Bark River Fox River LT vs Bradford Guardian 4

C

cranda58

Joined
Mar 10, 2014
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On the fence between these two blades. M390 and Elmax are pretty compatible, so I'm not too concerned either way as far as blade steel goes.

Will be using for general outdoor / woods use as well as a hunting knife for field dressing and processing (mostly whitetail).

Anyone have opinions one way or another, they both appear to be excellent and well-liked blades!
 
I'd have to agree with BMC!! I have a Guardian 3 in 3v and it is bomb proof, super sexy and customer service is excellent!! Comes with a great cross draw sheath too!
You literally cannot go wrong with them!
Joe
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Visual comparison, the Bark River is actually a bit cheaper, even in C-Tek
 

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I like everything about my Fox River LT (3V).
I've never handled a G4...but, based on my experience with my G3, the 3D scales are a huge improvement over the standard version.
 
I LOVE my guardian 3. I think the 3d scales really make it simply perfect. I did sand the back of my scales to make them rounded and fit my hand a bit better, so it's been personalized a bit. Stock it is still an amazing knife and the m390 steel has been great in my experience.

 
Mo2 said:
m390 and elmax are similar? really?
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Yes from what I've read they are very close. M390 is harder to heat treat properly. Different sources have alternating opinions as to which edges the other out for each property. I think any bias is related to geography of the source.
 
Bronze Age Man said:
Yes from what I've read they are very close. M390 is harder to heat treat properly. Different sources have alternating opinions as to which edges the other out for each property. I think any bias is related to geography of the source.
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I was under the impression that edgeholding was close but M390 was probably better, but Elmax was probably tougher. I checked Ankersons rankings for cutting rope and he places M390 one or two categories ahead of Elmax. Like one of the previous posters said, I would be happy with either one.

Regarding G4 vx BRK, I think there is a lot of difference in the styles. G4 looks more like a utility knife, BRK gives you a lot of options for scale materials depending on how nice you want the knife to be. G4 gives a keener point than BRK if that means anything to you. I think either one would work well.
 
Too many customer complaints about Bark River and the owner for me, I'd go with the Bradford, never heard a negative word about the guy.
 
brownshoe said:
Too many customer complaints about Bark River and the owner for me, I'd go with the Bradford, never heard a negative word about the guy.
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Yup!! Didn't want to open the proverbial can of worms, but I feel the same brother.
Especially after dealing directly with Brad Larkin of Guardian.
I was looking for a 3 with Patriot blue scales and no one had them. Sent an e mail through the site on a Sunday morning. Brad answered in an hour, put not together for me and shipped it out Monday! Serious customer service from the company owner!!t
He then e mailed me at the end of the week to see how I liked it.
Great company to deal with and he makes an outstanding knife!!
Give the Guardian a hard look!
Joe
 
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