RokJok
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,193
Fir branches again, up to 5" across..... unzip 'em, strip 'em, cut 'em off at 12", split 'em, stack 'em, pack 'em, walk away smilin'. 
:thumbup:
No pics of the afternoon action, but below are some shots of the contenders after the party was over. BM-E, FBM, and a folding Japanese pruning saw because chopping through the semi-seasoned 5-inch branch once was enough.
Both of the Mistresses worked very, VERY, **VERY** well for batoning the bigger branch sections into splits. I used Cliff Stamp's method of first splitting a thin short-arc segment off an edge of the round, rotate the round a bit and split off another short-arc segment, rotate, split, rotate, split, ... This method is a LOT easier than first splitting the round into halves by making the initial split straight across the mid-point diameter of the round (longest, most resistant place to split).
The FBM mag handle is a whole other ball game from the BME handle. Nice in lots of ways. I like it.... just not sure how much at present. More testing will be needed to see if it should replace the BME as my "go to" beating Mistress. If it's merely threatening rain again tomorrow (and not actively raining), I may work on the piles of windfall still needing a good Busse whacking. Not sure yet if the FBM's extra chopping power over the BME will justify its extra weight in the grab-'n-go pack.
The Fusion's extra weight, that gives it more mometum which is nice on the larger pieces, and its overall tip-heaviness puts it a level up from the BME for chopping. But once my arm started flagging out from the workout (that tv remote just isn't keeping me in shape like it used to ), the BME's lighter weight allowed me to swing it longer than the FBM.
For some odd reason, the FBM with its mag handle seemed more inclined to glancing blows than the BME. I suspect it was due to its handle's more round (than the BME's tall & flatter-sided) handle profile rotating more readily in my hand. Or it may have had something to do with the FBM's taller blade geometry allowing more torque to be generated from the blade's edge fulcrum point.
Not sure what caused it, but it seemed to be significantly more pronounced than with the BME. However, this was my first session with the FBM, so it may also just be part of the learning curve my hand needs to go through to learn the feel of this new chopper. Nonetheless, those glancing blows always make my heart jump.
The cut you see on the back of the glove below the FBM in the pics was a glancing strike that skidded along the cambuim layer of a branch and came shooting out sideways edge-first, then hit my hand, cut through the glove, and didn't so much as scuff my skin. Got lucky again.... (A big "Thank You" to the Man upstairs for that.)
The edge on the FBM, as the one on the BME, worked really well for stripping off branchlets that ranged in size from matchstick size to about 3/4". It's always a kick in the pants to zipper down one side of a branch with a chopping blade, just popping off the branchlets quickly one after the other, sweeping them away at a single stroke. Both of the Mistresses excel at this technique.
After the workout, I cleaned them up with Formula 409 and a nylon potscrubber. Some final thoughts upon inspecting them after cleaning:
Fusion Battle Mistress, CG, magnum handles
I found the corrugations on the FBM bevels retained pine pitch.
From the first time I saw them, I suspected they would pose the possibility of gunking up and, unfortunately, I was right. The ripples make for easier manufacturing IIRC, but they make for harder cleaning. FWIW, the BME also had miniscule amounts of pitch still on the blade, but much much less than the FBM.
Also, the wear 'n tear from batoning had worn away the coating from the shoulder of the corrugation closest to the edge on both sides of the blade. There was a 1.5" contiguous strip of coating blown off the right side of the swedge grind due to the batoning, plus miscellaneous much smaller chips missing from the sharp shoulders of the spine. Overall, the crinkle coat on the FBM seems to be both thinner and more fragile than the coating on the BME and other older Busse knives I have. On the "does it matter" scale, it's not important since this Mistress is a user. But felt it should get reported since it was pretty apparent upon inspection.
Bottom line: One helluva chopper and overall large knife, if you are willing to hump its weight and size around.
Battle Mistress -E, ergo handle
Lighter than the FBM, but still plenty enough of a beast for my chopping chores. In spite of my hand finding the -E handle still a funny feeling interface, even after all these years and branch chopping sessions, it's become the default Mistress feel that I judge others against, because it is the one I've used the most. It's not bad. It's just not as right for my hand as the Basic handles.
Bottom Line: In the final analysis, the BME is still the one that will get stuffed into my grab 'n go pack to fulfill my large knife needs, because I am already familiar with its capabilities and feel.
Anyhow, enough jabbering... Here are links to the pictures. If they look a little funny, it's likely due to alias'ing that occurs as they are resized from 1024x768 down to 800x600 pixel size.
http://www.oz.net/~malinski/Busse_BME_FBM_TashiroSaw_2476.JPG
http://www.oz.net/~malinski/Busse_BME_FBM_glove_2479.JPG
http://www.oz.net/~malinski/Busse_BME_FBM_2500.JPG
Thanks for the bandwidth.
:thumbup: No pics of the afternoon action, but below are some shots of the contenders after the party was over. BM-E, FBM, and a folding Japanese pruning saw because chopping through the semi-seasoned 5-inch branch once was enough.
Both of the Mistresses worked very, VERY, **VERY** well for batoning the bigger branch sections into splits. I used Cliff Stamp's method of first splitting a thin short-arc segment off an edge of the round, rotate the round a bit and split off another short-arc segment, rotate, split, rotate, split, ... This method is a LOT easier than first splitting the round into halves by making the initial split straight across the mid-point diameter of the round (longest, most resistant place to split).
The FBM mag handle is a whole other ball game from the BME handle. Nice in lots of ways. I like it.... just not sure how much at present. More testing will be needed to see if it should replace the BME as my "go to" beating Mistress. If it's merely threatening rain again tomorrow (and not actively raining), I may work on the piles of windfall still needing a good Busse whacking. Not sure yet if the FBM's extra chopping power over the BME will justify its extra weight in the grab-'n-go pack.
The Fusion's extra weight, that gives it more mometum which is nice on the larger pieces, and its overall tip-heaviness puts it a level up from the BME for chopping. But once my arm started flagging out from the workout (that tv remote just isn't keeping me in shape like it used to
), the BME's lighter weight allowed me to swing it longer than the FBM.For some odd reason, the FBM with its mag handle seemed more inclined to glancing blows than the BME. I suspect it was due to its handle's more round (than the BME's tall & flatter-sided) handle profile rotating more readily in my hand. Or it may have had something to do with the FBM's taller blade geometry allowing more torque to be generated from the blade's edge fulcrum point.
Not sure what caused it, but it seemed to be significantly more pronounced than with the BME. However, this was my first session with the FBM, so it may also just be part of the learning curve my hand needs to go through to learn the feel of this new chopper. Nonetheless, those glancing blows always make my heart jump.
The cut you see on the back of the glove below the FBM in the pics was a glancing strike that skidded along the cambuim layer of a branch and came shooting out sideways edge-first, then hit my hand, cut through the glove, and didn't so much as scuff my skin. Got lucky again.... (A big "Thank You" to the Man upstairs for that.)
The edge on the FBM, as the one on the BME, worked really well for stripping off branchlets that ranged in size from matchstick size to about 3/4". It's always a kick in the pants to zipper down one side of a branch with a chopping blade, just popping off the branchlets quickly one after the other, sweeping them away at a single stroke. Both of the Mistresses excel at this technique.
After the workout, I cleaned them up with Formula 409 and a nylon potscrubber. Some final thoughts upon inspecting them after cleaning:
Fusion Battle Mistress, CG, magnum handles
I found the corrugations on the FBM bevels retained pine pitch.
From the first time I saw them, I suspected they would pose the possibility of gunking up and, unfortunately, I was right. The ripples make for easier manufacturing IIRC, but they make for harder cleaning. FWIW, the BME also had miniscule amounts of pitch still on the blade, but much much less than the FBM.Also, the wear 'n tear from batoning had worn away the coating from the shoulder of the corrugation closest to the edge on both sides of the blade. There was a 1.5" contiguous strip of coating blown off the right side of the swedge grind due to the batoning, plus miscellaneous much smaller chips missing from the sharp shoulders of the spine. Overall, the crinkle coat on the FBM seems to be both thinner and more fragile than the coating on the BME and other older Busse knives I have. On the "does it matter" scale, it's not important since this Mistress is a user. But felt it should get reported since it was pretty apparent upon inspection.
Bottom line: One helluva chopper and overall large knife, if you are willing to hump its weight and size around.
Battle Mistress -E, ergo handle
Lighter than the FBM, but still plenty enough of a beast for my chopping chores. In spite of my hand finding the -E handle still a funny feeling interface, even after all these years and branch chopping sessions, it's become the default Mistress feel that I judge others against, because it is the one I've used the most. It's not bad. It's just not as right for my hand as the Basic handles.
Bottom Line: In the final analysis, the BME is still the one that will get stuffed into my grab 'n go pack to fulfill my large knife needs, because I am already familiar with its capabilities and feel.
Anyhow, enough jabbering... Here are links to the pictures. If they look a little funny, it's likely due to alias'ing that occurs as they are resized from 1024x768 down to 800x600 pixel size.
http://www.oz.net/~malinski/Busse_BME_FBM_TashiroSaw_2476.JPG
http://www.oz.net/~malinski/Busse_BME_FBM_glove_2479.JPG
http://www.oz.net/~malinski/Busse_BME_FBM_2500.JPG
Thanks for the bandwidth.
:thumbup:
