Busse coating critique

mr_wilson

mr_wilson

Joined
Jan 18, 2002
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Just thought folks might like to see how the Busse blade coating holds up under actual use, (of-course I could be wrong).

The pics above are of my once brand new CGFBM after "one" 9 +mile hike thru the boonies of northern New Mexico mountains several weeks back while I was on vacation.

Friend and I took this hike and this CGFBM came along and was used approx. a dozen times to “notch” dead/down trees marking our trail, (as there was nothing other than game trails I tried my best to keep us on). Multiple dry creek crossings meant I needed to mark points along the way lest we get lost (although us surveyors “never” get lost – even when our friends/hiking companions think we are…., up until one of those trail markers showed up)

Yes, that is rust under the coating and I can honestly say that although the CGFBM is one hell of a nice cutting and chopping tool and I'm quite enamoured w/ the INFI steel; I was decidedly under-whelmed with the blade's coating or what I found under it.

As I have a late 70s Gerber Guardian II L6 tooled steel dagger which was used daily for more than 5 years while I surveyed in the field – that saw far more use on much tougher live mesquite and the brush of N.Texas - yet still today has an intact Teflon Black coating on it, money apparently don't have much to do with the longevity of a blade coating.

Here’s a couple pics of it:

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note that came with this Gerber

The Gerber above cost less than $90 in the late 70s whereas the Busse CGFBM cost $450+ most of which is obviously not invested in it's coating and could hardly meet a "Combat Grade" rating in anyone's military IMO.
 
Wierd, looks like your coating just flaked off. I put my mistress through some heavy work on a recent camping trip and my coating just smoothed and wore down. (disregard the dings in the edge. She hit a couple nails that were in some wood. Smoothed 'em right out though :) )

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Good morning, Mike. Sorry to hear of your bad experience. Maybe if you get in touch with the shop they can help you out. I'm guessing your sample size of 1 is not representative of all the Battle Mistresses that came out of the shop.
 
i can say, that is uncommon, i have put a FEW cgfbm's thru hell and none of the coatings did tha, i have seen them flake at the tips, after lots of throws.... so i would say the metal was improprly cleaned prior to coating.....

but just a side note.... the coatings on your cgfbm and the gerber are two very very diferant types of coatings.....
 
yeah - that's definitely not normal for it to flake off that quickly... most of the time it "smooths" down after hard use.
 
True... mine always seem to just smooth away. Never flaking off (unless you count a 1-2mm spot at the tip.)

Definitely contact the shop.
 
That does not reflect my experiences on Busse coatings, quite to the contrary in fact. Granted, I have not ever cleaned the coating off any Busses to see how the steel looks underneath. But I've never had coating flake or even come easily off Busses, although I have experienced just that with the knives of some other makers, including very respectable ones and ones that I personally very much like. Looks like a clear warranty case to me. I'm sure they'll make it right. :)
 
My experience is that the black coating on (some??) cgfbm's is very different than the usual crinkle coating on other Busse blades. It's much harder cq flakes much easier.....
 
mikeymoto said:
Good morning, Mike. Sorry to hear of your bad experience. Maybe if you get in touch with the shop they can help you out. I'm guessing your sample size of 1 is not representative of all the Battle Mistresses that came out of the shop.
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Make that 2. Mine also flaked after a couple of good chopping sessions. Didn't really bother me though...as that's all I'll be using it for. Strapped to the ATV and ready for unexpected chopping. It's also made me more inclined to make my uncoated blades the users. But in this case since it'll be exposed to moisture at times, the added protection from the coating is a good thing.
 
wow, the coating on mine flaked off in the exact same place along the edge on the same side, although that was when i was sharpening it (and it was new). didn't have any rust problem though. i stripped it eventually, but haven't had the time to polish it.
 
Looks like the the coating didnt adhere to the surface.

Oh well its a Character builder :D:thumbup: its like scars hehe, well if i was you id just make that blade nekkid and polish it! After that whip it some more :eek:

I used some paintremover on my Heavy Heart after that used sandpaper and polished it up with some flitz, it looks great for a user :D
 
Yep, that's not normal at all. I have seen smaller examples of that but that is still not functioning as intended. I'm sure the shop would help you out. I tend to strip mine because I am too impatient to watch the steel be slowly revealed over years LOL.
 
That's strange. On all my buses the coating first smoothed and then wore off gradually. I never had any flaking. Contact the shop - they I'm sure will help you :thumbup:
 
I don't think that's rust on it....are you looking at a black, patina like looking substance? If so, that's the protective undercoating that you'll find on many of the different coatings. Long after the coating has worn off, you'll still have most of that intact and continuing to protect your blade. Sometimes it comes off with stripper, other times the only way to get it off is by sanding it off. As to the coating, sometimes it chips, sometimes it smoothes and wears. I think it's kinda 50/50 depending on what you're cutting/chopping and the way the coating was cured/set. I'm sure Jerry will take care of you if it's that big of an issue....but if you just keep on using it, your knife will still be perfectly protected and take on a cool look after a while :thumbup:
 
Call the shop, talk to Garth and have him look at this thread 419-923-6471. That doesn't look normal. May have been so oil on the blade when it was coated.

They'll take care of you. I've used mine much more than that without any problems

:D:D
 
If I were you I would just strip off all of the coating, and continue to use the hell out of it..
I did that to my FBM and it looked a lot better. Also once it was stripped I never had an issue with rust, even when the blade was damp for a while..
Good luck with whatever you decide to do:thumbup:

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I agree that that doesn't look in and that the shop should definitely be contacted about that. I would not be happy if that happened to my mistress, either. But the Busse guys (and gals) are awesome. I'm sure they'll make it right.

On a purely academic note- comparing coating wear between a big chopper and a dagger is apples and oranges. The forces involved are totally different. There is a heck of a lot more force involved in the contact area between a large blade and the cutting substrate than there is with a smaller blade.

I have had no problems whatsoever with wear on the coating on any of my Busse's. It always seems to wear smoothly, and at a reasonable rate. Much better than the coating on my Beckers, actually.
 
looks like you lost the black coating but the gray underneath is still there. That is the coating that protects the blade. Does not look like you are at the bare blade yet. But I could only wish the coatngs came off that easy on mine, would save me the trouble.
 
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