Northwoods Bear Lake

The Northwoods Knife brand name originated in Gladstone, Michigan when a man named Dave Shirley adopted it as his knife company's name in 2004. Dave was well known for collaborating with popular knife companies to have knives made to his specifications for resale well before 2004 & beyond. KnivesShipFree bought Northwoods from Dave & has continued to team up with respected makers to produce knives marked with the Northwoods brand name.
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robbobus
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Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by robbobus »

On sale Wednesday 4 eastern
Screenshot_2018-07-09-14-48-41.png
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by robbobus »

This is called Kudo bone.
Screenshot_2018-07-09-17-01-31-1.png
kootenay joe
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

Kudu is a large antelope species in Africa. I'm sure they have strong dense bones.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

With end caps & wharncliffe blade; those are going to be nice. Most likely a 500 piece SFO.
Wonder what the other covers will be besides Red & Black(?) Micarta, and Kudo.
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

The Northwoods Archive page at KSF does not show the "Bear Lake" released about 2 ? years ago. I think it was made by Queen and has a spearpoint blade ? Or am i getting this mixed up with some other Northwoods knife ?
I am not at home or i would get out my Northwoods to refresh my memory.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

kootenay joe wrote:The Northwoods Archive page at KSF does not show the "Bear Lake" released about 2 ? years ago. I think it was made by Queen and has a spearpoint blade ? Or am i getting this mixed up with some other Northwoods knife ?
I am not at home or i would get out my Northwoods to refresh my memory.
kj
I’m pretty sure the first Bear Lake was by GEC. It was about two years ago or earlier.
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

If not the Bear Lake, which of the recent Northwoods was made by Queen ?
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by robbobus »

The Bear Lake is/was a GEC made knife on a (so far) unique to Northwoods sleeveboard pattern. The last Queen made were the Indian River Jacks in 2014 I believe. I really like the Bear Lake, in this version it should be 85% of a Fremont.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by RalphAlsip »

The Indian River Jack in the past was made by Queen.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

I know the IRJ was made by Queen and my memory must be playing tricks because i recall the Bear Lake jack as also being Queen made. However the 'experts' here disagree and i accept their opinion.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

I can say for certain that any Northwoods with the rustic Northwoods stamped blade was made by GEC. It gets confusing when you go back to the early days when Derrick just started Northwoods. However, I will say I miss the variety of covers & blade finishes we used to see.
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

Can someone post a picture of the original Northwoods Bear Lake ? It has a spear point like blade but i cannot recall if "Northwoods" is stamped along blade flat.
kj
Edit to add: i just found a picture of the original Bear Lake posted by me in the GEC forum: viewtopic.php?f=56&t=23223&p=547637&hil ... ke#p547637

I don't know why i recalled this as being a Queen made knife, but as everyone here says it is a GEC made knife. What is the frame # ? 3 9/16" sleeveboard is what it is.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Cletus Awreetus »

from the internets...
and while we're at it, a Kudu..
Attachments
bearlakebanner-6188.jpg
kudu-bull.jpg
-the problem with society today is, no one drinks from the skulls of their dead enemies anymore..-
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

From KSF
Bear Lake.jpg
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

Cletus Awreetus wrote:from the internets...
Wow, same time & same pic. :D
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Cletus Awreetus »

great minds Farside, you know what they say :D
-the problem with society today is, no one drinks from the skulls of their dead enemies anymore..-
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

Thanks, we all posted or edited at the same time.
KSF archives does not show the Northwoods Bear Lake. Where is that pic at KSF ?
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Cletus Awreetus »

I don't know about you fellers but I'm kinda partial to the original barehead version..
-the problem with society today is, no one drinks from the skulls of their dead enemies anymore..-
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

kootenay joe wrote:Thanks, we all posted or edited at the same time.
KSF archives does not show the Northwoods Bear Lake. Where is that pic at KSF ?
kj
I guess they forgot the Bear Lake in their archives.
I Googled "Northwoods Knives Bear Lake" and a few old original sales pages show up in results.
Here's one as example: https://www.knivesshipfree.com/northwoo ... ammoth-91/
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

Bear Lineup. I guess Kudo replaces Mammoth.
bEARS.jpg
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Cletus Awreetus »

welp, looks like kudu bone for me then. I'm not a big micarta fan and I'm a bit stagged out when it comes to Northwoods, for today anyway. thx FS.

**aviso aviso** asked and answered on Facebook: the 2 burlaps are satin finished bolsters, the other 3, polished.
-the problem with society today is, no one drinks from the skulls of their dead enemies anymore..-
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by m0nk »

kootenay joe wrote: What is the frame # ? 3 9/16" sleeveboard is what it is.
KJ, The Bear Lake has no common GEC frame #; it's built on a frame that is unique to KSF for the BL. I liked the looks of the bare end on the previous BL run, but seeing these pics I really like the "Freemont little brother" look of this new BL. Having never handled one, in pictures the slender shape looks to me like it's about 3-7/8" long, but it's only a nominal 3.5". I was surprised to learn that it's shorter than it looks. I am curious though, as to whether the blade is the same 1/8" stock as the Fremont or if the smaller frame size brings a more normal 3/32" blade. ??

I'm probably gonna sit out this scramble since I just grabbed a Fremont last month, and I have a soon-to-be-completed #44 Buffalo Jack on reserve. I'm telling ya, these secret-surprise NW runs make it hard to plan out a knife budget! Good luck to all who will jump in tomorrow (unless you're a scalper!) and I look forward to seeing some high-quality BL pics next week sometime.

Lee
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

Thanks for replies to my Bear Lake questions. Googling BL and bringing up an old For Sale listing is an idea i had not thought of, but i will 'next time'.
And Lee thanks for info that this frame, 3 9/16" on original BL is used only for this Northwoods knife.
I like my original Bear Lake: nice slightly smaller size with great in hand feel and with a modified spearpoint blade.
As for this soon to be released second version: i do not want another knife with the Wharncliffe-like blade and i think it looks better as a barehead and this one has caps.
I too will not be part of the 'scramble' but am interested to see if these sell out as quickly as the previous Northwoods have.
Northwoods needs a "kick in the pants": get back to making Northwoods with interesting patterns and high end natural material handles.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Cletus Awreetus »

I counted 11 minutes and poof, they was gawn!!
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

Picked out a Stag, but was having trouble checking out & thought I lost it. So I went for a Red Micarta, and ended up with both ::shrug::
Guess I will have decide between the two.
Bear Lake 1.jpg
-Tim
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