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

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StuntDouble said:
The number of apologists out there is insane. These people really do love being conned. Every time I see a “Pray for Mike and his family” comment it makes me want to vit.
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Mike and his family aren’t broke. The company is broke. Mike is loaded. 💰

Anyone that takes the risk of loaning him or his son money needs to put a personal guarantee in the contract and have the spouse sign it too.
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
What’s with all the swearing and foul language in GKD?
You can get your point across without it.
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I just edited a word from one post, Coleman, I wasn't aware of the others. Thanks for bringing it up.

Folks, this isn't W&C. We expect civil language in General Knife Discussion, not only toward one another, but regarding the subject matter as well.

Thank you
 
Kids google and read BF. I’m all for outing the shady practices of BRK and any other bad actors out there.

With all the content in this thread in GKD…I wouldn’t want my nieces or nephews or anyone else's kids to be reading some of this stuff.
 
My discussion with KSF customer support has so far been less than fruitful. Soon to be an ex-customer, I think. KSF & DLT lent an air of credibility to BRK due to their constant promotion of BRK products. Now they just shrug their shoulders and try move on from the mess they helped create.
 
I'm confused. Was the guy just embezzling or otherwise pocketing all the money somehow? If the vendors were stocking their shelves and the knives were selling and the cherry on the poo sundae is using inported steel instead of CPM steels then how did the company go under?

Or is that how much you have to pay people to keep quiet for that long and not squeal...?
 
chevyrulez1 said:
Most of this thread has focused on the ethics surrounding BR and others, but there is another aspect of all this that I want to mention. The root cause of all of this mischief was that the company got in financial trouble. This goes back to comments I have made in other threads about the sustainability of the current knife market, pricing, etc. Sounds like to me (regardless of the unethical way they handled it) the law of supply and demand caught up with them and Bark River's business model failed.
I am afraid there are going to be more knife makers falling by the wayside soon due to economic factors. As fuel and everything else gets more expensive, I suspect many of these "premium" companies are going to find their revenues suffering as demand for premium/luxury knives will start to decline.
People only have so much money, and sometimes they have to make hard decisions about how they are going to spend it. I personally have never purchased a Bark River knife because I couldn't justify the price for what I was getting. Apparently I was not the only one.
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Can‘t blame the market for bad / corrupt management.

What you do when the market shrinks is reduce output, workforce, etc.

Instead BR appears to have handled it more like a Ponzi scheme. Remember, they are obviously deep in the red with their suppliers, this must have gone on for a while.
 
SharpBits said:
My discussion with KSF customer support has so far been less than fruitful. Soon to be an ex-customer, I think. KSF & DLT lent an air of credibility to BRK due to their constant promotion of BRK products. Now they just shrug their shoulders and try move on from the mess they helped create.
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I agree with you if that matters at all.

I’m sure the owners of those dealers are ethical, however it was an unwise decision to support a company like BRK given the massive red flags and cut off from material suppliers. Goes to show you need to be objective in business decisions even if it hurts in the short term.

They were too close in their business relationship and became friends. Hard to separate the two once you garner those ties.
 
Just saw the KSF has the new BRK Tengu model that is set to drop at 2:00pm today. Anyone going to be there at the frenzy trying to snag one?

Sarcasm aside, does anyone really think these will be 3V since it was officially admitted that the most recent runs were all Chinese steel?

I get that KSF wants to stay in business, but I'm really shocked that they are just continuing on as if nothing happened.
 
ferider said:
Can‘t blame the market for bad / corrupt management.

What you do when the market shrinks is reduce output, workforce, etc.

Instead BR appears to have handled it more like a Ponzi scheme. Remember, they are obviously deep in the red with their suppliers, this must have gone on for a while.
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There’s a good chance this has been going on as long as Bark River has been around.
 
I seriously looked at a few BRK over the years. I really liked some of their designs. Never bought one though because I could make any of them as good if not better.
I do have a couple of Blackjack Seki City knives from the late 80s early 90s. I'm happy with.them. Sadly I'm just finding out about his role in the destruction of BJK.

He has left stains on the American knife industry and should be ostracized accordingly.

I had been saving my BJK Anacondas and Dirks as collectors items. They may no longer have much value so now I can take them outside into the sunlight, first time in 35 years, and whack some vegetation. 😁
 
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Has anyone thought about where Jim Stewart could possibly get the funds to even start addressing the known fraudulent models?

Shipping alone on 6 models with 400 knives each, if he’s only posting return shipping, not both ways, would be like $36,000 @ $15 flat rate, no insurance.

Now factor in the cost of belts, materials, replacement blades (plus new waterjet cutting & ht), labor (this could be into the years if he’s by himself) you’re into the $100,000s on these 2400 known knives.

And they’d have all that work they’d need to do for free. Zero revenue while they’re doing that.

They will never be able to make this right.

Especially not if they’re in prison
 
draggat said:
Just saw the KSF has the new BRK Tengu model that is set to drop at 2:00pm today. Anyone going to be there at the frenzy trying to snag one?

Sarcasm aside, does anyone really think these will be 3V since it was officially admitted that the most recent runs were all Chinese steel?

I get that KSF wants to stay in business, but I'm really shocked that they are just continuing on as if nothing happened.
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Oof, one would hope that was scheduled and wasn’t caught in time. Otherwise, it’s definitely in bad taste.
 
somber said:
Has anyone thought about where Jim Stewart could possibly get the funds to even start addressing the known fraudulent models?

Shipping alone on 6 models with 400 knives each, if he’s only posting return shipping, not both ways, would be like $36,000 @ $15 flat rate, no insurance.

Now factor in the cost of belts, materials, replacement blades (plus new waterjet cutting & ht), labor (this could be into the years if he’s by himself) you’re into the $100,000s on these 2400 known knives.

And they’d have all that work they’d need to do for free. Zero revenue while they’re doing that.

They will never be able to make this right.

Especially not if they’re in prison
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Jim had no idea what was going on?
Yeah right.
No, all of them should slink away never to be heard from again.
 
I would bet that Mike is doing fine financially. I'm a business owner so I wind up friends with other business owners. I have watched a few gradually take more and more money out of the business until it is just a skeleton of what it once was. Then they disappear and pop up later in a warmer climate near the ocean.

Employees, vendors, creditors, etc are left wondering what happened and trying to get paid. Most of them don't get paid because this has been planned for years. Money has been moved over time. The owner has made sure not to PG any credit. The company has taken on more debt than would make sense. People look at the balance sheet and say you can't get blood out of a rock and forget about it. Unless they owe a lot of $$ to a big bank, they aren't worth chasing. So they get away with it.
 
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