Alright Paul, here's the only review I can give right now (since I haven't had a chance to really play with it):
The first thing is the sheath. It's molded kydex with a portion of the very bottom seam (where the tip of the knife is) open to allow drainage. Two lash ponits, one of them used for the leg strap. Nothing special there, although the nylon webbing is very tightly woven and you just know it'll hold up. The belt loop is of a decent size with an interesting feature; the belt loop is connected to the rest of the sheath with a release clip (like the ones on backpacks). You could strap the knife to your gear, but remove it (sheath and all) in a snap without having to take off your belt. Nice idea. There is a friction fit holding the blade in place plus a suplemental strap. The friction fit is good enough that you can shake the knife upside-down and it won't come out of the case. With the strap engaged I would have complete confidence. Also, the strap is fairly long meaning that it is very easy to grab hold of, even with winter gloves on (it's cold up here in Canada, eh?). The knife has a talon in it just past the gaurd, but no mathcing one in the sheath. Not a real concern for me though-I don't plan on any HALO drops
As soon as you wrap your hand around the handle, you know this is going to be good. When you draw the knife your hand automatically finds the right grip. There's no fiddling or adjusting. The handle has sort of a rubbery feel; hard, yet soft to the touch. Very comfortable, although I haven't used it for any length of time. The blade has a nice weight to it, slightly forward but not what I'd call top heavy. You feel the weight and you just know this knife is going to chop well (although I still believe a saw is better). The handle is at an angle to the blade (much like the MT SOCOM) so that in a natural grip the blade is parallel to the ground, very ergonomic. To say the blade is sharp in an understatement. When I first took it out of the box I lightly drew it across my left arm. You could actully HEAR the hairs popping off, each with a little "ting". It's sharp. That leads me to the convex edge.
At first I was a little worried about sharpening such an edge (I'd never seen one before). Now that I've got the knife I'm not so worried. Unless you feel the edge (going from spine to edge) it's difficult to tell which side is which (convex or flat). The sharpening instructions basically say that you don't need to worry about the convex edge unless you severly deform it, the flat is the only thing you sharpen (albeit the method is a litttle different form the norm). That being said the only thing I'd like to know is what angle the grind on the flat side is. I use a Spyderco 204 for almost all my sharpening and I'm curious to know if I should use the 40 or 30 degree setting.
Well, that's about all I can give right now. I'm getting a CS Bush Ranger later this month/next year and I'll be curious to see how it compares to the Busse. No disrespect indented, but I think I know who'll win
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"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n"
John Milton
There are only two types of people; those who understand this, and those who think they do.
[This message has been edited by Johan (edited 21 December 1999).]
