Only Bark river passed knife tests !!!

t1mpani said:
Nope, not in the caliber selection, but in the pistol selection. The Beretta M9 was actually surpassed by some of the other pistols in the military trials when it came to durability and reliability. There were incidents of "catastrophic failure" with the slides cracking that bumped it down on the preference list for the testers. But, Senator D'Amato wanted Italians to win the contract, and lo and behold they did. And before I'm accused of being anti-Italian or anti-Beretta: Monica Bellucci is the most perfect woman in the world and I own a whole slew of Berettas. All the same, the Ruger and Sig Sauer entries to those trials were tougher and more reliable. I wonder where there's a link to those tests, it was an interesting read. I think I probably have my old Army Times tucked away where I read about it, but it's hard to post that.
Click to expand...

You mean something our military contracted for isn't the best in the world? Must be different with knives.:)
 
For a thread that started out as no more than passing along some good news received by one of our collective favorite knife makers this has taken some dark twisted turns.

I can see about four seperate threads contained in here some of which have no place in a congratulatory context.

BRKT scored a nice chunk of business and praises from some real end users. Good for them!

Along come a small bunch of folks that are never pleased with anyone elses success and stand there peeing on our boots and trying to convince us that it's raining.

Just start another thread for the product bashing and let Mike and his crew enjoy their brief moment in the sun.

John
 
Mike and his crew ARE enjoying their moment in the sun.

Living well is the best revenge. :)
 
jvan said:
For a thread that started out as no more than passing along some good news received by one of our collective favorite knife makers this has taken some dark twisted turns.

I can see about four seperate threads contained in here some of which have no place in a congratulatory context.

BRKT scored a nice chunk of business and praises from some real end users. Good for them!

Along come a small bunch of folks that are never pleased with anyone elses success and stand there peeing on our boots and trying to convince us that it's raining.

Just start another thread for the product bashing and let Mike and his crew enjoy their brief moment in the sun.

John
Click to expand...


Come come now---I'm not saying you're wrong, but asking you to consider the following statement and see if seems to track for you:

"You know, I'm in the mood for a completely reasonable, polite, adult conversation...time to fire up the internet!"

Kind of like commenting that a barnyard has a strong odor to it--it's not that thou art incorrect, but one wonders what thine expectations were. ;)
 
Your point is taken but unless I keep my expectations up the barnyard will always stink. We do end up getting what we expect and then eventually deserve. I can hope, can't I? Color me an optomist I guess.
 
t1mpani said:
"You know, I'm in the mood for a completely reasonable, polite, adult conversation...time to fire up the internet!"

Kind of like commenting that a barnyard has a strong odor to it--it's not that thou art incorrect, but one wonders what thine expectations were. ;)
Click to expand...

It isn't the medium, it is the people. It isn't like in real life you don't have irrationality. Of course on the internet people are more aggressive because they can hide behind screen name, but you can easily find places with sensible people who don't. If you want to discuss steels and performance with actual logical adults then go to the Metallurgy forum on Swordforums for example.

-Cliff
 
Don't leave out their performance blade subforum, either. It's got lots of good info and discussion even though it's a less frequently used forum.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
It isn't the medium, it is the people. It isn't like in real life you don't have irrationality. Of course on the internet people are more aggressive because they can hide behind screen name, but you can easily find places with sensible people who don't. If you want to discuss steels and performance with actual logical adults then go to the Metallurgy forum on Swordforums for example.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Cliff, shhhhhhhh! I already know about those forums, but don't tell them about it! Remember the old 'Last Resort' song from the Eagles..."You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye" :D

Okay, just received mine--like it very much, principally due to the size/ergonomics of the handle. The heel of my palm is usually falling off the ends of knives this size, but there is plenty of room here. It has actually been awhile since I've bought anything from Bark River, and their fit/finish seems to have (at least based on this example) risen a good bit. Of course, to be fair, this is also a significantly more expensive knife than those other barkies I have. Sheath seems secure enough, though I'll probably get either Brian Wagner or David Brown to crank one out for me, as I've grown accustomed to thicker kydex, and just like having the options that a tek-lok affords.

A more robust blade geometry than a typical BRKT hunter but still more acute than the grand majority of production knives. Were I changing anything, I would have a slightly more abrupt drop to the front finger guard on the handle, as this one feels like the hand could find its way onto the blade in even a medium-hard push forward, but--again to be fair--I'm also much more paranoid about this than most having had my index and middle fingers filleted to the bone once by a Buck 110. If you make use of the thumb ramp when pushing, you're most likely more than secure enough. Since there is a lanyard hole, I'll be doing one of my tiny-lanyards that is just enough of a loop to go around my little finger, as that doesn't get in my way but provides another preventative against my hand sliding forward.

I actually had ordered this before I found this thread, and having since done all this reading was very curious what my impressions would be once it actually arrived. Whatever your opinions of the pedigree of this knife (what kind of tests were done, what was the competition, etc.) I think anyone interested will be very happy with it if they're looking for a stout, general purpose fixed blade.
 
t1mpani,

I agree with your assessment, especially about the front guard. Had an experience once with a (believe it or not) Yojimbo... that was unpleasant, and I look at all knives with that in mind.

What is your "tiny-lanyard"? I'd be curious to see what you do to help prevent this.

You do realize that the holes on the stock sheath will fit a large Tek-Lok?

-j
 
Oh gosh! Another huge 'Testing' thread!LOL!
I highly endorse this knife, the Bravo-1, cause it's loosely based on:
1) My Outdoorsman
2) Becker, Fallkniven, Ontario and a host of other really 'sensible' blade designs.
I disagree with the lack of choil- but that's personal.
Now the fun part....
Bunk on the testing bull!!
I've done plenty of work with the Government and so here's the scoop on so-called testing.
1) The Government tests NOTHING themselves. Yes, Soldiers and other Personell are used as test SUBJECTS but the testing in earnest is actually performed by.....
2) Outsourced contractors! That's right, testing is performed by professional testors that construct the test plans, recruit the test subjects, plan & organize the test runs, proctor, capture /document and interpret the resulting data. Then, these contractors facilitate debriefing sessions and enter all the resulting data into reports that are submitted to the sponsoring agency.
3) A claim of testing or passing of some kind of benchmark requirement, particularly where it pertains to a Government and expecially a Military unit would come only from the sponsoring agency. The results would likely NOT appear in any periodical that carries advertising since that would void the INDEPENDENCE requirements.The results would only be believeable if published in an independent journal or posted on the sponsor's website along with all the data.
4) As a professional evaluator, I'd want to see ALL the source data- video tapes etc, know the identity of the contractor and see the user profiles that related to the said testing . Then I should have an opportunity to duplicate the test. That's the science part.
Also burried within the documentation would be a lengthy and detailed PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS document that lays out the objectives of testing vis a vis the intended application of the product being tested.

So, to sum it up. Secret nebulous testing with no accessible validation of any of the points I brought up is likely not to have been anything more than 'causual observations'. Testing that is irrelevant to the intended application of the product is also not worth much . Take a look at how ISO and NIST test stuff. Those are real performance standards and results are generally available for scrutiny.

Buy the knife! Looks like a production version of my Outdoorsman LOL !
 
biogon said:
You do realize that the holes on the stock sheath will fit a large Tek-Lok?
Click to expand...

Shush you--I'm trying to justify yet another custom sheath expenditure to myself. ;) :D

I'll dig out one of my tiny-lanyard knives once I get back home and take a picture. Essentially it's just a little loop through the lanyard hole, made small enough that I can JUST comfortably get my little finger through it in a normal grip. For my hand to move very far forward at all, either the lanyard would have to be broken or my finger dislocated--not a foolproof safety measure but every little bit helps.
 
t1mpani said:
I'll dig out one of my tiny-lanyard knives once I get back home and take a picture. Essentially it's just a little loop through the lanyard hole, made small enough that I can JUST comfortably get my little finger through it in a normal grip. For my hand to move very far forward at all, either the lanyard would have to be broken or my finger dislocated--not a foolproof safety measure but every little bit helps.
Click to expand...

Are you familiar with Normark's Speed Dialer for the Spydie Waved Endura? I put a similar tiny lanyard on my Waved Endura and if I pull the knife out with my little finger in the lanyard, it comes out in a hammer grip. If I pull it out by my index finger in the lanyard, it comes out into reverse grip.

I also put a small beadchain through the arrowhead cutout in my Bitteroot and the little finger in that gives it the effect of a longer handle for a better grip.
 
I wasn't familiar with the speed dialer but have done a little searching and it looks pretty neat! Althouth this certainly qualifies as one of those really simple-but-effective ideas that I know I SHOULD have thought of but never would have. Sounds like a neat little system you've worked out for it too.

I actually have small lanyards on a couple of my large bowies, too. If I want to choke back, I can put my ring or middle finger through instead of the little one. Seems (to me at least) to make things just as secure as a full-size wrist lanyard, but keeps the knife in your hand if you lose your grip instead of pendulously swinging from your wrist, and also it's nice in that when I'm not using it, I don't have this huge loop flopping around behind the handle.

Okay, I better stop screwing around on BF and finish things up here so that I can get home...and once there, resume screwing around on BF. ;)
 
Moodino, you've already been slapped down on the other forum for claims that your design was stolen, even though your knife was designed AFTER the Bravo.....get over it. Or are you saying that some psychic stole the design out of your thoughts?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top