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

[Arathol]

He scammed, lied. Defrauded partners, vendors, customers not because he was in and out of financial ruts but because he wanted to, plain and simple. Wanted to because he saw money in hurting other people for financial gain. Really, his bank accounts should be frozen by the feds because of the amount of crimes he committed and the length of time he did so

He has admitted to intentional fraud for profit using the internet.....That is a Federal offense, 20 years in jail.

18 USC 1343: Fraud by wire, radio, or television
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency (as those terms are defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)), or affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

 

[Taz]

I know Current Composites sold handle materials to BRK and BRK stopped paying them and owes several thousand dollars to Current. Current is where Pops got their emerald green Micarta from, as well as lots of their vintage Micarta and G10 products. They also sell a lot to Masecraft Supply, also in CT near me, as well as to NJSB.

I use a ton of Currents products in my handles and I had them reach out to BRK when BRK was complaining about supply shortages due to COVID and having issues with lower quality materials not machining well and delaminating on them. Around 95% of Currents raw materials are sourced in the US IIRC (I got to tour their factory in CT and see their warehouse), and made various places in the US, so they had less supply issues during Covid. Now we know that BRK wasn't able to get materials from suppliers due to non payment, but I had no idea that was going on at the time. Can't begin to describe how ticked off I am at BRK for screwing over suppliers like this and at myself for trying to help Current get some business and this ended up happening to them. Pops and Current were both left unpaid by BRK. Wish I did more digging before I had Current reach out to BRK.

 

[StrangeDaze]

What was the catalyst for shutting down and admitting some of the steel deception?
I missed how this all came up.
It seems like if they just ran out of money, Mike wouldn't have admitted it voluntarily.

 

[Arathol]

What was the catalyst for shutting down and admitting some of the steel deception?
I missed how this all came up.
It seems like if they just ran out of money, Mike wouldn't have admitted it voluntarily.

From what I see creditors started having stuff seized or repossessed on Friday.

 

[ShaiHulud]

So their posts were more of a "im only sorry because I was caught" kind of apology

 

[Taz]

I read that the "receivables" were hit and the accounts frozen so they couldn't get any money out. 3 lawsuits hit in early March for breach of contract and non payment against BRK and I guess one of those got bank accounts frozen?

Employees were ticked and broke the news of the China blanks from what I read when they found out they weren't getting paid last Friday. Supposedly the employees were trying to figure out how to let people know of the China blanks without screwing themselves over, so when they heard they weren't getting paid and BRK was closing, they had nothing left to lose.

There is supposedly a video of when Mike told the employees they were closing and they had no money to pay them according to an employee.

 

[Cobalt]

Huh?
Japanese rep says he does not have the steel they want. So why was an order placed?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. They spoke to each other in japanese so that the americans would not understand. But mike understood or had someone that did. And of course this is directly frim mike so take it with a grain of salt. The point is that mike knew to test steel and verify so claiming he didnt know that any knife he makes would have the wrong steel would certainly be out of the question.

 

[rrrgcy]

Why were funds loaned to the co. from several financers? Something precipitated a need for funds. Usually, a manufacturing business (BRK in this analogy) that relies HEAVILY on just a few accounts (dealers) cannot lose those accounts. You HAVE to spread the risk among many more clients and not have most all eggs in just a couple accounts because if any pull back you're screwed.
They'd lose ability to keep-up their operation (unless they make changes), they can't pay off capital investments (i.e., new machine loans, tooling, etc.), and perhaps for those most invested in the success of the co (like the OWNER(S) who perceive they can't lower their standard of living), cannot lose the PROFIT generated from those accounts. Those few clients here might be the two or three main dealers that BRK relied on to sell their knives to.

Would anyone know if perhaps one or two dealers already had so much inventory of BRK product they were cutting back and hence drying up BRK's sales/revenue? A way to re-negotiate continued sales to the dealers could be to grant concessions like to lower cost of the product. The way to lower costs for BRK is pay employees less, use cheaper materials, get more efficient with procedures and machinery, etc. Obviously not paying suppliers their due is a way to get things for free (for awhile). So, what caused the downturn that made the owner to first seek an injection of cash and then press "the easy button?"

If the business was humming fine for awhile, was the $$$ later overspent/misspent but on what and how?

I point the following out because it's an example of where my ex-wife's co. failed because they simply failed to sell wanted product but involved shenanigans at the end. My ex-wife's employer at one time was running a sinking ship. It was a small business employing maybe 15 people, from graphic designers, sales, logistics folk for importing certain cellphone accessories. The products were made after molds in China were approved and the manufacturing then shipped to the US. Well, it's risky because if a design doesn't sell well you have all that unsellable inventory. The co. has to go through a lot of designs at some expense. After a while, he stopped paying the Chinese companies for their production, then stop paying for mold making etc. Got so bad many companies in China refused to work with him - The Chinese customs even seized some of his outbound product, it was that terrible. And my ex even had to lie on calls saying boss wasn't in the office (all the time). The employees were working from a small but nice office. Towards the end, she and others noticed the boss was walking investors through showing off the company and functions - bragging - AND then took them outside to the next building over to show them the unbelievably modern and spacious offices where he just signed a lease. The signing of the lease was even in the local news showing off what a great business this was. He was selling them that the co was EXPANDING because they were doing so well. My ex didn't know if any investors loaned $, but it was all for show because everyone knew the business was failing and the lease was signed just to create a false appearance. Any employee that worked there for more than a few months knew what was going on because they all speak to one another it's how small businesses are. The owner shut the business down within a month. There was suspicion that money was invested and lost (where'd it go?), and that there were two sets of books, too. The owner and family were living really well, wealthily, during and after the crash.

If a manufacturer is running for 20-30 years and one of its few major clients pulls back, doesn't it then either need to seek new clients, or lower costs on existing product builds AND at the same time likely let go of some # of employees until the new balance is found? Then later hopefully grow again? Sometimes a business has to shrink some to survive. So, what exactly happened?

 

[Jaybees]

What was the catalyst for shutting down and admitting some of the steel deception?
I missed how this all came up.
It seems like if they just ran out of money, Mike wouldn't have admitted it voluntarily.

I got the inpression that Mike Stewart was trying to mitigate the fallout from his ex-employess coming forward with claims of Bark River using chinese steel. He's trying to frame it as a mistake (which of course everyone knows is total BS), and divert blame from his son and wife. (Leslie actually owned the business from my understanding). We all know what's at hand here. Jim most likely moved offsite any knife making material or equipment not financed by the banks or other businesses for his own use. I would be surprised if MS really had any personal funds left, as it was probably handed it all over to his son as seed money for the new venture. This, of course, most will understand anyway. So of course Jim's new knife making business will be his and his alone, but built from picking clean the burning corpse of Bark River Knives.

 

[StrangeDaze]

i missed the part where the employees were outing him before there were recent allegations.

It makes sense now though. They thought they weren’t going to get paid so they put him on blast.

They should have come forward sooner imo. When someone is doing bad things, it is only a matter of time until they do something bad to you as well.

 

[Arathol]

Does anyone know if perhaps one or two dealers already had so much inventory of BRK product they were cutting back and hence drying up sales/revenue for BRK? A way to re-negotiate continued sales to the dealers could be to grant concessions to the dealers, like lower cost of the product. The way to do this is for BRK to lower its costs and use cheaper stock (foreign blanks) as one easy answer. The other obviously was to have cheated suppliers by not paying them and getting those other needs for free for awhile. So, what caused the downturn that made the owner press "the easy button?"

I have been wondering about this myself. If you believe whats being reported, combined inventory of just KSF and DLT was some 20K knives. Got to wonder how many they were actually selling. Its possible that they over estimated the demand and flooded the market.

 

[Riz!]

I'd swear it was mentioned already but I can't recall this many pages of posts...

There was a Cedric and Ada (Pete) video where he ordered a spefic model to test. Pretty sure it was a convex edge test. It was supposed to be CPM154 but it rusted on him making him think it was something else.

Pretty sure that was way before 2019. Hard to not want to play connect the dots this deep into this.

I had a CPM 154 bravo 1 that didnt hold an edge for squat. Sold it way back. Maybe when I was on Knife Forums.

I had a few others that developed pits.

Back then the excuse/explanation used by Mike and the Sharpshooter Sheath d-bag was that when they ground carbon steel on a belt and then switched to grinding stainless, the micro particles pf carbon steel would embed in the stainless and basically seed the rust/pitting.

I also had a 3V aurora that had the Lignum Vitae handle warp twice. That wood shouldn't warp. Sold them all after that

 

[ShaiHulud]

There was a dbk video that tested a brk knife in magnacut shortly after the steel released and the knife (im trying to recall) either chipped or broke in half during batoning wood. They told brk and they replaced it saying there must have been an issue during HT or the steel when the knife was made. Again im working from memory but I do remember the highlights of that video. Im starting to wonder if that was even magnacut at this point

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

I've got two "Magnacut" BRK's I'm going to take to get XRF'd tomorrow. Shop has a scanner that's supposed to be designed for metals. Will report on results.

 

[Arathol]

There was a dbk video that tested a brk knife in magnacut shortly after the steel released and the knife (im trying to recall) either chipped or broke in half during batoning wood. They told brk and they replaced it saying there must have been an issue during HT or the steel when the knife was made. Again im working from memory but I do remember the highlights of that video. Im starting to wonder if that was even magnacut at this point

Yeah I remember that one too, seemed a bit odd then but the inclusion excuse seemed plausible at the time, now, not so sure.....

 

[oldmanwilly]

There was a dbk video that tested a brk knife in magnacut shortly after the steel released and the knife (im trying to recall) either chipped or broke in half during batoning wood. They told brk and they replaced it saying there must have been an issue during HT or the steel when the knife was made. Again im working from memory but I do remember the highlights of that video. Im starting to wonder if that was even magnacut at this point

Yes, and if I recall correctly the knife in question had some large, deep jimping along the spine - right where it met the handle. BRK basically put a row of serious stress risers in the worst possible spot. Even if it was the correct steel, it's almost like they didn't consider the possibility they were intentionally weakening their blade.

 

[David Mary]

serious stress risers

Like the fullers in post 1070 by Mistwalker. I gave myself a black eye with that facepalm.

 

[knarfeng]

Back then the excuse/explanation used by Mike and the Sharpshooter Sheath d-bag was that when they ground carbon steel on a belt and then switched to grinding stainless, the micro particles pf carbon steel would embed in the stainless and basically seed the rust/pitting.

Just for clarification, if they did use a belt which had been used on carbon steel, then used that belt on stainless, it is indeed possible that they contaminated the oxide layer on the stainless steel, making corrosion of the stainless blade possible. It is a known issue when processing both carbon steel and stainless steel in the same shop.

Stainless steel is stainless because of the adherent oxide layer. If you contaminate that layer with bits of non-stainless steel, corrosion of the steel is possible.

So, the supplied explanation could have been actually what happened.

 

[Delgadonine]

Milli Vanilli had actual singers help commit their fraud. Who were the actual knifemakers who helped to commit this fraud?

Who are Mike's co-conspirators?

 

[Maximumbob54]

Went home last night and pulled out my Bravo 1 and stared at it for a bit. It occurred to me the leather sheath it came with also struck me at purchase as being pretty decent for the total price I paid.

But wait...

Nothing has been said yet, but now I can't help but be left wondering where it may have really been made.

Edit to add:

None of these are digs against anyone, please do not take it that way. These are just personal observations or back and forth...

They turned a blind eye within a crooked company so they can put food on the table. Sure, it’s not the most ethical thing, but don’t act like they snuck into your house and stole money directly from your wallet. Mike Stewart has been known as a shady individual for years anyways, so anyone who willingly supported him in recent years is no better than the people who still support Mick Strider.

Move. I did. I moved across country. It was hard but it was worth it.

Agreed. I'm all for ethics and good morality, but you cant eat ethics or shelter under morals. Employees generally aren't to blame. That wouldn't work for any other field or organization or company, so it doesn't really work here just because its a knife maker.

They're doing hands on labor. Go work for some other hands on labor type company. Go to a job placement center. If you're young enough, go enlist. There's just never a reason to say you can't find anything else.

There was a dbk video that tested a brk knife in magnacut shortly after the steel released and the knife (im trying to recall) either chipped or broke in half during batoning wood. They told brk and they replaced it saying there must have been an issue during HT or the steel when the knife was made. Again im working from memory but I do remember the highlights of that video. Im starting to wonder if that was even magnacut at this point

Just saw after I clicked quote on this that it was probably the jimping. I get that we aren't supposed to baton knives. I GET IT. Try and stop me... (humor)


Can't get under the below quote... The first time I've personally ever heard of this is when MagnaCut entered the scene. I hope it's just my ignorance on the subject but I swear I don't remember it when any other new stainless swept the marketplace. Is this a phenomenon unique to the specific blend that makes this grade actually stainless???

Just for clarification, if they did use a belt which had been used on carbon steel, then used that belt on stainless, it is indeed possible that they contaminated the oxide layer on the stainless steel, making corrosion of the stainless blade possible. It is a known issue when processing both carbon steel and stainless steel in the same shop.

Stainless steel is stainless because of the adherent oxide layer. If you contaminate that layer with bits of non-stainless steel, corrosion of the steel is possible.

So, the supplied explanation could have been actually what happened.