Kodiak PA
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 1998
- Messages
- 2,447
Well, I got my Busse Basic 7 yesterday and couldnt wait to take her out for a quick knife test today. I got my knife from Frank Norman from Little River Trading Co. Frank is a wonderful person to work with and his communication & many emails to me during the delays from Busse were outstanding. To see Franks site Click Here
I climbed Mt. Old Woman today (I know I always climb a mountain to test my knives
) and Old Woman has a forest at its base with plenty of dead lumber to cut, plane and chop.
First of all, the knife is very attractive. The handle is very comfortable and has a hard rubber feel to it. It has rubberized nonslip serrations on its sides and thicker rubber inlays or at least they look to be inlays for an added grip just behind the serrations. There is a good size lanyard hold near its butt.
The blade is a 7 inches with a black epoxy coating over the modified infi steel. The unusual edge geometry that Frank reported does not give it a unusual look but the right side of the blade has a convexed edge and the left side is flat and the edge is very, very sharp! It really is an attractive looking knife. It shaved right out of the box. The spine of the blade is nice and thick and this knife screams out that it is tough!
It has a nice balance to it and has just the right amount of heft to it IMO. I like a knife that is a little on the heavier side. Of course there is another lanyard hole near the coil or is that for fixing the knife on a rifle? I have no idea. It does look cool, though.
The kydex sheath works for this knife. I have seen nicer systems such as an Edgeworks Sheath that Scott Evans makes but for a production knife I have no real complaints. It comes with a adjustable leg strap and a belt loop with a detachable strap that fits on the belt loop which I assume is for shoulder or pack retention. There is also a retention strap for the handle on the belt loop. Wearing the system, the knife hangs fairly low and the leg retention strap does a nice job helping to facilitate drawing out the knife. The snaps on the sheath system work fine. The black screws on the sheath scratch fairly easily so it might be a good idea to put some rust inhibitor on them. My biggest problem with kydex sheath systems is that I can never figure out all of the carry options. That is why I am a leather man. There is a recessed hold in the system that lines up with the choil hole on the knife and the leg strap is adjustable.
OK now the juicy parts how is this knife?
Well, it is a great knife! The first thing I wanted to do was to chop and plane. I found some large branches and I started to chop them very hard bordering on wailing and in no time the branches were off of the tree. Not a mark on the bevel and the epoxy coating held up well. Planing with the proximal portion of the blade near the handle works very well since plaining with the belly is a little more difficult. I would imagine that the Busse Model 3 or 5 would make a great skinning knifebetter than the Model 7. Whittling various pieces of wood was no problem and when I got home the cutting edge was as sharp as it started out. No chips, dents, edge deformation or scratches on the epoxy coating. The rubber handle is very comfortable when you are chopping. I know this was a limited test today but I figured with all of the folks getting the Model 9s from Mike, you would enjoy a little light anticipation reading.
Its a wonderful knife and I do not think anyone is going to be disappointed. I will report back later after I break it in a little more and I would really like to hear everyone elses opinion on this knife. I did not challenge the point this evening but there is always tomorrow.
Regards,
------------------
~Greg~
[This message has been edited by Kodiak PA (edited 23 September 1999).]
I climbed Mt. Old Woman today (I know I always climb a mountain to test my knives
First of all, the knife is very attractive. The handle is very comfortable and has a hard rubber feel to it. It has rubberized nonslip serrations on its sides and thicker rubber inlays or at least they look to be inlays for an added grip just behind the serrations. There is a good size lanyard hold near its butt.
The blade is a 7 inches with a black epoxy coating over the modified infi steel. The unusual edge geometry that Frank reported does not give it a unusual look but the right side of the blade has a convexed edge and the left side is flat and the edge is very, very sharp! It really is an attractive looking knife. It shaved right out of the box. The spine of the blade is nice and thick and this knife screams out that it is tough!
It has a nice balance to it and has just the right amount of heft to it IMO. I like a knife that is a little on the heavier side. Of course there is another lanyard hole near the coil or is that for fixing the knife on a rifle? I have no idea. It does look cool, though.
The kydex sheath works for this knife. I have seen nicer systems such as an Edgeworks Sheath that Scott Evans makes but for a production knife I have no real complaints. It comes with a adjustable leg strap and a belt loop with a detachable strap that fits on the belt loop which I assume is for shoulder or pack retention. There is also a retention strap for the handle on the belt loop. Wearing the system, the knife hangs fairly low and the leg retention strap does a nice job helping to facilitate drawing out the knife. The snaps on the sheath system work fine. The black screws on the sheath scratch fairly easily so it might be a good idea to put some rust inhibitor on them. My biggest problem with kydex sheath systems is that I can never figure out all of the carry options. That is why I am a leather man. There is a recessed hold in the system that lines up with the choil hole on the knife and the leg strap is adjustable.
OK now the juicy parts how is this knife?
Well, it is a great knife! The first thing I wanted to do was to chop and plane. I found some large branches and I started to chop them very hard bordering on wailing and in no time the branches were off of the tree. Not a mark on the bevel and the epoxy coating held up well. Planing with the proximal portion of the blade near the handle works very well since plaining with the belly is a little more difficult. I would imagine that the Busse Model 3 or 5 would make a great skinning knifebetter than the Model 7. Whittling various pieces of wood was no problem and when I got home the cutting edge was as sharp as it started out. No chips, dents, edge deformation or scratches on the epoxy coating. The rubber handle is very comfortable when you are chopping. I know this was a limited test today but I figured with all of the folks getting the Model 9s from Mike, you would enjoy a little light anticipation reading.
Its a wonderful knife and I do not think anyone is going to be disappointed. I will report back later after I break it in a little more and I would really like to hear everyone elses opinion on this knife. I did not challenge the point this evening but there is always tomorrow.
Regards,
------------------
~Greg~
[This message has been edited by Kodiak PA (edited 23 September 1999).]
