Business founder and co-owner Michael (“Mike”) Stewart said Bark River Knives is a brand known for its quality and the unique variety of offerings.

Well before bringing his skills to the Upper Peninsula, Stewart was self-employed making custom knives back in the 1970s and later was hired by California Pacific Cutlery as vice president of marketing and sales. He also co-founded Blackjack Knives, which began in Los Angeles.

In 1997, the Gladstone company founded by Webster Marble a century earlier recruited Stewart to relaunch its knife division. At Marble Arms, Stewart worked as the head of the newly-revived department, marking a new era for the famed manufacturer, whose knife production had been discontinued in 1977, according to an article by Marty Kovarik.

In August 2001, Stewart left Marble and started a new company — now widely-known as Bark River Knives — along with his wife, Lesley. It began as Bark River Knife & Tool Company, so named because of its place of origin — a barn in Bark River.

Leather Department Team Leader Sascha Hirzel works on a knife sheath at Bark River Knives. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press photo)

For a spell, the Stewarts were involved with running both the knife company and Orchard Hill Sporting Clays, a shooting range and hunt club.

“It became too much to do both, and then we outgrew — we did it in our barn out there, our dairy barn. Then we outgrew that, and then found this place,” said Stewart, speaking from his office at Bark River Knives on County 426 M.5 Road near the paper mill.

The knife business moved into its present location, once the site of an early lumber yard, in 2003. Several additions to the building have been built since.

After dropping the original, longer business name, Mike and Lesley now operate Stewart Knives LLC, which does business as Bark River Knives.

At the premises on County 426 are a bustling manufacturing center and office. Bark River Knives, a semi-production company, does not operate a storefront or sell directly to consumers; people wishing to purchase products from Bark River Knives must do so through one of its distributors.

Handle, liner and fastener options set Bark River Knives apart. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press photo)

Multiple steps are undertaken at Bark River Knives’ facility. Since they ship in large quantities to each of its five distributors — DLT Trading, KnivesShipFree, Klingenwelt, Blue Ridge Knives and Bushcraft Canada — they produce large runs of each model of knife before customizing the batches.

With about 230 models of knife, 130 handle choices, plus options for liners and fasteners, there are hundreds of thousands of unique knives that roll out of Bark River Knifes. There are sporting, kitchen and military styles, all fixed-blade.

While a skilled user can achieve a task with whatever knife may be before him, the range of varieties are designed for different purposes. Some may be for general use, while others may be for skinning, others for cutting meat, others for splitting kindling.

After a careful design process that considers intended use and ergonomics, steel shapes are cut out in batches. Since 2018, Bark River Knives has owned its own computer numerical control machines to complete this step in-house.

About 34 employees perform various duties in this and other areas of the Bark River Knives facility. There is the front office; the leather shop, which produces sheaths; component prep, including polishing; assembly; handle-shaping; blade-grinding; cleaning and etching; photography; and shipping.

“Some of the things we do are production-oriented, but all the finishing is Old World-style hand-finishing,” Mike said. “That’s every knife. All the blades are hand-ground finely; the handles are all hand-shaped.”

The careful attention put into each item allows Bark River Knives to offer an unlimited lifetime warranty. The only thing that voids the warranty is a tongue-in-cheek quip that is actually in writing: “Lending your knife to a badger immediately voids our warranty,” Bark River Knives states.

Sheaths are covered by warranty, too, even if the customer accidentally slashes it with the blade.

A “spa treatment” — including sharpening, re-polishing and retesting — is available for a nominal fee that mainly covers shipping.

“We design and build every single knife expecting you to beat the crap out of it,” Jim Stewart, Mike’s son, said in a video produced years ago.

Once ready to ship, knives are packed into cardboard boxes that are also sources locally, from Bramco Containers in Gladstone. Since distributors order batches with various combinations, and the different models are are ready at different times, there’s often more than 10,000 knives on order at a given time, Mike said. Shipments go out every few days.

While Bark River Knives’ facility is primarily frequented by its employees, they do open to guests for an annual “make-your-own-knife” event, which brings customers from around the world, Mike said. Next year, it will be the second weekend in August.

Customers appreciate the hardiness and feel of Bark River Knives, but the thing that sets the local business apart from other high-quality manufacturers is the variety in the artistry behind the handle patterns. It may be a “pain” to stock and assemble so many materials, Mike said, but it helps each individual knife to stand out as not only a functional, reliable piece, but also a work of art.

———

R. R. Branstrom can be reached at 906-786-2021 or rbranstrom@dailypress.net.