Bark River Knives Ice In pictures

[BossDog]

I went up to Bark River Knives in Escanaba MI a weekend ago. It's quite a deal.
BRK produces 30,000 knives a year. All made in the USA, all hand finished.

A few times a year, they open the shop and have people come in and make knives with the staff of BRK on hand to assist. Everyone leaves with a knife they finished and many leave with two.
The get together starts on Friday night, then all day Saturday with a banquet Saturday night. The shop reopens at 9am and everyone is out the door by 2pm. Anyone is welcome. We may see if there is a desire at some point to have a KnifeDog weekend at BRK...

I took mostly video and I am working on that. I did manage to fire off a few still images...

This is the table BRK lays out for people to choose a knife style they can make at the grind in.


Mike Grasso ran the grind in for BRK..


KnifeDogs made it..


Skiddles...20+ plus years in production knife making...


Crystal of BRK..


At the Saturday night banquet the knives made are all laid out and voted on for best knife. Jim Nowka, former owner of KnifeForums inspects the knives.

 

[BossDog]

here are some more..
Travis of Precision Plus


lots of Barkies


Pinup


lots of clamps


Safety First...

 

[BossDog]

...
Dirty Job...


Jimmy Stewart is in charge of production


Talking buffs


See how white this picture is? That is how dusty this room gets when every thing is up and running.


BRK checking the polish..

 

[Frank Hunter]

Love it, Tracy. I'm glad to see BRKT as such a healthy, United States company.

 

[BossDog]

...

sharpening


rack of Bowies


Mill drill


buffin and grinnin


testing for sharpness...each knife checked and has to easily shave paper curls along the entire edge...

 

[BossDog]

...
Lot's of handle g10 to chose from..


grinding a convex edge


Storm cloud


more convexing...


BRK has more than a dozen dedicated Burr King grinders...

 

[BossDog]

...
Mikes desk...


lots of stag


lunch time..


raccoon guy..


Rick and Peter..

 

[Denny Eller]

Great pics T, thanks for posting them. A KD weekend there would be fantastic.

 

[Lagrange]

That's great, and within driving distance. Thanks for showing the pictures Boss. I bet you had a blast!

 

[Stew]

I'm very jealous!

I've been out of the loop on new Barkie models for a wee while as no funds to purchase so the easy way to resist is not to look but on that first picture, the models in the bottom left - anyone know what they are? Kukri?

 

[Frank Niro]

A very "with it" company for sure, especially inviting those interested in once a year. Frank

 

[kbog]

I'm very jealous!

I've been out of the loop on new Barkie models for a wee while as no funds to purchase so the easy way to resist is not to look but on that first picture, the models in the bottom left - anyone know what they are? Kukri?

Those look like the Grasso Bolo models. They come in few sizes ranging from medium size to very large. Bark River is one of my favorite knife makers because they have so many models and so many handles to choose from for each model.

http://www.barkriverknifetool.com/Bushcraft.htm

 

[Dennis Paish]

Greetings,
How do I type this....

This place would not pass an Occupational and Health safety inspection in Canada.

Dennis

 

[rhinoknives]

What this shop does pass is it's great to see the enthusiasm on the workers faces without fear of getting down and dirty!

They could use better respirators and a collector in the buffer room for starters.
But I wish I could find one younger man like those that wants to work in my shop.
Most around here last a few days.

Thanks bossdog, Great pics.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

 

[BossDog]

Just after this last grind in, BRK was moving all their grinding and buffing operations to a much bigger room with 20' ceilings and a massive air vent/filter. The dust issue just grew along with them and they are taking care of it.

 

[Jim Moenck]

I do believe I stopped there on my way thru on a trip to see some friends up in Canada. Very friendly people, and they sure had a lot of knives. I wonder if they got the drool wiped of the cases? I may have left some there. It was a very impressive shop, and I'd love to go back there some time.

 

[Frank Hunter]

I hear you on the dust. Even with 14' ceilings there's a solid 1/8" of grey on any untouched surface. I dread my OSHA compliance issues when the day comes. I look about like one of these guys if I put a whole 8 hours grinding in and I can't imagine what a room full of grinders puts out when they really lay into it.

 

[rhinoknives]

Dust and dirt are signs of a active shop to me!

I do hope they also get better respirators for those lad's or they will be developing lung problems later in life.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

 

[BossDog]

working on video from my Bark River trip and found a few more images.
These are stills from a GoPro so they have a bit of a cool looking fisheye look to them.


Jimmy Stewart and I talking about something. Directly behind is is where glued up handles are cleaned up and excess adhesive is removed.
To my right is the glue bench. All the handles are glued and clamped.



Bark River owner Mike Stewart buffing a knife for one of the attendee's.

 

[Stew]

Those look like the Grasso Bolo models. They come in few sizes ranging from medium size to very large. Bark River is one of my favorite knife makers because they have so many models and so many handles to choose from for each model.

http://www.barkriverknifetool.com/Bushcraft.htm

Thanks - they look great!