Description
The Bravo-1 is a Bark River Knives BEST seller and now it is available in the very popular CPM 3V steel!
This knife was developed with the assistance of the Training Unit of the Force Recon Division of the U.S. Marine Corp. These folks bought a large number of knives on the commercial market and tested them without saying anything to any of the makers. The Bark River Gameskeeper came out on top to fit their requirements of a Real Time, General Purpose Survival/Bushcraft Knife. Bark River Knife and Tool was contacted by them and asked to make a knife based on the Gameskeeper with a few changes. The Bravo-1 is the result of their input. The changes were the addition of a ramp style thumb rest on the spine and changing the guard into an Integral Self Guard. They also wanted the choil eliminated to bring the sharp edge all the way to the front of the handle slabs for leverage in notching. The balance of the knife had to be on the first finger. Balance was achieved by skeletonizing the tang to put the weight evenly over the first finger position. The handle slabs had to be epoxied and bolted to and through the blade. All of the Bravo-1 knives have the handle sets attached with bolt sets and they are not removable as the screw slots are ground off when the handles are finished out. The final result is a heavy duty Bushcraft/Survival knife that can stand up to abusive use and keep on going.
This is a great knife for someone serving in active duty military and will serve them well as a fine outdoor knife as a civilian.
About CPM 3V Steel
CPM 3V is a high toughness, wear-resistant tool steel made by the Crucible Particle Metallurgy process. The CPM process produces very homogeneous, high quality steel characterized by superior dimensional stability, grindability and toughness compared to other steels produced by conventional processes. CPM 3V was designed to provide maximum resistance to breakage and chipping in a high wear-resistance steel. This "super steel" offers impact resistance greater than A2, D2, Cru-Wear, or CPM M4, approaching the levels provided by S7 and other shock resistant grades. CPM 3V is intended to be used at 58/60 HRC in applications where chronic breakage and chipping are encountered in other tool steels, but where the wear properties of a high alloy steel are required. The wear and toughness properties of CPM 3V make it an excellent alternative to shock-resistant steels such as S7 or A9, where they typically wear out too quickly, but where grades such as A2, CruWear, or CPM M4 tend to fail by breaking or chipping. CPM 3V offers the highest impact toughness of any tool steel with this range of wear resistance.
While not considered a true stainless steel, CPM3V is considered by some to be a "semi" stainless steel and does exhibit some stainless steel qualities while costing less than a true high-grade stainless steel. One of our customers gave us a great testimony about the stainless qualities of CPM 3V steel. He wanted to put a patina on the blade so he tried vinegar with no effect, then mustard with no effect and finally lemon juice which had no effect!
Nominal Composition:
Carbon - 0.80 %
Chromium - 7.50 %
Vanadium - 2.75%
Molybdenum - 1.30%