BARK RIVER KNIVES QUALITY CONTROL | My Experience
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- čas přidán 20. 06. 2023
- #stuffandthings #barkriver #knives
If you look on the internet, you might think that American made Bark River knives are some of the worst knives on the market in terms of quality control/fit and finish, but is that true? In this video, I go over the three Bark River knives that I own and how they are in terms of quality. Would I recommend Bark River knives to a friend?
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For $300+ production knives they should have really good fit and finish.
Not all of them are $300
3 is a good representative sampling of any knife brand. As a knifemaker, I can say that the profiling, grinding and tempering are relatively quick and easy compared to the fit and finish work. That is time consuming and a lot of effort. It's also what makes them more expensive. It can be hard to appreciate until you do it. It definitely changed my perspective on how I look at knives.
I'm just a layman, but these definitely seem like well finished knives. Cheers!
Awesome and epic video as always thank you so much for making it ❤️👍
My pleasure!!
I started with Bark River in 2008. 16-18 blades later I can say I did notice a sizable decrease in their workmanship shortly after the start of the pandemic. Also have noted that all of my pre-order knives (3) have been near perfect, while most of knives I purchased post release (4) have been flawed to the point that I can’t believe they sold it that way (2019-Present). DLT and Knives Ship Free have been great to deal with but I do with Bark River would step up their game. As compared to other brands I have Bark River is at bottom as to fit and finish.
For the most part I really don’t care much as long as it performs. It’s never going to look great again after a few months of use. Though it is nice to have a few “Quality Blades” you really take care of...mostly tools and a few treasures.
Great informative review!
Thanks for watching!
I just got a mini gunny magna cut, with a super uneven grind. It favors the left side if you are looking at the back of the blade. My older bark rivers all came with perfect edge alignment.
Thanks for the video. I have 10 Bark River knives and they are my absolute favorite. I have NEVER had quality issues with any of my Bark River knives. And in my experience their customer service has been a pleasure to deal with. Now...GO OUT AND BUY ONE!!
Thanks for sharing!
Great video Bradley. Bark river is a pretty great company. They use awesome materials, and they are ground, assembled, and finished by hand in the US. When a company makes as many knives as they do, there are bound to be a few that come out with a few issues, but bark river also has one of the best warranties in the business. Btw I have been collecting knives for over 25 years, and I sharpen them professionally, so I do have a bit of experience.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Hey everyone! So I have 9 BRKTs and the only one I’ve received that was flawless was one I purchased on eBay, which was a Bravo 1.5, and it was an older model in cpm 3v with sheath that has the button retention strap. As advice I’d buy 1 or 2 small to mid size user knives mainly because of their warranty and also their bigger knives like the Bravo 3 and Crusader because of their value when you consider how much material you’re getting for the price.
Your earlier review of Great Eastern Cutlery was a great introduction to those knives for me. Unfortunately, they are nearly impossible to buy these days.
I know! They got too popular.
I have about 4 of BRK knives and not once have a found an error in the fit and finish. Typically, they are flawless.
I have several Bark River Knives. No quality issues. And the customer service has always been great. Last issue I broke the tip of my knife. Sent it up and they fixed it, no issue. Purchase knives without worry.
Thanks for sharing!
Buen tema. El mío Bravo 1. Me encanta. Un saludo 👋. 🇪🇸
I had 11 bark river knives, 3 of them had asymetrical grinds visible from airplane. was not happy, sold them.
I got a burnt tip! The sheath is not worthy! I lost my bark river. I have a Winkler Crusher Belt knife with rubber grip! AWESOME! I have a Half Face Blade, and a TOOR , and a Williams Blade Design SZK005 by TRC knives, and they blow the shit River knives away!
Three beautiful knives. I’ve wanted a bark river for a few years and just never committed. This may finally push me over the edge.
Let me know if you get one!
Save your money, get an LT Wright!
I’ve been wanting to get one of those for a while.. One thing I look for with knife manufacturers are how many issues overall they have.. But mainly it’s customer service. Everyone screws up it’s how to fix it that matters
Very good point.
How's that magnacut? I've been wanting to try one. Where do you wear your sheath? 4 o'clock position?
I can't really speak to the quality of the magnacut yet. Just light tasks so far. I'm curious how sharpening is going to go. Yep. Right behind the right hip.
I like Bark River. I am an avid knife collector... and have been subscribed here mainly because I am a pipe smoker.
Update! Got a new bark river this week... and it is absolutely trash in almost everyway. Just an FYI.
Have multiple bark river knives. Never had issues. Any issue I have seen brought up on any Facebook forum has been answered by bark river as "we will fix the issue"! I think another thing to mention is that they do spa treatment. You send in your old knife and they will make it beautiful again. I have alot of knives from a lot of makers and the bark river is up there having excellent service. Are they 100 percent ...no. but will they make it right...yes
I know guy who owns 60 knives form Bark River and 15% of them have some quality problem on grinds, handles etc.
I've had 40 Bark Rivers plus. I've only noticed issues with the newer stuff
Never have I got a bad one.
I have several Bark River knives, at all price ranges and multiple steel variations, and they are all flawless.
Oooooowwwwwhhhhhhh, Bradley! You know that you got the third knife 🗡 after a good night of ........ we will just call, enjoying life ! Own an Orange Amp, Yamaha guitar, another 🎸, most of my acrylic 🎨, best ideas and most enjoyment in life with mistakes of enjoying some stuff before going on drunkbay. Thanks for the reminder, I bought a leather ( I am a vegetarian) jacket last night to paint on, as I watched another channel that was showing a guy painting a jacket from the 50s and 60s boys from England. Yep, we all have our reminders that are from good purchase ideas that end up being our most favorite
Nice! Enjoy your jacket!
Just had the stitching on the sheath pull completely apart just from the weight of the knife. The belt loop giving way nearly cost me my drop point hunter. For the cost of their knives, that should be completely unacceptable to them as well as to us.
My experience is with bark River is that they are a beautiful knife and a great camp knife but I hunt allot and they didn't cut right I guess cuz the Scandinavian grind. If you hunt go with any rapid River knife or a white River m1 caper.
You got three good ones and I'm happy for you. My experience has not always been as positive. I have 15 Bark River Knives and only about 1/3 of them have been as nice as your knives. It's usually not big issues that would affect the performance of the knife, nor would the knives look bad. It's mostly small stuff like uneven grinds, unmatched plunge grinds and such. The same kind of stuff that made you immediately send the first one back. Three of mine have warped blades and horrible fit and finish. I guess I'm trying to say that Bark River makes good knives in good designs, but you rarely get one as good as your three. They're usually about like the one you immediately sent back - good knives, but not flawless.
Thanks for letting us know your experience!
Accurate.
I've seen a number of shop floor videos at BRK and the lack of PPE is disturbing. It is not uncommon to see people grinding without any eye protection or even a nuisance dust mask. I've never seen anyone there using a respirator which should be considered a requirement for blade grinding. If the company cares so little about the health and safety of its employees, and the employees care so little about their own health, the quality of their product should not be at all surprising.
Why you buy 15 then lol
@@lesterkolodziejski8288 It's an illness.
I own 6 BRK's, I think all from DLT. They all have basic handle materials, and 5 were purchased as working knives. I generally tune up grinds and scales a bit on users, so minor flaws are not really a problem. Of the 5, one (also a ULB) needed to be cleaned up around the ricasso. I chose to do that myself by adding a sharpening choil and evening out the primary/plunge grinds.
Overall, I am very happy with BRK. Based on experience with other makers, I'd say the Q/C is good, but not excellent. It could certainly be improved, and from what I understand both DLT and BRK are happy to work with customers to resolve any complaints.
I suspect more attention is paid to some models/options in production than to others. And that's not an unreasonable approach. So I'd say buy with confidence, and if you're not happy with what you get BRK will make it right.
Thanks for sharing!
@@stuffandthingsyoutube Sure. One other thing I'll add is I think BRK's Q/C is in line with hand-ground working knives. More and more production knives are being machine ground. There's nothing wrong with that, but obviously stuff like primary bevel symmetry is going to be 100% with CNC'ed blades, whereas it's a bit more of an art form with hand grinding.
There are plenty of small shops doing hand work that have better Q/C than BRK. But BRK is cranking out serious volume and reasonably keeping distributors stocked. I would much rather be able to buy a knife on demand that maybe needs a little TLC than have to wait months or years for an art project that I'm just going to thrash anyway.
I love my bark river knives edc is bravo necker
I had to return my very first bark river (bravo 1 lt) as it had a pretty bad recurve which I considered not acceptable for the most expensive knife I have ever bought at that time. Now I have 5 different models. And none of them has been perfect. Only one of them was really close to being flawless in terms of grind and handle finish but still has a little cosmetic blemish in steel polishing. The grind problems are almost always present, sometimes you can see it even on pictures before buying as these are usually pictures of the actual knife if it has a handle material other than black micarta. I know how to sharpen convex and can fix these imperfections most of the times, but it’s not a good way to get introduced to the brand if you just started with your knife hobby. Sometimes it’s not so easy to fix as it overground to the point that there is not enough steel left to correct the blade shape back to normal. It’s not only the grind and sharpness, but handle finish as well, sometimes it’s top notch sometimes it’s pretty mediocre at best. Steel heat treatment and alleged steel mismatching are other controversial things bark river has been accused of. Yes, all of them can cut, and yes, I have pretty high standards and expectations, but they could definitely do a better job after years of experience and with relatively high price tag. Although, there is something special in BR that makes me buying them despite all the issues :).
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I have 4 bark rivers. Bushcrafter, liton bro, arora and a bravo 1.5.
Bushcrafter and liton bro are perfect.
The arora and bravo have uneven grinds. And i mean very uneven. So 2 out of 4...50 percent. Yep.
I have no less that 10 or more bark river knives, i just got another one a couple of days ago. I have never had a single issue with them, and if i did i am sure they would take care of it.
I got a North Country EDC that didn’t have a finished tip when it arrived. The quality is seemingly there, but for that price, I shouldn’t have to roll the dice.
Thanks for chiming in!
The rumors about fit and quality may be true. However, internet rumors spread like fire.
The only consistent issue I've had after purchasing two of them is an uneven handle grind. Meaning they are not exactly simetrical. Or the mixed up the handle sides after grinding them together as a match. It's never been a deal breaker with me as everything else is perfect and they are very beautiful, but it was dissapointing each time.
Thanks for sharing!
I ordered a Bravo 1 that states it should weigh 7.375 onces..I thought it felt like a tank so I weighed it and it was 10.10 onces...should I complain? Maybe the A2 steel was misbranded which I guess would be an upgrade?
The weight is really variable depending on handle materials and things like that.
Barkies are top notch. No complaints. I can't imagine what people say to complain about them?
You lucked out, my Gunny LT in Magnacut, a pre order, has uneven grind height, very uneven handle shaping and not flush fitting, also one of the pins is not flush fitting, I am from South Africa so I paid a an extra $140 on shipping and import tax and duties, putting the total price I paid at $440, which is two months income for me, as such it is absolutely not worth it, what a disappointment, not sure what to do about it.
Respectfully, I still work public sector, warm temps brings busy things. Respectfully, Bradley it's nice to see yt algorithm allowing you to preview "Teddy Bears".
((Omaha Nebraska))
😊🌾✨🌽✨🏡
I've owned and used Bark Rivers for damn near 20 years. Their QC has been spotty at best. My most recent purchase, about a year ago, was an Aurora and it came with a wholly unground edge. I mean the edge had never been ground in any way whatsoever. I spend some time with a file, then a ceramic stone, sandpaper over a strop and finally a strop to put an edge on it. It's great now.
My Ultralight Bushcrafter came nearly perfect, three passes over black compound on my strop and all was well.
My Gunny came in great shape also, ready to go out of the box.
That being said, the Aurora really left a bad taste in my mouth. I shouldn't have to spend that kind of time and effort to bring a $300+ knife up to a useful condition.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I have close to 100 Bark River knives and only two out of them had grinds that were off.
WTF do you do with 100 knives?
@@pomegranatepip2482 piss my wife off 🤣
My Gunny is a complete disaster if you're a knife nerd. The blade on my knife is ground very asymmetrically. Considering it's twice as expensive as a Fällkniven F1. Horrifying quality control.
At one time I had 33 bark rivers, then my light bulb went off. Why am I spending 200+ or even 300+ dollars on knives that are flawed. I'm now down to 11. I still like bark river, but stopped buying them a few years ago. My disappointment in the brand started when I received my Grizzly, one of the original 300 and it was very dull at the tip for two or three inches. I was pissed. I paid $300 dollars for that knife and it came dull.
I want to love their knives because i love all the styles/designs. But ive bought 4 brand new ones and all were terrible fit/finish. If you complain on their fb page you'll get attacked by the members because "every Bark River is perfect" in their eyes and a snarky response from the owner Mike. After hearing about the "warranty" ten million times i sent one in to fix the uneven grinds and it literally came back the exact same way after 4 months. There are tons of complaints about the fit and finisg and the owner just regurgitates the same answer that they make a bajllion knives and only a few complaints a year so theyre doing pretty good in his eye.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I think slights on the net get amplified and sometimes go viral way beyond there relevance. I see this all too often, and the most infatesimal issues are discussed in such egregious terms as to make you believe the sky is falling in. BTW Is it Pollyanna or Cassandra? It’s all about context of course.
In Oz we have a thing called the ‘pub test’ to settle important matters of interest (and state). Of course, in Oz what better way too discuss things but over a drink at a bar. 😊. I’m sure this happens in the US too.
You are having a beer with your workmates after a long day pouring concrete, at a Public House or Bar (Pub in Oz) and a topic of discussion comes up for debate amongst your group. You all have your say and everyone at your end of the bar listens to you, and you in turn listen to them. Its a yarn but its good debate. At the end you confer on a position. If it passes the ‘Pub test’ then its something all or most involved can agree with, or at least conclude its a real issue. Of course, if you all look at each other and say, nah thats BS, then it does not pass the ‘Pub test’. The reality of this; its face to face discussion and the vibe in the room can be determined if it’s relevant or not. That’s not as easy online, so there is merit in this type of test as a gauge of relevance (sort of).
Politicians in OZ are regularly asked if their proposals would pass the Pub test, which is sometimes awkward for them to answer. What it really means is; would the majority of people agree with your position or not? The irony is, if you are asked this question, it most likely means it wouldn’t pass. 😂. Cheers.
I like that! The "pub test" should be used more often.
Many of the complaints about BR are related to the owner, Mike Stewart. He is not well liked by more than a few. Apparently, and I have no direct knowledge of this, some people ordered knives with higher quality steels (i.e. magnacut, and others) and got knives with their basic steels, O1 and A2. I have 15-20 BR's and have been fine with them
Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Nice knives but the quality is automatically docked for the leather sheaths they come with. I absolutely DESPISE the sheaths that these knives come with and kydex them ASAP
Have been collecting knives for 37 years. Have never seen bad qc like bark river. Not even from large scale production budget options.
Really? You need to buy Ontario if you want to see how bad quality control can get.
Have heard that but weirdly i have multiple of their fixed blades and rat series folders and they were all perfect
Here is my deal. I collect knives. I also use every knife I collect. I have knives from falkniven, milanika, LT wright and many others. Out of all of my knives my Bark rivers are my go to. I don’t care about a primary grind being off by 3 degrees. Bark river has the best convex grind in semi production knives. When humans make shit by hand, sometimes it’s a tad uneven. I have knives as big as the shining mtn Bowie to as small as a psk edc. And they are all near cutlery perfection. And as far as customer service goes, if you shoot mike Stewart a fb message he responds. Iv never had him not. Even as small as what size eylet rivets he uses in the sheaths. They are top notch. If you have a knife that’s really messed up he will make it right. And if you want to really see mike Stewart’s best, check out the Stewart era marbles knives. I have several and they are absolutely smoking. Moral of the story is use your knives and quit playing inspector. I pay the same price y’all do. Use your knives and love em.
High demand
Ot knives
Honestly thear good knives the owner is jerk sometimes
Who thought I was going to make a comment on a knife video? 😆
So out of character!
Nice video. Glad to see you received knives without flaws, I have two of their more expensive models, and both have plenty of dissapointimg flaws. So, there is a question of consistency with BR. I still love my BRs and the immense impact of their legendary blade and handle design on the bushcraft and survival knife industry is undeniable. They should step up their qc as well as general quality when you consider their competition. I have a comparative video you may find interesting: czcams.com/video/SvCnl-GpylU/video.htmlsi=VLzkTYcQHQnCGbUW