Bark River Aurora woodcraft knife

[riddleofsteel]

I finally got my hands on one of the new Bark River Aurora woodcraft knives. I had one on preorder and it came in yesterday. This is a stock picture of one identical to mine;

Overall Length: 9.5 Inches
Blade Length: 4.5 Inches
Blade Steel: A-2
Hardness: 58-59 rc
Blade Thickness: .170 Inch
Weight:6 Ounces

Compared to my Stewart Marsh Woodlore clone it is almost identical except the Bark River is a slightly larger knife. The handle is better suited to larger hands. The blade is exactly the same length and of similar thickness. Due to the slightly larger grip my knife seems to have the ergonomic edge over the Stewart Marsh.
The Bark River is a convex grind knife and comes hair popping sharp. It remains to be seen how it will do at everday camp chores but I have high hopes. I have other convex grind camp knives like a Falkniven A1 and a Bark River Northstar. I love the way a convex knife with good steel touches up on a piece of leather or a strip of cardboard charged with polishing compound.
This weekend is the start of the muzzleloading deer season here in my slice of heaven so a head to head test against the my Stewart Marsh Ivory Micarta Woodlore clone may have to wait a while. Comparison pics and data to follow.

 

[weaver]

That's a Knife!

 

[wizard]

Very nice knife, congrats! I will take the SM Bushcraft if you're done with it Well, can't blame me for tryin! Cheers!

 

[riddleofsteel]

Nope head to head testing between the two knives and grinds will be a great excuse for a woodcrafting weekend in the local deer woods camping and hunting. Besides until the Aurora bumps it the Stewart Marsh Ivory Micarta is my fav woods bumming knife.

P.S. A close inspection of the stock picture I supplied revels that Mike Stewart's picture of an Antique Stag Bone Aurora knife was taken of MY KNIFE. Careful inspection of the random pattern of the stag marks revels that the photo is of my knife.


I will take some actual phots of my new Aurora and the Stewart Marsh for comparison tomorrow in natural light. with my antique digital camera it is the only way to get a good shot.

 

[Big John]

very nice, I love the handle, I'd only ever thought of antler & bone handles in the form of those rather naff (in my opinion) thin round handles you get on domestic cutlery - this is something else entirely.

 

[Lurch]

I've been thinking about buying an Aurora so I'll be interested to see how you get on with it.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Just checked out the availability of the Stuart Marsh “Woodlore Clone” and it appears he now only puts them into e-bay auction. Looks like they too are heading in the direction of the real thing as with 3 days to go and as many bids it stands at £180

 

[mtnfolk mike]

congrats on the new bark river... i think i need to get one of tyhose myself...

 

[riddleofsteel]

I got off work a little early this PM so I took the two knives down to the back of my woods and did a little woodcrafting. I was in the mood to build some small wood fish/crayfish baskets so I cut some green limbs off of a gum tree and selected part of a wind broken swamp maple that was naturally split. The design I used is like two cones made of branches laced with natural fiber cordage. One cone fits down into the other with a small opening for the fish to swim in. Once in they cannot swim out as easy. An old and proven design.
I started out by using the knives to cut the limbs into sections and round off the points. Then I proceeded to bore holes in both ends of the sticks. Over the years I have found the bindings stay on better passing thru holes rather than just wrapped around the bundle.
20 holes later, 10 for each knife I reached a conclusion. The SM/Woodlore tip drills better than the Aurora. No slight on the Bark River tip design. Some knives bore better than others. The SM knife drill cleaner holes faster than the Aurora, it’s that simple. Comfort and edge holding was not an issue in either knife. Both would still shave arm hair right at the tip after the job.
Next I cut some vines and stripped the bark for cordage. Again I used both knives. The vines were wisteria vines about thick as a man’s thumb. No issue on this task. The Aurora did show better control when I went to cut bark strips against my makeshift split maple workbench. I would have expected this from the thinner edge Bark River.
When I went to split some sticks to make the handle I noticed the flat ground SM seemed to shave wood better.
Humm maybe not better, different. Kind of like a plane or chisel. The Aurora was so sharp and with its rounded edge it seemed by the time I rolled it into the cut it bit to deep. I don’t like splinters on my handles and split wood handles are easier to bend. It was more of a test of wood planning and smoothing anyway.
At that point I stopped and split a couple of rough slabs off of the maple chunk.
Both knives split wood well and a light baton made the job safe quick and easy. My intention was to carve a set of spoons from the dry split maple. Both knives took to carving like ducks to water. I had the two rough forms cut out in short order. Nothing fancy just flat slab spoons.
Again the test was the ability of the knives was to shape and smooth wood. The SM knife is a woodworking tool. It planes and smoothes very well. The Aurora requires a little different technique. Not so much difference in the wood crafting projects I have taken on with my North Star or my Falkniven A1. When it came time to hollow out the spoon to make it a useful shape the rounded profile of the Aurora did a great job. Choking up on the blade was easy and natural. In the final smoothing of the back of the spoons once again the flat ground blade seemed more controllable. Time will tell.

I guess so far the knives are pretty even. If you throw out drilling the other differences are pretty subjective. I think the flat ground knife smoothes and planes green wood better but the convex knife cuts green wood like a chain saw if you are cutting across the grain. Even up here…
One observation;
I have had my Stewart Marsh for almost a year. It has cut wood, meat, leather ect on a regular basis. I clean it but take no particular pains with it. It has yet to stain on the blade potion at all. I even leave it in the sheath, known to be a no no for knife care. I have had my Aurora for three days and it is already taking on blade stains that I can only guess will lead to a patina. Not rust mind you just stains.

I like both knives…more to follow.

lower knife is Stewart Marsh knife

upper knife is SM knife

 

[riddleofsteel]

It will be a while before I can continue the testing. My Aurora is on the way back to Mike at Bark River. My oversize Antique Stag Bone handle never really fit all the way down into the sheath supplied with it. I had to wet the sheath to form it to the oversize grip slabs. I thought I had let it dry throughly. I let it sit out on a shelf over the heat radiator for 24 hours. However, when I finally put the knife in it only took 2 1/2 hours in the sheath for a coating of brown rusty looking mess to set up on the blade and exposed spine of the knife. I polished it off but an overnight stay in the sheath proved disasterous and the knife was brown again. Only the portion of the knife exposed to the section of the sheath I wet formed was affected. Unless I am dead wrong on this BEWARE. If your sheath gets wet be sure it is al the way dry before leaving you Aurora in it. I will amend that opinion if Mike comes up with something different.
I contacted Mike and he requested the knife be sent in for his inspection. As always, Bark River service is the top of the industry. Real American humans you can talk to about your problems. Not some dealer of an importer of a company in China.
To his credit Mike even offered me a loaner to use while my Aurora was in transit. More to come when all this gets sorted out.

 

[riddleofsteel]

My Aurora is supposed to be on the way back with a newly formed sheath (dry I hope), polished, and stains removed. My best guess was stains from the sheath dye and a light frosting of rust from a damp sheath. As long as it doesn't happen again I am happy. I keep up my stuff pretty good. I have some high carbon knives you can watch rust if you don't oil the blade. As long as I know what type of steel I am dealing with and can take proper measures I am fine.
Best service from any company I have ever seen. It ranks right up there with RCBS. No questions asked.

:You_Rock_