Chief Busse's Scalper Found!

idahoskunk

idahoskunk

Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Messages
19,806
Straight from Gatlinburg Tennessee!:eek:
Believe it or not, this old knife found in Gatlinburg is NOT obsidian. It is some kind of steel, probably D-2 as a magnet will stick to it. It has a blade of 4" long by a little over an 1/8". Total length is 10" long. Handle is of Whitetail antler. The blade is hafted to the horn by what looks to be hair.
Seller claims and swears on a stack of INFI that our very own Jerry made this in the early 80's.

OK Chief Busse, if and when you show up would you please give us some history on this piece?

Enjoy!

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Idaho,
Great find.

Jerry told me about these once but I've never seen one. What an incredible piece of Busse history. :D
 
Idaho,
Nice find, that is definitely different!! Does it have the crinkle finish??;)
 
Idaho, I'm waiting for jerry's input on whether or not he made that. The Cherokee reservation near gatlinburg produce lot's of beautiful pieces like that. Either way it's a great grab:D
 
Yowza! Oh Yeah! I made that. That is very old. The blade is made out of 0-1 tool steel and has been hardened and tempered. . . I don't know why. . . but I hardened it. It was hot gun-blued by a guy who really knew how to get 'em black. The handle is from a whitetail antler drop and if I remember right, that is horse hair wrapped around the handle with turquoise and silver beads for affect. I sold these through a store in Gatlinburg called the ACORN Shop. They used to be the biggest knife store in the world! Very cool! I don't recall a name for these other than my Flinted Indian Blade. Where are you finding these things? :eek: :cool:

Funny story about those blades. I started off making and selling knives through the rendezvous circuit with the historic re-enactors of the mountain man era. I used to actually knap flint blades for years but couldn't find enough flint to make large blades. I used a lot of glass and obsidian as well. I must've gotten frustrated at not being able to find enough flint for a knife sized blade, because I started making those out of steel and doing what I could to make them look like real obsidian. That has to be from the late '70's or very early '80's. They raised a lot of eyebrows when I took some old ones to the BLADE Show in 1983 and 1984. Bob Loveless refused to believe that it was made out of steel until he tapped on it with one of his blades.

Very Cool. . . Thanks for sharing the pics!!!! Wow! I can't get over that you found one of these. And BTW. . . GREAT PICS!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the real obsidian pieces that you included as well. Shazaam!!!


Jerry
 
really guys! i wouldn't try to fool you. this knife is actually sharp in most places. the workmanship is great and it is extremely hard blued steel. from all my research it looks to be early 80ish busse. i really don't know how it was ground but it resembles the real flint-obsidian style from thousands of years ago. i have been trying to get all the combat/war models and when this custer's last stand knife showed up i figured it would be a great addition to the collection. ;)
i had a choice between this and a jungle assualt so i grabbed up this one first. jungle assualts seem to be more plentyful so i just try to get the harder ones first.
 
wow! great jerry and thanks, lol, we posted about 1 minute apart just as i was thinking i had been had! :D

my wife loves this one and scarfed it up for her own!

i guess this old guy also has a knight light and a jungle assualt plus some others i have never heard of before. i'll try to get some pics of them and post for all to see.
 
I-skunk, you are a lsy ol' Busse hunter, aren't you. Nice catch.
 
i mostly search the forums going back to the inception of them. eric and andrew also know where most the good stuff is. they are getting very expensive now as they are charging a 20% finders fee. knife shows, gun shows and pawn shops are good to me also. i have dropped all other makers at this time and concentrate only on busse's.

can't wait to get my paws on some old busse maps, wish he could find some!
 
i may send this one over to chip for the "pop can nut basket" test, looks like he has all the right moves to make this kind of knife work! :D :D :D
 
Idaho, Send her over, I'll give it my best shot.;)
I think I need a bigger basket!!:D
 
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