Escanaba Trip 2.0: Interview with Mike Stewart of Bark River Knives 

I have wanted one of Mike's knives for years but this interview just sealed the deal.

Man, what a hero for the knife world. Could listen for hours and hours.

You know, I'd buy a knife from this guy just because I like him. He's genuine and intelligent and knows what he's talking about but doesn't make you feel stupid because you might not know as much. I just bought my first sebenza and although I'm nothing but happy about it, Chris reeve just doesn't have the best reputation for being a good guy. It's about the product your getting but, I just feel that if you respect the person who makes it you automatically feel better about it. Can't wait to purchase and use a bark river.

I wish I could thumbs up this video twice. What a great moment. Thanks for sharing.

I love that this man stood on principle with Marbles and kept Americans employed. I will shortly be a proud Bark River Knife owner!

Wow, what a cool guy. I especially like what Mike said about his customer's lives being more important than the knives. Shows that he not only cares about his product, but he also cares about the people buying that product. I don't get the people that bash him all day long on forums, that man knows what he's talking about and truly cares. I'm happy and proud to have ordered one of his knives and the people behind it make it that much more meaningful and precious.

What a great interview Rob thank you for doing it. Think I need to get me a bark river.

awesome guy. i could listen to him talk about heat treat parameters all day and i'd come back the next day for more of the same

One of the best interviews I've seen!!!!!

I started buying Bark Rivers a few months ago in November of 2020. I never thought it was so addictive. I have 15 now and just pre-ordered two more. Mike is a cool guy, I’m glad he is like that. I’m pretty biased and cannot get excited about other makers knives or folders. I do like Dulo knives but he is in Bulgaria and it takes forever to get them

I’ve been buying Mike’s knives since Blackjack days. Best production knives in the world. Love him AND his knives.

I could listen to Mike for hours. Its such a pleasure to hear a guy who really knows his stuff talk about knives and steels. Thanks for doing this one Rob. Really good stuff.

This guy makes me want to buy more of his product - if for no other reason than to support his business, employees, and family... This is what the American dream is all about. What a likeable guy. Great video Rob, Thanks for sharing. DW

Mike Stewart is a total genius. You won’t find a better made knife than a Bark River Knife. Plus, they do convex edges which are fantastic for outdoor knives.

Must have been a fantastic experience! Thanks for this vid!

Mike Stewart is a awesome guy. That´s one reason why I love Bark River Knives so much and own a lot of them. Thanks man and god bless you! Greetings from Germany.

Thank you very much from this interview with Mr. Stewart and the wonderfull journey through his factory. That was amazing. Greetings from good old Germany!

What a wonderful human being. This video was the fastest 1/2 hour ever. I could listen to him for a long time, he's just like the proverbial favorite uncle. If sales of BRKT knives didn't increase immediately after this video posted I for one would be very surprised. Great job to you both.

Rob thank you for introducing me to this brands founder. I don't think many of his customers will really ever get to meet him in person and have such a awesome conversation with such a pinnacle person in the knife industry. Damnit now I have to buy another knife.

That must have been a hoot to do that interview! Mike has great camera presence, and a super sense of humor. Looks like I might need to check out Bark River Knives for a purchase.

What an incredible video!! Thank you Rob for putting his out, and a huge thank you Mr. Mark Stewart. Two fantastic people sitting down for an incredible, rewarding session for the knife community. I’ve never owned a Bark River, but I will this week. I’ll pay more just to support them. My respect to you both - TEdward.

Great video!!

Thank you for posting this awesome video. Be blessed my friend. John

I am so glad you published this video. Back when my finances allowed it, I was fortunate enough to buy a handful of BRKT knives. The cool thing is, as I recall, I barely missed the deadline on getting in on their very first Bark River Collectors Club knife, but they were gracious enough to let me in, under the wire. It is an awesome knife, of very limited quantity, that has always meant more to me because of the story. Your video allowed me to put a face to the story, and for that I will always be grateful. Thank you, my brother.

Awesome interview!! I've been a Bark River customer for years.

I have so much respect for Mike after this video. Thanks for sharing.

We need MORE business owners in the USA with Mike's work ethic and warranty philosophy. This is what truly makes a good American company a GREAT American company! Cheers to you Mr. Stewart!

I enjoyed this very much, thanks Mike and Apostle.

Hi Rob, Great video brother. In a word.... Fascinating! I most certainly feel warmer about the couple of BRK's I already own. I may well just have to grab a few more. Grace and Peace, Lee.

What a fantastic interview. Mike has a personality that just exudes character and a sort of colloquial charm and friendliness tempered by gruffness that makes him instantly likable. My next fixed blade will be a Bark River purchased through KSF (also an excellent interview). Great job heading up there for the tours and interviews.

Great vid, sir! Thanks for this one. Makes me feel great about the 4 Barkies I own.

I enjoyed this interview with Mike Stewart, very much. A very nice person and a good business man.

I'll definitely be picking up a Bark River soon. Mike is a wealth of information and I love what he and the company are doing.

I love this guy, great interview! just purchased my first bark River Aurora lt 3v in Black canvas micarta red liners and Mosaic pins today in part because of this interview, keep it up guys!

Thanks, Rob! Great video!!!

I really enjoyed watching this interview. I admit I heard about Bark River knives from watching Bark rivers biggest fan in Japan Virtuovice on youtube. I love these quality designs that focus on ergonomics, handle materials and steel choice. Especially not selling out to Chinese manufacture. Unfortunately there are few available here in Australia but I'm most definately going to purchase one now after watching this excellent interview. Big respect to Mike Stewart. Thanks for sharing.

awesome interview,had others get to see how genuine Mike is and shows he is just like the next good guy

Thank you for that Rob .. Awesome vid!!

Love Bark River. Great knives. Great company.

Greetings from NH. One of the best knife videos on RU-vid. Many thanks to you and Mike for taking the time to make this video. Funny that drinking is an Olympic sport in MI because it is here as well - must have something to do with the cold and snow and us crazy people that love it.

what a great and informative video !!

What a fantastic and fun video! I never really knew anything about Bark River Knives, other than their reputation for making one of the best knives for the price. And what a story! Thanks again Rob, yet another enjoyable video. ( and who the heck is this 1 troll I always see clicking the thumbs down button within hours of your videos posting? LOL. It's like the guy just sits around all day every day, keeping an eye on your channel. It must suck.......not having a life. Maybe he was the victim of a bad knife attack, that left him forever disabled, LOL. )

What a great guy!!! This is why I buy Bark River Knives!!!

Thoroughly enjoyable! I don't own a Bark River but that may change.

what a great vid thank you!!!

Wow, I'm so sold on getting a Bark River Knife and I rarely get out and use a fixed blade. What a great story.

We need more men like him, that will put their countrymen ahead of the almighty dollar.

Without doubt THE most heart warming informative and funny videos I've seen in years. Thank you...... and damn it I'll have to save up for one now

Great interview of a great knife maker!

This is a man I would work with.

Ya just gota love this guy !

The only thing I didn't like about this interview was that it wasn't a couple of hours longer. Very interesting man and company. I learned some stuff about steel that I hadn't known before. Now I know what to look for with the heat treat on some of the super steels. Very nice.

Quality, American made, and WARRANTY is why I started buying bark river.

Bark River knives are highly addictive.I honestly don't think you can get away with just buying one...if you are a knife guy that is.It is not just their materials ,fit and finish but that overall balance of their blades and practicality.

Great interview.

Just bought a Bark River Bravo 1.5 in CPM 3V with the Mil-Spec G10 Handles. Looking forward to trying it out.

Remarkable and nice person! I currently own 2 Bark River knives. There will be more, for sure :-)

Outstanding personality, wow! deepest respect in all senses possible! Thanks very much indeed for this interview! BTW what's wrong with liking red wine?!))

What happens if the Badger takes the knife from you?? Not that that's happened to me, yet. Great interview with a terrific dude; over at KSF right now looking at the BRK's. Thanks for the effort putting this together, great job Rob!!!!

Impressive Rob. What a nice, common man is Mike Stewart. I love this vid very much. But, sorry, there is a but. There are some more knife makers around the world that operate on the same level of knife making and maybe, just maybe even a little higher. Without decreasing any of the respect Mike Stewart deserves of course. But in countries like Germany, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy and Japan there are really great knife makers that can do what Mike Stewart can do. So there is, in my opinion, a super league of a very small group of knife makers which Mike Stewart belongs in. Thanks for sharing this great vid. Looking forward to the next one of this series.

As soon as I started the video, I grabbed my Bravo 1.5 3V to sit and strop.

Mike Stewart is a genius.

Nearly every time you said "bark" river knives, my dog beside me barked.

Great guy! I live in China and he made the right decision, because the Chinese would just be looking at numbers and not about people or the quality. Wish there were more people like this in the world

I’ve always been intrigued by bark River so I decided to give them a try, unfortunately when I got my Edwin forest bowie the tip was chipped off, upon further inspection I noticed that the tip went through all the packaging of the shipment and probably broke on the ground, i know this wont be a problem to get my knife fixed or replaced but i expected a little bit more thought and care to be put into the shipment of a 12inch razor

Great interview! I only wish you would have asked Mike why all his knives are convex grind. I own several BRK knives and find them easy to maintain with a strop and sandpaper. Just curiouswhat his reasoning is?

Sign me up. I will buy a knife from Bark River just because I like the guy! That and he makes really good knives...

Amazing interview Rob! Haha wow! Never trust those badgers, they're bad news! Lol.

Makes me want to go out and buy a Bark River Knife....don't own one yet.

Have a bravo 1.25....now this video makes me want to order up a Kalahari hunter

You are only as good as your employees. DONT EVER FORGET THAT.

:D Superb!

Does Bark River knives have a store front( show room) so if I walked in could I buy a kni?

Lol the beginning you said he is involved with making other knives that can't be named but unfortunately he makes them so well you can tell witch companies he makes them for (Northfield ) definitely is one of them he is my favorite fixed blade maker of all time and I could pick his knifes out from a mile away

Well, shoot, I know somebody else who's got a Featherweight Fox River in black Micarta. It's a little gem, a recent purchase so it's S45VN, and I couldn't ask for a better EDC. I suppose I should congratulate myself on my taste. 😉Seriously though, while there's no doubt they're committed to making a high-value knife from the best materials they can get, there's also a quality to the design of the things that makes them as attractive, obviously to a lot of us, as any knife you can buy.

Damn it ROB! I might need to own a bark river knife now... :/

😉👍

Mike, Does it void my warranty If I give my chickens and ducks battle rifles to protect themselves here in the UP?

I've got 4 Bark river knives now it's an addiction.

Newports. Never would’ve thought . Look like a Winston man

He mentions that handing it over to a badger voids the warranty.... I would think lending it to a Buckeye would too!!!

Proves u can still be a patriot in business

3:27 Squirrel!! Heh

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have lent my Bark River Bravo 1 to my cousin Badger!

The man himself! Must be a Friday

The test data you will never see from knife manufacturers is: the actual real world wear resistance test numbers like you can get from Cedric Ada right here on youtube, and the charpy impact data for break resistance You can find the ultimate tensile strength of some modern knife steels on matweb.com but that does not tell you much about how it works as a cutting tool.

Good video! Tell Mike to quit smoking those Newports =)

This is going to sound nitpicky but... I'm not sure why Bark River insists on convex scandi blade on their bushcrafter knife. If you look up the youtuber virtuovice's video "My theory about scandi geometry for wood jobs", he talks about how the convex scandi creates a large angle were the apex bites the wood when making feather sticks. When this convex angle has been shaved down with water stones to make a normal scandi blade, it is much more comfortable to make feather sticks. With the 3v steel they use, it can hold up to a lot of abuse (as was demonstrated in the same video). I wish BR would change this geometry from factory. Another nitpick I have is about the micro bevels they put on many of there 3v hunting knives because of stropping in the field. The sharpness you get from a zero edge is more practical for deer dressing. With the micro bevel removed stropping is much quicker and edge problems can be fixed on the fly. All of that said, Bark River knives are indeed some of the best fixed blade knives in the world. I have no other issue with them. I figure they are the type of company that strives for perfection and perhaps these changes would make an even better knife. I hope you check out that video Apostle P and tell me your take on these issues. Blessings to you! Have a great day!

yeah thats it. buying a bravo and a city next week.

The working man's Ted Talk

Why can't my boss be like Mike Stewart?

21:00 I dont think many people understand that high speed industrial steel like you should find in good knives is the stuff they use in machines to work other steels and metals

I need that hat

You are only as good as the employees you have working for you.

1700 a month! here in california thats a small house!

rob.... I see one thing wrong. we don't see any barkies on the channel!

Mike seems like a nice guy, too bad about that "chopstick" incident. The internet can be like the colosseum sometimes.

my dog chewed the handle of my esee-4, now its grippier :D

everybody said I made the finest knives in my cell block , I used only the best toothbrushes

great channel,. subt ya,. gg