Bark River Expands Mountain Man Series

Fixed blade maker Bark River Knives is bringing out an expanded run of their Mountain Man knife. This latest batch brings three different blade shapes to bear.

At its core, each of the three Mountain Man knives channels the plainspoken utility of historical outdoorsperson cutlery. However, each of the three configurations offers its own spin on this idea.

The model that BRK designates as the ‘5’ is closest to the version that originally kicked off the line. It has made multiple appearances over the years in different lengths and steels, but 2019’s model has the skinner-style blade of its predecessors in a 5.5-inch total blade length – the longest of the 2019 class.

A historical bent has always been an important element in the Mountain Man lineup, and the Dadley variant is no exception. Its blade is a very traditional, linear spear point, running just a tad shorter than the 5 with a blade length of 5.45 inches. The cuts on the spine mimic the patterned teeth on the 19th century fixed blade knives sold by early American cutlers and carried by real life mountain men and other adventurers.

The Mountain Man Dagger takes the most radical departure from the original concept. Its blade length is the shortest at 5.3 inches, but its wide, double-edged dagger blade shape means that it does offer the most actual cutting edge length if both cutting bevels are taken into account.

BRK first dressed the Mountain Man up in 3V steel in 2016, and that super tough steel returns for the 2019 models. Benefits over the traditional carbon steels their historical predecessors were made of are manifold. In terms of weight, the knives run the gamut from 4.4 oz. (the Dagger), to 5.5 oz. (the ‘5’), and all come with the standard BRK leather sheath. Of course, BRK is making these knives available in an impressive array of handle materials and pin configurations.

Knife in Featured image: Bark River Knives Mountain Man 5