Bark River Knives: Canadian Special

We asked Mike Stewart at Bark River Knife and Tool about the Canadian Special--this is what he said.

The Bark River Knives, Canadian Special is Mike Stewart’s personal favorite of all of the hunting knives made by Bark River. The design itself is based off the original designs of D.H. Russell in Canada — therefore the name “Canadian Special”

The humpback design was something Russell became very famous for.

Mike changed the design- lowered the blade in relationship to the handle to give the knife more cutting power. He also added the finger grooves which are shallow and fairly flat so they are not limiting or in the way as you hold the knife in your hand. You do not have to hold the knife any particular way and the grooves are not going to bother you- even if you want to hold the knife upside down. There are not any sharp corners so you are not limited.

The Canadian Special is made of very stout construction. It is .170” thick steel. It has a good size point on it should you need to get in there and dig into the joints of an animal - you don’t have to worry about the point.

The theory on the shape for the back of the blade is that it could be used to scrape fat out of hides when they stretched hides before the hides were cured. Because the back of the knife was curved it kept the point from cutting into the viscera's when field dressing with the knife because it acts like a drop point. Of all the knives Bark River makes, this is the one Make Stewart carries. It is the right size of a hunting knife and it carries well on the belt. Or it can be carried in a sheath in a hunting pocket.