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

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If I was a dealer like DLT I’d be doing everything I could to distance myself from this dumpster fire. Especially considering all the other improprieties that took place. The owner of DLT is being praised for his measured response, but it’s still all reactionary…damage control. Of course taking care of the existing customers that may have been misled is warranted.

Business is about taking risks, it’s hard to argue against them not knowing who they were in bed with. In this case the risk backfired. The wholesale prices were too good and it was profits that clouded judgement.

What do you do? Might sound sensational but wipe them off the website, pull the stock, auction them off in lots, donate them to scouts or charities? Take the hit, the $100k loss in inventory might be less than the damage to your reputation and loss of customers.
 
Interesting How the Knifenews Website posted An Article As Recently as Yesterday and there Is NO MENTION of this Fraudulant, Scandalous Behavior from BRK on their Web Page!!!
 
Folks, let's stay on topic...or this will end up shut down again.

And let me say this...my former agency had a group which worked with other federal, state and local agencies on child porn and other outrages against children. I hate the vermin that commit these crimes as much as anyone, and maybe more than most. I've seen some of the evidence, and it's stomach turning.

That said, as Boru13 Boru13 said above, this is a knife thread on a knife forum...not the place to examine crimes against children. I trust that competent law enforcement with jurisdiction can and will handle that.

Please do not link or post such images or data here. It's not the place for it, nor can we control who views it, including young folks who don't need to be exposed to it.

Thank you for taking this into consideration.
 
nsm said:
Jason is sending us a batch of knives to check with our Niton (XRF) gun. It takes about 6–10 seconds per blank to get a reading. DLT has been a great customer, so we’re not planning to charge for this unless the volume gets into the thousands and requires formal documentation. A simple pass/fail check will be straightforward and also gives our operators a good opportunity to get more hands-on time with the unit.
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And then the pieces of crap will be SOLD? Really?

Jdottinger said:
Jim made his statement, not sure it’s been posted here yet. View attachment 3142472View attachment 3142473
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SURV!VE will return! Oh wait, different story...
 
Jaybees said:
What a way to ruin an establish brand and completely crush its fans. On one hand I feel gutted. On the other hand, the writing was on the wall. I am so relieved that all of my Bark River knives are pre-2019. The one's I'm currently using I'm reasonably sure are the correct steel listed (the way they feel when cutting and sharpening). With that said, trust is everthing in any business, You lose that, you eventually lose everything. If money meant more to Mike Stewart then the reputation of his hard built business, then I have to say good riddance. The real shame is that his son Jim Stewart will have to wear that tarnished legacy as well from now on. I don't think the knife community will forget or ever forgive this betrayal. I suspect his foray into the knife business will be short and bittersweet. We will have to wait and see.

Maybe I'm just being niave, but if you make something to sell, and you stand by that product, you at least should be honest about what it is and what it's made from. There was no need to lie or decieve. There are proper and legal ways to deal with insolvency. It's not like Bark River was just a fly-by-night start up company failing in it's early years. It was well known. It had quite a number of happy, loyal customers (also had some disappointed one's too, but that is to be expected). In it's golden years it did produce decent quality, reliable, and really pretty knives, and if it kept that up it could have eventually made legendary status in the knife world. Now, in it's twilight, Bark River is simply dust in the wind, a mere speck of what it once was and can never be again.

Good bye Bark River Knives, thank you for the good years and for the exceptional knives that I currently use and enjoy.

Now it's time to rest in peace.
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Please refrain from buying from Jim Stewart. He's as guilty as his father; he said nothing when he could've and was only second to Mike in running the company; steer clear of the Stewarts.
 
Jaybees said:
What a way to ruin an establish brand and completely crush its fans. On one hand I feel gutted. On the other hand, the writing was on the wall. I am so relieved that all of my Bark River knives are pre-2019. The one's I'm currently using I'm reasonably sure are the correct steel listed (the way they feel when cutting and sharpening). With that said, trust is everthing in any business, You lose that, you eventually lose everything. If money meant more to Mike Stewart then the reputation of his hard built business, then I have to say good riddance. The real shame is that his son Jim Stewart will have to wear that tarnished legacy as well from now on. I don't think the knife community will forget or ever forgive this betrayal. I suspect his foray into the knife business will be short and bittersweet. We will have to wait and see.

Maybe I'm just being niave, but if you make something to sell, and you stand by that product, you at least should be honest about what it is and what it's made from. There was no need to lie or decieve. There are proper and legal ways to deal with insolvency. It's not like Bark River was just a fly-by-night start up company failing in it's early years. It was well known. It had quite a number of happy, loyal customers (also had some disappointed one's too, but that is to be expected). In it's golden years it did produce decent quality, reliable, and really pretty knives, and if it kept that up it could have eventually made legendary status in the knife world. Now, in it's twilight, Bark River is simply dust in the wind, a mere speck of what it once was and can never be again.

Good bye Bark River Knives, thank you for the good years and for the exceptional knives that I currently use and enjoy.

Now it's time to rest in peace.
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Sorry man, there's proof of it going back to 2006
 
MattWRog said:
If I was a dealer like DLT I’d be doing everything I could to distance myself from this dumpster fire. Especially considering all the other improprieties that took place. The owner of DLT is being praised for his measured response, but it’s still all reactionary…damage control. Of course taking care of the existing customers that may have been misled is warranted.

Business is about taking risks, it’s hard to argue against them not knowing who they were in bed with. In this case the risk backfired. The wholesale prices were too good and it was profits that clouded judgement.

What do you do? Might sound sensational but wipe them off the website, pull the stock, auction them off in lots, donate them to scouts or charities? Take the hit, the $100k loss in inventory might be less than the damage to your reputation and loss of customers.
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DLT, KSF etc knew.

They've heard the rumours for the past twenty years, read the articles.

Hell DLT was buying steel for the dirtball just trying to leverage the possibility of getting a sellable product.

They obviously knew what and who Mike and Co were, but morals and ethics took backseat to profit numbers.

And now they continue to sell the knives and will offer store credit when caught

STORE CREDIT!!

The dealers knew (or, possessing a brain and a sense of fairness to the customer, should have known) and they decided the profit was worth the deception, or at the very least the chance of deception. Most of them are going to be wall hangers anyway, right?

Hey DLT, etc how about:

"Yes, for years we've sold a well selling though questionable product and made a TON of money.

Now that the full extent of the operation has been discovered we are offering a full refund to all those that bought these questionable knives that WE sold (and again, made a lot of money on, at your expense)

Please contact us with your knife details and proof of purchase and we will gladly (now that we got caught) refund your money."

*Holding my breath...*
 
Btw does any of you know about Medford knives? Are they legit or just other scammers selling overpriced crap?
 
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