Busses NOT expensive: Am I the only one?

BePrepared

BePrepared

Joined
Aug 26, 2010
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So every time I go to another forum and see someone talking about how "Busses are good, but not worth the money" I have to stifle the urge to explain in depth exactly WHY they're wrong.

Yes, a Busse knife will have an initial investment cost that's higher than something like a Becker, and isn't going to perform 10 times better. That's the argument that I hear all the time, and i'll even accept the premise BUT....

When you buy a becker for $100, and beat the hell out of it, you can sell if for maybe 50 assuming it's not badly damaged

When you buy a Busse for $500(at store prices) and you beat the hell out of it, you can sell it for $500 assuming it's not badly damaged.

That's why i hesitate to spend 100 on a becker (i have 2) and don't have a second thought about spending 500 on a Busse

Busses are not expensive because they are always worth what you paid for them, and there are always buyers willing to pay for them.

Gold is "expensive" compared to lead, and they're both about the same as a paperweight, but I think Gold is still the better investment :P
 
I don't have any Busse's. YET. But I do have a couple Rat's.

To me the Busse family of knives offer the best cost to performance ratio. And I'm not affluent financially. But I will save money over a period of time and sacrifice to purchase gear I think is worth the investment.

I've got the same reactions from people who find out what one of my knives cost. They just don't get where I see that kind of value in a blade, and I'm talking folks who have a lot more dough than I do.

However none of those folks has ever had their life and survival depend to a large degree on a blade functioning and not failing. I have. So I am quite willing to pay the price for quality gear.

I guess it comes down to this. I hate to cuss.....and I cuss a lot when gear fails interest backcountry.
 
I don't own any Beckers but from what I read, they have the potential to be very good knives. That 1095CV steel with a good heat treat is pretty good stuff. Probably better than you imagine. If a person can't afford the Busse he wants, it's great there's knives as good as Beckers for them to buy.
 
I come from a mid-tech and custom folder background.

I'm very new to the brand and I'm quite surprised that for a top rate knife with collectibility out the roof, that the entry price for a good solid piece is 3-400 dollars. Of course the handswords and all the custom shop is different, but to buy into a decent Busse that you can just put right back onto the market when you're done with it, it's really not that bad.
 
Some people seek out the best preforming product available, some seek out the best value product available and some the best looking. Busse and kin fulfill all. Where else can you buy a knife, skip it down your concrete driveway and sell it for you paid for or more? Of the over 50 I have owned I have sold them or traded them some more than, some less than what I paid. I am sure overall that I got to enjoy all of them at no cost to me.
 
I really like Busse knives, if I had the money, I would buy one every week or so. I think they make a great knife and as long as I have the funds and like the model they are selling at the time, I will continue to buy them.
 
I think Busse knives are outrageous, but its like stuffing hundred dollar bills under your mattress. After listing all the killer deals I got on them over the last year, I could sell most of them for $25, $50 or $100 more than I paid and keep my three favorite for free. So I spent around $7800, I am sure I could keep my CABS, SARGE7 and BWM and still make all my money back. Not only that but I had the pleasure of handling all those other knives to see which ones would work for me.
 
Different knives will fit the bill for different people. I worked a knife shop for 5+ years and saw a variety of customers. Some guys would try to buy a decent knife or what fit their budget. Many of them came from the neighboring Army and Air Force base as well as civilians. When you first start out in knives, a Busse would be crazy to buy. But over time, you start to buy more expensive knives and then get into the custom knife game. I think Beckers are awesome knives for the price. They fit a need that is present as does Busse. Do I think Busse knives are the best tool for every job? Of course not. But what I find enjoyable is that there are various knife makers out there putting out quality knives and stand behind them while providing their products to customers. I just tend to prefer Busse for choppers and smaller knives because they are hard use, the company is like family and I enjoy most of the people that frequent the forum. That's why I tend to go for Busse most times. :) The investment aspect is nice or it could be that we are the only nuts in the knife world willing to pay factory price for a used knife :eek: :D
 
BP, that same exact argument is echoed on every inexpensive knives forum: Becker, ESEE, HI, Mora, etc etc. Its easier to look up and see those odd people spending 3-400 on a knife when yours was only 15.00 to 100.00 and your perfectly happy with that knife.

I have a bunch of ESEE's and I love those knives, they do everything I require of a knife and more, and I have no worries of marring them. I do have a bunch of Busse's that I'd never use, and a small stable of users. Unless its a particularly rare or desirable piece, a user doesn't command top dollar anymore.

Busse knives are expensive, yes. I do not buy them for the resale value though, I've seen way too many of them languish on the sales floor in the exchange. Its not as simple as it once was to turn them around, and a used one doesn't command the price it once did. Watch the bay, Busse's consistently get relisted.
 
I for one do think they are expensive. Not that I own hordes of steel but the most expensive knives I own are Busse knives. Maybe I’m just a cheap bastid or not as well off as many here. :o

However, I think they have the best performance/cost ratio as well as good resell value for the most part (some models are very popular and the resell is fast, others not so much). They also have the best warranty and customer service in the industry. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for.
 
Busse knives are crazy expensive...but I'm on a budget. I will probably never own more than the one I have. I only bought the TG because it is what Daryl uses and I'm putting together a Daryl costume. To be honest, I balked at the cost of my RMD when I bought it too but I am happy with my purchase.

The fact that I can sell my TG for around the same as what it cost if I ever absolutely have to made it an easier pill to swallow.

Keep in mind, none of this should be thought of as a negative towards Busse. You are going to have a wide spectrum of products when it comes to anything regarded as a collectible. Some people just have more money to spend. I don't like when people look down on something just because it is way above or way below their budget. I own a Busse, but my next purchase...if my wife ever forgives me for the Busse...will be a Becker. No reason you can't love both.
 
leatherman said:
Busse knives are expensive, yes. I do not buy them for the resale value though, I've seen way too many of them languish on the sales floor in the exchange. Its not as simple as it once was to turn them around, and a used one doesn't command the price it once did. Watch the bay, Busse's consistently get relisted.
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Excellent point, especially when it comes to the newer models ( older stuff does still sell at a premium mostly, ( compared to the original price) stuff being available longer and more of them being made hurts the resale value of anything. I try not to care about the cost of any of my blades, I bought the because I wanted them, will use and get enjoyment out of them ( not to say using is the only way to enjoy them, but that's how I do it)

And some pics, because it's the interwebs, and who doesn't love pics

451c8a65.jpg


e62f2006.jpg
 
A BK9 can be had for under $80. What would a Busse of comparable size cost? $500? More? It costs far more than what a comparable product costs. When you can buy 5 or more BK9s for the price of one Busse, it should pretty obvious that yes, the Busse is expensive. Is the Busse inherently or measurably better? That's not really the issue. In my opinion when comparing two like products where one costs 5-6x what the other costs, the more expensive one is, in fact, expensive.

Is it worth the money? That's subjective. I'm sure many would say "absolutely". But that doesn't change that Busse knives cost a lot more than Becker knives.

Can you resell it for a profit? Maybe, but it's still an expensive purchase because you have a lot of money invested in it. If I buy a $65 BK2, use it hard, and decide to sell it even in not so great shape I could easily get half what I paid, so I'd lose about $30. Yeah I might lose 50% of what I paid, but it's $30. A lot of people on here modify and customize their Beckers. They might pay $40 for a used BK2, strip the coating and polish it up, meaning you might lose $20 for having used the knife hard. I don't think the resale argument is a very good one. It's possible to lose a lot more than $30 on a Busse if you use it hard or if demand for the knife isn't high when you want to sell it.
 
Owning a Busse is like owning a Loveless or a Dozier. Jerry is a living legend.
 
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Well for us men, when we buy stuff for ourselves, sometimes we have to explain to the wife or girlfriend why we spent that money on ourselves instead of them. If you buy expensive things that have collector value like Busse knives, coins, or even some guns, things that you can sell for as much if not more than what you paid, it gives you extra ammunition for you explanation or argument if it has gone that far. "Honey, you have a closet full of shoes and purses and dresses that have little or no resale value. At least with all this stuff I bought for myself, if we get in a bind, I can sell some of my things for a profit or break even or even just a little loss and boom, we are out of the bind. Honey, doesn't that seem LOGICAL?"........................wait a minute, what am I thinking.............please refer to manual for further instruction
 
I think, with women, you have to try something more practical like "if i can get this new Killa Zilla, we'll go to the mall tomorrow, and i'll get you those shoes i've been listening to you talk about nonstop for the last 8 days"

or something to that effect
 
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