Review: Bark River 8-inch Mountain Man knife -The Ultimate EDC knife?

I’ve been a fan the Bark River Mountain Man knife since they came out several years ago. This latest incarnation may prove to be the most useful.

by Leon Pantenburg

My wife Debbie took one look at the  eight-inch Mountain Man and claimed it for a kitchen knife. I’m used to that – Debbie “acquires” a lot of my gear when the items work well. Pens, notebooks, socks, T-shirts – nothing is safe. So, many of my outdoors and camp knives end up with double duty in the kitchen. This has happened with the Petty Z, Sportsman, Fin and Bone,  Ultra Lite Field Knife and others. 

Check out how the Mountain Man handles

The original mountain man Russells and other trade knives sold during the Western fur trade of the early 1800s were user, working tools designed to sell. They were the original EDC knives, and a knife was an indispensable part of anybody’s gear.  A frontiersman or Native might only have one, so they would get the most useful design.

These were the ancestors of the Bark River Mountain Man knife, and that traditional knife, made with updated, modern materials is as useful as ever today.

Here are the Mountain Man 8-inch specs and weights (based on a standard black canvas micarta variant. Thanks DLT Trading!)

Here is the original Mountain Man review.

Here’s the good stuff about the 8-inch Mountain Man:

Size: The 8-inch blade is about perfect for butchering and meat cutting. It’s also going to make a great kitchen knife, and it will be handy around camp for preparing food and just about anything else you need a knife for. Despite its large size, the knife doesn’t feel cumbersome to use. 

It wouldn’t be my first choice for a gutting or deer hunting knife, but it could do the job. The knife would be too long – for me – to use inside a carcass

Blade thickness: A working knife should have a practical blade thickness. I vote for a thin blade. After several decades of big game hunting, fishing, backpacking, canoeing and hiking, I’ve never broken a knife in the field. Thick blades are sturdier than thinner blades of the same material, obviously, but they don’t slice as well, and are unnecessarily heavy and unwieldy. Check out real swords and daggers at a museum sometime – most of them are pretty thin.

 Apparently, the Natives and trappers preferred thin blades, or someone would have made a thick blade knife to compete with the Russells. With today’s super steels, I think the thick blades are best confined to out-and-out survival/tactical/fighting knives.

Handle: I have large hands, and the Mountain Man’s 4.3-inch handle fits me well. There is no rhyme nor reason to my knife handle material choices. I find that the stabilized wood and micarta becomes “grippier” when wet, making for a secure and safe hold. My Mountain Man came with a stabilized Sanguailita #2 wood handle. It looks great, and the beauty of the handle won’t keep it from being used a lot.

The original Russell blades were frequently sold by the barrel in the 1830s Fur Trade Rendezvous’, and often without a handle. The buyer put on his own and the material was probably bone, rawhide, antler or wood, depending on what was available. Obviously, the handles ended up being ergonomic for the user.

Tip: The point has an upswept grind with a drop point. This is classic butcher knife design, and it’s clear this knife was originally designed to field dress and skin big animals. It will work well for hunters.

Spine: The edge opposite the sharpened edge is ground at 90-degrees, like an ice skate. This means it could be used to scrape a ferrocerium rod to generate sparks for firemaking or processing tinder. This can come in handy.