Gayle Bradley rust?

M

MrPres

Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
345
I'm thinking of getting a Spydie Gayle Bradley, but I've heard very mixed reports on its corrosion resistance. How many of you guys who own Gayle Bradley's have accidentally stained them doing normal tasks like food prep, etc.?

That would be a problem for me if I can't cut lemons or limes with it (I'm a bartender).
 
M4 is carbon steel. If it stays wet and/or is exposed to acids, it will darken. But why would it be a problem? If the blade darkens, it still cuts and sharpens up just as well.

My only comment would be that as a bar tender, or for anyone involved in food prep and handling for other people, if I were your customer I'd leave right away if I saw you using a folder. Stainless or carbon, they're too hard to keep clean.

Edit: this post might be of interest. :)
 
I put my GB back in my pocket after a run just meaning to put it up soon, and when I took it out there was sweat condensated on the blade. NO rust/stain/corrosion. That being said it will not stand up to lemon/lime acid, But I dont think you should be usinng your personal EDC folder for commercial food prep.
 
I've used my Bradley around food for the past couple weeks. Mostly tomatoes, lettuce and mustard and I haven't had any staining on mine. I just wipe it down good and stick it back in my pocket. I don't know about strong acids like lemons though. Here is want mine looks like. Not really any staining.

018-17.jpg
 
prime77 said:
I've used my Bradley around food for the past couple weeks. Mostly tomatoes, lettuce and mustard and I haven't had any staining on mine. I just wipe it down good and stick it back in my pocket. I don't know about strong acids like lemons though. ..
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I sliced limes and tomatoes often with my bradley. Not much staining because I wash them after but what I find is that acidic foods do dull the M4 fast.
 
As far as being used for commercial food prep, I promise that my knife is cleaner than those that are regularly used in most restaurants. And I give it a cleaning before I use it to cut fruit.
 
MrPres said:
I'm thinking of getting a Spydie Gayle Bradley, but I've heard very mixed reports on its corrosion resistance. How many of you guys who own Gayle Bradley's have accidentally stained them doing normal tasks like food prep, etc.?

That would be a problem for me if I can't cut lemons or limes with it (I'm a bartender).
Click to expand...

I dunno about food prep. I tested a Gayle Bradley cutting manila rope and I carried and use it in the yard a tad. For non-food tasks corrosion wasn't an issue.

It isn't "carbon steel" by a significant margin. ("Carbon Steel consists of Iron, carbon, and Manganese, only)
But it is not "stainless steel" by an equal margin.

From Wiki:
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) defines carbon steel as: "Steel is considered to be carbon steel when no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt, columbium, molybdenum, nickel, titanium, tungsten, vanadium or zirconium, or any other element to be added to obtain a desired alloying effect;
 
the m4 steel on my military is very stain resistant compared to other "carbon steels" i have.

It has darkened in a few spots because i'll use it to make lunch at work and not wash it until i'm done eating. but barely noticeable. I also commute to work by bike quite often, and the Millie is clipped inside my waistband, meaning it's pressed against my sweaty boxers, and then i get to work and sweat some more, and it's never had a problem.

back when i barely used it, it did get a few rust spots in the jimping, and a few near the handle, you just have to watch places like that. but I haven't had an issue since, and I don't even bother oiling it anymore like i do with more stain prone steels.
 
MrPres said:
As far as being used for commercial food prep, I promise that my knife is cleaner than those that are regularly used in most restaurants. And I give it a cleaning before I use it to cut fruit.
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Most knives in my workplace have handles that give me the willies; seems like they were molded to trap food....
 
I recently used mine for at least 2-3 hours straight with sweaty hands. The only thing that happened was a very slight dullness appeared on the base of the thumb ramp, everything else is stain free. For the first two weeks I just wiped it off on my shirt after use, and had no problem whatsoever. M4 is a fair amount less corrosion resistant than stainless steels, but it's still a fair amount better than carbon steels. Citrus or vinegar foods may give you a bit of a patina, but as long as you simply wipe the blade off after use, you'll be fine.
 
m4 was never touted to be a chrome rocketship. it was probably formulated for commercial uses in the plastics or bearing uses in industry. m4 is a great ,tough , edge holder & stands on its merits as a hard use alloy. certainly no one alloy can serve in every playing field. i think food prep in commercial facilities is best accomplished with one of the stainless alloys such as vg10. my custom paring knife in m4 & snakewood by phillip dobson has given exemplary performance.--dennis
 
MrPres said:
As far as being used for commercial food prep, I promise that my knife is cleaner than those that are regularly used in most restaurants. And I give it a cleaning before I use it to cut fruit.
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Fair enough, sorry to unload on a pet peeve. :)
 
singularity35 said:
I sliced limes and tomatoes often with my bradley. Not much staining because I wash them after but what I find is that acidic foods do dull the M4 fast.
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That's an interesting note. I haven't noticed that with CPM-M4, but I have previously noted that with M2, so I'm not surprised.
 
JNewell said:
That's an interesting note. I haven't noticed that with CPM-M4, but I have previously noted that with M2, so I'm not surprised.
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I kinda noticed because we were having a sort of BBQ at the beach and there is a Filipino version of raw fish salad that uses a lot of limes and tomatoes. After which I cut up some pork belly with skin. I found the skin somewhat harder to cut than expected and I was a little surprised given the edge holding I had experienced with the M4 on other materials. So I tried cutting some paper my GB didn't cut as smoothly with just having sliced the lime and tomatoes. I did use a bamboo cutting board but I was careful not to hit it hard. Maybe it was just my cutting technique but you did say it happens with M2.
 
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