I have a dozen BRK's but like you I've experienced a lot of bad QC which has ultimately lead me away from the brand. I've got unsharpened grinds, VERY uneven grinds, a recurved messed up grind on a B1.25 that took forever for me to fix and a Gunny where the plunge line is so far over it doesn't even look like they hardly touched the opposite side of the knife. Uneven handle thickness. I got an Aurora Scandi and it's handle is super thin compared to the original Aurora which I loved. The ones that are actually good are excellent however roughly half my collection has bad QC so I've since went to LTWK and even though they're slightly cheaper every single one I've got has been perfect. I'll miss the countless handle options of BRK but I won't miss me having to fix my new blades.

Thanks a lot for this video. I am thinking to get a general use outdoor knife and was seriously looking at BRK - and saw tons of videos already. And I really appreciate your very cool and objective view.

This video just echoed all my sentiments after a week of forum searches. Channels like DBK and Virutovice need to speak out about these flaws in their Barkies and not make them out to be perfectly crafted artefacts with hand made finesse.

Fair comments, actually (says this owner of about 20 Barkies) --- although, yeah, your pricing is off. And no question that L.T Wright (and others) make better knives for the money, overall.

My father has told me "marcus, you can't be knit picking every little detail". Bark river is a great brand

So true. Thank you for the honesty. There is so much overhipe round BR. None of the 3 I have from them are even close to perfect in quality control.

I do own a lot of Bark Rivers as well. Living in Germany I bought them online, for a lot more than they cost in the US, and without handling the knifes first. My issue with them is that there is no standard. I have 4 UL Bushcrafters and the thickness of handles on all of them are different. I have a Gunny that is really uncomfortable for me and there is nothing I can do about it. I can not send it for replacing the scales or use the warranty if I need it. I like their EDC sized knives but after spending a couple thousand Euros, I don't think I will purchase another Bark River. I would still recommend the UL Bushcrafter to anyone though. :)

Awesome channel and content ,you speak well and seem to have a lot of experience. I’m getting into knives / survival / bush craft and your information is excellent. Thanks mate from Australia 🫡

I'm a 1st timer and like your video. Made good sense. I wondered about what you think about the performance of the Bravo 1 vs the Fallkniven Idun. Which would you recommend the most?

I have one Bark River knife. The sharpening notch was put in behind the plunge line, rendering it useless.

I appreciate this honest review!

After almost 30 Bark Rivers and similar path (many Fallknivens here) I can say that I agree with you. Except on the thickness of the stock. In reality, BRKT makes some of the thickest blade stocks in the businesses. I love the designs, handle material options are almost irresistible but man, those grind fails are just unacceptable at current price points. I don't mind unevenly ground handles, really. But uneven blade grinds are just irritating. Not worth the money they are asking, that is for sure. LT Wright puts much, much better product at lower price levels. Also semi custom, designs are great, Peters does their heat treat, handle material options are more than fine. Heck, LT Wright handle designs are more comfortable, to me at least. I am no hater of Bark River, really. Just got dissapointed way too many times. Sadly, I will not buy another Bark River.

Everything you say is spot on. I 100% agree. I have the same exact model lt wright Outback as you with the black g10 and thick white liners. That is one of my favorite knives and the fit and finish is flawless. I own 7 LT Wright knives and about the same amount of bark rivers. LT Wright is light years ahead of bark river in terms of fit and finish. I’ve watched a few tours of the bark river facility here on KZfaq, and if those knives really went through all of the quality control checks that Mike Stewart claims, it would be impossible for me to have received the knives I bought because they never would have left the factory. I love their designs, but for the price of the knives, their fit and finish issues are unacceptable

Bark River has a goal of 1,000 knives per week I would imagine it is hard to find skilled enough employees in a small town to do perfection and still put out that kind of production.

I bought a Bark River Bravo EDC in Elmax at a Flea Market for 80 bucks. Would say the quality was that of an 80 dollar knife I re sharpened it. The handle scales were mismatched very noticeably. I thought it was a fake at first but I guess the defects mean it's real

BRK does work on the ‘pretty’ more than the function simply because that’s what a majority of their customer base wants. Pretty handles, colorful liners, & fancy pins are what keeps the shelves of their retailers empty. I agree about their being few hard users among their customers. That’s reflected in their sheaths which are mostly hit & miss on the quality and design favoring heavily on the miss. I do like their smaller models like the Essential & PSK EDC which are nice general purpose users which can be carried discreetly. The following can be cult-like at times. Pretty much true of every brand to varying degrees.

Hi, thanks for the video. I'm looking to buy a Grizzly. Do you know of any for sale? Yours would match my cub!!

I've got a tundra 3 Camp coming in the mail, it's going to be the second knife I got from them so I can't wait to check it out, I wanted I longer meat cutting knife in A2, ps... I'm a master knife sharpener so I hand sharpener and put a katanas edge on it

Forgot to mention ... I'm wanting a bush crafter / hunter. So when weighing the Idun with the Bravo 1, which would you recommend?

A “perfect knife” would be made by machines... l t Wright and bark river have the same little flaws. They’re all great knives. BRK are pricey but you do get a great knife.

I have a lot of Bark River knives and I do have one knife in my collection where the grinds are unacceptable. Honestly though, the tiny inconsistency in how symmetrical the grinds are on my knives are not noticeable even when really looking for them. Maybe I have been lucky? I do agree that they can do better on the grind consistency considering how much money they are.

LT Wright $70 up to $500. Bark River sits solidly in the middle of that range. Buy what you want.

Nothing worse for a knife addict than to pay $300 + for a blade from BRK & receive the knife with unacceptable flaws 😡 its happened to me MANY TIMES.

Truth. I’ve owned 3. The first one has a pretty good grind. The second needed a slight re-profiling of the convex. The last one I bought & intended to keep is a bravo clip point. The lines on it are not straight and it wasn’t sharp. It’s so disappointing. I love their designs, heat treat, steels and convex grind but who wants to own a sloppy knife…. I’m going to end up selling it. I’m not sure if I’ll buy another one as I only see them online and can’t inspect them first.

Great honest review! Subed!

prices seemed high compared to what's available today

This review is YMMV. I have Fallknivens, Bark River, and others. Happy with my choices, not trying for perfection, just a great knife that does what I want and like using. No matter the price or brand, at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. They actually do a good job at heat treating their steel. IMO. We are all better off for having a lot great choices in knives. I tend to buy safe-queen 2nd hand knives anyway to keep the price down.

He's right, and even Joker (Made in Spain) makes a really high-quality knife for $100.00 I fell in love with Joker knives and bought 1 of each... The Nomad in N695 steel is one of the best so is the Joker Canadience!

I've heard a lot of quality control issues coming from BRK. I don't own any so have no idea. However, if your spending good money for a product it should be damn near perfect. You shouldn't send out something with imperfections on it. It'll turn a name sour doing that kind of business

I hit hard with buying Bark Rivers and at one time had over 150 of them. That my friend is a lot of money. I fell off the band wagon over an issue with one of the least expensive BRK knives, that being the Woodlands Special. That knife should have never made it out of Michigan. Handle was not finished, one of handle different size. Handle pin did not fit, grind was horrid, just a really bad knife. I called DLT and they told me to call Bark River. I did and a young lady answered the phone and wanted to argue with me that it was that a knife as bad as I described it would have never been shipped. I told her how many of their knives I owned and my relationship with DLT and Knives Shipped Free and she put me in with the big man himself. Mike Stewart told me send it back and hung up on me. That was over two years ago and I still have just about all the BRK i bought but there will never be another one. I have a Survive knife and some Randall's that put BRK to shame. Never sent the Woodlands Special back, it is the first BRK I show people out of my collection.

I bought 2 bark river in past 3 months, neither came sharp. and I'm not good at sharpening free hand. kind of disappointed.

Good review. Honest.

They overheat during the sharpening process making brittle and weak spots in the edge. These knives chip all the time. A user will post a pic of the chipped knife on Facebook and will have barely used it. Then all the Bark River cult fan boys jump all over thd guy and tell him he must have done something stupid or used it wrong (despite this never happening with Esee for example). Mike Stewart makes sure the owner knows it was "his fault" but graciously agrees to re-grind it for free. Then everyone cheers and posts "best company and customer service ever". It's ridiculous. The reason they have the no question lifetime warranty, is because that is still cheaper for them than to create them with great care. They are kicking them out in mass quantities at insane prices

I bought lt wright the bandit with terrible grind, very soft steel and really thick cutting edge (almost 1/4"). So...

I agree that they are over-priced. The final product often has flaws, but realistically, in a fixed blade, it doesn't affect performance. BR's blade stock tends too be too thick for them to be effective knives. Their handle shapes are mediocre, despite all the hype. I'm glad that they are around though, because they make so many different designs. Bark River is like the Case of fixed blades, with all their handle choices, so people like to collect them. Their production methods are archaic... think 1800's, but with electric power. Their lack of proper PPE equipment for their workers is concerning. They even belt sand carbon fiber handles using no PPE. I'm surprised that the state or OSHA hasn't shut them down.

I would argue that slight imperfections like that can add to the knives character and make it more personal to you, like this specific knife is your knife, and the imperfections help reinforce the idea that the knife is genuine, not just another cookie cutter unit from the factory line

I really like the green canvas bravo 1 lt as an outdoor knife ! The price is steep and I'm trying to justify it . You didn't help lol Appreciate the info tho thx

Thanks.

Where do you buy your knives if you do buy them new?

that corn cob Bushcrafter looks like million dollars, man

Good review. Depends what you do with your knives though. Virtuovoice rates BR as the best field dressing knives around. Typical/classic American knives are designed for hunting. A hunter will need a task specific knife that generally gets (fairly) light use, so it has/had a stick tang with finger protection and will or can afford to have a fancy handle 'cos it's not going to get damaged. The modern "bushcraft" knife is a multi-tool used for tasks up to and including fairly heavy wood processing; it could be regarded as a small ax. A bushcraft knife is a heavy use tool susceptible to loss and damage and I'd say if it costs more than $100 it's not a good knife, would you spend $400 on a machete?

I’m looking for a hunting knife, not a bush-crafter!! I need a knife for skinning and processing western big game. The majority of the time the animals have to broken down in quarters and packed out. What quality knife $50-$200 range do you recommend?? I don’t like huge knives. I’m tired of the folding knives like Buck 110. I want a smaller fixed blade, 4” or less, to break down & process game in the field. With a high quality steel that is sharpenable in the field, I like CM154 and S35.

Great video 👍

Would you like to sell the grizzly..?

First time I tried to split firewood with my bark River the tip flew off

holy crap turn your phone sideways.

I only have a 1 (small) full tang Bark River. After reports on YT of quality issues with hidden tang models I refrained form buying one. Also the reseller webshop (knives & tools, by far the biggest knife shop in my part of Europe) being FLOODED with an endless amount of different Bark River models is somehow not a good signal, at least not to me. It signals to me they are trying to make money too fast at the cost of quality. And they focus on how good a knife looks, they found out what people like w.r.t. looks, and then started mass producing that, at the cost of quality. That is at least what I suspect. Btw my full tang model is also not perfect: the ricasso's don't meet. I don't trust them anymore unfortunately. More looks than quality.

Web site sells other brands but not bark river

do you want to sell that Grizzly?

Thanks for the truth I am looking for a high end knife. Bark river was on the list but not now !

Where i can Buy one of those , specially the bigest!? Thanks.

What about the Gunny Scandi ?

Falkkniven are more than a bit more expensive than Bark River. In 2022, Bark River goes for $230-$350 on DLT. Falkniven start lower and go all the way up to $1900. Just sayin. Both are great for bushcraft.

I'm pretty sure that if you need to, you can send the knife back to bark river for a grinding correction

Over priced, or inflation has hit hard in the U... sorry States.

Just got my gunny 3V The freakin edge is CURVED up to the handle!!! 😡😡 My Bravo’s grind is uneven. $250 for the gunny. I’m returning it and hopefully getting a refund or replacement. If replacement, I’m hoping it’s better then the one I have. Not worth it, NOT worth it.

I chipped my Kalahari 2

A lot of Bark River purists are throwing hissy fits because the world has found out about Bark River knives. They knew about Bark River before Bark River became cool, and so they are now really bummed and finding new criticisms of BR knives.

The persuit of knife perfection can be fulfilled for a price so high that you will not actually use it and if you do, when it gets scratched or damaged your dream knife is no more. Who buys a vintage Randall and sharpens it on a rock. Everyones priorities are different, I like made in the USA, great materials, a wide variety of handle materials, and a warranty that will be honored by the manufacturer without question. So yes, I love Bark River and the other US manufactured knife makers. I like TOPS as well, but you do get what you pay for and I am more willing to use my TOPS knives in hard use simply because they are less expensive. What are you willing to pay for and still use? Is it for an application in the field or really for the idea of the application (Collectable). Just like most new custom 4WD trucks rarely leave the road, same with most fixed blade knives do more than handle boxes and light packaging. Still I love them.

I concur 100%. My first BR was the Sahara, purchased through Knives Ship Free. The handle was more like a steak knife, and the blade arrived so dull that it wouldn't slice paper, nor much of anything else for that matter. Although I could've sharpened it myself, I shouldn't have to for a brand new BR purchased through a certified dealer. So sent it back for a refund, and literally payed a heavy price for that. A couple years later I went through eBay to give BR another chance and purchased a Bravo 1.25, Gunny, Vidarr, Ranch Hand, and Fox River Featherweight. Some were new, some were pre-owned. The prices were a lot less, and if need be I could return for full refunds without problems. How many do I still own? None. All good knives, but they just didn't really fit the bill for me. I totally get the Bark River fan following. I've been eyeballing the new U.P. Bravo and always admired the Mini Rogue. Beautiful knives! But I just know that the thought of them is more of a romantic notion for me. And I have to include that this also applies to Fallkniven knives as well, through my experience in owning a standard A1 and an S1 Pro. Thank you for your honest review. I now know that I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Bark River Knives are the best.

If you want a knife with perfect grinds then by a machine made knife with good steel man. All handmade/forged knives, daggers, swords, axes are going to have a technically imperfect edge. Its closer to what's been used in the past and it takes a much higher level of skill than hand polishing somthing that comes out of a cnc.

Sooo, who is the best manufacturer in your opinion?

You won't find a better warranty but you'll pay for it on the initial purchase I love the brand but I really love the Blackjack branded knives they are not perfect but will out perform the Randalls costing twice as much I love them

For the price i should at least be able to choose what handle material i want. And a better sheath.

Please record your videos in KZfaq standard landscape format.

Knife beauty queen here

Nothing wrong with what your saying but your also leaving a bit out key information who ..who.. does convex blade like bark river . No one lets be honest, now I love a fallkniven but they have more meat behind the edge just a fact. L.T wright fiddleback great custom blades etc but look at that tiny scandi grind you have in your hand, tiny scandi bevels are not good, you go full hight grind like a big boy or you go 3/4 scandi if you intend to use it for anything other than making kebab sticks . If bark river is guilty of anything its being American , now i dont know why Americans are obsessed with thick blades .. but they are and its weird. But bark river has lots of thin bladed models , 3mm (metric a proper system) is what you want in a field knife designed to be used. They arnt cheap but you are stretching that price out abit mate $280-$320 is fair average of their price (average..). They might not be perfect (I agree) but they out perform, and thats what counts.

Every bark river I have is mis-shaped and made terribly. I wouldn't buy another expensive POS knife from them again.

Terrible grind, terrible handles but pay hundreds for it? You gotta be a special kinda person, a little "gifted" to want one of these bark river knives.

I'll give you 500$ for the grizzly

Saber convex. Not a scandi .

bark River makes your perfect falkniven lol

Nah man... If they can't cut a tank in half without taking edge damage their garbage. My $50 knife can, and takes little to no edge damage. If the edge breaks out after impacting other alloys, rock, glass, and or bone, etc, this also means their junk. My $40 knife can hit all the above mention materials, and not sustain as much if no damage. It's simple... Cheap knives are better. If you buy super steels you're stupid. (Satire)

Hand made knives are never perfect. I'm sure a C & C machine can make a fine product. The underlying statement is semi custom. Plenty of other knives look great and, or, feel great. They usually don't last. They don't hold an edge. They get big dings on the edge like 1095. I'm not a fan boy of Bark River. I own a few of them them. A work sharp helps. Lol

I am a Bark River Fan for life AKA "Bark-oholic" Without a doubt the best fixed blade knife company ever!

Whole lotta cope for a 300 dollar knife

My Bark River was not perfect too. And I have spent nearly 400 bucks. I must say that BR employs a lot of US junkies and they know nothing apart smoking crystal meth.

Mora is king...cheap comfy and "GOOD" even guys that own higher end knives have them stash somewhere as so to grab for them so they won't thrash there custom knife. Knowing full well it well do extract same job as there higher end for dirt cheap. The Price of being pretty is being baby.😅🤣.

Then don't buy lt

your audio sucks