After decades of making high-quality knives in the Upper Peninsular of Michigan, USA, recently Bark River Knives has closed shop permanently in a midst of scandal and outrage. In an effort to be completely transparent, we at Shenandoah Mercantile have decided to liquidate our remaining inventory and notify any potential buyers of the conditions surrounding the closing of Bark River.

At closing, Bark River declared bankruptcy, leaving many, many questions and owing hundreds of thousands of dollars across the industry. Owner Mike Stewart and his son, Jim Stewart, in separate public statements, both admitted that they knowingly ordered Chinese kit knives, removed evidence of their origin, reprofiled them to avoid suspicion, then relabeled them as a superior, American-made steel. They both claimed that this practice was limited to a select 5-6 models of knives that were produced near the end of the production in 2025. Understandably, and because Mike Stewart has a history of fraudulent history practices, this declaration of limited usage has come under scrutiny and all Bark Rivers available are currently being tested by a distributor.

All of this information and more will not be linked here, but can be found on the official Bark River Knives Facebook group.

All of the admitted models of fraudulently labeled steel have been removed from our inventory already. What is left are knives that we have been told are legitimate, but we have no way of knowing. Because of this, we are offering them all at a 20% discount, but must not allow returns. Please contact us with any questions or concerns or need for pictures before ordering.