Blue Sky, Mike Turber's test of the Cold Steel Trailmaster vs the Busse Basic 9 doesn't seem to exist online any more. It was originally here on Bladeforums. Below is the text of that testing that I archived. Due to BFC size limitations I will have to make multiple posts of it.
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Cold Steel Trail Master -vs- Busse Basic #9 By Mike Turber
Building brand recognition is a formidable task regardless of which industry you’re in. In the knife industry it is an even tougher task to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack for the simple reason that all knives are basically the same, especially fixed blades. So rather than be a "Me Too" company, several manufacturers have devoted much of their resources to developing new materials to offer the eager knife buying public.
To develop a proprietary material is very costly, so when you do make something unique, new and different you naturally want to tell the world and maybe even brag a bit. Over the last few years we have witnessed two manufacturers taking an approach to marketing which some would call "hype". At first glance the word "hype" appears to be a negative word and in some minds it means to "stretch the truth". This is not really the case as the word "hype", according to webster, means "to promote or publicize extravagantly".
Both Cold Steel and Busse have developed their own unique steel and both have hyped their lines to promote their new steels.
Cold Steel developed what is now known as Carbon V®. Over the years the steel has gone through several changes and now it is, in fact, a new proprietary steel. In fact to get this new steel, Cold Steel must order a minimum of 60,000 pounds! Cold Steel specifies the microstructure of the steel before it leaves the mill. They actually have an employee, a metallurgist, on premises to inspect the steel at virtually every step in the manufacturing process. This is very important because Cold Steel does not actually build the knives in their California facilities. The final result is a wonderful knife with impressive edge hold capabilities, not to mention each Cold Steel knife I have ever personally inspected is hair popping sharp!
Busse Combat Knives has also developed a new proprietary steel called "INFI". Until recently the magic property of the steel was only known to one person outside of Busse’s domain, me. I held this secret in strict confidence for nearly 2 years. One of the magic ingredients to "INFI" is Nitrogen and this was revealed in a thread at BladeForums in which a member actually conducted a radioactive isotope spectral analysis of Busse’s steel. But how does Jerry get it in there and more importantly keep it in there? Regardless of how it is made, the real question is how does it perform?
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If you have been following the ads by both makers, over the years it should be very apparent that each makes claims that their knife is the best on the market. Until now it could have been argued that comparing a Busse to the Cold Steel line was probably not fair, especially at the price points the Busse line was sold at. Not to mention, until now, the Busse line was considered a custom/handmade piece.
Enter the Busse basic line.
The Basic line by Busse is their first attempt at marketing a factory/production knife. It uses a modifed version of their now famous INFI steel. Basically the modified version of INFI uses less Cobalt which affects it’s performance nominally according to Busse. The Basic line was introduced to compete in the price point where most high end factory fixed blades reside. That category has been dominated by Cold Steel for many years.
Cold Steel’s flagship model fixed blade is the Trail Master in Carbon V. Cold Steel claims their CV Trail Master will out perform any knife they know of by a wide margin. The text below is quoted directly from Cold Steel.
"Why buy a Trail Master®? That's simple. Because it is, without a doubt, the most knife for the money ever built since the dawn of time. In terms of sharpness, edge holding, strength and sheer cutting power, it will outperform, by a very wide margin, any factory made knife we know of and 99% of all hand forged knives as well.
We know it may sound like we are going out on a limb with this statement, but unlike our competitors, we can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that every claim we have made for the Trail Master® since its introduction is true, not hype."
Well that is a very profound claim. Their ads also claim that their knife is "Indestructible". I remember when I was younger getting those "Indestructible" combs. Man I loved breaking those.
Busse also makes some very profound claims about the performance of their knives made from INFI. On their web site they show a comparison test with an "Unnamed" manufacturer, their closest competitor. Hummm….. Who could this be?
Well we can all pretty much take a calculated and educated guess as to who that company is. The Busse charts show their knife winning by very wide margins. The Cold Steel proof video shows their knives doing some incredible feats. Busse shows a similar video at shows with their knife duplicating some of the tests shown in the Cold Steel video.
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For now we will move past the obvious hype from both manufacturers and get down to business.
Let me preface this test, as I did with the 7" tests, by saying that many considerations must be taken into account when you either buy a knife or subsequently test one. The main focus of this test is to determine the overall quality and general cutting ability of the knives tested herein. No matter what the results are of this test, it will be argued that a knife was not designed for the specific test in which it was tested.
Our test will focus on the claims made by both manufacturers. I will duplicate several of the tests and I will add a few of my own. Our test will emphasize the edge holding ability of both knives and for comparison reasons we will be testing several other knives at the same time. The results for the other knives in this test will be placed in the tables at the end of this section. This will be a true head to head competition to show, who has in fact, the best knife overall and the best knife for the money.
Included in the test results soon will be:
UC-934 Special Ops Jungle Machete designed by George Lainhart, built by Camillus and sold by United Cutlery.
UC-RB1 Rambo First Blood knife made in Taiwan.
Mat Lamey handmade bowie style blade.
Adam Hymas handmade bowie style blade.
Rob Simonich handmade bowie style blade.
First impressions:
When you pick up the Trail Master you immediately notice it is one thick piece of steel. Using 5/16" stock and weighing nearly a pound, this is a monster knife. Cold Steel claims the knife weighs 16.7 oz. Our sample weighed in at 15.728 oz. The blade is flat ground with a standard V shaped edge. The handle material is made of Kraton and uses a classic checkered pattern that yields an excellent grip. There is a virgin brass guard to help keep your fingers from slipping down onto the blade. The blade also has a false top edge making it less "tip heavy" for better control. The balance point is right on the choil area which makes this knife extremely agile in various situations. The Trail Master comes with a top grain leather sheath, which in my opinion is not up to par for a knife in this class.
When you first pick up the Basic #9, you notice the extremely comfortable grip. Made of Resiprene "C", it is virtually impervious to most all chemical agents including Deet, which has been known to eat Kraton. The Busse weighs in at 15.136 oz. A lightweight compared to the Trail Master but it still has enough "beef" to get the job done. The balance on the Basic #9 is nearly a full inch ahead of the choil which makes it a bit "tip heavy" but it should help it’s performance in the chopping area. The ergonomically shaped handle has a large index finger groove area which acts as an effective guard. The edge uses a unique geometry only found on the Busse knives. It features a convex edge on one side and a nearly flat edge on the other. This combines the old Samurai convex style edge known for strength and edge holding with a semi flat edge for ease of sharpening and great slicing ability. The Basic #9 comes with a Kydex sheath which is very well made and makes a perfect carry solution for a knife this size. There are plans to offer left handed sheaths and possibly sheaths made of different materials. Stay tuned to our Blade Bytes section for more info as it becomes available
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