Busse!
A friend of mine (the guy that got me into knives) is a knife collector. We had lunch yesterday and talked about knives for a while. The subject of Busse came up. Like most of the makers, he was just unable to make heads or tails of what the big deal is. Now bear in mind, this is a guy that prefers production knives to full on custom. I believe he prefers Benchmade, if memory serves. Like most of us, he doesn't understand what the fans are so rabid. He's seen and handled Busse and what he called "Junk Yard" knives (which he referred to as knives made from Busse's scraps by his brother). His impression is that they were okay, but overpriced for what you get.
Having never handled one (let alone tested it), I have no idea. But like James, for me the rabid hype machine is a big turn off, and I told my friend as much. My friend agreed that the hype he'd encountered left him put off as well. Neither one of us really understands the lingo either. We tried to piece it together yesterday. For example, we hear about "Busse and Busse-kin". We deduced that "Busse-kin" means the stuff produced by Jerry's brother... but we really don't know. Prior to that conversation, I always thought it was a sort of "bridge line" (to borrow a fashion phrase, meaning a lower tier of product from the same company).
In short, we decided that we probably weren't missing anything by being ignorant on these topics, and then moved on to other subjects.
It's nice to know, at least, that even some avid collectors don't get what all the fuss is about.
- Greg
The "fuss" comes from using them hard. Benchmade makes quality knives (overpriced in my opinion for what you get..........
). Just not my style, but that is OK.
The only way you will appreciate a quality steel is to use it. A 20 dollar kitchen knife will cut, and if you use it correctly will last forever. That does not make it worth the same as a much higher quality knife made with a better steel. The "fuss" is in the using where the performance is actually tested.
To answer the "kin" question. You have Busse run by Jerry. Then you have Swamprat knives run by jennifer? Another family member. Then you have Scrapyard knives run by Dan (brother in law).
Scrapyard knives offer a phenomenal price to performance ratio. They use a lot of S77 which is modified S7 jackhammer steel. Super tough! You get great fit and finish with awesome performance. Same stellar warranty. Swamprat are a bit more on price but you get Micarta and g10 handle options. The steel used most is Sr101 (modified 52100 steel with the proprietary heat treat protocol) again with the great "family" warranty.
Always good for a contentious thread.
I have read the Aus8 comparison before. It is not the same. When you say a steel is just like another.....with more of this element, oh, wait the other steel has this in it, but the first does not.
When you change concentrations of elements in steel, and add others that were not there before, you have different properties as the end result.
I have, and have used for more than a decade Aus8a steel. It is a decent steel, not high end by any means when compared to others. But offers solid real world performance.
Infi is, in my experience a great steel. I have thick infi, thin Infi, and higher hardness infi. I sure like it. There are other steels out there that offer better performance in one category or another. Infi seems to be a great steel in a "jack of all, master of none" it is very chip resistant. Very easy to sharpen. Low maintenance. Great shock and lateral stress resistantce.
All of which I know from personal use. I have choped rocks. Nails, wire, thrown it, flexed it pounded it all with great results.
Please don't think rock or nail chopping was intentional. I won't ever intentionally (for the most part) damage my edge, because then I have to spend time sharpening it.
But stuff happens. There are steels out there that will hold an edge longer with abraision testing, or taske a slightly finer edge. Infi is not magic. It is a very solid performing steel that has all the properties I want in a steel for real world use.
1080, 1095, 5160, 52100, W2, all are great steels. With a proper heat treat, any quality steel will do most things well. (listing these here because they are not Modern Super Steels, but steels that have been used a lot).
If you focus on a single area of performance, you will likely find a clear winner. Then switch what you are using them for and different steels move up.
The most important thing about Busse and "Busse Kin"knives (aside from the fact that they are great people with a great warranty behind their product) is that they really have their heat treat dialed in on any steel they use. It does not matter what steel they release a knife in, you can be sure the performance they are getting out of that particular steel will be top notch! They do Mono Tempered and differentially heat treated depending on the steel. They have a very involved heat treat process, and an extensive Cryo if the steel will benefit from a cryo treatment.
Design, and geometry are another matter entirely. Busse has more than 50 models. Some are ground too thick for what I want in a knife. The ones that are "tanks" are designed for toughness as the main purpose. When you buy a knife with a 6 inch blade that is .32 thick, you are buying one hell of a strong stout knife.
I have owned several that thick. They are not "apple slicers" but worked for what I used them for.
I have tended toward thinner models lately. My thickest right now is somewhere in the .275? Or so range. Not too thick on a 12 inch blade.
Edge thickness is another consideration as well. I prefer a thinner grind on some knives. Bad, cabs, SarQ are all pretty thin by user knife standards.
There have been some knives released with way too stout of an edge geometry for my tastes. Sure you can open a car roof with them, but I prefer more acute angles.
No problem. I can reprofile my edges just fine. The company has addressed concerns with thick bevels in response to customer concern.
They will still release hell for stout edges on some knives I am sure. But they announce when thinner knives are coming down the pipe as well.
The lingo, sales model, etc take some getting used to. But the product is well worth it, and it is all part of the fun. If you don't like the designs, that is fine. There are plenty of uber combat designs I find hideous by many many production and custom makers. I don't have to buy them. And, you also won't find me hanging out on their threads making snide comments. If I don't like a particular design, I will leave it for people who do.
