Hi Zach, welcome to Busse. The pics you have taken I have looked at in detail and here are my thoughts on your query.
When you get a Busse from the shop the edge applied is likely done on a belt sander at pretty high speed - back in the day when the edges were not as sharp as you might expect it was noticed by a few of us that after a few sharpenings the quality of the edge improved a lot - meaning that the initial edge if done at high speed might have had a bit of heat in it and is not as tough as the edge you get after sharpening it yourself. Heat can do this. You need to keep the edge as cold as you can by dipping the knife in water and applying your own angles of preference on a belt sander to obtain the optimum level of performance.
Secondly, to work infi to its proper intent you are likely to strike stones or rocks even if you are chopping wood - particularly if chopping down trees when getting to the roots and striking near the soil. The "dinks" you get in the blade are able to be steeled out. The best tool for the job is a long shafted screw driver. You don't want to use a chef's steel or anything which removes metal. What you want is a hardened round shaft which can re-align the dinks into a straight line to enable you to retain the metal on the edge and sharpen it back up.
Essentially what you have on your edge can be remedied by doing this. The gaps in the edge are minor and will disappear with sharpening back up - so long as the rolls in the edge are straightened out.
The problem with the grips moving from throwning the knife can be resolved by drilling out the tube fasterners and realigning the grips properly and using new grip fasteners. Solid grip fasteners will be stronger. If this is a bit beyond your skills send the knife back in to have this done or a new set of tube fasteners added.
I don't throw my NMFBM - but I do use it hard.
Like you I got a CG NMFBM which I stripped and applied my own fully convex edge to. The edge was applied carefully and taken to a 15 degree either side back bevel with a 20 degree either side primary bevel then convexed in to a seemless convex curve.
After a lot of experimenting with Infi and trying different edges this works the best on non asymetrical grinds on the larger knives designed for hard use.
I took down the whole of this enclosure using my NMFBM and had no issues with edge once I had applied my own edge to the above specs.
Infi is a steel which suits knives used for chopping. The right edge will last a long time and be able to be stropped back to razor sharp comparatively easily allowing for the toughness of the steel. It is a the best I have come across for these uses and I have many thousands of dollars or pounds invested in knives - all of which have been used and tested. It is not however beyond the laws of physics - stones which are harder than the steel will affect the edge - the beauty of the steel is the ability to easily repair the edge and carry on.
You need to develop sharpening skills and have the right bits of gear to do this but if you upgrade to Gold membership and use the search engine and look at the posts from myself and others on the reviews and sharpening threads you will quickly get the hang of things.
Cutting through wire and fencing is a lot to do with the angle you strike it at and how hard you do it. Experiment by gently batonning to create "V" cuts in the wire which remove metal from it and deepen the "V" gradually - particularly if the fencing/wire is new. In my case this was old - and the knife could go through it like butter - but you need to learn what is doable and how to do it.
I live up on the moors of the UK in the Pennine Mountains and there are not many trees. If I were cut off and needed to make a fire a fence post is likely my only option. I would rather re-imburse the farmer for the fencing than worry about hypothermia - but to tackle a job like that I have practised what needs to be done carefully.
Hard use of a knife needs to be with some purpose - I would'nt just throw your NMFBM around a lot for fun. The Noss tests show how Infi can take punishment but to me they simply give me an indication of what the limits of the knife are. I prefer to work around those limits so that I can do what needs to be done with the knife if hard use is needed without wrecking the blade.
As for the guys who give negative comments like Van Damage - if they stump up the cash for the knives they want to criticise and do some decent reviews - then fine - they have a point. I have done a lot of testing and reviews on all sorts of alternative knives and on Busse's and you can check my findings if you do the upgrade. I would'nt recommend them if there was something better.
!
