Bradford Guardian 4, 3D Black Micarta Guardian 4 M390, Sabre Stonewashed 4S-101

Monday, 25 April 2022

Lovely Knife. The build quality of the knife is excellent. I already own a Guardian 4.5 which is of the same overall length but with a longer handle (ideal for large hands) so was really debating whether to buy this due to the large finger choil (which i was not really a fan of) and its seemingly small handle. However....i was wrong,...the handle is great. Together with the finger choil it provides the user with a very comfortable grip and excellent control over the wide slicing blade, which i would say is better in both respects than the Guardian 4.5. The blade itself is wider and the cutting edge longer than the Guardian 4.5 which i like (please don't get me wrong, the Guardian 4.5 is an awesome knife as well, just different). I really love the texture and shape of the Bradford micarta scales, truly a work of art. So those were the good points, now to the bad.....the leather sheath. Compared to the Knife, the sheath is not good quality at all, very thin, ill fitting (knife is very loose) and not well built. In fact, due to the width of the blade, there is the tendency to cut into the leather when replacing the knife. A real disappointment (I think they cost around 10 Euro if bought from Bradford)! This also applies to the Guardian 4.5 sheath as well. Hence the reduction of a star. I ordered for both knives the Kydex sheaths from Bradford. These i can greatly recommend. Excellent quality....unlike the leather ones, however cost around another 55 Euros each (perhaps a crafty sales strategy from Bradford). Therefore another minus star, on value for money as this bring the total to around +/- 300 Euro if you want a decent sheath which bring the price above that of Bradford's competitors. Summary, excellent beautiful knife with very poor sheath. Perhaps Bradford should invest in better leather sheaths and raise the price slightly, instead of more or less forcing people to buy their kydex sheaths or third-party aftermarket sheaths.

Monday, 23 September 2019