Easy/Cheap Handle Mod

ThunderUnderKilt

ThunderUnderKilt

Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
162
My first Busse is a beautiful CGFBM tan/snakeskin with standard scales. What a great knife. When I first received it, the standard scales felt a little on the thin side to me. The problem wasn't bad enough that I could justify the cost of swapping out the standard scales for the magnums. However, on_the_edge had a great idea for modifying the scales. He suggested covering the handle with heat shrink tubing. I tried it out, and the extra grip added by the tubing made all the difference. With the better gripping scales, the handle feels just right.

Even better, it's cheap and easy to do. I had some black tubing lying around from past projects. When flattened down, it measured 2.5" in width. I cut it to length with a slight angle for the butt, and then simply shrunk it using a heat gun. The whole process took 5 minutes. The tubing isn't the most rugged material, but it's cheap, and easy to replace.

handle_mod_side.jpg

handle_mod_bottom.jpg

handle_mod_butt.jpg
 
thats interesting. i wonder if one of those hogue pistol sleeves with the finger grooves would work.
 
Tyrkon Lawson said:
Now that's the best of both worlds! Great job man. How does it feel chopping?
Click to expand...

Feels great! This is my first chopper. I did a side by side test with my Fiskar hatchet. Both equally sharp. On soft materials, the FBM smoked the hatchet because of the thinner profile. I then tried it on a piece of kiln dried red oak, 1"x2", and they were evenly matched.

One thing I notice when comparing the FBM to the hatchet was the difference in cutting surface translated to ease of chopping. With the hatchet, I only had 4" of cutting surface, so my swings had to be much more refined compared the the FBM. With the FBM, I just swung, and I knew the knife would make contact. However, for the same reason, in close quarters, the hatchet was easier to use since I didn't need to worry about a 10" swath of destruction swinging around.

All in all, a great knife.
 
Nice pics!:thumbup: I'm glad there was an easy (and inexpensive) fix to the handle/size issue.
 
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