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

*Warning, unpopular opinion approaching

What a sham, shame I mean... Let me get this straight though. If I knowingly fraud the knife community. It's cool as long as I have a boss?

Sounds like It took a village. I hope for both financial and integrity success for all, if these reports are facts.
 
shinyedges said:
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.
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I didn’t know anything about Bark Rivers reputation and Mikes past when I joined in 2020! Like others have said, they were a gateway with so many designs and variations! I’d bought a few in 2017-18 and they seemed legit. The fine folks here who repeatedly mentioned his shady past definitely didn’t fall on deaf ears and is highly appreciated! Saved me from buying many more over the last 7 years.
 
Arathol said:
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.
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That’s somewhat obvious. But I do 100% agree
 
scorpnsnake said:
*Warning, unpopular opinion approaching

What a sham, shame I mean... Let me get this straight though. If I knowingly fraud the knife community. It's cool as long as I have a boss?

Sounds like It took a village. I hope for both financial and integrity success for all, if these reports are facts.
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As they say in the military, you have a duty to disobey unlawful orders, if you don't, then you own it as well.
 
DeadPineKnives said:
I'm convinced that Mike Stewart is just the knife world's version of a private equity firm
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As an admitted Spyderco fanboy, I guess I’ve been under a rock. I had a Bark River Bravo 1 a number of years ago, and while I never really used it, the design, bevels and fit and finish seems good.
What is all of the negativity about regarding Mr. Stewart?
 
M.FREEZE said:
As an admitted Spyderco fanboy, I guess I’ve been under a rock. I had a Bark River Bravo 1 a number of years ago, and while I never really used it, the design, bevels and fit and finish seems good.
What is all of the negativity about regarding Mr. Stewart?
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Ethical concerns for the most part, in recent years Bark River has had a reputation for very hit-or-miss QC and mis-marked steels. I don't know Mike Stewart as a person, but from what I understand he has the reverse Midas touch and does not take kindly to criticism.
 
M.FREEZE said:
As an admitted Spyderco fanboy, I guess I’ve been under a rock. I had a Bark River Bravo 1 a number of years ago, and while I never really used it, the design, bevels and fit and finish seems good.
What is all of the negativity about regarding Mr. Stewart?
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Id recommend searching the Feedback forum. Its like a yearly tradition for me to go back and read all the Mike Stewart drama.

Basically, he's spent his entire career lying, cheating, and stealing.
 
Reading all of this is incredibly irritating to me. I've been a member here for over 15 years and never really noticed much in the way of criticism or controversy surrounding BRK. I didn't even know who Mike Stewart was until I bought the Mike Stewart Bowie a few weeks ago. I guess I live under a rock, even here on BFC.



This is my pile of BRK mystery steel I guess..... Plus another Blackjack that's supposed to arrive on Monday. 🤯. Oh, and I do have another one that I use as a kitchen knife, which is supposedly 154CM. never noticed anything strange about it.

I guess now I know why I rarely see anyone post pictures of theirs.

I do agree with others about not working for dishonest people. However, I have found myself in that position a couple of times over my career. I always managed to leave, but every time it took me a few months. When you have others depending on you for support, you can't always just bail on a job instantly.

The people who stayed for years doing crooked work, well, in the end I hope they get what they deserve.
 
draggat said:
Reading all of this is incredibly irritating to me. I've been a member here for over 15 years and never really noticed much in the way of criticism or controversy surrounding BRK.
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With you joing in 2010, I think the worst of the drama was already winding down. I recall a few people bringing up some pretty serious QC issues with BRK&T in the GBU, and here in general in 2007 - 09.
 
fun side note...googles ai thinks all these discussions are all basically false rumors and have no basis in truth or accuracy. its advice is to rely on bark rivers own Facebook postings and website media releases......in other words trust mike stewart............lol...you cant make this stuff up
 
M.FREEZE said:
As an admitted Spyderco fanboy, I guess I’ve been under a rock. I had a Bark River Bravo 1 a number of years ago, and while I never really used it, the design, bevels and fit and finish seems good.
What is all of the negativity about regarding Mr. Stewart?
Click to expand...
M

Thread 'Bark River Knives/Mike Stewart's Reputation'

I've been looking into buying some Bark River Knives recently. One thing that concerns me are the various complaints surrounding this company and their owner, Mike Stewart, regarding their customer service, quality control and possibly immoral business practices.

On the one hand I find it hard to believe that the huge amounts of complaints are totally unfounded.

On the other hand I am loathe to form an opinion based on forum posts alone, with no reference to reliable sources.

So my question is, can anyone provide links to reliable sources that either prove or disprove the...
 
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