GayleBradley or Starmate?

B

bdmicarta

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Feb 16, 2012
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I have a Para2 in my EDC rotation. I've been reading that the GayleBradley is worthy so I decided to put one on my Christmas list. And then I found the Starmate. So I'm wondering which one to choose. I like the GB for its steel and toughness, I like the blade shape of the Starmate. In particular I like the keen point of the Starmate and how the spine thickness extends to close to the tip and makes the tip relatively strong. But then the Gayle Bradley is priced better.
 
Gayle! I have a bunch of knives. Production and plenty of high end customs and I am still in love with my Gayle!! Cant go wrong!!
 
I love the Gayle Bradley, but only after I had mine modded. From the factory, there is no cutout in the scale to give access to the liner lock or Spydie hole. To me, this made it difficult - or at least not easy - to unlock the knife. I had the scale reworked by Tom Krein to give access to the liner, which in my view vastly improved the knife overall. I have not had a Starmate in my hands (yet), but would probably go that direction if choosing between the two.
 
I have no experience with either but I personally like the Gayle Bradley better. The grind is just gold to me. I have heard about the access to the liner can cause a sore thumb.
 
Starmate = look prettier, more EDC friendly since VG-10 is stainless.

Galye Bradley = Much better material and also stronger.
 
GB hands down, I recieved a Starmate wed and it is going back today sorry to say:( The blade shape is aweome but therattling lanyard tuband non-existant detent is a problem for me. I could easily see this beefy VG-10 blade opening inthe pocket:eek:. I've also seen another video and the knife has the exact problem as mine. My GB is so great I was gonna send this Starmate back and get another but seeing as I don't have a Millie yet I thought what the hey and grabbed one, and a ladybug to make up the difference, something tells me I'll be happy with this decision. The GB is currently my favorite Spydie, I take that back its my second fav, mycf s90v Pa2 is my favorite Spydie:D
 
I have both. They both actually leave about the same effect on me. Neither are as ergonomic as a Para-2.

Both of them are extremely well-constructed. The pivots are both slick as snot, the lockup on both is vault-like with zero movement, which is very nice. It's rare to find knives that are this slick but also have zero lateral or front-back movement in the pivot or lock. Both of them are perfect in this regard. They are both just really, really well-made. Note that my Starmate does not have the rattling lanyard tube. The blade on the Starmate is very thick (4mm) while the GB is relatively thin, especially since it's hollow ground.

There are subtle differences that make them very different knives. The thin steel liners and thin G10 make the Starmate feel fairly thin in the hand. But because it's completely flat, it feels a little bit chunky in your hand. The contour cutout for your finger grip isn't deep enough to make it extremely ergonomic feeling in your hand. The best grip is a fist with your thumb on the jimping. The liner lock makes a solid "thwack!" sound like the lock on a Military. The G10 is very rough textured. The blade on the Starmate is flat-out impressive; it's thick, a great size, has a nice thumb ramp with jimping, has a great shape.

The GB has fairly thick carbon fiber scales, which make the knife feel relatively fat in the hand. Its edges are radiused so even though it's fat, it doesn't feel chunky. Again, the contour cutout for your finger grip isn't deep enough to make it extremely ergonomic feeling in your hand. The most natural grip is a three-finger modified fist grip with your index finger extended into the false choil and thumb on the jimping. The lock on the GB isn't as sticky as the Starmate, probably because all the surfaces and sharp corners were polished down. The carbon fiber texture is very smooth with barely recessed twill pattern. The M4 steel responds extremely well to a simple stropping. It came very sharp out of the box. Normally I will reprofile a pocket knife to 17-19 degrees per side with the EdgePro and then strop it to polish the bevel to scalpel sharpness. After a few passes on the strop with some pink compound the M4 blade was already scalpel sharp, no sharpening required. I was very impressed with that. It looks like it will be very, very easy to maintain.

I like both knives a lot. I really couldn't pick one over the other but they both are quite distinct and stand on their own merits. This is a situation where I really can say the advice to just get both is probably justified.
 
Gayle Bradley or ____________ (fill in the blank with a knife that's 3x the price, and maybe it'll be more of a comparison, until you use the GB to cut that other knife in half).
 
gayle bradley hands down, starmate is more expensive for vg-10 ?? Every knife lover needs some cpm-m4 in their life it is so awesome so awesome i made a thread on how much i love the steel yesterday.
 
powernoodle said:
I love the Gayle Bradley, but only after I had mine modded. From the factory, there is no cutout in the scale to give access to the liner lock or Spydie hole. To me, this made it difficult - or at least not easy - to unlock the knife. I had the scale reworked by Tom Krein to give access to the liner, which in my view vastly improved the knife overall. I have not had a Starmate in my hands (yet), but would probably go that direction if choosing between the two.
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I would have to agree with this. It is the reason I sold my Gayle Bradley. It was a nice knife just a bit of a pain manipulating the liner lock.
 
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