On March 20, Mike Stewart, founder and owner of BRK announced the company has closed for good.
Stewart’s announcement, made on the Bark River Knives Facebook group, came alongside admitting that about two years ago they started ordering Chinese steel for some of their models then deliberately mislabeled them as CPM 154 and still USA made.
The Michigan state police have opened an official investigation into Bark River for fraud and various kinds of misconduct, and a lot of details keep coming from different corners of the internet at various levels of credibility, so this is very much an ongoing story that we’ll try to keep updated.
So What Steel Were they Actually Using?
He mentioned that the steel they substituted for “had almost the same edge retention”, “same toughness”, and “even more stain resistance” than CPM 154. However, it looks like the steel was likely 9Cr18MoV which is chemically very different, and as YouTuber Outdoors55 pointed out, it’s almost meaningless to say you’ve tested edge retention on a convex grind since it’s nearly impossible to get identical geometry on any two blades.
Stewart also claimed that because they were still doing “5 operations on each knife” they still met the criteria of being made in the USA. While that’s not a claim we’re fully qualified to challenge, this would be a good time to link to Ben Petersen’s explanation of what “made in the USA” actually means.
Here’s How the Industry has Responded So Far
Their official distributors have already pulled the specified models from their sites. Other Bark River knives remain for now, but it seems like everyone is waiting for another shoe to drop here. DLT Trading has said they’ll be sending some of their Bark River stock to Niagara Specialty Metals steel to be tested. Knives Ship Free is offering full store credit for returns even if they’re outside the return window.
This hit the knife world pretty hard, and just about everyone has already come out with their own opinion and round up of the facts (even Nick Shabazz did a fixed blade video in response, for God’s sake). We probably can’t tell you anything that hasn’t been covered elsewhere, and as much as I would love to treat this with some level of journalistic integrity, frankly, it’s hard to find good enough sources to do that with since most of the facts here have to be weeded out of posts from Facebook, Reddit, and Blade Forums.
That said, a local paper, the Daily Press, did write a quick piece on Bark River’s closing that included actual quotes from people they actually talked to including the secretary Jersey Sexton. That’s probably a source worth returning to as (or if) more details come out about this.
H Clay Anders over at Knife Magazine did a good job compiling some of the information getting posted around the web including things about Mike Stewart’s checkered past with fraud. Some people might remember Black Jack Knives back from the late 90’s era which he eventually pleaded guilty to defrauding.
There was also a leak from Bark River employees as far back as 2006 claiming they were using Japanese steel, grinding out the etchings and regrinding and labeling them as American steels.
Financially, It was a Long Time Coming
There had been rumors circulating on Bark River’s Facebook group that the company was struggling as they put some restrictions on how people sent knives back for warranty and instituted raffles to try to make quick money to save the shop.
The situation looks a lot clearer after seeing this little piece from Yahoo Finance saying two financial lenders “filed commercial and trade-contract suits against Stewart Knives LLC accusing the company of defaulting on loan payments and breaching their agreement”.
Taking all that into account, this maybe shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise. It seems likely that the only reason Stewart came clean about the steel switch at all is because the company was going under regardless.
We Almost Feel Smart for Not Buying BRK Except…
We’ve never reviewed a Bark River knife here at Nothing but Knives (despite some pretty aggressive recommendations from their most ardent fans). We’d like to be able to say it was because we could smell something was off about the company, but the truth is that they were expensive and unresponsive. By the time we had that kind of capital we were too distracted by other high-end heritage companies.
We did, however, include them in our Guide to American Made Knives based mostly on information pulled from their own website, and may even have used phrasing like “Bark River takes great pains to do everything in their facilities”, so we still feel a little bit stupid about this. We’ve updated the BRK section of that guide, and will remove it entirely later this year.
It’s Sad but There Are Alternatives
Even with Mike Stewart’s reputation, Bark River is a big loss in the knife industry. They made beautiful knives that served a lot of people well for years, but this might be a good space to mention that other companies have appeared on the scene since BRK started that have good reputations, make great knives, and are all or mostly USA-made:
White River Knives run in the same genre and while they don’t generally make convex knives, their edge grinding and heat treatments have become famous among other knife companies, especially the ones that use them as part of their manufacturing stream.
Reiff Knives hit a similar price point, and while the aesthetic is different, the quality is excellent.
Schwarz Knives are increasing their capacity all the time, and is run by one of the most meticulous designers alive right now.
Montana Knife Company is seeing some unprecedented success, and while some might blink at the combination of prices and steels, they do solid work in their own factory.
Tactile Knife Co. serves a different genre, but it’s hard to find a company with more care and enthusiasm for making their own product than those guys,
And even Knafs Co. is in the process of building out a facility to make knives in their Utah shop.
So, Bark River Knives is a loss, but there are plenty of good alternatives out there.
