Question about Gayle Bradley grind

[BBQ BOY]

This knife seems to have a very deep hollow grind. Do you think a Krein Regrind would work on this knife?

[Firebat]

Could Tom do it? Yes, I'm sure.

Is it worth it? Not really, IMHO.

The high hollow grind combined with aggressive, edge-holding M4 will slice just fine.

There's just nothing wrong with it that needs to be "fixed". Gayle makes big tough working knives, not dainty, thin bladed knives focused solely on slicing.

"Better" is often the enemy of "good enough".

[Blerv]

You can thin out any knife.

However, as a "hard use folder" it has a 3mm blade stock. The high-hollow grind should give a great slicing profile and more tip strength than some other grinds.

It seems pretty darn perfect from the pictures. With M4 I'd worry more on edge sharpening than grind. A real knife sharpener/custom guy can comment though and I'll retract this. :)

[chipped]

My uncle's a handyman and was asking me recently about a good sturdy knife to use on the job and every day, and mentioned that he cuts through a fair amount of drywall and wood.

The first two that came to mind were the RAT Izula and the Gayle Bradley, but now that I think about it would the ZDP Stretch's FFG be better for that line of work?

[gunmike1]

Krein does great hollow grinds as well, so he can thin it out on a hollow as well. M4 is MUCH tougher than many "super steels", and at a .010" to .012" edge on a high hollow grind it should still easily handle and cutting duties with no issues and no chipping or edge rolling. I used my Mule M4 (.018" edge) to cut off a 400 lb boar's legs at the knees and cut off the head without a chip, so it is very tough (I believe I heard around 8 times tougher than D2 at the same hardness, but could be wrong). For drywall I believe Yablanowitz used his .010" edged ZDP 189 Endura (Krein FFG) without any problems, and he uses knives very hard and ZDP isn't nearly as tough as CPM M4. I will get my Bradley tomorrow and see if I want to try a FFG or thinning the hollow grind, but CPM M4 really shines with a thin edge and is still plenty tough. At .010" I have no issues using ZDP for medium duty plus tasks and have no issues at all with toughness. CPM M4 at that same thickness should handle heavier duty work without any issues at all (see the competition knives and their ultra thin grinds destroying piles of 2 by 4's if you don't believe me). Don't get me wrong, the factory edge thickness will cut good and be extremely tough, however I am used to the cutting performance of my Krein regrinds and CPM M4 allows you to go very thin while retaining a whole lot of toughness compared to most high end folder steels.

Mike

[JNewell]

I agree - thi is a high hollow grind, so given the grind, I'm not sure how much you'd gain.

Could Tom do it? Yes, I'm sure.

Is it worth it? Not really, IMHO.

The high hollow grind combined with aggressive, edge-holding M4 will slice just fine.

There's just nothing wrong with it that needs to be "fixed". Gayle makes big tough working knives, not dainty, thin bladed knives focused solely on slicing.

"Better" is often the enemy of "good enough".

[Brad S.]

I'm inclined to agree, I dont think that much improvement could be made.

[noddy]

I used my Mule M4 (.018" edge) to cut off a 400 lb boar's legs at the knees and cut off the head without a chip, so it is very tough

i haven't much experience in butchery anymore, bu tmy grandad was a butcher and so was my dad for a while, and they both showed me how to take a carcass apart for the shop window, and I did cows and sheep for a while.

Pretty soft, recurved steel was the main character of the knives we used - even with that the idea of rolling (obviously not chipping) was pretty alien. Interesting to hear that hard steel woul dbe a real wory fo rthat kind of work.

Never butchered anything bigger than pigeons and trout in the field, it goes without saying :) :)D

i do like the look and sound of this Bradley

[gull wing]

I agree!
As much as I like FFG, I think you might take away from the purpose of this knife by thinning it too much. This is a robust knife, it's best as is. I would not FFG a Large Sebenza either.

[gunmike1]

I got my Bradley today (thanks Catamount at Spydercovt.com!) and it has a nice thin .017"-.019" edge on that high hollow grind. Very beefy, uber smooth, great fit and finish and CF. I still prefer a .010" edge due to the steel easily being able to handle hard use at that thickness (my 154CM Benchmade Rift is rated hard use with an axis lock and has a .014" edge), though the hollow grind will almost surely stay due to it's great depth and height as others have described. I'm getting it brought up to 64-66 RC as well, so I figure why not go for great performance (the factory grind should actually have great performance, at .010" at 65 RC the Bradley will have unreal performance) while I'm having it re heat treated. I really like the non coated blade, and that liner lock and CF is just wonderful. This may be the smoothest knife I've ever owned, it's amazing that people would avoid this knife due to it being made in Taiwan thinking it has bad F&F. It may be the best built knife I have with perfect centering and most anything you can think to look at being perfect to the eye. Great job Spyderco and Gayle Bradley in coming up with a winner. I may buy another to give as a gift or just keep stock. It is a wonderful knife, and it will be great for testing out CPM M4 at very high hardness. I'm glad I pre-ordered it prior to ever seeing it or knowing the details, it is a winner. Mine doesn't have Gayle Bradley's logo, maybe that is reason enough to order another, just to have one with his logo on it to give him credit, and as Yablanowitz says, a "pre need replacement". I know mine will see lots of use.

Mike

[TheSavageRabbit]

Got my Gayle Bradley in the mail today. It's just perfect for cleaning my nails! But I hope the CPM M4 can stand up to the abuse.

[gunmike1]

I rebevelled the knife to 9 per side and polished it out to .05 microns, and the CPM M4 didn't disappoint. The Bradley is the sharpest folder in my house now, getting unreal sharp as I'm used to. It peels the tiniest curls off of hairs when I'm careful, but it is so sharp most of the time it just pops the hair in two when the hair hits the edge. Now I need to cut stuff up and see how I like it before sending it off to Phil Wilson for the re heat treat. The knife really is nice: classy yet strong as ****. It should be a great hard user. Once I get it brought up a few points in hardness it would be interesting to see how Yablanowitz thinks very hard CPM M4 stacks up to S90 V on drywall and other construction tasks. I think this knife would be great in that role, and that lock is about as strong as a liner lock can be. I am really happy with this blade so far.

Mike

[ChapmanPreferred]

I have one inbound at the moment and am really looking forward to it!

Mike,

I will be watching for your reveiw of that knife when you get the blade back from being rehardened.

Happy New Year!

Doug

[gunmike1]

I have one inbound at the moment and am really looking forward to it!

Mike,

I will be watching for your reveiw of that knife when you get the blade back from being rehardened.

Happy New Year!

Doug

Congrats on the knife, Doug! The knife has superb fit and finish, as flawless as I've seen any production knife in this price range (or any for that matter, I can't think of a better built knife F&F wise that I've ever bought), especially considering the great materials. The CPM M4 sharpened up just as good if not better than my M4 Mule, just incredibly sharp, and I have no doubts it is meeting or exceeding the 62/63 RC range Sal specified. Mine is one of the early releases without Gayle Bradlet's logo, so I may have to buy a spare to get one with the logo, plus I just really like this knife and the materials. The liner lock is a beast, the blade is dead center, the edge is .017"-.019" with that high and deep hollow grind everyone is talking about. The ergos are great for my large hand with or without the choil, though not Superhawk good. The CF weave is striking to look at and functionally grippy, very nicely done IMO. If I get this one thinned it will almost certainly stay hollow ground, and the grind is a good looking grind IMO on top of being an excellent slicing grind with the thin edge and high hollow grind (though my Kreinage has spoiled me to think .017" is thick for a factory folder when it is really quite thin especially on a hard use knife). I'll let you know what the steel tests out at hardness wise from the factory (I heard some were close to 65 RC from the factory, that would save me the re heat treating issue) and how hard it ends up and how it performs. In my experience CPM M4 has toughness to spare considering it's super wear resistance and high hardness, so I have no worries about adding a few points of hardness to it if mine is around 62.5 RC like my Mule.

To the previous poster not impressed with M4 not chipping when chopping off the legs and head of a 400 lb Boar without taking a chip I can only say my buddy was not making clean cuts on the joints, he was just hacking and prying until the joints seperated on a 62.5 RC knife at 10 degrees per side on the edge. S30V and VG 10, not to mention ZDP 189 would have chipped pretty significantly doing similar work, so I will stick with my thoughts of M4 being pretty tough for a very hard and high wear resistance steel. My experience cutting all sorts of things from 2 hogs, tons of cardboard, rope, lots of plastics, and plenty of other stuff on knives including my M4 Krein Ultimate Caper with a full height hollow grind and .007" edge lead me to believe M4 will be able to easily do hard work at .010" thickness on the edge and 65RC. I'll know if I'm right or wrong soon enough after I mod my knife, though who knows I may leave the grind as is a while until after the heat treat as I can always get it reground later. I already changed the angle to 9 degrees per side, but I really have found the thickness behind the edge and the blade stock thickness to be the largest factors in cutting ability,

Mike

[KeithM]

I don't have a micrometer but mine feels pretty thin at the edge.

I'll use it with the factory edge grind for a while and then give it a session with the Edge Pro when I get the time.

The build quality is very impressive.

I read elsewhere the Rc may be as high as 65. Good! :cool: