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Review | Bravo-6 Generation 2 may be the big knife you need

600 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

The Bravo-6 Generation 2 is the latest in Bark River’s wildly popular Bravo line. Is it the best model yet?

by Leon Pantenburg
Disclaimer: Bark River provided the product for this review. I don’t work for the company and I was not paid to test and review the Bravo-6 Generation 2. This is strictly my opinion, and nobody had any input into this post.

Sometimes you need a big knife.

That’s what I decided when I became a Mississippi River guide with Quapaw Canoe Company and Big River Wild Adventures.
Quapaw Canoe Company – the 2024 Mississippi Small Business of the Year – has a sterling safety record. People from all over the world travel on the Mississippi River in Quapaw’s 29-foot handcrafted wooden canoes. A trained and experienced guide is in the front and back of the boat, and all passengers must paddle.
Along with other safety equipment, guides carry a large knife, because they might have to untangle a line or life jacket or cut something loose from a canoe. A couple of the guides carry Honest-to-God Bowie knives. Mostly we use the big knives for cutting watermelons and oranges or cooking in Dutch ovens, but we are prepared!

The Bravo-6 is a full-sized, hardcore user knife.

So the latest, biggest Bravo looked very interesting. It appears to be a knife made to order for hard use on the Mississippi.
I have several Bravos already and a couple of them are go-to knives for me. The Bravo 1 set the standard for hard use knives. The UP Bravo is my idea of the ultimate hunting knife. My Bravo 1.25 is another superb hunting/survival knife. The Bravo EXT-2 combines the superb Bravo handle with the Fox River blade. A long-time hunting buddy of mine swears by his Bravo 2. All of these have been proven in the field under sometimes extreme conditions.
Which one is best? I can’t make up my mind because situations where knives may be used vary greatly.  That’s why I have several. So I didn’t really need an excuse to wring out another, different style of Bravo.

Bravo-6 Generation 2 specs:

Overall Length: 11.250 Inches
Blade Length: 6.250 Inches
Blade Thickness: .187 Inch
Blade Steel: CPM 3V
Hardness: 60 Rockwell
Weight: 10.54 Ounces
Fasteners: 304 Stainless Flared Tubes
Full Tang Construction

Here is how the Bravo-6 has worked out so far.

First impressions:

The original Bravo 2 “is built like a tank,” according to a trusted reviewer and you can beat the hell out of one without worrying about damage. Everything about the Bravo-6 shouts bad-ass, hardcore user knife. It would make a great tactical knife. I haven’t had a chance to really use the knife yet, but this what I have noticed so far.

Size:

This is a big knife, but it isn’t unwieldy. Knives with blades of this size can feel “clubby” and awkward, but the 6 feels nimble. This isn’t the knife you’d reach for to do fine wood carving, even though it could probably do the job. Rather, this is the knife to have at hand in any survival situation, or when you might need a self-defense weapon. It would probably also work well as a wild pig sticker.

Blade size:

A six-inch blade helps make the Bravo-6 a viable candidate for a survival/hunting knife. My Cold Steel SRK has a six-inch blade, and that was my go-to big game hunting knife for some 20 years. The six-inch blade, IMHO was too long to be as handy as it could have been. I prefer a four-to-five-inch blade for most of  hunting/bushcraft/foraging/wood carving work, and there are better Bravos for all-around work.

Steel:

I’ve been using CPM 3V steel for over a decade, and I love it. The steel holds an edge really, really well, and if push comes to shove, it can be sharpened with a smooth rock. I used to carry sharpening tools while hunting, but no more. Multiple times, I have gutted, skinned and quartered whitetails with CPM 3V or A2 knives without needing to sharpen or touch up the blade. While not stainless, CPM 3V resists staining well. My standard procedure after gutting and skinning a deer is to wipe the blade down with an alcohol prep pad, followed with a paper towel.

Blade thickness:

At .187 inch, the blade is thicker than I would prefer. But it’s great the Bark River people resisted the temptation to make the 6 with a thicker blade. This .187 thickness is a good compromise of durability, practicality and strength. CPM 3V is an excellent steel, and the blade could be thinner with no loss of strength.

Handle:

This may be the best attribute of the knife. The Bravo handle is legendary for its design, safety and practicality. Thank you, Bark River, for making a handle long enough and with a practical diameter! I have large hands, and this handle fits me like it was designed for me. No handle can be ergonomic for everyone. But if you have been looking for a knife with a handle that is a good handful, look no further.
The 6 is only available in micarta, a nearly bulletproof material. My experience is that micarta gets “grippier” and almost tacky when wet. This is a valuable attribute for a knife that may be used in the rain, cold and snow. As much as I love pretty wood, micarta is the best choice for this knife that may get extreme use.

The Bravo-6 handle gives a solid grip.

Point:

The point will help determine how well the blade will work for specific tasks. This drop point is a good choice for a knife of this design.

Blade design:

It is a practical design that lends itself to a variety of hunting/bushcraft tasks. It would be wonderful for splitting the ribcage of a deer or elk. I’m also guessing the 6 would work just fine for skinning an alligator.

Conclusion (So far!)

 I am biased toward Bark River Knives. I have field tested and reviewed more than 50 of the different BR knives over the past 13 years. I have used BRs in below-zero winter hunts and campouts, to field dress deer and elk and in scorching, humid  temperatures to skin alligators and clean catfish. Every BR was of the highest quality.
But here are a few personal preference, ticky observations of the Bravo-6.

Hollow pins

I’m not sure what the point is for these. In 50+ years of hanging out in the wilderness, I have never needed to play Rambo and lash a knife to a stick or pole. I don’t anticipate ever having to do so. My knife handles generally get bloody or slimy when I’m field dressing big game animals or cleaning fish. It seems like the hollow pins would become repositories for funky goo and gross slime.

Blade thickness

I don’t like thick blades. I wish the Bravo-6 blade was .125-inch thick or even thinner. With today’s super steels, it would take deliberate abuse to break one. In some 50+ years of hunting, fishing and wilderness rambling, I have never broken a blade.


You don’t need a thick blade to baton wood. Actually, you don’t need to baton firewood. That exercise was created on Youtube.

So what’s the bottom line?

I really like the Bravo-6 so far, and I anticipate a long relationship with it. It is a robust, sturdy knife for an outdoorsperson who uses equipment hard. It might be the big knife you didn’t know you needed.

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