Bark River Bravo 1 vs Gunny

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Does anyone have either of these knives? I understand that fit and finish will be superb, but this will be a user. I dont EDC fixed blades, but I do carry them religiously while in the woods and on hikes. My main tasks will be batoning, whittling, carving, and light to medium camp tasks. If someone has both, which do you prefer. Thanks.

[newyork]

i have neither but have 7 Bark Rivers. The Gunny is smaller from what I understand and the Bravo 1 is more of a do it all knife. Both will be tough and perform great but I would assume the B1 will be tougher and ready for more abuse

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Newyork, what is your favorite Bark River knife that you own and why?

[newyork]

The Fox River, then the Woodland Special. Fox River has a very comfortable handle and great blade shape. Their convex holds an edge forever and is easy to sharpen and takes an incredible edge. The Woodland Special is more appropriate size for edc though.

[snappy]

I love the Gunny. Don't have a B1 to compare it to, but the Gunny is a very handy size and quite capable as a edc/field carry knife. It has been my most used of the 20 some Barkies I've owned. Easy to sharpen, quick in the hand and rides nice and light on the belt, yet has plenty of blade to get the work done. Here is mine with aged bamboo handle and Bravo Necker when it was newer.

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The B1 is going to be significantly heavier and of thicker stock. If you'll baton a lot and chop wood more than say cut up veggies and carve or lightly-baton then the B1 may be a better choice. For a all-the-time camp and field blade the Gunny comes in close to perfect for me. Here are some in-hand pics from when it first arrived.

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Probably can't go wrong with either knife, but I recommend the Gunny without hesitation. Hope this is helpful!

[ra2bach]

that Gunny looks good in the hand. BR offers the B1 without the thumb serrations, I don't know about the Gunny. would you say this is a good thing or keep them?

[Backstop]

I don't own either of the knives you mentioned, but I do own this one.

Mike at BRKT will make what you want - obviously within some parameters.

This was made for me as a gift, I speced it, and it says Custom 2006 on the other side.

IIRC it was about $150.00.

The blade is 5.25"

[ra2bach]

I don't own either of the knives you mentioned, but I do own this one.

Mike at BRKT will make what you want - obviously within some parameters.

This was made for me as a gift, I speced it, and it says Custom 2006 on the other side.

IIRC it was about $150.00.

The blade is 5.25"

looks a lot like my BlackJack Trail Guide. nice knife. any particulars???

[Backstop]

looks a lot like my BlackJack Trail Guide. nice knife. any particulars???

I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember many. I'm bad about details.

Pretty sure the steel is one of the carbons they use.

I wanted something shorter than 6", and found a knife on their site that I liked the profile. Mike said he could cut it down.

I looked yesterday on BRKT's site to see if that knife was there, but couldn't find it.

Handle is black micarta, and has a palm swell, which I asked for. It's a very sure grip, more so when wet, and even more so with gloves.

Mike said he wasn't too keen on making knives with guards, but since I wanted one, he'd do it. I didn't think about it at the time, but wish I had asked for a brass one, or something less shiny - just personal preference.

Have to say the buying experience was great, and I'd purchase again from them. I joined Knifeforums, asked Mike in a thread, and he IM'd me a phone number.

He called me about something, and then told me he had his son cut my blade as he was training him. I thought that was cool - guy is taking the time to show his kid the trade. And if you look at the blade extremely critically, you can see it's not exactly symmetrical. Some folks would have a shit fit over that - makes no difference to me, plus I like the back story.

Maybe I'll email them the pic and ask which knife that blade came from and what type of steel it is.

[ra2bach]

this is my trail guide. notice the blade profile. I love this knife...
it is A2 tool steel, convex ground, with black micarta handle.



it's only 4.5" and only has the lower guard so yours looks like a cross with the 5.5" model 5 with the straight spine profile of the Trailguide.



BlackJack was Mike Stewart's company before Bark River so I'm not surprised to see the family heritage. when you have a great design, why fix it? yours looks like a very nice knife that I would love to own...