FB33 Bradley Bowie

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The FB33 Bradley Bowie is Spyderco's first fixed blade design collaboration with custom knife maker Gayle Bradley.

Appearance in catalogs

The FB33 Bradley Bowie appeared in the following catalogs:


Designer

Gayle Bradley

History, mentionings etc. from the forums


Information from the Spyderco catalog on the web

FB33 Bradley Bowie

Gayle Bradley’s experiences as a custom knifemaker and competitive cutting champion give him an exceptional insight into high-performance knife design—an insight that is directly reflected in his first fixed-blade collaboration with Spyderco, the Bradley Bowie.

The Bradley Bowie’s blade is precision ground from PSF27—an incredibly tough spray-formed tool steel. Like the particle metallurgy process, spray forming rapidly solidifies molten steel into small particles so its component alloys cannot “segregate” or settle. This creates an ultra-fine, extremely homogenous grain structure that is ideal for knife blades. PSF27’s alloy composition includes molybdenum, vanadium and a generous 1.55% carbon, but because its chromium content is 12%—just below the official threshold for stainless steel—care should be taken to maintain it properly.

The full-flat-ground blade has a pronounced “belly” for precise cutting control and a long straight swedge (unsharpened bevel) that helps defines its “Bowie” character. It is complemented by full-tang handle construction and a prominent integral lower guard to protect the user’s hand. The handle’s gracefully contoured G-10 scales are 3-D machined and polished to an attractive finish that still ensures a secure grip during use. They are secured to the tang with stout tubular rivets that help reduce weight, allow easy attachment of a lanyard, and in a survival situation, allow the knife to be lashed to a pole to create an improvised spear.

A unique blend of expert design and state-of-the-art metallurgy, the Bradley Bowie comes complete with a custom-molded Boltaron® sheath with a versatile G-Clip™ attachment.[1]

Variations

The FB33 is made in Taiwan and features:

SKU Handle Edge Steel From/To MSRP Note Number made Grind Sheath Clip Collectors club
FB33G Black G-10 PE PSF27 2015 - $430.00 (2020) Full Flat grind Boltaron G-Clip Main

Most collectible variation

The original FB33 Bradley Bowie, complete with original box and papers in mint condition, is likely to be the most collectible version.

Questions regarding collecting the FB33

Some interesting questions we are looking for an answer to:

Questions with an answer:

Technical information

Measurements (mm and grams) of the FB33 Bradley Bowie:

Variation Length overall Length blade Length edge Blade thickness Weight
FB33G 252mm 130mm 116mm 4.0mm 218g

Measurements (inches and ounces) of the FB33 Bradley Bowie:

Variation Length overall Length blade Length edge Blade thickness Weight
FB33G 9.93" 5.13" 4.57" 0.156" 7.7oz

References

  1. The FB33 Bradley Bowie in Spyderco's online catalog

Pictures

The FB33 Bradly Bowie

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