- Joined
- May 25, 2013
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- 3,700
So, I got to go to the Blade show back in June and while watching the cutting competition there I was fortunate enough to run into Gayle Bradley. During our conversation he pulled a prototype out of his pocket and let me have a look. It was called the Bradley Flipper and It was the most impressive knife I saw at the entire show.
It was an m4 flipper with fully contoured and textured titanium scales. It was not the kind of knife that I fell in love with the moment I laid eyes on it, but then I held it in my hand and a little bell went off in my head. And then I flipped it and a much larger bell went off. The knife had the most buttery smooth action of any flipper I have handled. A week later Gayle and I were on the telephone and I was ordering a custom!
I was in Louisiana visiting my Dad in August so we coordinated for me to just drive over to Weatherford, TX to pick up my new knife. I got to spend most of the day in the shop with Gayle and had a great time checking out his operation. Most exciting though was that I walked out of there with this!
I have had the knife for a couple of months now and have carried it everyday since I got it. It is without a doubt the finest folder I have ever owned. The fit and finish are impeccable and the design itself is amazingly well thought out. Gayle Bradleys m4 is no slouch either when it comes to performance.
Heres a few thoughts on the design.
-Size and weight- The size of this knife is pretty much perfect for EDC. The blade is 3.5 and the overall length is a hair over 8. The real kickers that make this such and amazing EDC though are thickness and weight. This knife is very thin at .350. Think about that thats thinner than a Delica. What this means is that it disappears in my pocket like nothing I have carried before. I was a bit concerned at first that a handle that thin would negatively affect the ergonomics but let me set those fears to rest. The knife absolutely melts into the hand. The other big aspect of the design is weight. Full ti 3.5 folder and it weighs in at only 3.4 ounces! The whole package is kind of a marvel of engineering in my book and makes for a great knife to carry every day and use for everything.
-Fit and finish- Man, what can I say? Did I already use the word impeccable? Gayle is obviously a perfectionist when it comes to his machining and it is very obvious in his work. The tolerances are super tight on this folder. The pivot is machined within a few millionths of an inch (yes, you read that right) so that when the pivot is fully tightened down the blade will freefall but has ZERO blade play. No loctite on this baby! The contoured ti handles are perfectly executed and the kind of orange peel texturing he does on the handles is really beautiful and original looking.
-Flipper- I have to be honest, this is kind of what sold me on the knife. I have NEVER been a flipper fan but this knife changed my opinion. Its just so effortless. In my conversation with Gayle I got a good idea of what went into designing this knife and it was no small feat. He spent a LOT of time getting the action just right on this one. The process involved much experimentation with detent size, strength and placement and flipper orientation. The result is a knife with a fairly soft detent that is almost impossible not to flip open no matter how you do it, whether trigger or button style. Absolute butter. Seriously, its almost ridiculous how well the knife opens. Ive been playing with it for two months and it still brings a smile to my face every time I open it.
-Performance- At the end of the day all the pretty stuff doesnt matter if the knife doesnt perform its main job well. This one is a cutting machine. Between the outstanding ergonomics and the thinly flatground m4 blade, this is the best performing folder in my collection. The blade is .010-.012 behind the edge and slices like a dream. I recently did a marathon rope cutting session where I compared this blade to some other customs and it performed in the excellent range. Performance was right up there with s90v on 1/2 hemp rope. Gayle has done a lot of showpiece work and makes some really beautiful wall hangers but I know from speaking with him that every aspect of this knife was designed to make it the best possible EDC for actual carry and use. And I can tell you after two months of carrying and using it that if that was his intention then he hit it out of the park with this one.
Here are a few more "in hand" and glamour shots.
It was an m4 flipper with fully contoured and textured titanium scales. It was not the kind of knife that I fell in love with the moment I laid eyes on it, but then I held it in my hand and a little bell went off in my head. And then I flipped it and a much larger bell went off. The knife had the most buttery smooth action of any flipper I have handled. A week later Gayle and I were on the telephone and I was ordering a custom!
I was in Louisiana visiting my Dad in August so we coordinated for me to just drive over to Weatherford, TX to pick up my new knife. I got to spend most of the day in the shop with Gayle and had a great time checking out his operation. Most exciting though was that I walked out of there with this!
I have had the knife for a couple of months now and have carried it everyday since I got it. It is without a doubt the finest folder I have ever owned. The fit and finish are impeccable and the design itself is amazingly well thought out. Gayle Bradleys m4 is no slouch either when it comes to performance.
Heres a few thoughts on the design.
-Size and weight- The size of this knife is pretty much perfect for EDC. The blade is 3.5 and the overall length is a hair over 8. The real kickers that make this such and amazing EDC though are thickness and weight. This knife is very thin at .350. Think about that thats thinner than a Delica. What this means is that it disappears in my pocket like nothing I have carried before. I was a bit concerned at first that a handle that thin would negatively affect the ergonomics but let me set those fears to rest. The knife absolutely melts into the hand. The other big aspect of the design is weight. Full ti 3.5 folder and it weighs in at only 3.4 ounces! The whole package is kind of a marvel of engineering in my book and makes for a great knife to carry every day and use for everything.
-Fit and finish- Man, what can I say? Did I already use the word impeccable? Gayle is obviously a perfectionist when it comes to his machining and it is very obvious in his work. The tolerances are super tight on this folder. The pivot is machined within a few millionths of an inch (yes, you read that right) so that when the pivot is fully tightened down the blade will freefall but has ZERO blade play. No loctite on this baby! The contoured ti handles are perfectly executed and the kind of orange peel texturing he does on the handles is really beautiful and original looking.
-Flipper- I have to be honest, this is kind of what sold me on the knife. I have NEVER been a flipper fan but this knife changed my opinion. Its just so effortless. In my conversation with Gayle I got a good idea of what went into designing this knife and it was no small feat. He spent a LOT of time getting the action just right on this one. The process involved much experimentation with detent size, strength and placement and flipper orientation. The result is a knife with a fairly soft detent that is almost impossible not to flip open no matter how you do it, whether trigger or button style. Absolute butter. Seriously, its almost ridiculous how well the knife opens. Ive been playing with it for two months and it still brings a smile to my face every time I open it.
-Performance- At the end of the day all the pretty stuff doesnt matter if the knife doesnt perform its main job well. This one is a cutting machine. Between the outstanding ergonomics and the thinly flatground m4 blade, this is the best performing folder in my collection. The blade is .010-.012 behind the edge and slices like a dream. I recently did a marathon rope cutting session where I compared this blade to some other customs and it performed in the excellent range. Performance was right up there with s90v on 1/2 hemp rope. Gayle has done a lot of showpiece work and makes some really beautiful wall hangers but I know from speaking with him that every aspect of this knife was designed to make it the best possible EDC for actual carry and use. And I can tell you after two months of carrying and using it that if that was his intention then he hit it out of the park with this one.
Here are a few more "in hand" and glamour shots.
Seriously, I love the flipper and it's way more functional than I ever thought but I do like being able to open it slowly in certain settings. Having both options is great. 
