Busses NOT expensive: Am I the only one?

Fanglekai said:
If they don't ever fail why is there a warranty and people who actually send their knives in for warranty work?
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Have you seen what it takes to make them fail? It's improbably that anything can ever be considered 100% certain where gear breakage is concerned. However, these knives are very difficult to break by hand, at the absolute top of their class in that regard. There is a warranty for those few instance where someone tries to pry something solid with 1/4" of the tip, slams the knife into a rock or chain thus needing edge reprofiling, puts a skeleton key into a log and kicks it for fun, or beats it with a steel hammer for so long that it develops stress risors from the damage and breaks. There's also a warranty because they have to service so few knives that it's not a monetary drag on the business.
 
Last Visible Canary.
I pretty much agree with you completely. Your reply much appreciated.
I have one of the best lawn mowers that money can buy and (for sure) couldn't be 100% confident that it would start every single time. And I couldn't be 100% confident that my computer wouldn't crash or that my tent wouldn't leak at the seams ~ but, with my favorite Busse constructed of a single piece of steel AKA "No Moving Parts" and not being a mechanical machine I can be as confident as I can be that it's not going to fail me when I need it.
Especially since I've already run it through it's paces on a trial basis and already know how it will perform.
For certain if a freak occurrence like an asteroid would come crashing through the atmosphere landing smack on my Tankbuster...I couldn't say what the result would be.
So far it's been nothing but Flying Colors after some really tough use batoning, shelter building, digging, & I've hacked through some really thick "found" Moose antler stem with it just to play around with how well it would keep an edge when hacking through hard bone material...and I surprised myself with its edge retention and how beautifully it maintained edge integrity whacking through bone and doing lots of digging in some very sandy gravel filled soil.
I thought for sure that I would have to be sharpening out at least some minor edge chipping after bone but that was not the case at all.
The Busse continues to amaze me.
 
some of the folks around here have posted pics with 20k+ in knives. I'd say that qualifies as "Net Worth"
 
BePrepared said:
some of the folks around here have posted pics with 20k+ in knives. I'd say that qualifies as "Net Worth"
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Not to me it doesn't.
Buy because you enjoy them, not because you want an investment, or a status symbol.:cool:
 
my boat is worth 12 grand.. my guns are worth 20+. I bought them because i enjoy them, but they're definitely part of my "net worth"

it seems that you are not quite clear on the definition of "net worth"
 
I've got a Busse custom Nuclear TTKZ which stands me at around $2000 allowing for bringing it in and paying duty ... it gets used a lot ... probably the heaviest of use too ... felling trees ... digging up roots and chopping them out ... going through frozen wood to clearing weeds/nettles and running the risk of dings from catching stones ... and I never worry about it failing because the warranty has got my back ... any problems ... any failure ... it is covered. I have other knives which are over the $1000 mark and they don't have the same level of cover ... they do get used though but I am underwriting any issues ... so far ... no problems ... but the Busse cover gives me a lot more comfort. More than comfort really ... it gives me a sense of confidence ... if a guy can back his product the way Jerry does ... like as not it is because he knows it is up to it and backing the product is not going to be a problem.

How many $2000 Randalls get used like this ? Or $2000 custom Bowie knives ? When you put a warranty on your knives like Jerry does you don't go through the frustration of finding your work is destined solely for the collector and a life in a safe ... Bob Loveless was often quoted later in life saying he was conscious his knives were not being bought as tools to be used ... it definately pissed him off ... I suspect it does for a lot of top makers whose "user" knives are going for crazy secondary prices ... "art knife" makers ... fair enough ... they know what the knife is meant for ... but guys who become legends and want to make "user" blades could learn a bit from Jerry's business model ...

There are no "Art Knives" in the Busse line up ... and I doubt there ever will be ...:thumbup:
 
hey, speaking of Beckers...

i've seen some sell for $800 or more! expensive enough?

there's many that routinely sell for over $300 on ePrey... go figure.

personally, i own some that i won't part with for many thousands. honestly, they're not for sale, but if i had to provide a $$$$ value? yeah, well. rare of the rare. good stuff. MINE :D

it always does my heart good when someone compares Becker and Bussee in the same sentence... :D :D :D :D :D
 
If you think of a 20,000$ item that can be sold for cash as not being part of your 'net worth' you are in a financial position that is considerably higher than the average american (lower middle class to poor), or you are of a social/personal mindset where money is 'not important'. "Net worth" is a description of the value of the goods that you own and their ability to be liquidated for money. 20K$ is a lot of money, regardless of what you have it tied up in. A lot of people simply do not have 20K$ in anything.

More importantly, for those who don't have 20k$ in anything but debt, even 1,000$ in a liquidatable product is, and always will be, an important source of survival funds should their financial situation turn south. If you have to choose between rent or your knives, it's likely that your knives are going to be sold off, and their value is important in this circumstance. It simply isn't something that your average lower middle class/poor person can disregard and say 'no, I bought that for fun. That it's worth 600$ and I'm 2 days from being on the street because I can't pay rent isn't important, Their current and future value isn't why I bought them, they aren't an investment or a status symbol."


stabman said:
If you base your "net worth" on knives you own, that's sad.:(
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Being poor sucks.
 
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Last Visible Canary said:
If you think of a 20,000$ item that can be sold for cash as not being part of your 'net worth' you are in a financial position that is considerably higher than the average american...
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what if you have something you know you COULD sell for $$,$$$ but the reality is, there's maybe 2-5 people WILLING enough to pay that? [1]

contrast to having tangible skills or goods worth even a fraction that, which are much more easily converted?

it's a matter of opportunity...

#

[1] apparently someone is upset i used a poor adjective to describe what i would personally think of as a "poor purchase", in the MC Fields way.

i'm not referring to any particular person, or group, or even specific item.

as pointed out to me in my basic economics class years ago, an item is worth exactly what someone pays for it.

if something's common value is $,$$$, and someone is willing to pay $$,$$$ for it, go them. however, that person might be ... well, you know, either stupid rich, or penny foolish.

likewise, declaring something to be worth $$,$$$ when nobody will buy it for that price, doesn't make it worth $$,$$$.

hopefully this clears things up. if not, further dialog might be required.

MOSTLY i was poking fun at myself, which may not seem self-evident, as i've been known to spend stupid money on a Becker, that nobody would buy from me for even half.
 
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I haven't read every post, but I'm sure the relativity of the term has been mentioned. If you make $500K a year, no, dropping a few hundred bucks on a knife isnt' a big deal...

Now I'm just a middle-income blue-collar type who's plans at winning the lottery are taking longer than expected. Combine that with mortgage (bought just before the market completely tanked), car payment, family, etc etc etc, and yes, to me, they are very expensive. I'd say most folks in my income bracket and situation probably feel the same. Any time you start getting into 3 and 4 figures for RECREATIONAL toys (which they are for most of us), you're talking big dollars for folks like me. They are luxury items. It is actually hard for me to justify my spending on them when I could be well served by knives costing ~25% of a typical Busse. The main saving grace is that my relatively modest Busse collection was mostly obtained in no small part through trades and selling off several items I had put together through about 20 years of bachelordom. That and I don't really spend much $$ on anything else these days. Most of my clothes (outside of some jackets & boots) are 5+ years old. Most of my routine clothes are a good bit older than that, and bought on the cheap. I don't trick out my cars and I don't have a flat screen or the latest blue ray player. My furniture is ordinary. My lawnmower is about a 20 year old hand me down. My 'yardwork' shoes about probably about 12+ years old. And I do have any appreciation for top notch cutlery.

Now value is a different question, which I think goes to the heart of your point. Yes, in terms of value per dollar, Busse ranks very, very high if you need high performance in the cultery world.

Truth be told tho, most don't. As I've said many times, there's probably many times more Buck 119 Specials serving well in the field than there every will be Busses, and we don't hear about about folks coming to horrible deaths day after day from their economical factory knives failing time after time. Those blades perform fine most of the time. Yeah, they get chipped, bent, broken, etc. And normally when that happens its at worst and inconveniece and the next time they're at the retailer the spend another $50 and replace it. Most folks outside the Busse forums would never think of trying to chop down a tree, let alone through a cinder block with a knife. They use them for much more 'normal' cutting activities.

But for those of use that like the top end cutlery, even knowing 99% of the time, its full capability won't be tested, Busses are on the short list of blades of choice.

Anyhow, my $.02 worth, your mileage may vary.

BOSS
 
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Bladite said:
what if you have something you know you COULD sell for $$$$ but the reality is, there's maybe 2-5 people stupid enough to pay that?

contrast to having tangible skills or goods worth even a fraction that, which are much more easily converted?

it's a matter of opportunity...
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They are two separate things. If you have excellent job skills you may have no jobs available. If you have high priced, or low priced, goods you may not have buyers for the value your looking for. That selling an item requires a market does not change that the item expensive to purchase and hold onto. That you have good 'job skills' does not change that having expensive items in your possession may become a valuable source of emergency income.

I've gone through some 50 busse combat knives and I currently have 3, all of those were either sold or traded. I know that a market is not readily available, and despite the claims not all busses hold their value for immediate sale. I've sold plenty of knives at below cost - but not much below it. If the knife cost 300$ msrp and your willing to sell it at 200$ you are very likely to make a quick sale. This is important to your argument because if you have 2,000$ worth of knives and you can sell them quickly for 1,400$ - that's two months rent for me. If my 'good job skills' fail to get me a job for 6 months, the money being held up in those knives becomes very important.
 
As a useful "benchmark" for all of us ... and to show we all have way more than we need ... do a weekend away in the hills and look at what you pack ...

Need to go away on a work trip? Do the same thing.

I am often moving around ... especially now ... and it pains me to look at "excess" which lies "redundant" ... old hobbies ... old interests ... loads of old but good "gear" ...

I need to take a leaf from LVC's book ... and capitalise some of these "net assets" ... like many of us things are tight for me but this thread makes me realise I could improve upon the situation a hell of a lot. :thumbup:
 
i have gotten rid of a lot of lean meat, and will continue to do so, but certain things are not for sale, if nothing else, i can't buy them back, ever, most likely. gone.

do they have that value to others? some, maybe. something things, not so much. i have this rock, it weighs 100 lbs. it's "my rock". lives where i do. a connection to my past. worth? nothing really. useful? sometimes. getting rid of it? well, no, not unless i'm being shipped to "the farm" or something. even then, i'd try to find a home for it.

PPHWS: well, i hate travelling. lots. very lmited spartan lifestyle. might as well be called survival ;) got a few things, but really, when i get a hankering to ride my bicycle? not with me. read my books? don't have them. getting by imho is not living. i prefer smoothing it, not roughing it. one does what one has to, but prefereably, hopefully, happily, does not have to.
 
The "bike v rucksack" trips I have done are the ones where I remember missed oppertunities :thumbup: Cycled round Scotland using panniers and really wanted to do some Mountain Climbing in certain parts but had no gear ... went around Europe inter-railing with a rucksack and gear and really fancied some cycling in Italy and France where the hills and roads are epic ...

All told ... if I sold the bikes and had the cash available with me then renting a decent bike would be my preference. That way I can fly to Hawaii more easily but still have a go at their Iron Man cycle ride ...

We're all different ... but I still have a lot of things to do on my "bucket list" which necessitate travelling ... and for me I like it :thumbup:
 
Last Visible Canary said:
If you think of a 20,000$ item that can be sold for cash as not being part of your 'net worth' you are in a financial position that is considerably higher than the average american (lower middle class to poor), or you are of a social/personal mindset where money is 'not important'. "Net worth" is a description of the value of the goods that you own and their ability to be liquidated for money. 20K$ is a lot of money, regardless of what you have it tied up in. A lot of people simply do not have 20K$ in anything.

More importantly, for those who don't have 20k$ in anything but debt, even 1,000$ in a liquidatable product is, and always will be, an important source of survival funds should their financial situation turn south. If you have to choose between rent or your knives, it's likely that your knives are going to be sold off, and their value is important in this circumstance. It simply isn't something that your average lower middle class/poor person can disregard and say 'no, I bought that for fun. That it's worth 600$ and I'm 2 days from being on the street because I can't pay rent isn't important, Their current and future value isn't why I bought them, they aren't an investment or a status symbol."

Being poor sucks.
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Hah, I have you beat...I'm $45000 in debt, and will have made a whopping $13000 by the end of the year.:thumbup:
I don't chose between knives or rent either, I just always found a way to get both (usually by tacking it onto the debt. :))

And yes, I have a heathy dose of what you describe as "or you are of a social/personal mindset where money is 'not important'."

Is my net worth based on what I own?
Is it based on my debt?
Is it based on my debt versus stuff I own?

Or do I chose to define it for myself, rather than rely on the definitions of others?
(I tend to go with the last one...if I don't really care for what others think, why should I care about their supposed definitions?;))
 
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