Busse factory edge question

guncollector

guncollector

Joined
Sep 6, 2001
Messages
657
Hey everybody,

Sorry if this has been touched upon before, but do your Busse knives
come razor sharp from the factory? Or, did your Busses come like mine with what I'd describe as more of a working edge?

Both my Natural Outlaw and Assault Shaker are sharp, but not the scary-sharp like say my Sebenza. So, I wondering if there is a reason for this.
 
Guncollector, I do not think that you had any bad luck. Lets look at the knives and do the math.

The Sebenza is a thin stock knife (compared to the 1/4" Busses) and has a thin/fine grind and edge. The Busses have a final edge that is not as thin as the Sebenza; they have more steel behuind and alongside the edge. The Corvette is a great car, but not my first choice for pulling stumps of towing heavy trailers.

In as much as I have and use all of the involved knives I can tell you that the Sebenza shines for slicing and lush cutting. The Busses, while sharp, will certainly endure more abuse (work) without degredation of capability. This is not because the Sebenza is a bad or [iweak[/i] knife, but because its execution of design was for different purposes.

Read through the Wilderness & Survival old posts and you will see many threads about "What's you favorite slicer and chopper?" This is because experienced outdoorsman know that different functions require different tools. I will typically bring a Busse (usually the Natural Outlaw) and and slicing folder with me on outings. The Busse sees all the tough work and supports functions for which a hatchet or small axe would have been used. The slicing folder see more of the food prep which typically involves push cutting and slicing of media where binding against the geometry of the blade would cause more effort and apparent reduced capability.

Look, it's been often said, and I agree, that the Busse can do it all, but a Corvette and a 4X4 pick-up are two different things, each excelling at their intended functions with caparatively poorer performance once outside their respective mission profiles.

I said all of that to say this: I do not think you got any bad luck or dull Busses at all. Do your limbing, chopping, digging and prying with the Busse and leave the pepperoni for the Sebenza.
 
My Busses came with a pretty highly polished edge, which tends not to feel as sharp as it is. "Stropping" the flat-ground side of the blade on a coarse DMT stone gives them a slightly rougher edge that will slice more effectively without giving up any performance in other arenas.
 
:)

Well said Nimrod:D

Guncollector, while most of my Busses arrived hair popping sharp from the factory there were a couple that were a bit shy about shaving. I was able to use a ceramic stick and get them to the "popping point" easily though.:)
 
Nimrod-

Thanks for the explanation. My intuition was right along your explanation's path. I could not, however, verbalize the physics.

Thanks everyone else too for your input.
 
None of the Basics I've owned came as sharp as the NO did. The Basic 5 was mediocre, the 3 was "dull", the 9 was I guess what you would call a good working edge. The NO was, well, probably sharper than the Sebenza you got in the mail a few weeks ago;)

btw, the thickness has nothing to do with the sharpness.
 
To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Sharp is as sharp does."

A razor blade is hair popping sharp and a great push cutter, but I wouldn;t take one on a camping trip.
 
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