Bark River Knives- Quality Decreased?

I love Bark Rivers Knives but I felt to share my experience with them and how it ‘seems’ that the quality has decreased. The materials are amazing but the fit and finish may have gone down. It is not fair to make general statements for a while company based upon 1 or 2 knives but this is my experience.

[@feartheduck6664]

That knife with the bluish handle is dangerous with a sharp edge on the top left side.

[@jeffthomas5291]

Intro is half the dang video. Just skip to 9:20

[@MO-vr1jg]

I like all my BRK knives, I think the sheaths could be better or give me the option to purchase the knife at a reduced price without the sheath…

[@gsteixner]

What model LT Wright is that? I currently have 3 Barkies; an Aurora and a Petty Z both from about 3 years ago, and a Bushcrafter II which I purchased last month. Same thing....my 2 older Bark Rivers are damn near perfect, but the Bushcrafter II I purchased last month has flaws in the handle, and does not pass the fingernail test in some spots. I paid $450 for my Bushcrafter (desert ironwood burl), and I get that the wood is expensive, but for that price, they should have their more experienced people working on them. To be fair, I also recently purchased an LT Wright Illuminous 5 which is near perfect, but also does not pass the fingernail test on a few spots on the handle. If the Buschrafter had a micarta handle like the Illuminous does, the price of the 2 knives would be very comparable. However, the fit and finish on the LT is just plain better (not to mention a larger knife with more steel) and I personally think the LT sheath (JRE Industries) is better quality than the Bark River. My biggest complaint is if you go onto Bark River's Facebook page you can see comments of people saying the same thing, and their response is always the same - that they are putting out 1,000 knives per week, to which I say "for $450, that's not my problem." I have also had a few snarky responses directly from Mike when I had asked some basic questions. Going forward, I will likely only buy older used models from Ebay, and am now looking more into LT Wright and Adventure Sworn.

[@ApostolicITTech]

Thank you for the comment. Had to look up the knife again- it is called the Large Pouter and is a part of their 'kitchen' genre. I think it works great for kitchen work and elsewhere. I am with you on the older stuff from Bark River- I love the handle materials and such but for that price, we need to have that 'fit and finish' like we used to get.

[@turtletruth]

I bought three Bark River Puukko knives and here is my only complaint! The problem is with the leather sheaths. The leather sheaths are rather short for the size of the Puukko. (The knife keeps falling out!) The Puukko's are the only knife I cannot safely carry because of fear of losing the knife... (Bark River leather sheaths suck when compared to LT Wright.)

[@ApostolicITTech]

I haven't tried the Puukko knives and sheaths - I wonder if it because of the shape of the handles? They may need to adjust the depth of the sheath to accommodate the knife.... either way, thank you for the comment!

[@mrglock2313]

Tell bark river of your issue and they will take care of it.

[@donaldpriebsch]

Okay, so: I’ve by myself got about 10 barkies and 5 Lt‘s. Lt‘s been perfect, EVERY ONE. Barkies had issues. A lot! I kept one, a Bushcrafter in CruWear, wich I had to modify a lot to make it just right. The rest was just crap. Not straight, grind was always off, gaps on the handle and so on. Maybe they give tue shitty knives to European traders… I don’t know. But for about 400€ and more (bout 380$…) this is just unacceptable for me, I have to tell. Greetings from Germany, thanks for the video.

[@johnvillafranca6188]

I had bought several knives from them in the past and every single one of them was dull. I gave up on them and their stupid thumb ramps a long time ago.

[@jf73f80]

The ramp is optional

[@ChrisGross-jr7zc]

Never heard of s 45 steel...s30...s35....s90...s110. Never an s45 though

[@johnrush7699]

I myself own 4 awesome Bark River knives in 3V steel and I will tell you that the fit and finish on the knives are perfect and the performance of the blades is awesome, I could not ask for a better knife to do the tasks that I put my knives through. All 4 of these awesome knives out perform every other knife in my collection. Has Bark River knives quality decreased ? I would say that they have gotten even better

[@wismods]

Nice video. Glad to see you received knives mostly 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: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaemn59jfNWsorcsi=VLzkTYcQHQnCGbUW

[@ApostolicITTech]

Thank you for the comment! Like yourself, I still like BR and plan of getting another but wanted to share my experience so far with their qc. Thank you for sharing your video- I will check it out!

[@mrglock2313]

I just received a bark river classic drop point today. All of my previous bark river knives in the past were great. This knife arrived and it is terrible. I can not believe they let this out of the door. I spent a lot of money for such a smaller knife. I am disgusted to say the least

[@ApostolicITTech]

I feel the frustration for sure- trying not to be a complainer or 'too picky' but like you stated, a lot of money for such small knife (with poorer quality it)

[@mrglock2313]

@@ApostolicITTech it was a pre order classic drop point custom wood. The handles look like Stevie Wonder tried to shape them, and the grind and blade it trash. This is coming from someone that tooted their horn and my previous knives were great, but now???

[@johnrush7699]

Dude, there is always going to be minor differences in the blades, they are not made by a machine, they are made by hand one knife at a time by several different skilled makers that each perform a different task in making the knife. No two will be exactly alike and no two sides will be exactly alike. That is to be expected on a handmade knife and does not interfere with the performance of the knife or the quality

[@johnrush7699]

Bark River knives are expensive, they are not Walmart knives, they are semi handmade knives of a high quality and worth every penny. I have 4 in my collection so far and have others in mind for purchase. Not only are they excellent tools for most any job that requires a knife but they are collector pieces as well, and they will be passed down to my grandchildren when I leave this world and they will have plenty of use still in them. If a person wants a quality knife and can't go to a custom maker you can't go wrong with a Bark River knife and they have dozens if not hundreds of different designs to choose from with just about as many different types of blade steel. There is something for just about everyone