Spyderco Bradley Folder 2 Specialty Knife with 3.66" CPM M4 Premium Steel Blade and Black Carbon Fiber Laminate Handle - PlainEdge - C134CFP2

Spyderco Bradley folder sounds like a some baller WWII Medal of Honor Winner's knife. Instead, Gayle Bradley is a champion competition cutter who designed this knife and made his name massacring wood and cardboard! Haha! No disrespect Gayle, I love this knife. This is a mid-to-large, great-looking gentleman's working knife with a terrific M4 blade. The carbon fiber/G-10 handle is beautiful and very comfortable; and the material has a different (nicer) texture than the CF scales on my Smock. A lot of reviewers I watched mention the liner lock, which is very recessed and hard to access with the tip of your thumb. I have to agree that it can be a PITA, especially if the lock sticks. To overcome that, I changed my technique. Instead of using just my thumb, I pinch the liner lock between my thumb and forefinger, like a compression lock, to release it instead, and close the blade with both hands for safety. A real compression lock would make this knife perfect, and a lot more fidget friendly. This is a relatively large knife, potentially scary to some, and weighs around 4oz. It may not be for everyone; but for me it is like carrying James Bond's Evening Paramilitary. A real beauty.

Wow as a Spyderco fanboy I must say I can't even nit pick and find a flaw at least for my intended purpose for this knife! Now keep in mind this is not the very heavy duty GB, it's the heavy duty GB2 so don't compare it to the original...this is a gentlemans folder and wow is it exquisite! Now that I said that it is very robust don't let my previous comment make you think different buy one and hold it and you'll see for yourself. I personally don't like liner locks but this one is still a heavy duty liner lock nonetheless especially compared to any other I've ever held! I feel very secure in my mind that it will not close on my hand and to me it is exactly what I was looking for, a capable over built for the purpose church knife ! It has a highly polished exterior, is an insanely sharp slicer right outta the box knife that sits in a drawer in between worship services and only replaces my Manix 2 XL in my pocket then only and once I put a mirror polish on the edge I'm absolutely in love with it I definitely recommend it for an excellent in every way EDC but it's to nice looking for that if it got a scratch I'd be pretty perturbed. In conclusion if you remotely like Spyderco or nice high end knifes in general....you gotta get one for your own and if you want all I've said but even more heavy built then get the first iteration. Great job Spyderco even though I think it should say Golden, Colorado on the blade it's so nice I don't care I'd buy it ten more times over!

Oh MY ! I like this knife. Once in hand all becomes clear. The most important thing I can convey here is ; to see a super effortless way to release the lock, all day long, one handed get on YouTube and watch Michael Christy's vid about sharpening and use of this GB 2. It is true that using one's thumb it is a bastard ; just watch the video. I'm happy with the lock now. Honestly I love my original One so much I just put up with releasing the lock two handed. After all I am not a fidgetter and the knife is DESIGNED by a champion cutting contest winner for CUTTING stuff, not as a fidget toy. Brilliant knife in hand, very well made, mine is flawless from the factory. Love this M4 steel more than ANY other and I have most of the super steel alloys. Why M4 : For my use holds a silly sharp edge longer than any other. Plenty easy to sharpen. I have never chipped any of my many M4 edges (they are all users, not safe queens). I even like how it patinas (never a rust problem, I live in The Wild Wild West though meaning not humid). I can't explain it and it sounds dumb but I bet I could tell blind folded out of three knives if one of them was M4; I just love the way the edge feels through the knife when cutting stuff : precise, confidence inspiring and all business. For the same cuts S110V alloy feels, to me, like M4's lazy cousin. Yeah I know S110V cuts rope better with a coarse edge. Polish those edges up though and do some push cut carving and the dif becomes clear. I might add to this review with more use but at this point all I can add is buy this knife if you want a very high quality, well designed, robust, comfortable in hand as well as in pocket work knife. Pretty enough to take to church to.

Excellent, very solid knife due to partially milled steel liners. Action is very smooth and thumb flicks with little or no wrist movement needed. Blade came centered and razor sharp out of the box. Note it does not have carbon fiber scales. It is a very thin ply of carbon fiber ply over G10 scales but not noticeable unless you hold knife in hand and examine. Carbon fiber ply does have light texture to it. For sub $150 price range not an issue. The slightly covered thumb hole and flush fit liner lock make it initially harder to open and unlock but you'll stop noticing it after a day or two of playing with it. Lockup was around 50% on mine with no blade play. Handle provides a more neutral grip compared to the locked in feel of say a lightweight Manix with its pronounced finger choils. While Spyderco saved money by using steel liners and carbon fiber ply, the quality of the fit and finish makes up for it and it is very well priced for what you get. .

I really wanted to like this knife. I have bought a few Spyderco knives, and generally their knives are just excellent. But this one...not so much. Most Spyderco’s open quickly, and close just as quickly and easily. It is part of their charm. Opening boxes, cutting cardboard, etc. They operate consistently and beautifully. Apparently, this knife is “designed” to be more difficult to close. While I get the concept of safety, as I said, I have other Spyderco knives, and NONE has problems closing prematurely, or “too easily”. The locking mechanism on the Bradley is just too tight, in my opinion. The locking bar ( not the official name of the part) , is intentionally inset, and stiff. Anyone purchasing this knife needs to know that.The blade is excellent, fit is fine. I had contacted the company three times, and was finally advised by a rep why the knife functions as it does.

The Gayle Bradley 2 folder is an excellent EDC from Spyderco. First of all, the fit and finish are outstanding. The blade is prefectly centered, and opens as smoothly as my Sebenza, which cost 3x as much. The carbon fiber and G10 scales are good looking, and have just enough texture to provide a sure grip even when wet. The M4 blade was not quite as sharp as I would like right out of the box. A few quick strokes on a ceramic rod followed by stropping got it shaving sharp. I will not downgrade a knife for not being super-sharp out of the box, because I will always sharpen myself. Some have complained about the liner lock. They may have soft or weak hands. I did not find it to be a problem. Rather, it engaged perfectly and was very solid. A compression lock similar to the one on the PM2 would have been nice, but I am not here to critcize the designer. I would classify this knife as a "gentleman's EDC," rather than a hard-use knife. For hard use, I prefer a fixed blade. This knife rides low in the pocket, and is very handy with enough blade for everyday chores. At this price ($135), it's an excellent value.

This knife is kinda puzzling for being named after a guy known for his hard use knives as it is more of a gentleman folder than overbuilt, hard use knife. No less a second go at it as it is named Gayle Bradley "2". I know Spyderco never labeled this knife as hard use knife but anytime you put carbon fiber on a folder, the meaning and the feel of hard use goes out the window, kinda like putting tuxedo on a cowboy on the job. This knife is a magnificent fail ... read on ... I love the overall sleek outline and shape of this knife as opposed to a typical Spyderco offering. I generally love Spyderco knives but since they are rather wide (ala Manix 2, Tenacious), sometimes I feel like I'm carrying a toy boat in my back pocket. The build quality of this Taiwan sourced knife is top notch, better or equal to any of the Golden Colorado made stuff. Maybe I'm old school but I prefer the feel and the action of bronze washer pivots better than the new fangled ball bearing ones that are all the rage with many newer high end knives. The pivot action is as smooth as it is deliberate which I like as opposed to ball bearings that are sometimes uncontrollably too fast, especially when closing. I love the subtle texturing of the carbon fiber G-10 overlay and smaller Spidey hole. And the pocket clip is awesome. M4 steel is also excellent choice. Here is my problem with this knife. If you carry this knife for more than few days, your thumb will be all shredded to pieces. It has the sharpest, roughest jimping on the liner lock of any knife I have ever seen or used. What makes it even worse is that there is virtually no thumb cut out on the opposing side of the liner lock; therefore, your thumb has to come in at an acute angle to disengage the lock. Sharp jimping will then tear up your thumb, no matter what kind of mall ninja you are with super callused thumb. My theory is that Spyderco deliberately did not do a significant thumb cutout to preserve the overall clean outline and appearance of the knife, in essence sacrificing function for form. That in my book is a design fail. Since I like the knife enough to keep it, I took a rubber wheel and smoothed out the overly sharp jimping on the liner lock and ground off about 1.5 mm of metal and G-10 on the opposite side to better allow me to slide my thumb across the knife to more easily disengage the lock. Now, I can carry this knife for more than 2 days without getting irritated. My modest mod did not ruin the sleek form and it functions much, much better now. I just wish this knife had compression lock like Paramilitary 2. That would be 5 stars in my book. Only took a star off since I'm such a homer for Spyderco. Anybody else, I would have given 2 stars.

I received my GB2 today and I will keep it but I'm not as thrilled with it as I thought I'd be. I've owned the original GB for awhile now and I've always considered it to be among the top 3 in my collection of around 20 high end folders. The overall appearance of the GB2 (to me) is nicer than the original due to the larger flared pivot end of the handle and that should aid in the area of safety as well. The liners of the GB2 have been thinned by close to 50% of the original and that has shaved an ounce off the weight of the original; however that really distracts from the beefy quality of the original that I like a lot. The GB2 blade is around 3/16's in. longer, same thickness except at the edge which seems a little thinner as I can sharpen it to a slightly more hair popping edge than the original. Here's where I'm most disappointed: if you read reviews of the original you'll find that complaints are very few, when you do find them they usually refer to the fact that disengaging the liner/frame lock to close the blade can be less than effortless and I'd agree with that but it was never a big deal to me. However because of the liners being so much thinner on the GB2 I assumed that the pressure to close the knife would be reduced, the knife I received was actually more difficult to close and I think that's because the bevel of the flat ground into the blade that the end of the lock engages is steeper than the original and seems to be the source of the "stickiness" of the release. If I was forced to surrender one of the 2 GB's; I don't want to think about it they both have their unique qualities. Update from yesterday: After a lot of exercising the liner lock it's smoothed out considerably and the stickiness is gone so I'm adding a star. Really for the cost this is a great EDC or anything you'll need a really sharp and tough folder.