Jerry Busse
Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 12,108
I read where the variants were referred to as Mutants. . . cool term, might catch on. I thought I'd share where these knife designs come from.
I'm sure that many of you have hobbies, as do I. The strange thing about my hobby is that it is the same as my 16 hour a day job. Knifemaking is an all consuming passion for me, always has been. Oh, I avidly hunt, fish and trek through the wilderness every chance I get but more than likely if you find me relaxing it will be behind a grinder. I love taking standard blanks from Steel Heart IIs, Badgers, etc. and having at it on my grinder. I've developed some pretty cool designs this way and some that end up in the scrap pile in need of immediate humiliation saving meltdown.
A while back when Andy visited our shop, he noticed all of these variations as well as some prototypes in the grinding room and asked if we would consider finishing them as he foresaw an opportunity to get truly custom designs at a great savings. These were normally never sold outside of our inner circle and were usually saved for family, friends, and colleagues. Not one to take "no" for an answer Andy pressed on that our inner circle should be expanded to include our friends on the forums and other avid collectors. I was sold and the finishing process began. Andy finally started to receive these knives prior to the New York Show and the overwhelming response is evidence that he knows the market well.
Our custom shop is backed up at well over two years at this time and prices are set at $100.00 per inch of overall length. A custom knife the length of a Steel Heart II would run approx $1,400 dollars. A Variant or Mutant would be considerably less and immediatley available through Andy.
Andy has exclusive rights to these knives over the internet. Some can be seen at shows as many will be at the Blade Show in Atlanta at our booth.
Yours in nuclear toughness,
Jerry Busse
I'm sure that many of you have hobbies, as do I. The strange thing about my hobby is that it is the same as my 16 hour a day job. Knifemaking is an all consuming passion for me, always has been. Oh, I avidly hunt, fish and trek through the wilderness every chance I get but more than likely if you find me relaxing it will be behind a grinder. I love taking standard blanks from Steel Heart IIs, Badgers, etc. and having at it on my grinder. I've developed some pretty cool designs this way and some that end up in the scrap pile in need of immediate humiliation saving meltdown.
A while back when Andy visited our shop, he noticed all of these variations as well as some prototypes in the grinding room and asked if we would consider finishing them as he foresaw an opportunity to get truly custom designs at a great savings. These were normally never sold outside of our inner circle and were usually saved for family, friends, and colleagues. Not one to take "no" for an answer Andy pressed on that our inner circle should be expanded to include our friends on the forums and other avid collectors. I was sold and the finishing process began. Andy finally started to receive these knives prior to the New York Show and the overwhelming response is evidence that he knows the market well.
Our custom shop is backed up at well over two years at this time and prices are set at $100.00 per inch of overall length. A custom knife the length of a Steel Heart II would run approx $1,400 dollars. A Variant or Mutant would be considerably less and immediatley available through Andy.
Andy has exclusive rights to these knives over the internet. Some can be seen at shows as many will be at the Blade Show in Atlanta at our booth.
Yours in nuclear toughness,
Jerry Busse
