Cliff’s Basic # 7 commits suicide!

Jerry Busse

Jerry Busse

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Cliff’s Basic # 7 could take no more. After having sent Cliff a Basic # 7 a little over 2 years ago with the instructions to test it to the point of total destruction, we thought we would be hearing from him within a couple of weeks. More than 2 YEARS later we finally received the death notice. Cliff’s Basic # 7, after having been beaten senseless and tested more heavily than any other knife in Cliff’s disturbed history, gave up the ghost while being beaten on with the sledge hammer end of a hatchet. Its frail, anorexic blade could take no more. Witnesses say that a note was found in the pocket of the sheath. . . It read something like this:

“Dear Cliff,

What the. . . .? I am a knife. . . . not a railroad spike! I do not know what voices you hear and I do not know what they tell you to do. I can take no more! I’m breaking out of here . . . Literally! Tell your Mistress I’ll continue to think of her. . . . .

Later Creep!,

Your once Basic #7. . . . and now Basic #5 ¾ .”


We at Busse Combat celebrate the fact that Cliff was finally able to destroy his Basic #7. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving knife. . . . .

Cliff will be giving the eulogy. (How inappropriate is that? The killer offers his final words over his latest victim?) It's sick!

Here’s a side by side comparison of what were once, two identical Basic #7 test blades. The top one is Cliff’s Basic #7. The bottom one is the shop’s Basic #7 test blade. Notice any difference? If you truly want to know what level of use and abuse your knives can take. . . .send them to Cliff. Over the 2 years that he tested the Basic # 7, he reground it by many, many re-sharpenings, and modified it by expanding the choil, and grinding a wire cutting notch in the top of the ricasso. He then burned the handle, cut the handle, and put some type of, what I believe to be fiberglass, goop over the handle to make it fit his hand better. I love to see one of our blades that has had this much use pounded into it. It gives them “Character”.

View



Below is a close up of the two handles. Note the expanded choil in front of the guard and the wire breaking notch ground into the top of the ricasso. Nice, personal, additions.

View


Below is what is left of Cliff’s Basic # 7. . . two years after he began heavy, abusive testing. The sheath, I believe, had hung in there, but once the knife finally died, Cliff killed it to see how tough it really was.

View



We’ll be sending Cliff one of our new 1” thick models sometime next week
wink.gif
.

Yours in nuclear testosterone,

Jerry Busse



[This message has been edited by Jerry Busse (edited 06-25-2001).]
 
This is the first time that I can recall seeing a picture of a broken knife that made me WANT to buy that particular model!

Tenbeers
 
Cliff,
YOU DA MAN!!!!! It's too cool for words. See ya #7.
Yours in nuclear envy,
Andrew Pinchen
P.S.- which Busse is next Cliff?
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Tenbeers:
This is the first time that I can recall seeing a picture of a broken knife that made me WANT to buy that particular model!

Tenbeers</font>
Click to expand...

I all ready have that model. It makes me want to buy all of the other models!!
biggrin.gif


Shawn
 
Jerry & (especially) Cliff,

Thanks for giving me my daily dose of that "warm happy fuzzy makes me want to celebrate all over myself every time I think about a Busse knife" feeling. As luck would have it, there's a Basic 7 somewhere on the road rumbling my way on the brown truck of joy at this very moment. I hope the little piker appreciates that it didn't wind up being delivered into the cruel sadistic hands of that fellow up in NF.
wink.gif


But I gotta say, Cliff's treatment of the blade and what it took to finally put it down for good are a tremendous testament to the quality of Busse knives. My question is, if it takes two years of Cliff's hyper-unusual treatment to kill M-INFI, what's it take to kill INFI??

Keep your Busses close,
Greg
 
So sad.... I really did not think he could do it short of acetylene.... So does it go into the Busse museum or is it gonna go up for bid? I'll start at 1.00 (shipped)

------------------
If You Abide in Him then,"All His Promises are YES and AMEN"
 
WOW, Cliff!!! You BASICally STAMPed it out of existance. Maybe you should read books to your knives instead.

Do all Busse's go to Heaven?
Does this mean the Basic line will live on?

Guess we will have to wait and see.

Van

------------------
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17
 
eek.gif


Cliff!!!!!!!!!

Remind me never to send you a knife!!!

But seriously, is Cliff the first man to snap a busse in half during actual use?

And Cliff, i have to offer you my congratulations.
biggrin.gif


James

------------------
My Home Page (writings)

The beast we are, lest the beast we become.
 
Having been a fan of Cliff's warped sense of "testing" for years now, even I'm a bit surprised to see a Busse bite the dust. However, if anyone can break a Busse, I'm guessing it would be Cliff, Fat Man, Little Boy, and the business end of a Barrett Light 50, not necessarily in that order.

What warms my heart and makes me a firm Busse fan is that Jerry and the gang celebrate the destruction, are chagrined by the whole idea, and that Busse, being the stand-up company it is, is sending another victim, er, knife out to Cliff.

So, Jerry, what's the Busse breakage rate up to these days, 0.0002%? We told you not to make a wimpy knife...
wink.gif


Then again, if Cliff can manage to somehow break a Busse, then mine will last, oh, let's see, at least until some future archeologist finds an ancient bottle of Black Label. I'll bet it'll taste the same as it does today...
rolleyes.gif


------------------
Don LeHue

"You want what? On the friggen' ceiling?!" - Michaelangelo Buonarroti
 
Jerry :

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Here?s a side by side comparison of what were once, two identical Basic #7 test
blades</font>
Click to expand...

I remember doing some chopping work with the Basic awhile ago and it didn't match up well with some notes I had made about its NIB performance. I figured that it had lost a little weight, seems as that was indeed the case.

For those wondering what the marring is on the surface of the Basic. I loaned it to a friend awhile ago who tried to "polish" the blade. Turns out they used a dremel with a coarse wheel and then gave up quickly. INFI defeats another attempted mauling.

RokJok :

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">But I gotta say, Cliff's treatment of the blade and what it took to finally put it
down for good are a tremendous testament to the quality of Busse knives.</font>
Click to expand...

Yes, I feel the same way. I saw first hand things done to the Basic that left me shaking me head in amazement, and that takes a fair amount. Some of which I have posted up on this forum like the crazy foot stomping board splitting some are beyond even that.

Lots of things that I would not have believed except that I saw them. Lots of heavy prying for example. I have seen pullups just just the edge of the blade supporting 180+ lbs and have seen the blade been used as a step to climb trees, that's insane for any number of reasons.

But the thing that impresses me more than all of that is that the knife is hardly a "sharpened pry bar". While the stock is decently thick (0.25"), it has a full flat grind and an edge thinner than many popular blades. It functions very well as a knife.

When you are finished banging it around, you can take it and it will cut and chop very well. It also has a high resistance to corrosion (no one but me every oiled it), and I recieved no complaints about the edge it took, how long it held it or how difficult it was to sharpen.

I can't think of a directly better blade than the Basic (outside of the combat line) that will outperform it over a broad scope of work. One of the main reasons for this of course is the stand up nature of Busse Combat and the fact that you can use the blades with absolute confidence. There is no "this is what our blades can do" but "this is what you can do with them" sort of double speak.

This is of course obvious in the above, I have interacted with many makers/manufactures and when things get around to dicussing failure points especially when it is not a discussion centered on theory, the conversation can get a little heated. Busse as expected speaks of this openly and directly as he does with all aspects of his knives - which by the way impresses me even more than the knives do themselves.

In regards to the sheath and why it is in bits, it had suffered many stress cracks due to low temperature exposure BUT held up better than any other Kydex I have seen, and I have broken more than a couple of sheaths. The Kydex is thick and shaped in a manner that is very resistant to fracture, even forming with smooth curvature, like the knives which you would expect. The sheath is in pieces like that because I didn't need it anymore and was curious if I could tear it.

MrCas :

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Is there any chance of seeing Cliff's BM side by side with a brand new BM for
comparison?</font>
Click to expand...

I am thinking of sending in my BM for a slight refit (maybe coating, new grips or cord wrap), plus I need a new sheath as the old one has stress cracks all over the place, so yes it is possible.

Thanks all, and yes the BM is still hard at work. It is a discontinued model, and even rarer has some light modifications from standard like no clip, but it is still one of my main work blades and sees fequent use. Just recently it limbed out over 150 small trees, with no ill effects. It has been modified slightly as well, rounding to the Micarta, expansion and smoothing of the index finger notch, and has seen some cosmetic damage from heavy impacts to the spine (indendation on a 60RC blade, that's not trivial), has some flecks of black oxide from long term exposure to salt water, and of course has been sharpened many a time - but is still going strong and cutting exceptionally well - which is more than I can say for many blades that have passed my way.


-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 06-27-2001).]
 
Jerry,

How about Cliff Stamp LE 7 with the silly putty handle & a name contest for it? Instead of the wire breaking notch thing a ma gig, how about a long neck bottle opener?
 
Cliff,
I sleep better knowing that it took YOU 2 years to do this. My knives don't get near the abuse, I'm sure they will last an eternity.
biggrin.gif



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Eric Isaacson

[This message has been edited by eaisaacs (edited 06-27-2001).]
 
Cliff,
I am curious, have you ever shot a Busse knife? Is a Busse knife warrantied against shootings? I have not shot my Busse YET. I am wondering if a steel jacketed bullet will go through it, or bounce off of it? This test would be purely for self defence, like body armor. If it will deflect bullets, I could use it to ward off intruders, and if need be, throw it at them. My #9 is a great thrower.
Van


------------------
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17
 
Shooting your knife in the side of the blade. . . . is incredibly dangerous and will most likely ruin your knife, depending on angle of impact. Our warranty does not cover intentional damage, however, if somone were to shoot you and hit your knife, then that would be another story. If this happens, just send back the pieces of your knife and an Xray of your bruised internal organs and we will send you another at no charge.
wink.gif


Yours in bulletproof blades,

Jerry Busse
 
hi all i am sorry for digging ash posts here, but i really wanta know more about INFI and BUSSE knives.
but i can not open the pics here, who can do me a favor?
thanks

dingy
 
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