Bark River Knives Shuts Down in Disgrace

[wyojdubya]

Looks like Bark River Knives closed its doors for good on Friday, amid pressure over unpaid bills and with the stunning announcement it used Chinese steel in certain knives it marketed as USA made CPM 154.

I always liked the look of their blades. But widespread disdain for the owner throughout the knife discussion boards always kept me from buying. Anyone here have any 'quality control' problems with their BRK blades?

Michigan Knifemaker Closes Shop After Admitting to Using Chinese Steel and Labeling It USA-Made

A well-known American knife maker has closed after admitting to using Chinese steel and labeling the blades as 'Made in the USA.'

www.outdoorlife.com

 

[adamm88]

I never had had any quality control issues. I own around 15ish Bark river knives knives from kitchen to my deer gutting knife to bushcraft.

I do have one of the Chinese mini Manitous, I haven't used it a whole lot yet, It was going to be in my back pack next year for the fall season but probably not now. Out of the box that knife was one of the sharpest knives i have ever owned. I was hoping to get some pheasants or rabbits to gut with it but due to how the snow hit and stayed around i didnt get back out hunting or get anything to test it on.

Most of my knives are magnacut from bark river, I have 1 cru ware, 2 cpm154, and i think 1 3 v and the chinese steel mini manitou. None of the handles were fancy i think they are all black canvas or or green canvas micarta. Nothing fancy just user knives.

Its a shame how it went down, they build unique knives from collector pieces to users. I know DLT trading is testing a knife out off all his knives in stock but he is pretty certain they will all come back with properly labeled steels as he paid for the steel for mike to make them so he felt most the knives will come back as the proper steel.

 

[sthorne19]

I have around 30 Bark Rivers and have owned well over 100 through the years. I have had nothing but great experience with them and attended a Grind in a few years ago as well. FYI I believe both DLT and KSF will refund your money or give you store credit for any of the Chinese steel knives. Jim Steward has also communicated he will make it right once he has a shop up and running. It's a shame and could have been avoided with some better business decisions even if it meant selling the company. There are a couple of good Facebook groups with a lot of information but be prepared for serious negativity, bashing and overall douchbagery.

 

[adamm88]

I have around 30 Bark Rivers and have owned well over 100 through the years. I have had nothing but great experience with them and attended a Grind in a few years ago as well. FYI I believe both DLT and KSF will refund your money or give you store credit for any of the Chinese steel knives. Jim Steward has also communicated he will make it right once he has a shop up and running. It's a shame and could have been avoided with some better business decisions even if it meant selling the company. There are a couple of good Facebook groups with a lot of information but be prepared for serious negativity, bashing and overall douchbagery.

I follow the facebook groups pretty closely. I personally don't feel right asking for money back or returning the chinese knife and screw over the small businesses of ksf or dlt. Its 100% Fraud on bark rivers end and i couldn't in good conscious support Jim in any way in the future. Jim was second in command at a pretty small company, I get Mike was the captain but he knew of the financial struggle and this was a real possibility of them shutting down and the chinese steel coming to light. From the storys online Jim was a pretty big perv in the shop as well.

 

[doc holiday13]

................................
I do have one of the Chinese mini Manitous, I haven't used it a whole lot yet, It was going to be in my back pack next year for the fall season but probably not now. Out of the box that knife was one of the sharpest knives i have ever owned............................

Not trying to be an ass here, but what you said makes no sense.

Your logic is "I won't use this knife because despite it being the sharpest knife I own and I really like it; I won't be using it because its chinese stainless instead of the CPM154 i thought it was"

You still paid for the knife. You can't return it. Are you just so offended that you can't stomach the idea of using a blade and finding out if it performs well despite being chinese steel??? (not saying it performs well, but there is the possibility that it will)

 

[Floated_down]

How/why in the hell do you own "well over 100 knives"?

 

[adamm88]

Not trying to be an ass here, but what you said makes no sense.

Your logic is "I won't use this knife because despite it being the sharpest knife I own and I really like it; I won't be using it because its chinese stainless instead of the CPM154 i thought it was"

You still paid for the knife. You can't return it. Are you just so offended that you can't stomach the idea of using a blade and finding out if it performs well despite being chinese steel??? (not saying it performs well, but there is the possibility that it will)

Sorry for not being clear, It wont be the knife i rely on that lives in my pack, I have a Gunny lt in Magnacut that wont get bumped out of my pack,. Im assuming jason at DLT is testing these to see what they actually are and how comparable they are to cpm154. Even if it was truly cpm154 it problally wouldnt have bumped the Gunny Lt out of my pack permanently.

I have plenty of Chinese, Taiwan and knives from other county's. I actually prefer Japanese made kitchen knives.

I really bought the knife because i wanted a leather handled knife and liked the look of it, It was going to be a game knife for field dressing ect...Being chinese steel ect isnt the end of be all and ill still use it for somthing at some point.