Pretty much everyone on this forum knows that I could easily fit into the definition of "fanboy" when it comes to Busse knives. Pretty obvious now since I'm one of the moderators for Jerry's forum... But I didn't just blindly become a fan.
About four or five years ago, perhaps a bit longer now, I had just discovered Busse knives through this knife forum. after buying a few and using them, I was impressed, but began to suspect that I was not using any of my to its full potential because despite knowing that it had a fantastic warranty on it, it was indeed a pricey knife. Kinda like buying a brand new car built for speed, but being afraid to ever "push it" past a highway speed limit.
So... After letting a residential property get out of hand and completely overgrown, including several trees, many bushes & bramble, and every dang weed under the sun, including all the landscape beds that had many medium & large rocks used for decoration now (then) hidden in the overgrowth, I hired a pair of guys to come in and clear everything out and clean up the place. When they arrived, I noticed that they had nothing substantial to cut back the overgrowth save for a small pair of cutting shears. No machetes, axes, hatchets, or even a belt knife. An idea hit me... Hand them the Busse and tell them to use it as they saw fit to do the job. I did tell them that it was a Busse and had they heard of the brand...to which they both just kinda shrugged and answered no. I handed it over and they got to work.
They took me literally. Both of them took turns with it for over six hours without stopping and they really went to town on it. Man, they beat it like it was a stolen red-headed stepchild!
During the time, I was inside the house handling some paperwork and catching up on other tasks and such, and other than hearing the occasional load sound of metal against rock (and yes, I cringed each time!) I let them be.
this is the test subject.
Please note that at the time these were taken, I had to compress the photos to upload to my free Photobucket account so due to the limitations of file size, some of these shots might make the knife's edge look jagged. Until the after shots, the edge was as it was from Busse, without modification.
Here it is after my last light session of use before I gave it to the landscaping guys. Still very new, and with its original factory edge, but no longer "mint":
After the (very
unscientific) test, I took these photos. The section of the edge in the photo is where 98+% of the 'damage' occurred. What very little there was further back toward the handle was not worth including and steeled right out with a few passes:
Yep, there was some edge damage. But other than the bit they managed to shear off the tip on one of those rocks, there really wasn't any damage I'd consider to be major, relatively speaking...and even the tip shear wasn't
that major. All of this consisted of dents, rolls (of which some were torn out from further use) and the tip which was indeed shorn and not chipped or snapped off.
There was no area of the edge that chipped out! And, there was plenty of still sharp and usable edge left. 15 minutes or so with a steel took care of all but the worst areas that were torn after rolling. 30 to 45 minutes on my first time with an Edge Pro took care of the rest without much metal lost overall. The tip area was a PITA to sharpen back to a usable sharp tip, but that was probably more due to my inexperience with the Edge Pro, and I don't think many people would even notice looking at it now that the tip ever had a damaging strike. I could have sent this in to Busse and they would have taken care of it, but I needed the experience and quite honestly, I didn't feel right about taking advantage of its warranty, and even though it was unintentionally damaged and would have been covered, I felt that I intentionally placed the knife in the position to be damaged.
After a cleaning & steeling, but before the Edge Pro (which hadn't been delivered yet):
...And after applying a new edge:
I apologize for the really long post,and I hope that I haven't bored you, the Reader...but in a nutshell, my point is this. These two workers only cared about completing the job to my satisfaction and getting paid. They really beat the crap out of this Battle Mistress to get it done and didn't care how it handled it. They didn't know how much it cost me, and so they didn't hold back at all. The knife took it all and didn't break, snap, chip, lose a handle slab, bend, or sustain any other major damage that would have required it to be sent in for repair. The basic stats on this knife model is a 10" blade that is .25" at the spine, but considerably thinner from below the corrugated bevels to the edge.
After this experience, I would trust any Busse in my hands to do what I needed of it, and more importantly (to me), I know that I don't ever have to worry about holding back when using one. :thumbup:
Are Busse knives worth the bucks? Heck yes, I certainly believe so...and same goes for the Swamp Rat & Scrap Yard knives. Also, with the fantastic warranty covering each Busse/ Swamp Rat/ Scrap Yard knife that stays with the knife from owner to owner, you really only ever have to buy just that one
once if you decide to invest in one of the finest hard use knives around. I expect that my Busse(kin) knives will easily outlive me.
JMHO & experience... Of course, your opinion(s) may vary.
:thumbup:
