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

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Good looking out, John.

No, I was curious about the finer details of his property: value, size, etc.

I know BRK had spent a lot of money on making additions to their shop, which they don’t own.
 
mitchnola said:
So if they use screws made in China can the product still be made in the USA? To me that’s taking it to an extreme. And fortunately that’s not the cass to be able to claim made in the usa.
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It is extreme, but something is either made in the USA, or it’s simply assembled here using foreign parts.
 
I read and pasted this from The Daily Mining Gazette newspaper in the area.
Dated March, 27 2026:

"In the days following the closure, former employees offered concerns over the company’s practices and potential issues with their final paychecks. As of September 2025, the company employed about 34 people

Jersey Jewel Sexton, former office administrator and secretary at Bark River Knives, said Stewart informed employees last Friday that their final paychecks would not clear. She said he later issued replacement checks on Monday.

“I can’t speak to anyone else, but my check cashed,” Sexton said. “I haven’t heard of anyone who wasn’t able to cash that second check yet.”

In Stewart’s statement, he said his son, Jim Stewart, plans to open a new, independent knife company and has agreed to take over warranty responsibilities typically handled by Bark River Knives."

🤔
 
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Glen Juntunen said:
It is extreme, but something is either made in the USA, or it’s simply assembled here using foreign parts.
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Do you recognize there is a difference between raw materials and parts? A sheet of steel is not a part to a knife. It’s not a part until it’s cut out into a blade. If done so in the US then the blade is made in the US.

Taking raw material and turning it into a knife is production therefore produced/made in the US.

Having finished blades, scales backspacers etc made overseas and then simply assembled here is even referred to as assembled in the US but shouldn’t be labeled as made in the US.

If that’s just your opinion then whatevs but it’s certainly not the standard requirement for a product to be made in the USA.
 
Don’t think it is an issue using Chinese steel and using the USA label. Stamping CPM 154 on a Chinese steel knife is Fraud.

However, facing Bankruptcy, human nature and such, one might do stupid things. I own many BRs. Hadn’t kept up with it for a spell. Whatever this is, I not destroying mine. Blackjacks, Marbles, the good ones are still collected, well thought of after the same history. Stewart tarnished the Brand. How much effect that has remains to be seen. If it is limited to those few models with mis labeled steel or the rest.
 
Glen Juntunen said:
It is extreme, but something is either made in the USA, or it’s simply assembled here using foreign parts.
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It's not that simple. And I can't remember the ins and outs because, as I said, "fraud" wasn't my specialty inside my agency.

But there are all sorts of asterisks to the main body of regulations, including stuff like "American Goods Returned" for example, where something from the U.S. is shipped overseas and worked on and then returned to the USA. It's a complex area of regulation.

This AI summary is apt for most things, but it's more nuanced at specific levels, and the lawyers get to argue what "virtually all" or "most" and any qualifiers mean, in which case most courts rely upon precedent from earlier cases.

To be labeled "Made in USA" without qualification, a product must be "all or virtually all" manufactured in the United States, according to the Federal Trade Commission (.gov). This means final assembly, significant processing, and all or nearly all ingredients/components must be of U.S. origin, with only negligible foreign content.
Federal Trade Commission (.gov)Federal Trade Commission (.gov) +2
Key rules for "Made in USA" claims:
  • All or Virtually All Standard: The product should contain no—or negligible—foreign content.
    members.asicentral.commembers.asicentral.com
  • Final Assembly: The final manufacturing or processing must take place in the U.S..
    Federal Trade Commission (.gov)Federal Trade Commission (.gov) +1
  • Significant Processing: All significant parts and processing must be domestic.

  • Substantiation: Manufacturers must have a reasonable basis (evidence) to support the claim before it is made.
    National Institute of Standards and Technology (.gov)National Institute of Standards and Technology (.gov)
Qualified vs. Unqualified Claims
If a product does not meet the "all or virtually all" standard, it cannot use a general "Made in USA" label. It may, however, use a qualified claim that describes the extent of domestic content (e.g., "Made in USA of U.S. and imported parts").
International Trade Administration (.gov)International Trade Administration (.gov) +1
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All of this is interesting but not surprising. I have not bought one in years but own quite a few from my early days of getting back into knives. Hoping the employees land on their feet or even start a new brand?
 
mitchnola said:
Do you recognize there is a difference between raw materials and parts? A sheet of steel is not a part to a knife. It’s not a part until it’s cut out into a blade. If done so in the US then the blade is made in the US.

Taking raw material and turning it into a knife is production therefore produced/made in the US.

Having finished blades, scales backspacers etc made overseas and then simply assembled here is even referred to as assembled in the US but shouldn’t be labeled as made in the US.

If that’s just your opinion then whatevs but it’s certainly not the standard requirement for a product to be made in the USA.
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Yes sir! I’m actually a knife maker myself. I understand what you’re saying, but 100% of the hardware, scales, blade steel, and even packing materials can be sourced right here in America. If an American company is going to proudly advertise their products as “Made in the USA” especially to boost their sales, then why not only use raw materials made here.
 
SharpBits said:
This is exactly why the industry should have pushed Mike out long ago rather than keeping quiet and letting him go on and on. Now, as customers, we are forced to second guess the entire industry.
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No. There's no way I'm gonna live my life like that.

As a rule, I trust every maker I deal with until I have reason to suspect otherwise. (And I'm suspicious by nature.)

I've smoked out some of the bad guys on this forum and sent them packing...but I'd still defend the honor of the makers I deal with and buy from absent evidence to the contrary.
 
Glen Juntunen said:
Yes sir! I’m actually a knife maker myself. I understand what you’re saying, but 100% of the hardware, scales, blade steel, and even packing materials can be sourced right here in America. If an American company is going to proudly advertise their products as “Made in the USA” especially to boost their sales, then why not only use raw materials made here.
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You can have an American made knife and the box will be printed in China. I've yet to see that challenged, but I have seen the packaging.
 
Blues said:
No. There's no way I'm gonna live my life like that.

As a rule, I trust every maker I deal with until I have reason to suspect otherwise. (And I'm suspicious by nature.)

I've smoked out some of the bad guys on this forum and sent them packing...but I'd still defend the honor of the makers I deal with and buy from absent evidence to the contrary.
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I don’t consider the individual makers as part of the industry. They are artisans not factories.
 
Glen Juntunen said:
Yes sir! I’m actually a knife maker myself. I understand what you’re saying, but 100% of the hardware, scales, blade steel, and even packing materials can be sourced right here in America. If an American company is going to proudly advertise their products as “Made in the USA” especially to boost their sales, then why not only use raw materials made here.
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With CPM steels being Swedish now, that will be difficult going forward.

Never read any disclaimers about, say, M390 in USA made knives.

I actually think most knife people are ok with US, European, Taiwan and other source locations - just not mainland China specifically.

And - most important for me - knife makers should be transparent about what they do.
 
Being 100% made in the USA is very limiting to aesthetics. How many exotic woods grow here in the US? ATS-34 was the gold standard for how many years? Honest makers built careers on that stuff. They didn't deliberately screw people over like we're discussing here.
 
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