Mesed up my BRKT Grasso II

That is disappointing OP. Hope they fix it for you or replace. I have never had a BRKT but i have heard good things about their CS. Good luck brother!
 
No need to air it out anywhere else- it is what it is. I'll send it back and report what they do for me. Thanks for the replies.
 
Bass, they will take good care of you. If you get it back and don't like how it looks, give me a call. I'll replace it for you.
 
Here is Bark River's contact info:

BRK
6911 County 426 M.5 Road
Escanaba, MI 49829
(906) 789-1801

If calling, Please make sure to do so Between 9 A.M. – 3 P.M. Eastern Time.
We get very busy at the end of the day and may not be able to get to your questions after 3 P.M.

Feel free to email us as well:
warranty@barkriverknives.com
jacquie@barkriverknives.com

If you call them, they will treat you great and fix your knife.

FWIW, Bark River heat treats its knives to be tough rather than brittle - so you do tend to get dings like this when hitting something harder - like the core of the small branch in your picture. Mike's idea is that it's better when out in the woods to have a bent ding than a chip missing, since you can still use the knife, and on small dings even realign it to some degree. Still, I agree that the edge seems to be ground a bit too fine and should be reground.

Finally, Derrick of Knives Ship Free above is a great guy and excellent dealer, and will take care of you. One of the original good guys, even if he has lost 40 lbs in the last few months and I haven't!
 
I don't know anything about the company or their products but it seems to me there are better tools for that sort of job, like a pruning saw...
 
RUNIT said:
Looks about right. And yes it is totally your fault, that dead wood is much too hard for a chopper to handle. ;)
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Nailed it.

Grampa said:
FWIW, Bark River heat treats its knives to be tough rather than brittle - so you do tend to get dings like this when hitting something harder - like the core of the small branch in your picture.
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It's those small branches....you should know better than to chop them with a chopper. :D
 
CSG said:
I don't know anything about the company or their products but it seems to me there are better tools for that sort of job, like a pruning saw...
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I have several pruning saws, but I wouldn't think to take them camping-the reason I purchased the Grasso. It should have handled the small branch without fail. I'm confident from the responses that BRKT will make it right. It will go back next week.
 
CSG said:
I don't know anything about the company or their products but it seems to me there are better tools for that sort of job, like a pruning saw...
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If a knife company markets a particular model as a capable wood chopping knife, which BRKT does, what's the issue?

On another note-

I have seen and heard of too many issues with BRKT heat treat, thin grinds, rippled edges, chipped edges and QC. I have even owned a couple over the years and was not overly impressed, first run Aurora and Bravo 1, both in A2. On the flip side, I have heard nothing but great things about their customer service. That's good, because it appears that section gets a lot of business.

The price paid for most of these BRKT's is well within the realm of some very good custom knives, fthat you will not see these issues with.
 
Grampa said:
FWIW, Bark River heat treats its knives to be tough rather than brittle - so you do tend to get dings like this when hitting something harder - like the core of the small branch in your picture. Mike's idea is that it's better when out in the woods to have a bent ding than a chip missing, since you can still use the knife, and on small dings even realign it to some degree. Still, I agree that the edge seems to be ground a bit too fine and should be reground.
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The tough heat treatment is not why it got dings. The tough heat treatment is why the blade didn't just completely snap. The real reason it got those massive dings is because there's not nearly enough supporting material behind the edge to keep it from buckling under the impact--i.e. it's ground too thing. ;)
 
bass806 said:
I have several pruning saws, but I wouldn't think to take them camping-the reason I purchased the Grasso. It should have handled the small branch without fail. I'm confident from the responses that BRKT will make it right. It will go back next week.
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This is what I have in my two SAR packs. Looks like they stopped making it but it works far better than a knife or axe for most tasks. Weighs less than 4 ounces.

http://www.gerbergear.com/Outdoor/Gear/Sportsmans-Wood-Saw_46048
 
Ah, looks like they redesigned it:

http://www.gerbergear.com/Outdoor/Gear/Sliding-Saw_22-41773

This and a proper bushcraft/survival knife like a Fallkniven F1 is a far better combo for outdoors activities IMO. Choppers make no sense to me other than the primal fun of trying to successfully use one (who wouldn't like whacking on stuff with a big ol' blade even if not a terribly efficient tool?).

Just a different perspective on outdoor tools, I guess.
 
I have seen a dime size chunk come out of a BRKT that was chopping a green pine limb no more then 2" in diameter. I will say it again, it happens with their blades. I don't know why, but either heat treat for ground too thin for the job at hand. I have not seen that in other large choppers like ESEE or Beckers.
 
CSG said:
This and a proper bushcraft/survival knife like a Fallkniven F1 is a far better combo for outdoors activities IMO. Choppers make no sense to me other than the primal fun of trying to successfully use one (who wouldn't like whacking on stuff with a big ol' blade even if not a terribly efficient tool?).

Just a different perspective on outdoor tools, I guess.
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And a very valid perspective.
 
CSG said:
I don't know anything about the company or their products but it seems to me there are better tools for that sort of job, like a pruning saw...
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That's certainly a valid opinion, but hardly the matter at hand. The question is if bass's chopper should be able to chop, and what should be done if it cannot....as JollyRoger pointed out.
 
A lot of what I've heard has steered me away from Bark River. I've heard some pretty great stuff too but I'm still of an opinion that a knife like that, that can also come as a semi-custom and isn't cheap either way, should be well inspected before it leaves the shop. Bad or too thin grinds are totally acceptable inside the business but shouldn't make it to the public.
 
CSG said:
Ah, looks like they redesigned it:

http://www.gerbergear.com/Outdoor/Gear/Sliding-Saw_22-41773

This and a proper bushcraft/survival knife like a Fallkniven F1 is a far better combo for outdoors activities IMO. Choppers make no sense to me other than the primal fun of trying to successfully use one (who wouldn't like whacking on stuff with a big ol' blade even if not a terribly efficient tool?).

Just a different perspective on outdoor tools, I guess.
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If you like pocket saws, look into the Silky Pocketboy, Bahco Laplander, and Corona.
 
I would think from reading this thread and looking at the picture, BRKT would simply put a steeper convex edge on their choppers. It's faster, easier, would use less sharpening belts, would save on returns, have happier customers, etc. Horse beaten to death, I know. Just saying' :)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The tough heat treatment is not why it got dings. The tough heat treatment is why the blade didn't just completely snap. The real reason it got those massive dings is because there's not nearly enough supporting material behind the edge to keep it from buckling under the impact--i.e. it's ground too thing. ;)
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bass806, before you send the knife in, can you take a micrometer to the blade and measure the thickness of the steel at the back of the dents as well as the distance from the apex to the back of the dent? Tell us if the damage is >1/16" deep and the edge is <0.015" thick.

FortyTwoBlades is correct that the edge is ground too thin, but the Grasso II is advertised as 5160 steel @ 57-58 Rc, and I have read that BRKT outsources the heat-treatment to Peter's in PA, a respected company. At 57-58Rc, 5160 steel at even 0.015" behind the edge should not take such extreme plastic deformation from chopping wood. My guess is that the metal behind the dents is plenty thick for the advertised hardness, but that the edge is NOT actually 57-58 Rc but is closer to 45-50 Rc, over-tempered, perhaps by machine-grinding. Either that or the damage did not occur as you indicated. YOu are certain that no nails/staples or bricks were involved?

Softer steel requires more material support to prevent deformation, harder steel requires less. Tough steel requires less material support to prevent fracture, brittle steel require more. 5160 @ 57-58 Rc is both hard and tough.


It's funny, the name of the knife always made me think, "Why would anyone want a bolo for cutting grass?" Apparently this knife may only be suited for such tasks...
 
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