BUSK Proto II finished --

Burchtree

Burchtree

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As I posted in the thread with the first "proto," I've been working on trying to make a good camp/combat/outdoor blade- in fact I've actually gotten a little obsessed with it. :eek: This is the second version (one pic shows the first beside this one) and I made some different changes. The first blade had a deep choil, and I got responses from folks either saying to keep it, or leave it out as it will catch on material. I originally profiled this blade without a choil, but it didn't look right in my eyes so I did a little compromise -- a shallow choil with a slight "ramp" towards the edge so material couldn't get caught.

The blade is 1/4-inch L-6 (the good stuff via Diehl steel/carpenters/Cinn. tool) and is 7 inches from tip-to-plunge. The blade is 13 1/2 inches overall and balances right at/on the front of the handles. I wanted to do this so the blade wouldn't be cumbersome when choking up. The offset guards allows for a natural grip and the thumb-ramp gives good control. For chopping all you do is "choke back" and go to town. I tested it out on 4x4 and a tree limb in my backyard and it works pretty good.

I was going for a "treebark" look on the G-10 handles, but that still needs some refining. It is decent, but not what I'm looking for. The handles can be taken off so if the blade ever needs touching up, they can come off and new gun-kote put on. That, and I wanted the blade to be fully coated, without an exposed spine.

Anyway, enough rambling -- I've put a lot of thought and work into this "BUSK" stuff and all criticism would be helpful (good and bad).

Now -- time to stop obsessing and back to working on orders like I need to be doing. :( ;)

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And some more -- the handle has been wiped down with some rem-oil in the second pic.

So the question is -- should I make more of these?

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The overall profile looks very solid, tip, blade and grip, the slab pattern is nice as well, unique and possibly functional, though cleaning may be an issue. The index finger choil needs a lot of rounding, and handle looks a bit narrow from top to bottom though that is hard to judge just from a picture. I also don't like upper guards on that type of knife but it isn't a big deal for the user to remove anyway.

-Cliff
 
I like the BUSK blade shape & material choice. Both should make it emminently practical. One of my favorite knives that sees a lot of kitchen duty is an L6 camp knife. I like the gradual easing you did into the choil area from the blade edge. That's a nice compromise between the "no choil, no hang-ups" crowd and those of us who like 'em.

Is the blade flat ground, as it appears to be, or is it hollow ground? I agree with Cliff's recommendation to round off the sharp edges of the choil. That area where your finger wraps around (like on the trigger of a gun) benefits from some easing of the edges.

I like the overall shape of the handle. I also really like the looks of the treebark pattern, nice visual interest. That's quite different from the usual parallel grooves and checkering seen on handles. But I am unsure how much actual traction the treebark pattern would offer in use, since the grooves are pretty small in width and the area around them is still a flat relatively smooth surface. I recognize that quandry that knifemaker's have with handle texturing -- how to get grooves big enough to offer traction without being so big that they create localized high-pressure points on the user's hand.

I applaud you for taking some steps to fatten up your handle on the BUSK and get away from the skinny-micarta-stock straight-sided slabs that so many makers let pass as their stab at handle making.

Nonetheless, here are a few things I offer for consideration on the handle scale construction. Note that they are pretty small nits to pick on the overall design of a knife. :)

-- Radius the edges on the chamfers around perimeter of scales. I realize that manufacturing sharp-shouldered chamfers around the handle is probably easier than making rounded over corners. But just a few extra minutes with some sandpaper doing the old "shoeshine rag" technique should round off those sharp edges nicely. The users' hands will thank you for it. :)

-- Raduis or chamfer edges of bolt holes. Again, a bit of easing on the edges will alleviate any tendency of those edges to chew at your hand during extended sessions of chopping or heavy cutting. It doesn't have to be a lot, just a little bit goes a long ways.

-- Bead-blast the surface of the scales for grippiness on all surfaces. Bead blasting the scales before routing in the treebark would make all surfaces of the handle grip back when someone lays hands on the BUSK.

Michael, thanks for your tenacity in staying with this design and also thank you for letting us sound off on it as it is developed. I'm really liking the results so far.
 
Thank you both for the thoughts on the blade. Everything (except the spine which I left sharp for fire-strikes if needed) has got a little edge knocked off. They probaby need some more to make it more comfortable. I also agree on the hole chamfers --- I tried with some of my countersinks but the stepped-down screw hole got in the way. I just need to find a shallower bit and I'll be in business. Another thing I am considering is leaving a little tang exposed and adding the thong hole.

Once again, thanks for pointing out improvements, these will help make it a better blade. :thumbup:

BTW -- it is hollow-ground.
 
nice work. i'm with cliff on not liking top guards on a blade of this type. also i would slightly round the lower guard so it's not "squared" on the botom. exposed tang in the rear to allow for a lanyard hole sounds nice. the only other thing is all of the holes in the handle area. seems like some of them are a bit close to each other especially adding in the screws for the slabs. you guys would know more than i, but it seems like it might be a problem area under hard use.
 
Looks like a real contender!!

I like nearly everything on it. Now beat it up and see how she holds up. :D

SKam
 
grobe said:
. all of the holes in the handle area.
Click to expand...

I noted this in the first thread, I have seen handles break before blades when flexing because of similar issues, I would prefer a single milled out hollow which left more steel around it, and optimally taper the tang rather than mill/drill it out. If you taper it, you can then also enclose the grip which makes it much nicer in several respects as it is a thermal/electrical barrier.

-Cliff
 
I did a lot of prying and testing of the first proto and I would doubt you'd have a problem with this one -- you've still got over a 1/4 inch of steel outside the "holes" and the steel within the matrix would keep it pretty rigid -- plus it is L-6 which is not prone to brittleness. But -- it is a valid concern and I want to take every step to make these blades their best so when I start making more of these, I'm having them water-jet cut with single inserts taken out like you mentioned Cliff.
 
I had a buddy stop by and check out the new version. I'm trying to get the blade into as many hands as possible to ensure that it is comfortable for a variety of hand sizes. He brought a long a couple of his blades (the Parrish will be mine one day ) and I took a shot so you could get a better understanding of the BUSK's dimensions.

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Okay, I'll be rude. What do you anticipate charging $$-wise for the final production version? I've already got a sheath. TIA
 
Burchtree,
Nice looking blade, but that Robert Parrish is the bomb baby :thumbup:
 
Burchtree:
That's a heck of a nice looking blade you've got there! I'm interested...you should definantly make more!

I'll also repeat the previous rudeness (I'm in grad school and I don't have a lot of cash). How much do you anticipate charging for one of those beauties?
 
Ras and Cymro -- I can't give prices on the forums here, but I can shoot you two an e-mail or PM. :D
 
I love the shape of the blade, Im not real intune to use the proper vocabulary, Im still learning, but it just looks very useful to me. My brother and I checked out your knives a while back before you changed over to the new website. I dunno how to put it, but watching the progression in designs is kinda cool. Hopefully I'll own one of your blades at some point. Also Id like to add that it is very good of you to use the people here as a sounding board for ideas, it shows that you really want your knives to be users and you care about what people want and care about in their blades. Anyway good work.
 
I definetly dig the knife. I agree with Cliff and RokJok. I think you should most certainly make more.:thumbup:

I've wanted a good knife in L-6 ever since I found out the steel existed. That looks like a good knife.:)
 
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