Question on another brand's heat treat and such

[jdw]

I was wondering how well BRK ran their HT? I have used the same fixed blades for years but I am starting to buy a few again and some of the BRK models caught my eye. What's your general opinion? Let me emphasize that buying a competitors brand won't change one bit whether I buy a Spydie model or not. Thanks all.

[Accutron]

I would suggest visiting Bladeforums and doing some research on BRK. Heat treatment may be the least of your worries.

[Naperville]

I'd stay off of Blade Forums. As for taking the opinion of their "highly esteemed members" most of who own 3 to 5 gas station knives, I'd ignore the slander that they pitch at BRK and everyone else.

[Accutron]

The many relevant criticisms of BRK are indisputable facts, and go well beyond the opinions of BF members. BF is just a one-stop shop for the OP to get all of the information quickly.

Naperville - you have a history on BF which brings your impartiality into question. Don't you think it's unreasonable to make broad generalizations about their hundreds of thousands of members, many of which are also valued members here? Yes, there is a small army of state-sanctioned trolls on BF, but they are a very vocal minority, and they have nothing to do with BRK's problems.

[Naperville]

Naperville - you have a history on BF which brings your impartiality into question.

History? Impartiality?

I was attacked on BF for not posting pictures from my knife collection to prove that I had 80 knives. I was attacked in general discussion and whine and cheese.

Blade Forums is pure garbage. The mods put up with the attacks, and then closed my acct. They still haven't even bothered to put the infamous, "BANNED" on my acct. It's hilarious that you would speak of my impartiality or history.

[Naperville]

We have 4 Bark River Knives in my family, and I have one on order, due in 2021. They are good knives for working knives. They are not up to the quality of a Spyderco Knives.

[Accutron]

Naperville - you have a history on BF which brings your impartiality into question.

History? Impartiality?

I was attacked on BF for not posting pictures from my knife collection to prove that I had 80 knives. I was attacked in general discussion and whine and cheese.

Blade Forums is pure garbage. The mods put up with the attacks, and then closed my acct. They still haven't even bothered to put the infamous, "BANNED" on my acct. It's hilarious that you would speak of my impartiality or history.

I didn't say you did anything wrong on BF, nor did I say that the admins acted right. Indeed, I believe you were trolled and treated unfairly, primarily because BF as a whole does not support a culture of knife-based defense. I only stated that you have a history which brings your impartiality into question, which is clearly accurate based on your own elaborations.

[TomAiello]

I've had good experiences with BRK fixed blades. They aren't run as hard as Spyderco, and seem to be optimized for toughness rather than abrasive wear resistance. But that makes sense given their other design characteristics.

[cbrstar]

I'm looking at purchasing a BRK this Christmas for myself. I had the opportunity to handle my friends this summer and it blew my mind. Did some hacking into a old dead tree full force, and had no problems with it keeping it's edge.

If you look at the data sheet of 3v from Crucible https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prod ... pm3vt.html You see that increasing the HRC from 58 to 62 the toughness drops considerably.

I have read that the grinds can be slightly off though.

[mikey177]

I have three Bark River knives in A2 and one in 3V. I'm satisfied with their performance and build quality. In my use, they retain their sharpness as long as knives from other makers in the same steel.

[vivi]

I don't currently own any BRK's but have in the past. I always got excellent performance from their blades. Took a great edge without fuss and held it. I tried out smaller (under 4" blade) A2 and 3V models from them.

[bearfacedkiller]

I have quite a few.

There are documented issues with Bark River but bladeforums is a toxic mess so I agree not to seek honest info there.

Some of Bark River’s issues are business related and wether that matters to you or not is up to you. I am not a knife maker and have never done any business with them.

They have had a couple instances of selling a steel labeled incorrectly but those appear to be isolated. I didn’t buy one but there were some convincing pictures posted online that I found believable.

The complaints about their heat treat are from them finish grinding the blades dry and overheating them. I have seen a hrc test that was rather low.

For me the geometry is great on the models I own. I saw a Bravo with a thick edge but my bushcraft and hunting type models are all ground very nice. Maybe the heat treat was compromised on mine during grinding, I don’t know. I do know that my Bark Rivers outperform many other knives that I own which just shows how great a thin convex edge really is.

I like them a lot and will most likely buy more someday.

This Bobcat Hunter is awesome and my Wilderness Explorer might be my favorite fixed blade and it has broke down a few deer. Also a huge fan of my Kephart. These are the three fixed blades I use the most.