Bark River Knives has closed its doors due to financial problems. It has also been revealed that during their final months of production, certain models were made using knife blanks from China that were modified and intentionally misrepresented to their dealers and customers as CPM-154 or 154CM.
The production models in question were called out online by former BRK employees before being confirmed by BRK's owner, Mike Stewart, in a post on Facebook. We've since pulled these models from our site:
- Mini Manitou
- Camp Bolo
- Gladstone Hunter
- Fox River Trailing Point
- Pig Sticker (updated on 4/28/2026)
I bought one of those knives. What can I do?
If you bought any of those four models from us, we're offering a prepaid shipping label so you can send it back for a full store credit. Even if it's used or falls outside the normal return window, we’ve got you covered.
Some customers have requested to keep their knife and take a partial credit, and we're happy to arrange that with you if that's your preference.
What about the remaining BRK models?
So far, a few independent tests have come back as genuine USA steel, and we're working on expanding this. From our remaining inventory, we have now tested Bark River blades using an XRF spectrometer. These tests have included:
- A2
- CPM-3V
- CPM-MagnaCut
- CPM-CruWear
- CPM-154 (from a different model than the list above)
These results matched the expected alloy compositions. To validate our results, we also tested equivalent steels from other manufacturers, and each of these matched up with our Bark River tests. We'll continue updating this page as more testing is done.
Update 4/28/2026
Since our initial update, we’ve taken further steps to verify the remaining Bark River inventory we have.
KnivesShipFree and DLT Trading hold a large portion of the remaining new Bark River knives on the market, so we both took the lead in validating what’s still out there.
We partnered with DLT and had the inventory independently tested by Niagara Specialty Metals in New York, a trusted U.S. producer of CPM and other cutlery steels.
Samples were submitted from every Bark River model still in stock across both KnivesShipFree and DLT.
Results:
- All but one model tested exactly as marked
- The only exception was the CPM154 Bark River Pig Sticker. Even though it doesn’t appear to be a pre-made blank, it did not test as marked.
We will handle the Pig Sticker the same way as the previously identified models and take care of any affected KSF customers.
While this is a significant undertaking, we’ve chosen to step in to ensure our customers receive exactly what they paid for.
Will there still be a warranty on BRK?
Mike Stewart's son, Jim, has stated plans to open his own shop and honor BRK warranties. We'll keep you updated here if and when he posts more details.
