バークリバー閉鎖2 倒産？廃業？鋼材偽装？

Closure    • バークリバー閉鎖 倒産？廃業？鋼材偽装？   Chinese blanks    • No happy end: an iconic US knife maker CLO...   [Jim] To repeat whatever Jason Sone and my father have already said. I don't want to unnecessarily take up anyone's time. As for the blanks, let me be clear: I knew. The first time I heard the idea of ​​using Chinese steel was when my father told me, "This is what we're doing." When it comes to how Bark River Knives runs, my father was the ultimate authority when his mind was made up. I mean, he's the captain of the ship. We respected that. At this crossroads, before I knew it was happening, I was left with a simple choice: help facilitate the use and concealment of this standard blade steel, or quit the job. I have five children. BRK has, before we knew it, employed about 40-50 people who relied on us for their livelihood. And no one knows the fact that the factory was unable to operate for over a week without swift and decisive action. This was not an easy decision, it was an obvious one. With the hope of digging the family business out of this dark hole, I made the horrible decision to continue monitoring these knife buildings. It was the wrong decision. I will carry that shame and regret for the rest of my life. No justification. Just an explanation. Despite the advice of several people I am convinced of, I am determined to address both the BRK guarantee program and the situation with the steel in China. I will continue to operate under my own name and my own business model. To put it simply, I intend to set up a store as quickly as possible, keeping in mind that none of the equipment owned by BRK will be available. And I will continue doing what I know is my purpose. Details are still being developed, but I intend to offer the BRK owners, whose knives were built with Chinese steel and inaccurate labeling, the opportunity to have their knives properly remarked, OR replaced with completely comparable ones, and personally build from start to finish using genuine, represented steel that I have built. As a product of one-man operation, this will not be a quick process, but it will be done. More details to follow. I'll be taking a short break from social media, but I'll provide more details later. None of you want to hear my tearful story, and I don't want you to listen to me for sympathy. I have nothing to offer you but the most sincere and heartbreaking apology of my life. And, though it's not worth understanding, I will dedicate the rest of my career as a knife maker working under absolute transparency and extreme discomfort. [Mike] Let's make this official. This is long but important. BARK RIVER KNIVES is closed. All business ceased on Friday afternoon, March 20, 2026. This closure was long overdue - I should have done this more than two years ago. I have to say that all of this is 100% entirely my responsibility. As you can see from many of my posts, I've been measuring the heat since Friday. There are many factors leading up to this, but ultimately I take responsibility. Please do not blame Leslie Stewart or Jim Stewart for any of this. In addition to my mismanagement, the choice to use alternative Chinese steel is no one else's fault. Over the past 25 years, we've made over a million knives. My mistake only affected a few models. Here's their list: Camp Bolo Fox River Skinner Highwayman 4 Mini Manitou Gladstone Hunter Bitterroot Caper And the last two club knives. We tested the steel and found the edge retention to be almost identical to CPM 154. It was the same toughness as CPM 154. It had even greater stain resistance than CPM 154. All of these were based on our composite geometry. All were reshaped to the Bark River shape. All were processed in our shop by our crew. All handle materials were the materials we currently use. All were carved the same way as our models. All were inspected and boxed like all our models. Each knife meets Made in the U.S.A. standards by undergoing more than five operations. Yes, the steel marking was incorrect. Let me be clear that none of our dealers knew about this, and I am not 100% blameless for this situation. It is 100% my fault. Also, let me be clear that all other Bark River knives were made with steel that had the marking on the blade – the use of this imported steel was only for a very short period to keep our employees working. In other developments: Jim Stewart is opening his own knife company 100% independence for Bark River Knives. Jim has agreed to take over all the guarantees that normally go to Bark River. I am confident he will make a formal announcement when he is ready. I will not be relying on his new company. All I can do at this point is offer a very sincere apology and to fade out of the knife industry, where I have spent the last 50 years. I want to thank everyone who contacted me to offer personal support. It meant a lot to me. I wanted to wait to post this until our dealers had a chance to react and post positions. ...