Busse and Swamp Rat USERS, thoughts on steel difference?

HikingIsLife

HikingIsLife

Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
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I have seen many people here own and use BOTH Busse and Swamp Rat blades. I am an outdoorsman, and have used Swamp Rat in the wild with outstanding performance coming from them. Through my thread on recommendations for my first Busse blade...I see many people still referencing Swamp Rat...I am trying to reason the purchase of 2 Busse's due to INFI steel and it's sheer strength.

I am really wondering from those of you that have used both for some time...what the true difference is between the steels and the overall versatility of them (in the great of outdoors). Pics of tasks performed would be great too!

Cheers!
 
Infi, in my opinion, excels in larger blades. Cutters and slicers come from the Swamp with beaters and choppers from Busse. The ability of infi to recover from damage makes it great for the larger knives. Don't get me wrong, unless you set out to conduct "test" yo uwill probably never notice the difference as BOTH are top tier knives.

In the end......as long as it comes from Wauseon, you are doing good!
 
I'm interested in this too, I have a couple handfuls of swamp rat knives (they see as much action as my schedule allows) but no busses yet, I suppose it's just a matter of time :)
 
A couple of years ago I spent an entire season skinning and processing deer and pig, a lot of deer and pig. We were the community processor of sorts. I got to use a good selection of Swamp and Busse knives, both chopping and slicing, well, here goes.

For slicing, SR101 hands down, through hair and hide it kept an edge for a very long time. The only INFI of mine to come close was my BAe, something about that particular piece holds an edge better than my others. The worst was my beloved Heavy Duty, I kind of blame the edge geometry, very obtuse, it gave up the edge before I was half through one animal.

Pig skinning is one of the best tests of edge holding ability, the hair is so coarse it will dull a lesser steel in no time.

My favorite skinning knife? The BAe, it slices, chops, does delicate work, and stays sharp.
 
In my experience, the Swamp Rat blades take a little more looking after with regards to cleaning, as the steel corrodes a lot easier than INFI does. But, that's easy enought to do. That said, the couple I have here are easier to sharpen than INFI and take a stupid sharp edge. INFI on the other hand, in my experience, is a little harder to sharpen to get a scalpel finish, but once it's there, man oh man! And the steel is much less likely to show any corrosion from normal use and cleaning. As far as performance goes, I think INFI is tougher due to it's maleability, but edge retention seems to be the same.
 
Very hard to compare: for that we would need the same two knives made with the two steels: I love my rodent solution as my AD, but I sold my Camp Tramp, too light for me to make a good chopper. My RMD too. It's more a question of ergonomy than steel.
Maybe INFI is a little bit more difficult to sharpen.
 
First off... Dwayne is dead right about cleaning pigs. I consider it the ultimate test of a hunting knife. Their thick hair is generally covered with sand/mud. And besides that, they are built like an Abrams Tank.

As far as the difference between the two... I can only say that SR-101 will rust while INFI is very stain-resistant, more so than D2.

SR-101 seems to take a keener edge to me... I'd say it may have a slight edge (pun intended) in that department. Both steels are extremely difficult to dull after I sharpen them.

If I were going to the Amazon jungle or spent a lot of time around salt water INFI would be the better choice. For the money, SR101 is the better buy. The Ratmandu is pure freakin genius! Still, I can do 5-10 whitetail deer with 4" of infi...and it will still shave arm hair. So we are really talking about a very slight degree of difference between the performance of the two steels. Busse heat-treat is the shheeeeot! I'm pretty sure the man could turn a PBR can into a knife if he set his mind to it.

I'll admit that I have little experience with SR101 choppers, and cannot testify to its performance in that application. I can however, say without any doubt that INFI choppers are quite simply amazing in their performance (and a ton of fun!). I baton mine frequently with no edge degradation whatsoever. Every knife-knut should own one...

Buy the knife you like... it will work for you no matter which (Busse heat-treated) steel you choose. :thumbup:
 
leatherman said:
Pig skinning is one of the best tests of edge holding ability, the hair is so coarse it will dull a lesser steel in no time.
Click to expand...

While I haven't skinned a pig, I have taken a few gator apart. And THAT is some of the hardest use of edge retention "I" have dealt with. And my favorite combo is my SHBM for hacking through bone with my Gen 1 Howling Rat for "finer work" if there is such a thing skinning one of these beast.
We need to get together and skin a few sometime:thumbup::thumbup::D
 
mmmmmm, gator skin! I would relish the chance to take one apart, I do hear tanning one is a lesson in patience.
 
My infi gets just as sharp as my SR101, but there is a noticable difference in edge retention (SR101) and toughness & corrosion resistance (infi).

But the difference in edge retention isn't huge, where as the difference in corrosion resistance definitely is. If you look at SR101 wrong, it'll rust. At least with my acidic skin oils, it does... Never had so much as a spot show up on infi from my skin oil, though.

Add that to my preference for toughness over edge retention, and the choice is easy for me; buy both.

...wait. That doesn't make sense. Yet that's how it seems to work out. :D
 
Skrapmetal said:
My infi gets just as sharp as my SR101, but there is a noticable difference in edge retention (SR101) and toughness & corrosion resistance (infi).

But the difference in edge retention isn't huge, where as the difference in corrosion resistance definitely is. If you look at SR101 wrong, it'll rust. At least with my acidic skin oils, it does... Never had so much as a spot show up on infi from my skin oil, though.

Add that to my preference for toughness over edge retention, and the choice is easy for me; buy both.

...wait. That doesn't make sense. Yet that's how it seems to work out. :D
Click to expand...

I agree their both great steels buy both and have the best of both worlds. ;)

Doug
 
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