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.
boykinlp
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by boykinlp »

gsmith7158 wrote:Boy you got the pick of the litter with that mammoth Jerry! ::tu:: That one is top shelf. ::nod::
And got a Kudo too, the stars must have been aligned for you! :D
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

RalphAlsip wrote:Here are pictures of the Mammoth Bear Lake that I received. It was #2 of 4 that were in the July 2018 release. As others have mentioned with regard to the blade, my preference also would have been for a spear blade.
Amazing Mammoth. Equally amazing is you were able to score one. Congrats.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by m0nk »

RalphAlsip wrote:Here are pictures of the Kudu bone example I received. It was #24 in the July 2018 release. I like the material. The surface is smooth to the touch and it has visual depth and texture which probably comes from the dye settling into the pores in the bone. I had never heard of Kudu until this release of the Bear Lake. Just today I noticed another maker using Kudu.
Ralph, those are some nice nice pics! Both your kudu and mammoth pics are very good. According to the KSF site, kudu is "Porous bone filled with resin". Which means it's a stabilized bone, so it probably won't move much if ever. How did you take those pics, what backdrop and camera did you use? I'll understand if those are trade secrets, I'm just fishing for knife photography tips.

And congrats again on a stupendous score!

Lee
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by RalphAlsip »

Thanks all for the gracious comments.
m0nk wrote:How did you take those pics, what backdrop and camera did you use?
Lee, I am happy to share my picture taking process - please check your PM's.

The link below provides a really good tutorial. It takes about 15 minutes to read and is very practical for people who want to take nice product photos, but don't want to be a professional photographer and don't want a professional photography studio.

https://www.shopify.com/blog/12206313-t ... hotography

The video link below is a good 5 minute overview of "ISO", Shutter Speed, and F-Stops.

https://vimeo.com/70501344
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

The two I received. Was only going for one, but thought I lost one, and went for another one. You don't have time to correct your cart .
Now its eenie meenie miney mo, think one's gotta go. Think I'm liking the Red Micarta more for some reason ::hmm:: ::undecided::
Bear Lakes.JPG
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Railsplitter »

FarSide wrote:The two I received. Was only going for one, but thought I lost one, and went for another one. You don't have time to correct your cart .
Now its eenie meenie miney mo, think one's gotta go. Think I'm liking the Red Micarta more for some reason ::hmm:: ::undecided::

Bear Lakes.JPG
Those are both very nice!
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by FarSide »

Railsplitter wrote:
FarSide wrote:The two I received. Was only going for one, but thought I lost one, and went for another one. You don't have time to correct your cart .
Now its eenie meenie miney mo, think one's gotta go. Think I'm liking the Red Micarta more for some reason ::hmm:: ::undecided::

Bear Lakes.JPG
Those are both very nice!
Thanks. Indeed, they are both nice.I really like the size of the Bear Lake. I was sure I wanted a Fremont, but now that I have seen comparison pics I prefer the Bear Lake. Really is a mini Fremont with the end cap they used this time.
-Tim
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

The red linen micarta is very sleek & classy. The stag looks more like the country boy here.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by robbobus »

Mine will be here tomorrow. ::ds:: Michigan was 3 days quicker sipping time.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by robbobus »

IMG_20180720_185440.jpg
MVIMG_20180720_185506.jpg
New with the old. Flush in all 3 positions. Good walk and talk. The spear point is close on 1/4" longer in blade length. One other noticable change is in the grind. The flat grind goes higher closer to the spine. Check the NORTHWOODS lettering, on the old is mainly on the flat, quite a bit of the logo lower into the blade's grind now. Likely less regrinds forthcoming.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by gsmith7158 »

robbobus wrote:Mine will be here tomorrow. ::ds:: Michigan was 3 days quicker sipping time.
Robbobus what did you mean by three days sipping time? You're not sitting there with a bottle of 12 year old Wild Turkey waiting on that Bear Lake are you?
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by robbobus »

Haha. Shipping time. More of a tea sipper anyway.☕
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

Rob, despite a crazy scramble you somehow are able to score some of the best stag in each run. Both Bear Lake knives look Superb.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Tony_Wood »

robbobus wrote:IMG_20180720_185440.jpgMVIMG_20180720_185506.jpg

New with the old. Flush in all 3 positions. Good walk and talk. The spear point is close on 1/4" longer in blade length. One other noticable change is in the grind. The flat grind goes higher closer to the spine. Check the NORTHWOODS lettering, on the old is mainly on the flat, quite a bit of the logo lower into the blade's grind now. Likely less regrinds forthcoming.
Beauts. Twin beauts!!
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by gsmith7158 »

Taking some pics today and tried to capture the translucence of this Kudu bone. Pretty wild stuff.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Ivoryman »

Kudu
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"It's what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid." -No Name, High Plains Drifter
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by gsmith7158 »

Here is a bear lake with the spear blade that I have on the way.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Ivoryman »

Congrats gsmith, great knives, I really like the bone on yours. Also love the slim, thin, scapel like size and light weight compared to many other Northwoods I have. Great color on yours. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet knives. Another D. Bohn design.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by gsmith7158 »

Ivoryman wrote:Congrats gsmith, great knives, I really like the bone on yours. Also love the slim, thin, scapel like size and light weight compared to many other Northwoods I have. Great color on yours. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet knives. Another D. Bohn design.
Thanks Iman that is giraffe bone and I felt fortunate to get it Should be here Thursday.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by gsmith7158 »

This one came today and the Giraffe bone looks a lot like my Fremont in mammoth.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by sunknife »

Beautiful Bear Lake Greg. Love the pattern, the sleeveboard shaped handle and the spear blade look perfect together. This is my probably my favorite
pattern of all the Northwoods knives. Sure would like to own one myself someday.
Greg
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by kootenay joe »

All the 'African' bones, kudu, camel and giraffe look attractive and quite varied when dyed. But i think the giraffe bone is best of the lot. As Greg mentioned the giraffe resembles mammoth, sometimes it can be hard to say which it is.
I hope Northwoods makes 2019 Year of Giraffe & Mammoth, every pattern being offered with these 2 handle options in addition to Stag, bone or wood.
I doubt however that KSF or GEC read our threads so i'm preaching to the converted here.
kj
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Ivoryman »

In the box today, found a used one for about five bucks more than they were new. Don't feel quite so ripped off by the flippers on the secondary market this way. Best of all I get to carry and use it without hurting the value. Already used, not gonna depreciate much if kept up.
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by gsmith7158 »

Great snag Iman! ::tu::
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Re: Northwoods Bear Lake

Post by Ivoryman »

Followed your example gsmith. Thanks, worked for me.
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