Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades bark river

whats your thoughts on their knives i really like the canadian special how hard are they to sharpen and do they hold a good edge im looking for a good hunting knife

nobody

tripp, years ago I got a Bark River Mini Canadian. I liked it so much I got a Micro Canadian. I liked it so much I got a Little Creek. They are all good knives, well made, good steel (A-2), good ergonimics (blade profile and handle), and they look good too. The Mini's have jigged cowbone scales, and the others have canvas micarta scales. They are tough, working knives. They have convex edges on them from the factory. They have a good Lifetime Warranty also. And for a small fee, they'll refurbish and/or resharpen your knife anytime. I've never needed to resharpen mine, but I would probably just do it myself.

There good stuff. Mike does a nice job and as antlers said there customer service is great. some of there sheaths are not the best but if you have issue a phone call to them will fix the problem.

I don't have any experience with their Canadian special, but I do have an Aurora in A2, and a Bravo 1 in CPM 154. They are both way above average for production knives.

Mike Stewart, the owner has helped me on two occasions where it did not enrich him in the process, so I think pretty highly of him as well as his company.

Most bark rivers don't just have Convex "edges"- they have CONVEX BLADE GRINDS. Totally different animal in terms of merely putting a convex EDGE on a flat or hollow ground blade.

Most all of them are powerful cutters for their size due to their blade geometry and most all of them have hand ground blades since it is vitally impossible to totally machine mill a true convex blade profile..

One other thing ,the edges of their blades are thin and WILL roll when contacting bone. I don't care what blade steel they use- they WILL roll it's a combination of their edge geometry and blade hardness.. They good news is that they do not harden their blades to the point to where they tend to chip. The rolled edge is easily fixed and they strop back to factory sharpness pretty easily. They are much like Moras and other Scandinavian knives in that regard.

IMHO, the best Bark River knives are the ones made from A2 or 52-100 steel.

I have not seen a Bark River convex edge blade roll the edge myself.
Most of the time I am using my Aurora or Bravo 1 as a bushcraft knife, and they get hard use. Batoning wood, cutting, carving, and then off to do the camp kitchen chores.
They are scary sharp with the factory edge, hold that edge very well, and are easy to strop back to a good edge in the field.

I've got six Barkies and i really like them for the money. I feild dressed two bull elk for clients this year with my lil canadian (cmp-3v) and it will still shave your arm. As someone else said my favorite blades are A2, they seem to just get scarry sharp and stay that way very well, but some of the other steels work well too. I bought all of mine used from 75.00 to 125.00 which in my opinion makes them a steal for what your getting, most never used, as new. I have used their customer service also. When i got my knife back the first time i was not at all happy. I called and was told the person in charge at that time was now gone and to send my knife back to them with a letter saying whay i wanted. I did and in a week my knife was back to me and right, no charge or shipping. For how they seem to perform for me i like them alot. Just my .02 worth.

Guy

I've seen darn near ever one of them do it if they are actually used hard ,as in contacting bone when butchering or hitting hard knots when battoning, etc..

I have even seen A2 Bravo 1 model knives roll and they are made from 1/4" thick stock. The edge rolls I am talking about are minor, but they are still there.

I do know some folks who will no longer buy Bark Rivers because of that. In their opinion, any knife that is so soft it rolls is not worth $200.

Te problem is, given the thin edge geometry of the convex blades they will either roll or chip. Chipping requires removal of metal to fix(ie newly ground edge) A rolled edge can be fixed with a smooth steel.

our mileage varies..........

I bought a canadian special last year and it did the trick. The blade may be a touch long for gutting deer, but the length makes "coring" easier. Love the bushcraft style sheath and put a firesteel in it because the loop was there.
My only complaint is the A2 steel discolors from the venision fat that is hard to wipe off the blade. I have 2 barkies and they both did it and it turns to small spots of dark grey, not rust, on the blade by the time you give them a good washing. They are working knives that will eventually discolor to a carbon steel patina so its not the end of the world and I would have bought a stainless blade if I need shiny. Carrying a oily rag would help as well as finding a buffer wheel once in a while.
My knives are gutters and I use butcher knive for butchering. Can't speak to the edge rolling issue. The candian would be a good bush craft knife also.
knifeupply.com has them at a good price.

humdinger,
If you like the canadian special you would probably love a lil-canadian. Same knife only scaled down a little smaller and cmp-3v steel. I bought one used a while back and used it on a couple elk earlier this year and was pretty happy with it. I think it will be small enough to be handy on whitetails later this year also. Give one a look if you can find one. Just my .02 worth.

Guy