It’s a sad day in the knife world. Bark River Knives was a semi-custom knife company located in Escanaba, which is a town in the upper peninsula of Michigan. They closed their doors this past Friday. The owner of the company, Mike Stewart, made an official post about it earlier this afternoon on the 3 Facebook pages associated with the brand.

He admitted to taking Chinese knife blanks and shaping them into various Bark River models and etching them as CPM-154 steel when they were something else (similar). This was done on 5 recent models which he listed. Dealers are offering refunds and store credit. You can imagine how some people are reacting to all of this.

It would seem they are just flat broke and Mike was doing everything he could to make payroll and pull out of this mess but he said he really should have shut down over 2 years ago. I feel bad for his employees and the distributors that are likely to take a beating on this. I can’t help but feel bad for Mike as well, although a lot of people are furious with him. I don’t think he’s a bad guy, he just got into a hole and made some bad decisions trying to get out.

I own 6 Bark River knives and really like each one of them. It will be interesting to see what happens to their value after this. Apparently his son is going to start a separate company (without Mike’s involvement) and honor the lifetime warranty for Bark River Knives.

The whole thing just makes me sad.

that is sad. A lot of businesses failing in this economy..

I don't feel bad for "Mike" and it's not "sad". It's criminal. He DEFRAUDED customers. Oh, he kept his business going for a couple of more years by doing so? What kind of rationale is that?

And, his employees had to know, but kept quiet to draw a paycheck.

His rationale to substitute Chinese steel for another and try to pass it off as something else to cover payroll is ridiculous and wrong. It is fraud, plain and simple. There is no way to support his rationale for doing so.

He’s admitting to doing that with 5 different models, all of which were labeled as CPM-154. I think it was in the December 2025 timeframe. He says those are the only ones. However, he’s destroyed his credibility so many are wondering if that has happened at other points in the past, which is understandable. Personally, I tend to doubt it as a lot of the steel in the past few years was supplied by DLT Trading and possibly Knives Ship Free.

Mike Stewart is saying things started getting bad a couple of years ago and he should have closed back then. Obviously looking back he definitely should have. I could only speculate as to what the different drivers were for their economic collapse.

What I think is sad is the fact that a lot of people up in Escanaba Michigan are now unemployed. I’m thinking there probably aren’t a ton of employment options in that neck of the woods and a lot of folks were probably paycheck to paycheck. A lot of people are going to suffer.

Far secondary to that, we lost what was a pretty fun little knife community that has been enjoyed by a lot of people for a long time.

Lastly, I think it is sad to watch someone implode like this. Sure, it was his choices that led to it and you better believe he is reaping the whirlwind as he probably should, but I take no joy or pleasure out of it. Over the years I’ve seen him treat a lot of his customers quite well, myself included. I just hate to see it all go down like this.

I hope Mike spends time in prison for fraud and I hope the transparent attempt to pass the business on to his son under a new name while dodging incurred debt and liabilities fails miserably.

I feel bad for the people he defrauded, any employees who weren't in on the scam, and the businesses that end up holding the bag on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inventory that is now basically unsellable even if (and it's a big if) it really was an isolated incident with those specific models.

I've got a couple of Bark Rivers. They are really nice knives and have performed well. I'll never knowingly do business with anyone in that family again, no matter how nice the blades are.

He completely burned his own company. DLT and KFS are both going to take huge hits as well because of his deliberate choices.

No pity for that guy.

I cannot see the business his son starts lasting very long at all if it is actually even allowed to get much of a start at all. There will be a few loyal diehards that would purchase from him but most of us are done.

I’m wondering if Mike will end up doing any time for this as well. The dust is far from settling on this whole thing.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I don't feel bad for "Mike" and it's not "sad". It's criminal. He DEFRAUDED customers. Oh, he kept his business going for a couple of more years by doing so? What kind of rationale is that?

I was making a general statement about business failing. Of course the fraud is deplorable. It appears it wasnt is first issue either

These guys look like a pretty good substitute!!

https://whiteriverknives.com/

A buddy at work just got his son a Model 1 from White River for Christmas this past year. They look like great little knives.

I have the White River Knives Model 1 with orange handle, got it a couple of years ago for a Christmas present from my wife. Great little knife, it now rides in my EDC bag.

quote:

Originally posted by Browndrake:
His rationale to substitute Chinese steel for another and try to pass it off as something else to cover payroll is ridiculous and wrong. It is fraud, plain and simple. There is no way to support his rationale for doing so.

He’s admitting to doing that with 5 different models, all of which were labeled as CPM-154. I think it was in the December 2025 timeframe. He says those are the only ones. However, he’s destroyed his credibility so many are wondering if that has happened at other points in the past, which is understandable.

According to this article at https://www.outdoorlife.com/su...nives-chinese-steel/ and at https://www.ripoffreport.com/r...n-made-but-ar-170631 these kind of allegations date all the way back to 2006, with former employees alleging back then that the "100% Made in USA" A2 steel knives were actually Japanese made and a much cheaper 6A steel... So it potentially wasn't just a recent mistake for only the past few months, but rather a pattern of fraud going back decades.

Yes, the more that comes out the more many of us are wondering how many batches of knives might have been produced with a different steel than what was etched on the blade. I've heard that a couple of the larger distributers are getting steel analyzed on different runs of knives that are still in stock. I am very much interested in what comes out of that.

A guy on YouTube did an analysis on a couple of his knives that are supposed to be Magnacut steel and Tungsten was found in a low amount, which is not supposed to be there. I cannot recall the other details. Granted, the scanner used was a tool used for testing soils so it isn't perfect, however it did pick up the Tungsten and some other abnormalities, so there is at least one element that is not supposed to be in there.

I read on one of the Facebook pages that the Michigan State Police have opened a case.

I have a bunch of Bark Rivers. This certainly won’t help their resale value. No sympathy for Mike. He was always decent to deal with but you only get one reputation and his son starting a “new” business reeks of 3 card Monty-ism.

All mine are from way back and back when and I want to say the steel wasn’t particularly high end premium stuff anyway. They are/were very good knives.

I suppose the good news is I might as well use the hell out of them because they have just dropped off the collectibility cliff.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:

I suppose the good news is I might as well use the hell out of them because they have just dropped off the collectibility cliff.

I had that exact thought myself!

Bought my first Bark River in April 2022. Bought 3 more after that. All in A2 (or are they really A2?)
I've been really easy on them all. Guess I can beat the hell out of them now.

I've got one Bark River, one of the tiny Neckers. I guess I bought is twenty or so years ago. I looked at a lot of BRs and considered them, but never followed through.

I have several Bark River Knives. None on the list of reworked Chinese steel knives. Last purchase was two years ago. I wonder if additional production will be added to the list of "fakes". Yeah for the short term collectability is probably damaged so used em while you got em.

It also seems that the high-end knife mania has cooled off from a few years ago. I wonder if more producers will get caught up in similar issues trying to keep the business afloat.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I've got one Bark River, one of the tiny Neckers. I guess I bought is twenty or so years ago. I looked at a lot of BRs and considered them, but never followed through.

I always eyed the smaller “pocket fixed blade” sized ones to pick up a fancy knife for my father and myself. Glad I didn’t in retrospect, I’ll keep an eye on the new LT Wrights at DLT. Also looked at some of their Bowie knives to go with my SAA and Sharps clones. Not sure who else to look at for a traditional style Bowie.