Opinions on Bark River Knives

Dead-On said:
Do a little searching here and in the GB&U section and you will find varying opinions about Bark River knives. Personally I like mine a lot. I have a golok machete, two neckers, a Glenn Eagle hatchet and an sts-5. My only complaint is that they rust VERY easily. I keep them well olied and in the safe with all my other knives yet all my BR knives get a spot of rust on them where none of my many other knives do. The rust spots aren't your typical pitting or rust. They looklike tiny fissures or spider veins that seem to run deeper into the metal.

The black powder coating seems to wear off fairly easily. But BR guarantees their knives and will recoat them for nothing if you send them in.

Here is my Sts-5


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Wow! Dat handle man! Very good looking blade there.
 
Nothing against the ESEE knives, but the BRK knives have generally superior ergonomics, particularly for the handles. So many people doing micarta or G10 handles just bolt a pair of square slabs on the tang without any thought of contouring. MD Caldwell is a similar (and even better) knife at a similar price point, but with drastically lower availability.

I also like the convex grind, although as noted this leads to QC issues where an edge is just too thin and chips, rolls, or otherwise deformed.

While most BRK knives are base A2, many of them are available in 3V or even CPM154, Elmax, or other high-end stainless, if you really don't want to deal with the rust issues.
 
22-rimfire said:
The advantage is that people like me might buy many of his knives where we don't really indulge in his brand to any extent.

Jastab, he is a manufacturer. He is not just a guy who sells knives. Do you think Spyderco gains much by having a big display at BLADE? Probably not, but I can go and handle many of their knives that I might never have the opportunity to handle otherwise. I then buy.... It is called supporting the industry.
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That's no different than buying a custom from someone here. Most don't hold knives before they buy them. Over half my collection I've never held before I bought, including my only brkt. He sells alot of knives, that's supporting the industry. His knives are sold here on the exchange, that's supporting the industry as well.
 
Jastab said:
That's no different than buying a custom from someone here. Most don't hold knives before they buy them. Over half my collection I've never held before I bought, including my only brkt. He sells alot of knives, that's supporting the industry. His knives are sold here on the exchange, that's supporting the industry as well.
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99% of my collection I never held before purchase.
 
Krav said:
It's just not his bag baby. Yeh.baby yeh. It's His business, run it however he wants to.
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Exactly. If Mike needed to go, he'd go. Like I said before, say what you will about his personality, or his product....he is an incredibly shrewd seller of knives. Like I said before...Best in the business.

And think about his promotion/advertising. Does he have a web site? Nope. Not really. Ever seen promotion directly from Bark River? Nope. His sellers and a forum do his advertising for him. Brilliant.

And like I said before there is also the other reasons for not attending the shows. Both, like RedLynx said before contain truth.
 
I recently bought a bravo 1 LT 3V. High quality, comfortable, and has a nice blade shape, but I am not fond of convex blade geometry. It does not carve wood or cut food with the same control as a flat/scandi/chisel grind in my experience. Those are the typical knife tasks for me, so it is not usually my first choice. I've read that many people really enjoy the knife for hunting and heavier use such as chopping or batoning; i dont hunt but when I process wood, I prefer at least a larger blade if not an axe or saw.

I think its more of a toy than a necessary tool for most people, like most knives in its category. So if you like the specs and appearance, give it a shot and enjoy :D
 
A fair % of my accumulation was purchased without holding or inspecting as well. But I do know that I am willing to pay more at a dealer if I can hold the actual knife I am thinking of buying. Everything I own that was made by Bark River are A-2. I have to talk myself into buying "super steel" knives. My most recent is a Spyderco Native which I handled in a retail store.

I agree with you guys on Mr. Stewart. He does what he wants to. He probably sells most of what he makes already anyway.
 
22-rimfire said:
I agree with you guys on Mr. Stewart. He does what he wants to. He probably sells most of what he makes already anyway.
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And his new stuff, at least as far as I understand, seems to be backordered like crazy. I don't keep up with BRKT news so I am unsure what the latest model is/when it came out. But back when I frequented the other forum and a new or even relatively new BRKT was around, that waiting list was super long.

I may not personally care for the knives themselves or the company much but like Marcinek said, given how little actual advertising and marketing is done for his knives, that guy has serious selling skills.

I am sure that some people would buy knives at Blade from him that may not otherwise but I think it's sort of like you say with Spyderco... does a table at Blade boost their sales all that much? Probably not, they really don't need it. Although being able to handle the latest and greatest is cool, no doubt.
 
I have two BRKT Bravo 1's in A2, and a BRKT Gunny. In addition I have the RC-4 (now ESEE), and two Swamp Rat RMD's. One is the uncoated LE version which is beautiful. I like all these knives, but I use the BRKT's. The others pretty much just sit, as I have discovered I don't like choils, nor coated blades. My Bark Rivers look new, and they are users. A little mineral oil goes a long way. They are bright, and shiny. If they get beat up I can send them back to BRKT for the price of shipping, and they will come back looking new.
 
RedLynx said:
And his new stuff, at least as far as I understand, seems to be backordered like crazy. I don't keep up with BRKT news so I am unsure what the latest model is/when it came out. But back when I frequented the other forum and a new or even relatively new BRKT was around, that waiting list was super long.
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Beauty part #1. BRK doesn't sell to individuals, only to its distributors. So the backorder means that when they make a knife...it has already been sold.

RedLynx said:
I may not personally care for the knives themselves or the company much but like Marcinek said, given how little actual advertising and marketing is done for his knives, that guy has serious selling skills.
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Beauty part #2. That's not quite true. There is a TON of advertising and marketing for Bark River. Except Bark River doesn't pay for it. The distributors do the bulk of it, because they are the only ones who sell Bark Rivers to the public. The rest is done on forums, which costs nothing but time. And a good chunk of that is done by BRK customers.
 
marcinek said:
Beauty part #1. BRK doesn't sell to individuals, only to its distributors. So the backorder means that when they make a knife...it has already been sold.
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Now that I didn't know, although I should have assumed given their business model. That is indeed a beautiful thing.

Beauty part #2. That's not quite true. There is a TON of advertising and marketing for Bark River. Except Bark River doesn't pay for it. The distributors do the bulk of it, because they are the only ones who sell Bark Rivers to the public. The rest is done on forums, which costs nothing but time. And a good chunk of that is done by BRK customers.
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It would be interesting if someone did the numbers on how much money they save given all of that advertising. Good for them.
 
marcinek said:
Good thing we got the real experts like you here to tell us what's what! :D
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Well Duh, This is just what I do!;)

I do like how this thread has devolved into opinions on all sorts of things other than actual use of said knives. Who'd a thunk it?
 
craytab said:
Well Duh, This is just what I do!;)

I do like how this thread has devolved into opinions on all sorts of things other than actual use of said knives. Who'd a thunk it?
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I wouldn't say devolved necessarily. It's just diverged and those divergent paths can be equally insightful and interesting. ;)
 
Love them! Own 3 and I'm not even close to finished with getting more of them. Buy with no fear. Great customer service and they take care of any issues you may have! But I've never had an issue ! Solid. Buy !
 
My old Highlander is a fine knife, it has strong black patina where i touch it, no brown or red, great sheath
They are superb at designing knives in general, amazing handle choices
It is just such a pity that i have read so many... questionable things about them, even directly in the horses mouth...
I am a bit confused when i read about them grinding edges too fine, it seems like a problem anyone with a stone and spit could fix
Ground heat treat however... not appealing
 
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