review-Bradford Guardian3

L

Luckyleo

Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
90
I received this beautiful blade this afternoon. The size is just perfect for food preparation and smaller cutting tasks. It feel tremendous in hand. The ergs are just right for me. The G10 scales are very grippy and provide a great amount of control. I really like the gimping on top of the blade. The knife has a bit of weight, but not terribly. I like to feel a bit of heft when performing cutting tasks. The vertical, leather sheath works great and has a nice feel. If you go to his website you'll see that he is selling an aftermarket Kydex sheath for $35.00 an extra $10.00 for the Spyderco clip. For me, I'll stick to the leather... for now at least.

One slight negative. The knife wasn't as sharp as I would have liked out of the box. It certainly was sharp enough, don't get me wrong. I'm just very particular......I slapped it on my edge pro and the false edge (swedge) created an extremely solid platform for processing. It's didn't take me long to put a wicked edge on it (no pun intended :) ). All in all, this is a tremendously great knife, at an extremely great price point. I highly recommend this knife! One day soon, you guys will be regretting the time you let this knife go by. An up and coming knife maker, who has a great future. Don't pass on this one guys....

Leo
 
Leo, how thin are they ground down to the edge bevel shoulders? I've looked at a few videos but it's hard to tell if it's thick or thin edged?

G2
 
Hi Gary,
I hadn't seen a response over here so I thought I would jump in and answer your question if you don't mind :)
The edges are ground to .010/.012 before tumbling in ceramic media and then sharpening.
You are left with a fairly thin edge, enough for several sharpening's if/when required.
This next batch should be ready in about one week. We are just finishing the handles up now.
Thank you!
-Brad
 
That sounds perfect Brad, appreciate the reply sir and look forward to getting one.
G2
 
IMG_2499copy_zps2c9575c3.jpg


My Guardian 3 came with a horizontal leather sheath that retains the knife rather well. I prefer horizontal belt carry, for a fixed blade knife of this size. The blade grinds are nearly perfect, so I expected a little better attention to detail in the overall finish on the rest of the knife. Mine has tool marks in five places on the tang. The handles benefitted from some 600 grit sand paper, as there were some sharp edges that needed rounding on the handles. The knife came to me fairly sharp, but after reprofiling to 30 degrees inclusive with a 40 degree micro-bevel, it cuts much better. I didn't have a micrometer available, but it wasn't terribly thin behind the edge, compared to the dedicated slicers I use, as delivered (but it's not a dedicated slicer). Also, the branding could be more subtle, in my opinion. None of this has anything to do with the purpose of the knife, however, and I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. :D

In short, this is a great tool to carry with you every day. It's comfortable in hand and on the belt (and doesn't print under a light tee shirt). If the Guardian 4 had M390 as an option, I'd be all over it. ;)
 
Nice shot there, and good review, looking forward to getting mine, found one on the forums recently and hope to have it in hand soon. With the squareness of the scales, I figured on doing some relief work to make it more comfortable in the hand. I was worried on the edge thickness, but I'll just have to see what I'll need to do with it when it arrives. Overall it looks like a very competent personal carry knife for sure!

Now, there are not many knives that could compare to an Opi for cutting power ;) this I know as a fact, the Opi's cut and just laugh at material as they glide through, so I'm not expecting it to be on that level of slicing power, but the Opi's are a bit more delicate so I'm banking that this won't be as shy if put to a hard cutting chore.

G2
 
I'm very hapy with mine! Deskil, was the difference between 15 and 20 degrees per side quite noticable?
 
Gary,
Truly, this knife isn't afraid of work and after you're done with making the edge more to your liking (I've seen the results of your sharpening skills), it'll likely impress you.

Sentinel641,
Yessir, the difference was quite noticeable to me, especially on solid ash wood. The edge now bites much deeper into the wood, with the same effort as before applied to the cut.
 
Sounds even better, thanks for the feedback on that! and of course, thanks for the kind remarks on my sharpening skills ;) I do like a sharp knife!
G2
 
Deskil, I just re-profiled my Guardian3. And I concur, the cutting performance definitely improves quite noticeably :D
 
Mine arrived today, appeared to be brandy new but could use a sharpening, now, do not get me wrong, she was sharp, but as Bradford mentions in one of his videos, I think on the Guardian 4, he understands folks like to apply their own level of sharpening, so, she be very sharp now, my wife's phone book lost another corner ;)

Here's a quick shot of the knife tonight, I kinda wanted the toxic green scales, they look pretty sweet but I guess I'll use these that came on board.

A word on the scales, they grip, even when wet, the very edges might need some rounding but then you would lose some of the bite back when gripping, especially if you are wearing gloves, so for the time being, I'm leaving those as is, very tactile feeling to them.

I put a paracord lanyard on, mainly because I've gone paracord lanyard crazy lately! from coat zipper pulls to small bag pulls to cords for my car keys and of course for knife lanyards. My main knot is the Diamond knot, very nice looking knot and for me it's just the right size for my pinky to hook onto to draw the knife out, ending the lanyard with another diamond knot, the paracord is the desert camo, nice colour.

Guardian3.jpg~original


G2
 
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