Well I will throw in my two cents as well. I am a maker (loosely said) I make my own blades and have used every method of heat treat known. Now i got tired of being inconsistent and I bought an EvenHeat oven and had a TAP Controller installed on it. Got just about every piece of equipment I need. I even got one of those small CNC machines but yet to put it together. Actually I am typing this from my shop while taking a break while I got a blade tempering in the small oven behind me. Next to me I have no less than 9 or 10 blades laid out in varying degrees of finish. Some I will either can or quick finish enough to give away for a Christmas gift, others take days to complete. I still have God only knows how many Busse blades and will continue to purchase them as long as I can afford to do so. The steel is amazing to say the least. It is seriously another level over what I can do in my shop. Now i have not really done my cryo treating, working on that. But still, its like a Ford Pinto compared to a Volvo 18 wheeler. Yes, they are both vehicles, but which one will last you longer in the long haul. I have even managed to make a couple of Busse models out of other steel. I am working on a CNC program to mimic the handles exactly. You know where my copies are......laying in my shop covered with dust. lol. I stopped even trying, there is no compare. I can get the feel, almost get the weight the same, balance almost exact, but cutting ability.....its laughable. At least I am getting better at sharpening my own made blades. I can cut all day long with a Busse and it is relatively the same as when we started, any other blade, well I bring a stone with me to keep it touched up while I am there. Thats what I am paying for with a Busse and will continue to pay for. I don't mind the wait, it only cost me time and a dollar. Last item ,satin finish. You know why it costs so much more. It takes forever to get it looking like that. FOREVER and a day. Even with the right tools be prepared to put in some elbow grease and a pile of sand paper to get it as nice as the CS sends it out. Even using my grinder for the mass of work, it is still a chore of love to put that kind of finish on a blade. One small grain on the table and you just screwed it up, now polish that out and redo the finish. If I had to grab one knife in a survival situation and my life depended on it, I would grab a Busse every time. I would crawl over a pile of other brands to pick up a Busse user. Thats my two cents on the product. Cant be beat, thats just my two cents of course. As technology gets better and more people are getting into the art of metallurgy, someone, sometime, somewhere will make a recipe that will give INFI a solid run for their money. We all know its going to happen eventually. They already can analyze the steel and know the components, its just about putting the pieces together properly. It might already be out there for all I know. For now, its INFI all the way. Even after that other steel is on the market, I will still just stay with Busse, I know what to expect and how its going to act. Again just my opinion.
