheaper steel from who knows where. With so many collectors buying these knives to sit in a safe the chances that he would be found out are are slim, and if there was an issue its just a QC problem and replacement under warranty. .
 
Pretty sure that will just amplify the issue
Irregardless if a maker is a scab or not, dealers cant go around badmouthing them
 
ShaiHulud said:
Thats what bugs me about dealers. You arent selling yours because you deem them to be worthless
But they have no problem selling them at full price (as of now)
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How many knife knuts have 5,000 Bark River knives? Some of the dealers do. Eating that loss would be enough to drive them into bankrupcy.
 
Some of the most unpopular, (around these parts), makers still have legions of fans. Most are oblivious to the issues of character that many of us here are concerned about, and when finding out, often don't care. They just want a good knife. Or what they believe to be a good knife.
 
knarfeng said:
Those who bought them to collect, perhaps. Those who have them as users, why not just go ahead and use them? If they work, they work.
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I have a bravo 2 in 3v (or chinese equivalent) and a Gunny (almost) Elmax. Both have been used enough that i am confident in them...

But i have a Bravo 1.25LT in Cruwear (pot metal version) that i've never used.... I guess i better just try it and find out...
 
knarfeng said:
How many knife knuts have 5,000 Bark River knives? Some of the dealers do. Eating that loss would be enough to drive them into bankrupcy.
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It's a conundrum, sell a knife with mystery steel and origin to stay in business or don't risk selling people Chinese wok steel and maintain your integrity.

Do I think they can maintain integrity and sell 13,000 brks in good faith that they are all the correct as labeled steels and origin without testing each one? Tough question.
 
Blues said:
Some of the most unpopular, (around these parts), makers still have legions of fans. Most are oblivious to the issues of character that many of us here are concerned about, and when finding out, often don't care. They just want a good knife. Or what they believe to be a good knife.
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Yes.
I've read the threads written by guys who go big game hunting. The hunters have fancy knives, but the guides who do much of the processing have no-name knives. They just care that it cuts.

The collectors are the ones who will be left in the lurch on this.
 
shinyedges said:
It's a conundrum, sell a knife with mystery steel and origin to stay in business or don't risk selling people Chinese wok steel and maintain your integrity.

Do I think they can maintain integrity and sell 13,000 brks in good faith that they are all the correct as labeled steels and origin without testing each one? Tough question.
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I think blade testing is one of the options they have been considering.
As the DLT web site states, they are still trying to figure out what to do.

But I don't expect them to just eat 5,000 knives and go belly up themselves.
 
shinyedges said:
It's a conundrum, sell a knife with mystery steel and origin to stay in business or don't risk selling people Chinese wok steel and maintain your integrity.

Do I think they can maintain integrity and sell 13,000 brks in good faith that they are all the correct as labeled steels and origin without testing each one? Tough question.
Click to expand...
IMHO, the only way to move forward with integrity is to send an example of each model out for testing to determine steel composition, and to put all BRKT sales on hold until those results come back in. I know that I don't trust that *ANY* of my BRKT knives are the steel they're labelled as now. If I were one of the distributors, I'd be reaching out to other big distributors to pool the effort/cost.
 
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