I know more people, that had issues with the quality of a Bark River Knife, rather than being very satisfied. Those who are satisfied, are those who neither use their knives, nor they know much about knives. I've also noticed, that the Bark Rivers that hit the European market,, have a big chance, to be their factory seconds, because I read more and more complaints, from European customers.
You will probably be best served by buying a mass produced Chinese knife rather than a hand made semi-custom knife with a no question asked return/replace policy. And I am not being snarky. I have over 400 knives, from a $ 5 knife to a $ 5,000 knife. Out of the 8 Bark River knives I have, probably half have evidence of being hand made/ground. For example; not showing attention to detail. But I still like BRK despite the shortcomings because I know that if I ever want them fixed I can send them back. The guy that spends his life saving to buy a C8 corvette should probably think twice if they want a perfect car. Yet someone who is a corvette enthusiast doesn't care because they already know that about corvettes. If you dont' like it, don't buy it. I used to see the same thing on Corvette forums. Chronic whiners.......................
The video is more for those that don't know. I didn't return the knife because ultimately it doesn't affect it. But i do think that its disappointing compared to other offerings at the same price point. I just think people should be able to see what they can expect from BRK. i have purchased more than 10 bark knives and for the most part they've been acceptable. But i won't praise them when they send out a sub par grind on a 300 dollar knife.
I have a few BR"s,,, no issues. Just send it back, they"ll replace it,,, you got the new guy their breaking in,,LOL. A buddy of mine had a couple of small issues on a Bravo 1, They sent him a new one, no questions asked. Now youll get a new one with the scales you wanted. I just received a perfect Bravo 1 LT with Magnacut, cant wait to destroy it.... Its just a knife,,,,,😆
The only way I will ever order another BR is through Knives Ship Free as it cost nothing to pre order. When your notified it's in ask the folks to qc it before you buy it. BR really has issues of late on many knives, don't accept this poor craftsmanship. If you want a darn near perfect knife there are many better choices, like Lt Wright.
I recently returned two Bark River knives for quality issues. On one the plunge line was to one side and the entire length of the blade followed. The second one was just as bad. I was told that's the way they are because they are hand made. Lt Wright knives are hand made and they don't have that problem. I'm sticking with Lt
@@dukemajors349 LT 100% makes a superior product to bark river. Bark river used to have amazing quality control. They really fell off after 2013 in terms of quality. Heat treat got changed for the worst. Fit and finish issues on 90% of the knives. Uneven grind angles, rust on stainless blades, poor 90 degree angles. I could go on and on. I’ve seen more broken bark rivers than I have almost any other high end brand. You won’t believe the amount of students I’ve had tell me that bark rivers customer service is the worst. They don’t honor their warranty as they should. I’m also a mod for bladeforums and BCUSA and I’ve seen all of the deleted negative reviews of bark rivers products. It’s in the thousands. Even now negative reviews are constantly being deleted to save face. I’ve tried calling out the BS behavior but the fan base is one of the most ignorant and aggressive fan bases I’ve ever seen. It’s insane.
The best quality on semi-custom knives,comes from TRC knives. It's a knife I would suggest, is the TRC Mille Cuori. and then LT Wright Forest trail, both are crazy good and probably the best knives at the same category of Bravo Alpha.I was lucky enough, because I got the Mille Cuori new, at 400$ Know it costs more than 500$ and I still would buy it, because it's that good. Prices went up because of the war that is near the country those are made. Russian knives are also way more expensive now, for the same obvious reasons. PS I am not rich, I save for months to get anything that is expensive.
Nice video. I have two of their more expensive models, and both have plenty of dissapointing flaws. So, there is a question of consistency and qc 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: th-cam.com/video/SvCnl-GpylU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=VLzkTYcQHQnCGbUW
This is why I'm on the fence about getting a BRK Aurora they are expensive so you would think you would get a perfect knife but I feel like they are taking advantage of everyone its gm almost I guess it depends on what day it was made mid week your good Monday and Friday you get the wtfs lol
ya man bark river has gone downhill if you check out my video on my new crusader you will see a lot of the same things wrong with it even had a really rough ground spot still on the handle and it got sent back in for warranty i havent got it back yet but i sure do hope they fix it i had somebody say they sent theirs in and when they got it back they couldnt tell the difference like they didnt work on it at all
By the grind on your Bravo Alpha I'd wager the same person did both of our knives. However mine has black Suretouch G10 with red liners, and mosaic pins. I've owned mine for little over a year now. I bought it as a finished product from DLT; wasn't a production preorder. I'd have to say I like mine so far. My main gripe with Bark River is the unoptimized 3V heat treat. They tend to have edge stability problems like most 3V knives with the industry standard 3V heat treat; will not hold up well to accidental impacts from such things as hitting rock, alloys, glass, bone, etc. I usually give mine a good strop when I get them, and it seems to help them a bit. Use them on wood, rope, and other things knives are intended to cut, and they do fine. You sadly have to be careful with them. I'm hoping to order in a Carothers Basic 5″ Field Knife soon. My Alpha has that same "surfer wave" as you say. I'm pretty sure that's just how that person profiles the knife. I wouldn't consider that a bad thing as long as it's consistent on both sides which mine is. Mine doesn't have the "grind mark" problem; maybe a tiny bit due to human error which is to be expected to some degree when hand profiling a knife. Your example is what I would consider unacceptable. One of the people during the making of your knife was probably having a bad day or just having life problems in general. That's what those errors entail to me. It sucks - it truly does, but it should be fixable. You could send it back to them or do it yourself or even simply live with it. I don't think that mistake will hurt the function of the knife. Knowing multiple hands were on that knife - any of those people could have been going through rough times like all of us have been these last 2 years and counting, and caused those mistakes. Peoples spirit gets down, and their passion lowers making work on such a thing harder. I'm sure it's not a matter of someone not caring. If the person who caused that mistake were to somehow watch this video I'm sure they'd feel bad about it. My Alpha's cutting edge is roughly 5 inches... So is yours as a friendly correction. I composed my comment before I finished the video. Sorry for addressing things you already address in the video by the end. I'm not going to reconstruct my comment as it's to late. Oh well. Best of luck man.
Just ordered my second bark river after buying this knife. Mine has a few imperfections namely in the sheath. I probably wont buy another. How good are lt wright knives?
My experience with LT wright has been pretty good. I think they're a bit expensive for some of the steels they use. But i have not been disappointed with the quality i've seen from them.
They are great. I own a Jessmuk and Jessmuk C. I own 6 bark rivers and 2 are near perfect but for $315 for a Crusader and $367 for a Trakker nnear perfect isn't good enough. LT Wright and Battle Horse.
who tf is DLC? Do you mean DLT? Use your knife. All those "issues" you mentioned??? Does not in any way shape or form hurt or hinder that knifes performance in real world tasks. Those "issues" does not render that knife un-usable or un-safe. If you have your knife up against one that is exactly how you want it "perfect" during real world testing you'd find no difference between the two. One would not preform any different or better than the other. Your issues are solely based on aesthetics....if you want a perfect knife, go find someone who cnc machines their blade stock. All these people referring LT Wright. I'm sorry to say but they too have un even grinds at times. I own over 30 Lt Wright and probably close to 14 Bark River knives. Both makers have aesthetic problems all of which doesn't hinder performance or use. Use the knife it's worth every penny if you use it for what it was designed to be for. It's a "tool" not an art piece to be admired. By the way, it wasn't an "Avalanche" it was called an Ambush Alpha.
I’ve had to send back the last 3 bark rivers I’ve purchased for the exact same reasons. 3 different knives, 3 completely different models and grinds same issues all over 400 dollar configurations. This was not always the case But sadly their quality has dropped considerably in my experience
I had to pull the trigger, back in the days where they didn't have those issues. Now I'll never going to risk, xpeinding so much money, for a knife that is going to have more issues, than a 10$ Mora. I got more than a dozen, that none had any kind of issue.. IT's a shame for Bark River. Mike had to solve that, but instead his knives are going from bad to worse everyday...
Your complaint about the grind line toward the tip is completely justified. You should have sent this knife back to either DLT or KSF for a refund, or send it back yourself to Bark River for correction. It would have only cost you the expense to ship it to Escanaba, MI. Bark River is not a robotic factory and their quality control should have rejected it before it hit the store shelves. Despite the obvious flaws, this knife is still quite a serviceable tool if what you want is cutting/woodworking, et. al., working knife. It may not be a collectors choice, but it still works EXTREMELY well as a working knife. Thank you for pointing out the flaws, as I am a big fan of Bark River Knives, but humans, despite their best efforts, still F-up. At least give them a chance to make it right . . . Bark River WILL make it right because they are a GREAT knife maker that stands behind their product. Overall, GREAT video! Thank you for taking the time to get this info out. My only criticism is that you did not give Bark River the chance to make it right BEFORE you bashed them.
They’re going the route of a lot of other companies as well as knife companies. The problem is they used to have a good name and that’s what people are buying. They’re buying the old school bark river reputation which used to be amazing. Now their QC has slipped so much they don’t really care because people are still buying their 200, 300 and $400 knives.
My bravo 1 is the same. Will never buy another. Too much $$ for sub standard knife. Who the heck is making these?? Not knife people. Afraid to send back, will prob get worse knife.
Well, just got my cherry popped! Just got a TERRIBLE BRK Cub! Absolute disgrace! No more BRK's for me! They have gone down hill FAST! Quantity over quality is their new business approach!
Man that stinks. I hope BRK steps up and makes you whole. I'm relatively new to BRK and have bought six of them in the last 75 days but have no quality issues remotely like yours. I even have five preorders in with DLT. If any of mine ship with issues like yours I'm contacting DLT first to discuss options and then calling BRK second to discuss options -if I wasn't satisfied with the DLT conservation. There is no way I'm paying money out of my pocket to fix their manufacturing defects. I hope you get taken care of soon. I have a couple of LTs with zero issues.
This is kinda surprising that they even sent you s knife like that dlt should have sent it back to bark river I've had that happen with ksf they have knives on there website occasionally that they won't sell due to what they deem as a quality issue I found ksfs customer service to be spectacular no run around or bs just the truth and very quick responses and even explained what was wrong with the knife, basically simular to your cosmetic issue. Now that being said bark river are my favorite knives I own and I own many of them in different models and love every single one I have bark river is also great at fixing the problem or just giving you a new knife if your not happy with it 😁😁 hope some one out there finds this helpful
I’d be disappointed, too. Hoping they can sort it out, and free of charge. I have a few recent-production ones, and they don’t hand any of these sloppy and obvious mistakes.
Lame. I've spent a lot of $$ on Bark River knives. So far so good. I just today ordered 2 Edwin Bowie knives. If they arrive with a f#@ked up grind like you showed in this video, you bet your ass I'll be sending them back! I'm sorry you had to deal with this issue on a $300+ knife. Not cool!
I just received a pre order classic drop point. It's the worst craftsmanship I have ever seen. StevIe wonder made this knife. Everything is off. The handle the grind . I was a huge bark river fan until now.
It's a real shame. Just can't buy anything they've made recently with confidence. Even if everything looks perfect, I'll still be worried that the heat treat wasn't done right.
I can see by the pouch Sheath you have a newer run. Unfortunately I found the same issues with mine. I have a few from the first production run and they are all amazing. Unfortunately the handles were too thin on the next run and the grinds were super wavy.
I wish I got the green burlap I got the canvas green micarta and the photos looked green like yours it’s showed up looking brown I then looked at TH-cam videos of others with my handle and in video they appeared brown as mine does
Yeah you kind of have to live with this from BRK now or switch to a company that really keeps its quality control high when they hand grind like TRC. Barkriver don't even cut their own blades.
i attempted to take it up with DLC who told me i could warranty it with BRK. I thought making this video might do more good than a private email or 2 that gets swept away.
They will never change for the better as Mike has been made aware of these issues over a decade ago. They don’t care about anything but profit. Know a man by the fruits he produces.
Wow, that is unacceptable. To see that is disappointing. Everybody makes mistakes but that would have passed through several hands to make it out of the factory. Def a red flag. Would love to see a response from BRK
I bought a Bravo edc elmax at a flea market. thought it might be a fake cuz the handle scales were not cut to the same sizes... but must mean its an original tho.
Before I started mucking about and making my own knives, I would have agreed with you, but now? I'm not entirely sure. Granted, I've never sold one of the knives I've made, but making stuff by hand is HARD and takes a lot of time. Since time is money, I think the only way they'd make them consistently perfect is bumping up the price and bringing down the production numbers. Not sure I want that. With that said, 3/5 of my bark rivers are aesthetically imperfect. One of them is actually dreadful, worse than yours, even! Can't say I've ever been glad to spot an imperfection. So I don't know. A part of me gets why the mistakes are there, another 100% agrees that they shouldn't end up in consumer hands.
I don’t own a bark river atm so I have no skin in the game, but if im paying 300+ for a knife it better be perfect. Idc how long it takes at that price point for factory production knives they should do better. Just my 2 cents
@@johnnyringo2185 $300 you’re paying for premium steel, DIW, mosaic pins etc. you want perfection you pay $650> & get a vehement or HFB. Don’t buy them anymore, more for us 😁
@@richroc7 premium steels are all the rage but I’ve had a few high end hunting/edc knifes and the difference is usually slim to almost unnoticeable. As for the other things you mentioned the only ppl who care about the aesthetics are collectors, who would want a perfect knife, but ppl like myself who actually use them don’t give a crap about mosaic pins and “etc”. I paid 100 bucks for an esee pr4 and although it doesn’t have a high end steel but it preforms well and was perfect out of the box, not to mention a lifetime warranty. Like I said a 300 dollar knife that’s mass produced ought to bring more to the table than flaws and inconsistencies
@@johnnyringo2185 I respect that, I can’t say that you’re wrong. I’ve never had any with mosaic pins tbh but I have 2 in ghost green jade g-10 with SS corby bolts on 1 and hollow on the other. I’ve been wanting an ESEE 5/6 for 3 years now and I haven’t been able to afford it but I hear great things about the Rowen heat treat and I seen some abuse testing. ESEE owner is actually friends with BRK owner and they chat regularly. I respect your opinion brother 👊🏼
@@johnnyringo2185 I know that BRK mass produces knives half by machine and half by hand. I imagine that they work very fast putting out 1K blades per week and they make mistakes every now and then. When that happens they probably hope whoever gets it won’t care because they use it instead of being a gen z crybaby or they know they’ll fix it for free because they have their unconditional lifetime warranty. With respect to Esse’s 1095 and the Rowen HT I think 3V will hold an edge a bit longer & it’s definitely more stain resistant. Hence why ESEE uses the powder coat. I’m still going to get an ESEE 5 or 6 though & im curious why they charge more for the ESEE 5 ($155) over the ESEE 6 ($140).
@@pointpleasant but you have to admit, they are an excellent business. Many customers love them, and they hold their resale value. But the finish is not for me.
You can't even measure the blade with a ruler on your mat.. It's 5 inches. Not 6. I do agree that the inconsistencies are annoying if you expect perfection. But I doubt they affect function. I've had some ugly bits on my Barkies too. But I just know what to expect from a semi custom production line. I either finished them up or laughed at the tiny mistakes. I know my time is worth money too, and it would cost me more to make my own. But it's kinda made me feel good about my abilities to see Mike's employees make a mistake here and there. And I'm inspired to make my own. Bottom line is time and precision are made out of money. Go check out a company who either makes fewer higher attention to detail blades, and pay more. Or one that uses CNC and cranks out tons of identical pieces, and pay less. None of which probably have the customer service Mike offers if your delicate sensibilities get scraped.
I have multiple custom knives and the majority of them are cheaper than BRK. I've reviewed some of them even including a DULO knife. I'll have to disagree that BRK has good customer service by comparison. I'd also disagree that this price point infers mistakes will be made. Its perfectly reasonable to have your own opinions and support whatever brands you wish. Everyone likes different things. I have expectations based off of my collection and the many knife makers i've dealt with. In my personal opinion BRK falls below par in both quality control and customer service. And the knife is indeed 5 inches. We all make mistakes, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
sorry to hear that, has a nice design, wow that grind is terrible, how did that get sent out, for that money they should be ashamed $300 i would flip out, what did they say fix it that is crazy, they should just send you a different one
I ordered a Bravo-1 from DLT and when i got it there was a spot on the handle that looked like it was dropped or got to close to a piece of equip before it left the factory. I contacted DLT and they gave me 3 good options, which included a replacement be sent out immediately which is what i went with, it was great customer service on their behalf. I couldn't believe someone sent it out like that but the others i have purchased have been spot on. If i were in your shoes i'd be sending that back and ask that the $25 be waved.
After a lot of disappointing knives (quality-wise) I finally got a good ground one (JX6 MagnaCut). The frustrating thing is that design-wise they have their place...but from a quality perspective...meehh
If you've gone with an authorised retailer, they'll take care of it. I don't think you'll be out of pocket for those types of defects. I've got/had around 30 barkies and most are fantastic fit finish, but there's been a few hit and miss and one I've had pretty terrible. They aren't perfect but most are very very good. I live in Australia so not so easy to send anywhere, but if you're US based should be easy enough
Not just mine, but a few friends have all had issues. It seems to be about 1 in 5 has serious issues. I wish they could get it buttoned up because everyone loves the designs and materials. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I strongly recommend Adventure sworn Classic / Mountaineer, they also make convex on custom made. Of course it pretty hard to get one. But but you will see what’s the high end knife
Grab some whetstones and modify to your liking. You could always trade it out for something else with one of the Bark River Boys as well. I personally like the small deviations in semi-custom knives. It's very hard to hand grind thousands of blades (convex) without small deviations. It does not effect the functionlity of the convex profile, and you save money by not having to pay for the man hours of a full spec custom.
so i just came back to this after picking up my first bark river. Kitsune Tanto. I'm not sure if it's just this run but my knife is flawless. The bevel's are perfect, the handle tang is perfectly ground evenly so you can't even tell there's a separation between the tang, liner and handle scales. I dunno, maybe shit got crazy during hte pandemic and they were getting so many orders because people had so much time to be outdoors alone in the woods, not near anyone, that their quality control dipped a bit. But from this sample of one, it seems they're back up to standard. I just ordered a couple more bark rivers so we'll see on those if my theory is correct.
just got my 2 other brk's in. Bravo 1 cru-wear and another Kitsune Tanto. Both flawless. I think BRK is back baby. If you're going to buy another knife, might want to give them a try again.
I know more people, that had issues with the quality of a Bark River Knife, rather than being very satisfied. Those who are satisfied, are those who neither use their knives, nor they know much about knives. I've also noticed, that the Bark Rivers that hit the European market,, have a big chance, to be their factory seconds, because I read more and more complaints, from European customers.
You will probably be best served by buying a mass produced Chinese knife rather than a hand made semi-custom knife with a no question asked return/replace policy. And I am not being snarky. I have over 400 knives, from a $ 5 knife to a $ 5,000 knife. Out of the 8 Bark River knives I have, probably half have evidence of being hand made/ground. For example; not showing attention to detail. But I still like BRK despite the shortcomings because I know that if I ever want them fixed I can send them back. The guy that spends his life saving to buy a C8 corvette should probably think twice if they want a perfect car. Yet someone who is a corvette enthusiast doesn't care because they already know that about corvettes. If you dont' like it, don't buy it. I used to see the same thing on Corvette forums. Chronic whiners.......................
The video is more for those that don't know. I didn't return the knife because ultimately it doesn't affect it. But i do think that its disappointing compared to other offerings at the same price point. I just think people should be able to see what they can expect from BRK. i have purchased more than 10 bark knives and for the most part they've been acceptable. But i won't praise them when they send out a sub par grind on a 300 dollar knife.
I have a few BR"s,,, no issues. Just send it back, they"ll replace it,,, you got the new guy their breaking in,,LOL. A buddy of mine had a couple of small issues on a Bravo 1, They sent him a new one, no questions asked. Now youll get a new one with the scales you wanted. I just received a perfect Bravo 1 LT with Magnacut, cant wait to destroy it....
Its just a knife,,,,,😆
The only way I will ever order another BR is through Knives Ship Free as it cost nothing to pre order. When your notified it's in ask the folks to qc it before you buy it. BR really has issues of late on many knives, don't accept this poor craftsmanship. If you want a darn near perfect knife there are many better choices, like Lt Wright.
Thanks for watching and i agree LT Wright makes very nice knives.
This knife is so terrible, you should give it me.
You almost convinced me.
@@pointpleasant it’s junk, hook it up! I will send you a crisp $50 dollar bill.
I recently returned two Bark River knives for quality issues. On one the plunge line was to one side and the entire length of the blade followed. The second one was just as bad. I was told that's the way they are because they are hand made. Lt Wright knives are hand made and they don't have that problem. I'm sticking with Lt
Because LT doesn’t make bear the blades BRK makes.
@@dukemajors349 LT 100% makes a superior product to bark river. Bark river used to have amazing quality control. They really fell off after 2013 in terms of quality. Heat treat got changed for the worst. Fit and finish issues on 90% of the knives. Uneven grind angles, rust on stainless blades, poor 90 degree angles. I could go on and on. I’ve seen more broken bark rivers than I have almost any other high end brand. You won’t believe the amount of students I’ve had tell me that bark rivers customer service is the worst. They don’t honor their warranty as they should. I’m also a mod for bladeforums and BCUSA and I’ve seen all of the deleted negative reviews of bark rivers products. It’s in the thousands. Even now negative reviews are constantly being deleted to save face. I’ve tried calling out the BS behavior but the fan base is one of the most ignorant and aggressive fan bases I’ve ever seen. It’s insane.
The best quality on semi-custom knives,comes from TRC knives. It's a knife I would suggest, is the TRC Mille Cuori. and then LT Wright Forest trail, both are crazy good and probably the best knives at the same category of Bravo Alpha.I was lucky enough, because I got the Mille Cuori new, at 400$ Know it costs more than 500$ and I still would buy it, because it's that good. Prices went up because of the war that is near the country those are made. Russian knives are also way more expensive now, for the same obvious reasons.
PS I am not rich, I save for months to get anything that is expensive.
Send it in for their SPA treatment. Send a list of your complaints. They'll make it good.
Haha, did you get paid to do the QC for them?
They’ve been having quality issues for years now. I doubt they are going to improve at this point.
Did you ever send it back? Did you keep it and use it or nah?
I did keep it.I may still send it back someday to have it fixed up but for now I've been using it as is. Thanks for commenting and watching.
Nice video. I have two of their more expensive models, and both have plenty of dissapointing flaws. So, there is a question of consistency and qc 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: th-cam.com/video/SvCnl-GpylU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=VLzkTYcQHQnCGbUW
I feel your pain , my bravo 1 looks like it was ground at 4:30 on a Friday evening after drinks were served .
This is why I'm on the fence about getting a BRK Aurora they are expensive so you would think you would get a perfect knife but I feel like they are taking advantage of everyone its gm almost I guess it depends on what day it was made mid week your good Monday and Friday you get the wtfs lol
They don’t claim to be cosmetically or symmetrically perfect…. 😂 their hand made dimwit.
ya man bark river has gone downhill if you check out my video on my new crusader you will see a lot of the same things wrong with it even had a really rough ground spot still on the handle and it got sent back in for warranty i havent got it back yet but i sure do hope they fix it i had somebody say they sent theirs in and when they got it back they couldnt tell the difference like they didnt work on it at all
Wow, Bark River messed up on that one!!!
They are messing up on almost everyone now
Reiff, TJ Swartz, and MKC if u want something of custom quality.
I have all the same issues plus grind marks in fullers in a squad leader 2 in 3v...waited 4 years for my pre order
By the grind on your Bravo Alpha I'd wager the same person did both of our knives. However mine has black Suretouch G10 with red liners, and mosaic pins. I've owned mine for little over a year now. I bought it as a finished product from DLT; wasn't a production preorder. I'd have to say I like mine so far. My main gripe with Bark River is the unoptimized 3V heat treat. They tend to have edge stability problems like most 3V knives with the industry standard 3V heat treat; will not hold up well to accidental impacts from such things as hitting rock, alloys, glass, bone, etc. I usually give mine a good strop when I get them, and it seems to help them a bit. Use them on wood, rope, and other things knives are intended to cut, and they do fine. You sadly have to be careful with them. I'm hoping to order in a Carothers Basic 5″ Field Knife soon. My Alpha has that same "surfer wave" as you say. I'm pretty sure that's just how that person profiles the knife. I wouldn't consider that a bad thing as long as it's consistent on both sides which mine is. Mine doesn't have the "grind mark" problem; maybe a tiny bit due to human error which is to be expected to some degree when hand profiling a knife. Your example is what I would consider unacceptable. One of the people during the making of your knife was probably having a bad day or just having life problems in general. That's what those errors entail to me. It sucks - it truly does, but it should be fixable. You could send it back to them or do it yourself or even simply live with it. I don't think that mistake will hurt the function of the knife. Knowing multiple hands were on that knife - any of those people could have been going through rough times like all of us have been these last 2 years and counting, and caused those mistakes. Peoples spirit gets down, and their passion lowers making work on such a thing harder. I'm sure it's not a matter of someone not caring. If the person who caused that mistake were to somehow watch this video I'm sure they'd feel bad about it. My Alpha's cutting edge is roughly 5 inches... So is yours as a friendly correction.
I composed my comment before I finished the video. Sorry for addressing things you already address in the video by the end. I'm not going to reconstruct my comment as it's to late. Oh well. Best of luck man.
Just ordered my second bark river after buying this knife. Mine has a few imperfections namely in the sheath. I probably wont buy another. How good are lt wright knives?
My experience with LT wright has been pretty good. I think they're a bit expensive for some of the steels they use. But i have not been disappointed with the quality i've seen from them.
They are great. I own a Jessmuk and Jessmuk C. I own 6 bark rivers and 2 are near perfect but for $315 for a Crusader and $367 for a Trakker nnear perfect isn't good enough. LT Wright and Battle Horse.
Blade Forums has thread after thread of Bark River quality issues and most importantly, Mismarked Steel! Hold them accountable
who tf is DLC? Do you mean DLT? Use your knife. All those "issues" you mentioned??? Does not in any way shape or form hurt or hinder that knifes performance in real world tasks. Those "issues" does not render that knife un-usable or un-safe. If you have your knife up against one that is exactly how you want it "perfect" during real world testing you'd find no difference between the two. One would not preform any different or better than the other.
Your issues are solely based on aesthetics....if you want a perfect knife, go find someone who cnc machines their blade stock. All these people referring LT Wright. I'm sorry to say but they too have un even grinds at times. I own over 30 Lt Wright and probably close to 14 Bark River knives. Both makers have aesthetic problems all of which doesn't hinder performance or use.
Use the knife it's worth every penny if you use it for what it was designed to be for. It's a "tool" not an art piece to be admired.
By the way, it wasn't an "Avalanche" it was called an Ambush Alpha.
I’ve had to send back the last 3 bark rivers I’ve purchased for the exact same reasons. 3 different knives, 3 completely different models and grinds same issues all over 400 dollar configurations. This was not always the case But sadly their quality has dropped considerably in my experience
I had to pull the trigger, back in the days where they didn't have those issues. Now I'll never going to risk, xpeinding so much money, for a knife that is going to have more issues, than a 10$ Mora. I got more than a dozen, that none had any kind of issue.. IT's a shame for Bark River. Mike had to solve that, but instead his knives are going from bad to worse everyday...
Your complaint about the grind line toward the tip is completely justified. You should have sent this knife back to either DLT or KSF for a refund, or send it back yourself to Bark River for correction. It would have only cost you the expense to ship it to Escanaba, MI. Bark River is not a robotic factory and their quality control should have rejected it before it hit the store shelves. Despite the obvious flaws, this knife is still quite a serviceable tool if what you want is cutting/woodworking, et. al., working knife. It may not be a collectors choice, but it still works EXTREMELY well as a working knife. Thank you for pointing out the flaws, as I am a big fan of Bark River Knives, but humans, despite their best efforts, still F-up. At least give them a chance to make it right . . . Bark River WILL make it right because they are a GREAT knife maker that stands behind their product.
Overall, GREAT video! Thank you for taking the time to get this info out. My only criticism is that you did not give Bark River the chance to make it right BEFORE you bashed them.
They’re going the route of a lot of other companies as well as knife companies. The problem is they used to have a good name and that’s what people are buying. They’re buying the old school bark river reputation which used to be amazing. Now their QC has slipped so much they don’t really care because people are still buying their 200, 300 and $400 knives.
My bravo 1 is the same.
Will never buy another.
Too much $$ for sub standard knife.
Who the heck is making these?? Not knife people.
Afraid to send back, will prob get worse knife.
Well, just got my cherry popped! Just got a TERRIBLE BRK Cub! Absolute disgrace! No more BRK's for me! They have gone down hill FAST! Quantity over quality is their new business approach!
I would have got a lt Wright an just saved some money
lol we live and we learn. Maybe next time i will.
LT Wright is no better.
Man that stinks. I hope BRK steps up and makes you whole. I'm relatively new to BRK and have bought six of them in the last 75 days but have no quality issues remotely like yours. I even have five preorders in with DLT. If any of mine ship with issues like yours I'm contacting DLT first to discuss options and then calling BRK second to discuss options -if I wasn't satisfied with the DLT conservation. There is no way I'm paying money out of my pocket to fix their manufacturing defects. I hope you get taken care of soon. I have a couple of LTs with zero issues.
This is kinda surprising that they even sent you s knife like that dlt should have sent it back to bark river I've had that happen with ksf they have knives on there website occasionally that they won't sell due to what they deem as a quality issue I found ksfs customer service to be spectacular no run around or bs just the truth and very quick responses and even explained what was wrong with the knife, basically simular to your cosmetic issue. Now that being said bark river are my favorite knives I own and I own many of them in different models and love every single one I have bark river is also great at fixing the problem or just giving you a new knife if your not happy with it 😁😁 hope some one out there finds this helpful
I’d be disappointed, too. Hoping they can sort it out, and free of charge.
I have a few recent-production ones, and they don’t hand any of these sloppy and obvious mistakes.
The blade is actually 5.25”
You are correct.
MY 80 dollar Joker Nordico in k720 is way better than this.
Right Right……. Never have I had a bad Barky, ever.
Got a couple, the fit n finish is bad. The grinds are uneven as hell... Love em, but they are not good
Did they ever make your knife right
Fallkniven is king. Honestly tho these issues aren’t a big deal at all. The knife will still work perfectly. Bark river as are the beez neez man.
Hey bro just punt it on eBay someone will pick it up for sure they sell like hot cakes
They're a big deal when you're paying 300 bucks. My 80 dollar Joker was better crafted than my Bark River
@@jhtsurvival don’t blaspheme bro. Joker is shit! Fallkniven is king. bark river are incredible.
Lame. I've spent a lot of $$ on Bark River knives. So far so good. I just today ordered 2 Edwin Bowie knives. If they arrive with a f#@ked up grind like you showed in this video, you bet your ass I'll be sending them back! I'm sorry you had to deal with this issue on a $300+ knife. Not cool!
I just received a pre order classic drop point. It's the worst craftsmanship I have ever seen. StevIe wonder made this knife. Everything is off. The handle the grind . I was a huge bark river fan until now.
that is shameful
Glad I’m doing my research tks for the information sir
go spend $37 on a bps be happy the end
This is exactly how mine came to me from DLT
It's a real shame. Just can't buy anything they've made recently with confidence. Even if everything looks perfect, I'll still be worried that the heat treat wasn't done right.
I can see by the pouch Sheath you have a newer run. Unfortunately I found the same issues with mine. I have a few from the first production run and they are all amazing. Unfortunately the handles were too thin on the next run and the grinds were super wavy.
I wish I got the green burlap I got the canvas green micarta and the photos looked green like yours it’s showed up looking brown I then looked at TH-cam videos of others with my handle and in video they appeared brown as mine does
Yeah you kind of have to live with this from BRK now or switch to a company that really keeps its quality control high when they hand grind like TRC. Barkriver don't even cut their own blades.
That's hideous. Did you take it up with the dealer or Mike? If these issues don't get addressed BRK won't get any better🤷♂
i attempted to take it up with DLC who told me i could warranty it with BRK. I thought making this video might do more good than a private email or 2 that gets swept away.
They will never change for the better as Mike has been made aware of these issues over a decade ago.
They don’t care about anything but profit.
Know a man by the fruits he produces.
I hope you sent it back
Wow, that is unacceptable. To see that is disappointing. Everybody makes mistakes but that would have passed through several hands to make it out of the factory. Def a red flag. Would love to see a response from BRK
I bought a Bravo edc elmax at a flea market. thought it might be a fake cuz the handle scales were not cut to the same sizes... but must mean its an original tho.
not what youd expect for sure. I wanted to buy one of these for a gift...maybe not after all.
I've never been a big fan of that company, sorry for your loss 🙏
Before I started mucking about and making my own knives, I would have agreed with you, but now? I'm not entirely sure. Granted, I've never sold one of the knives I've made, but making stuff by hand is HARD and takes a lot of time. Since time is money, I think the only way they'd make them consistently perfect is bumping up the price and bringing down the production numbers. Not sure I want that. With that said, 3/5 of my bark rivers are aesthetically imperfect. One of them is actually dreadful, worse than yours, even! Can't say I've ever been glad to spot an imperfection. So I don't know. A part of me gets why the mistakes are there, another 100% agrees that they shouldn't end up in consumer hands.
I don’t own a bark river atm so I have no skin in the game, but if im paying 300+ for a knife it better be perfect. Idc how long it takes at that price point for factory production knives they should do better. Just my 2 cents
@@johnnyringo2185 $300 you’re paying for premium steel, DIW, mosaic pins etc. you want perfection you pay $650> & get a vehement or HFB. Don’t buy them anymore, more for us 😁
@@richroc7 premium steels are all the rage but I’ve had a few high end hunting/edc knifes and the difference is usually slim to almost unnoticeable. As for the other things you mentioned the only ppl who care about the aesthetics are collectors, who would want a perfect knife, but ppl like myself who actually use them don’t give a crap about mosaic pins and “etc”. I paid 100 bucks for an esee pr4 and although it doesn’t have a high end steel but it preforms well and was perfect out of the box, not to mention a lifetime warranty. Like I said a 300 dollar knife that’s mass produced ought to bring more to the table than flaws and inconsistencies
@@johnnyringo2185 I respect that, I can’t say that you’re wrong. I’ve never had any with mosaic pins tbh but I have 2 in ghost green jade g-10 with SS corby bolts on 1 and hollow on the other. I’ve been wanting an ESEE 5/6 for 3 years now and I haven’t been able to afford it but I hear great things about the Rowen heat treat and I seen some abuse testing. ESEE owner is actually friends with BRK owner and they chat regularly. I respect your opinion brother 👊🏼
@@johnnyringo2185 I know that BRK mass produces knives half by machine and half by hand. I imagine that they work very fast putting out 1K blades per week and they make mistakes every now and then. When that happens they probably hope whoever gets it won’t care because they use it instead of being a gen z crybaby or they know they’ll fix it for free because they have their unconditional lifetime warranty.
With respect to Esse’s 1095 and the Rowen HT I think 3V will hold an edge a bit longer & it’s definitely more stain resistant. Hence why ESEE uses the powder coat. I’m still going to get an ESEE 5 or 6 though & im curious why they charge more for the ESEE 5 ($155) over the ESEE 6 ($140).
I feel your pain.... send it back to make it right.
That’s a typical br quality
Seems to be most peoples experience.
@@pointpleasant but you have to admit, they are an excellent business. Many customers love them, and they hold their resale value. But the finish is not for me.
You can't even measure the blade with a ruler on your mat.. It's 5 inches. Not 6. I do agree that the inconsistencies are annoying if you expect perfection. But I doubt they affect function. I've had some ugly bits on my Barkies too. But I just know what to expect from a semi custom production line. I either finished them up or laughed at the tiny mistakes. I know my time is worth money too, and it would cost me more to make my own. But it's kinda made me feel good about my abilities to see Mike's employees make a mistake here and there. And I'm inspired to make my own. Bottom line is time and precision are made out of money. Go check out a company who either makes fewer higher attention to detail blades, and pay more. Or one that uses CNC and cranks out tons of identical pieces, and pay less. None of which probably have the customer service Mike offers if your delicate sensibilities get scraped.
I have multiple custom knives and the majority of them are cheaper than BRK. I've reviewed some of them even including a DULO knife. I'll have to disagree that BRK has good customer service by comparison. I'd also disagree that this price point infers mistakes will be made. Its perfectly reasonable to have your own opinions and support whatever brands you wish. Everyone likes different things. I have expectations based off of my collection and the many knife makers i've dealt with. In my personal opinion BRK falls below par in both quality control and customer service.
And the knife is indeed 5 inches. We all make mistakes, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Return that thing.
Should have bought a mora.
got plenty of moras around lol. And i agree you cant beat em for what they are and what they cost.
sorry to hear that, has a nice design, wow that grind is terrible, how did that get sent out, for that money they should be ashamed $300 i would flip out, what did they say
fix it that is crazy, they should just send you a different one
I ordered a Bravo-1 from DLT and when i got it there was a spot on the handle that looked like it was dropped or got to close to a piece of equip before it left the factory. I contacted DLT and they gave me 3 good options, which included a replacement be sent out immediately which is what i went with, it was great customer service on their behalf. I couldn't believe someone sent it out like that but the others i have purchased have been spot on. If i were in your shoes i'd be sending that back and ask that the $25 be waved.
After a lot of disappointing knives (quality-wise) I finally got a good ground one (JX6 MagnaCut). The frustrating thing is that design-wise they have their place...but from a quality perspective...meehh
If you've gone with an authorised retailer, they'll take care of it. I don't think you'll be out of pocket for those types of defects. I've got/had around 30 barkies and most are fantastic fit finish, but there's been a few hit and miss and one I've had pretty terrible. They aren't perfect but most are very very good. I live in Australia so not so easy to send anywhere, but if you're US based should be easy enough
Bought a BR Aurora 2 months ago. It has exact same issue, misaligned grinds. How knives, with these issues, are allowed to go out to customers is sad.
Not just mine, but a few friends have all had issues. It seems to be about 1 in 5 has serious issues. I wish they could get it buttoned up because everyone loves the designs and materials. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I strongly recommend Adventure sworn Classic / Mountaineer, they also make convex on custom made. Of course it pretty hard to get one. But but you will see what’s the high end knife
I will look into them. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for watching.
Grab some whetstones and modify to your liking. You could always trade it out for something else with one of the Bark River Boys as well. I personally like the small deviations in semi-custom knives. It's very hard to hand grind thousands of blades (convex) without small deviations. It does not effect the functionlity of the convex profile, and you save money by not having to pay for the man hours of a full spec custom.
if im paying 300 bucks it better be way better than that.. my joker nordico was way better quality
Dude that’s a solid knife that thick tip is going nowhere just use the damn thing bro it’s good to go!
that primary bevel differential is insane. I was actually thinking of a brk but now i'm hesitant.
so i just came back to this after picking up my first bark river. Kitsune Tanto. I'm not sure if it's just this run but my knife is flawless. The bevel's are perfect, the handle tang is perfectly ground evenly so you can't even tell there's a separation between the tang, liner and handle scales.
I dunno, maybe shit got crazy during hte pandemic and they were getting so many orders because people had so much time to be outdoors alone in the woods, not near anyone, that their quality control dipped a bit. But from this sample of one, it seems they're back up to standard.
I just ordered a couple more bark rivers so we'll see on those if my theory is correct.
just got my 2 other brk's in. Bravo 1 cru-wear and another Kitsune Tanto. Both flawless. I think BRK is back baby. If you're going to buy another knife, might want to give them a try again.