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Bark River Knife and Tool: Aurora Review

By Reid Hyken

The Aurora is finally here! Heck, when Mike began planning this knife there was a car company named Oldsmobile making a car called an Aurora. Oldsmobile is gone and Aurora’s are getting a bit long of tooth with big numbers on the odometer.

It was certainly worth the wait.

For those not acquainted with the knife, a bit of history. The NorthStar was Bark River’s entry into the “Bushcraft? knife field, a spear point blade with a convex edge, the point aligned with the center of the handle on a full tang. The purpose is to be a knife that would be a fine choice for an outdoorsman to use in both woodworking as well as everyday slicing chores, essentially a knife that would be a good choice for “survival? in the outdoors.

The Aurora is a fine addition to the Bushcraft series for Bark River; sharing the very effective blade shape and design of the NorthStar, lengthened a bit with a longer more sculpted handle. The A2 blade is hardened to 58 -59 rc according to Mike’s secret recipe then full height convex ground to give a very strong edge while maintaining optimum cutting geometry. In a two words: IT WORKS, but I guess you’re expecting a better description.

First let’s talk about the handle design. Much is said about handle designs for knives, like the Three Bears, some are too small and some are too big; this one is “Just Right? in that it should satisfy the most particular person due to the smooth well shaped contours.

The palm swell really makes for a secure “Hammer grip? yet doesn’t get in the way when the knife is turned over for “paring? operations.

I took the new Aurora out into the woods yesterday afternoon, along with the new PSK and an old friend, the Forester for a field test. This provides a make a fine set of tools for forays into the woods. The heavyweight Forager for chopping tasks, the Aurora for carving and cutting and the tiny PSK for detail work.

I used my newly designed Sharpshooter Sheath System as a Baldric rig including the PSK sheath setup with a fish line and Paracord wrap under a “Ranger Band"? giving me a basic survival kit.

Field testing the Aurora was pretty simple, I put it thru some of the basic “Bushcraft"? tasks. First I used to the make a baton, stripping the bark with the Aurora before whittling it down to size.

First using the main part of the edge…

As you can see, the convex edge does a terrific job shaving thin curls of peeling off heavy slices of the hard red oak. The Aurora certainly proved itself to me that it’s a very capable workhorse, the edge remained shaving sharp.

I then put the new Aurora thru a tougher test. Mors Kochanski teaches a technique to fell small trees that will truly test a knife’s mettle, pun intended.

The technique involves batoning the knife, point first into the trunk of the tree around the entire circumference essentially cutting it off.

With the tree downed, I now had something the do a bit more testing with.

Batoning is a great way to cut the tree into smaller pieces, driving the blade into the tree, edge first. This is a great way to roll or chip the edge of a knife.

Again the Aurora did the job with no fuss. A great benefit to the convex grind is that the shape of the blades cross section eases its way thru the wood. Hollow grinds bind during this test and I have found flat grinds to be more likely to wedge. The Aurora’s full convex grind minimizes the angle of attack so it almost slips thru as the edge slices the birch fibers effortlessly.

Now for a bit of notching, testing the remaining sharpness of the edge after the battering it went thru during batoning.

Push cutting was still a joy as thin curls just fell away with little effort…

I would have liked to build a shelter and maybe a couple of traps to apply the techniques, but Everett and I had crossed a section of swamp on the way in, the cold muddy water was almost knee deep and I really didn’t want to have to cross on the way back in the dark; so discression being the better part of valor forced us to head back after a quick bite to eat and a bit of playing with the PSK and Forester.

The Forester is an unusual tool, weighing in at 24 ounces without the sheath, it’s not a lightweight. The steel is a departure from Mike’s usual offerings, heck I never even heard of Bohler N-685 Stain Resistant High Carbon Alloy, but that’s part of my attraction to Bark River Knives; innovation for the sake of improved performance instead of the steel of the month club. The 10 inch long blade would be unusably heavy were it not for the substantial fuller on both sides. Overall length of the Forester is 15 ¾"?, as I said THIS IS A BIG KNIFE, as you’ll discover once you pick it up.

At first glance the Forester would first remind you of the “Combat Smatchet"? however on further examination you can easily see major differences. The first being that the Forester is single edged, with the spine squared off permitting batoning if you wish to have a more precise cut than chopping would permit. The second difference is in the handle, a well shaped round handle that feels good in the hand in spite of the prodigious weight of the blade.

Building a shelter with the Forester is an easy task since the convex edge chews right thru saplings with no problem once you find the sweet spot. Surprisingly it’s not where one would expect it to be at the apex of the curve, but rather slightly back toward the handle. Actually this makes sense if you visualize the curve of the edge slicing thru the work as it’s drawn thru the cut.

Shorter than the Golok, the Forester is very handy and as you can see does a great job of chopping. The weight and balance makes for a very fast blade as you can see in this picture…

Huge chunks of the fallen oak flew free with each hit convincing me that I need to get this tool back out soon for a bit more exercise. It’s short blade making it easier to pack in than the Golok, the well balanced weight making it as effective as a chopper.

Last to be worked was the New PSK. I didn’t know until I was looking for it that Everett had started his own test session, whittling a stick while I chopped away with the Forester.

His comments seem to mirror my own impressions, this little knife does everything well; small enough to do extremely fine work…

And very capable of cutting hard wood into fine curls aided by the thin blade giving the knife prefect geometry. The small handle is extremely comfortable in any position I tried.

This is another keeper and a perfect companion to the Aurora. It was a great day in the woods; three terrific tools, a nice lunch and my favorite Woodsbumming Companion.