- Joined
- Jul 10, 2009
- Messages
- 3,094
I recently picked up a Busse Combat FFBM *Fat Fusion Battle Mistress*, and figured I'd give it a review for anyone who is curious.
I bought the knife used, so no comment on the factory bevel, but I assume it was rather obtuse as my ASH-1 CG had a very thick edge that push cut great once it was polished. This knife came with a rather dull user added convex edge and stripped blade, I polished the edge up some on the belt sander and some .5 micron compound and took her outside to my wood trailer, figured i'd put her through the paces.
First thought, this knife is HEAVY but balances well for a chopper. If you can lift up the blade, it will do the rest of the work. It bites VERY deep with the polished convex edge even into seasoned hard wood and makes chunks of wood fly with very little effort.
I did some batoning as well, some small, some larger logs. The FFBM hit several knots, forcing the blade to tilt. Instead of backing off in fear of lateral force breaking it, I hit it harder and harder until it barreled through. It split everything I put in front of it, that was expected though.
I admittedly did some throwing for the hell of it, it's like the knife called to me to throw. The tip held up perfectly and the only damage the knife suffered was a tiny roll that steeled right out after it bounced off my target and landed edge first onto the rock covered ground. NO chipping to speak of. No big deal. Like I said, it's a very heavy knife, and when it would land blade first into the ground, it would bury itself down to the handle.
IMO, the knife is what it is, a very durable "survival" knife. It's not a fighter, it's not a replacement for a Mora and I wouldn't attempt to anything delicate with the knife unless I had to (although with the new edge it actually did a pretty good job with dinner preparation). If you like big, heavy, thick knives and your preferred method of wood gathering is with a knife, then it's the one for you. I do know that I chopped up A LOT of wood tonight and split a good deal and although after the edge would no longer split hair or pushcut newspaper, it would still shave arm hair and did not require anything besides the leather belt to bring it back to it's original sharpness.. It made short work of all the tasks I required it to do, and I'm 100% happy with my purchase.
With my Busse ASH-1
I bought the knife used, so no comment on the factory bevel, but I assume it was rather obtuse as my ASH-1 CG had a very thick edge that push cut great once it was polished. This knife came with a rather dull user added convex edge and stripped blade, I polished the edge up some on the belt sander and some .5 micron compound and took her outside to my wood trailer, figured i'd put her through the paces.
First thought, this knife is HEAVY but balances well for a chopper. If you can lift up the blade, it will do the rest of the work. It bites VERY deep with the polished convex edge even into seasoned hard wood and makes chunks of wood fly with very little effort.
I did some batoning as well, some small, some larger logs. The FFBM hit several knots, forcing the blade to tilt. Instead of backing off in fear of lateral force breaking it, I hit it harder and harder until it barreled through. It split everything I put in front of it, that was expected though.
I admittedly did some throwing for the hell of it, it's like the knife called to me to throw. The tip held up perfectly and the only damage the knife suffered was a tiny roll that steeled right out after it bounced off my target and landed edge first onto the rock covered ground. NO chipping to speak of. No big deal. Like I said, it's a very heavy knife, and when it would land blade first into the ground, it would bury itself down to the handle.
IMO, the knife is what it is, a very durable "survival" knife. It's not a fighter, it's not a replacement for a Mora and I wouldn't attempt to anything delicate with the knife unless I had to (although with the new edge it actually did a pretty good job with dinner preparation). If you like big, heavy, thick knives and your preferred method of wood gathering is with a knife, then it's the one for you. I do know that I chopped up A LOT of wood tonight and split a good deal and although after the edge would no longer split hair or pushcut newspaper, it would still shave arm hair and did not require anything besides the leather belt to bring it back to it's original sharpness.. It made short work of all the tasks I required it to do, and I'm 100% happy with my purchase.
With my Busse ASH-1
