Bark River Trail Buddy II S35VN Review — Pic heavy rant

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That’s right — a negative review about a Bark River, and I was even more shocked to find myself wanting to write one than you are to see that I have. I had very high hopes for this knife (maybe that was part of the problem). I decided about a month ago, when I realized I had been on EDCF for a year, to commemorate the event with a special knife purchase. I decided to buy my first Bark River, and although it would have to be my last knife for a while, I still felt deep down it would be the first of several Barkies. My most pressing, ongoing need in my knife collection is for a skinner with satisfactory edge retention. I narrowed my choices down to a Bravo 2, a Wolf River, and the Trail Buddy in S35VN. As Bark River advertises a hardness range for the Trail Buddy a couple points higher than for the Bravo 2 or the Wolf River, I opted for the Trail Buddy. I was also swayed a little by its immediate availability from KSF dressed in Water Buffalo horn in the price range I was considering. I ordered the blade form Knives Ship Free, it was speedily delivered, and I opened the box in giddy anticipation.

The knife is poorly designed, and not crafted as well as it should be for the price.

The craftsmanship issue is the first thing I noticed. I selected rough-out buffalo horn for the handle, and I didn’t expect perfect symmetry from that sort of material. (I would have preferred buffalo horn without the rough, but that’s not really en vogue, and so it isn’t offered). Even so, I was shocked at what I discovered — a handle scale from a bit of horn that should have been rejected. there is a deep concavity in one handle scale, and worse yet, the scale flares out near the pommel and is ground off at an edge that projects right into the hand.

The craftsmanship problem is compounded by the design flaw: The handle is too short. The flare-out of the handle scale wouldn’t matter as much if it flared out below the hand, but the pommel of this knife rests right in the meaty part of the hand, and that flare is not only unsightly; it digs into the flesh.

Now I do understand and acknowledge two things: namely, that it’s not Bark River’s fault that I have fat hands, and that it’s not Bark River’s fault that I didn’t bother, before ordering, to subtract a 4.25″ blade from an 8″ overall length and realize that the handle was less than four inches. The real problem, though, is the design of the handle makes it even shorter than it is. To better illustrate my objections, I’ll compare the Trail Buddy to two similar knives: A 1930s vintage Kinfolks Trailmaster in the blade pattern the Trail Buddy is modeled after, and a $20 e-bay-purchased skinner built by an unknown amateur.

The Kinfolks handle swells to fill the palm, and the pommel rests below the meat of the hand, as a handle should.

The cheap file knife swells to fill the concave part of the palm, and the pommel rests below the meat of the hand, like the Kinfolks:

My Trail Buddy has that concavity that should not have been used placed against the concavity of the palm, preventing positive, satisfying contact, and the flare left at the pommel-end presses straight into the meat of the hand.

Even neglecting the flaw in my handle, which can be fixed, the handle itself is designed to flare at the pommel inside the hand. If I move my grip up so that the flared portion of the handle sits where it should, the incredibly sharp edge digs into my finger.

When I grip the knife safely, three sharp corners of the handle and one end of the fishtail lanyard loop all dig uncomfortably into flesh.

I own other knives with shorter handles, like this smaller Kinfolks (also similar in design to the Trail Buddy). Despite the fuzzy pic, you can see how the pommel end is rounded off, as suits a handle so small, rather than flared out into corners:

The Bark River Trail Buddy is, quite simply, the most uncomfortable fixed blade I have ever held, and combined with the appalling crafting of the handle, which should never have left Bark River’s doors, I am now thoroughly disenchanted. For the heck of it, another pic of the bad Barkie handle grind vs. the knife some guy did in a garage somewhere:

Is the Bark river, aside from the mistake in the handle, a finer knife on all counts? Yep. Is it over $200 finer? I’m by no means convinced anymore.

I really don’t know how I would consider the problem made right at this point, either. If I sent the knife to Bark River, I’m confident they would replace the bad scale, but the can’t exactly lengthen the handle for me.

I could return the knife to KSF and exchange it for a different knife, but I’m not sure I want to go with another Bark River at this point, and I don’t see any other options at KSF that deliver what I want in the price range.

What I really want right now is my money back, so I can pursue one of the other options I had considered — namely contacting Dunn Custom, or the guy at Saturn custom who made The Three Fates for swany66675 (yes, I just took the liberty of naming other member’s knives). That would cost me about a $50 restocking fee, though, which is a hit I’m not prepared to take.

I can say the notion of one day replacing the Cold Steel Trailmaster Bowie and SRK that I keep in my outdoor gear with a Bravo III and II, respectively, have grown cold. Before this experience, I would have believed that Bark River was far out of Cold Steel’s league. Now I sincerely doubt these pieces would be $200 apiece improvements over what I have.

I could have had a Buck 112 done up in water buffalo horn in S30V for much less than I paid for the Bark River. I could have bought a CRK Nyala (for which I would exchange right now if KSF had a drop point in stock — i’m not interested in the insingo). I could have been satisfied with 1095 and bought an LT Wright, a JR, or a Michael Morris for what I paid or much less.

I haven’t taken my complaints to Bark River yet. I’m not sure if I will — fool me twice, shame on me — but I’ve heard enough good about them that I have to believe they may have a way to make this right that hasn’t occurred to me, and I’m inclined to give them a chance. I don’t know. I’m a little too fed up to deal with it any further today.

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