FSH vs NMSFNO vs other 8-inchers

There are a number of great 8 inch knives done by Busse....I like their FSH variants which have just that bit more "user" features like this one...

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The serrated clip works well on use with a ferro rod for fires...the idea of the serrations by the handle on the SAR4 and SAR8 can have you hitting your knuckles on the ground when striking the rod...whereas using a clip point means you can hold the knife at an angle and keep the ferro rod closer to the tinder material...which for me helps but you can get round the issue by placing tinder on a raised log or stone.

A lot gets said about a clip point damaging a "baton" but for me I see no harm in putting a few "dinks" in a baton...the weight of the variants though tends to be heavier than the standard FSH as they usually are done with .27 thick stock as opposed to .25 thick.
The handling of the variant I have is as nice as the .25 straight FSH which I also like a great deal....

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The only issue I have with these knives is that they tend to be rounded slightly on the spine...not fully rounded like the NMSFNO but enough smoothing to prevent a good strike...so you tend to use the front end of the finger choil on the blade, just behind the edge, where you can get a good strike...but again like the SAR8 checkering...you benefit from raising the tinder to keep the ferro rod closer...otherwise your hand can strike the ground. You can flatten down the spine though if you want...I did this on a SFNO LE and it works excellently...a D/C finish though would be damaged doing this and it works best on Satin models....or combat models stripped and altered first before bead blasting.

The serrated clip works well though on chopping knives of this size if you want to butcher deer or similar sized animals without damaging the main blade when chopping through the sternum or the spine or for that matter when taking the head off at the atlas joint. The leg bones on deer are very hard...personally I prefer to snap the first joint back on itself rather than chop through these but again the clip does a great job here and no rolling of the blade edge can happen which has occured from at least one previous post.

I have'nt seen a NMSFNO done with a serrated clip but I would certainly think they were a great option to a FSH or alternatively if you have the skills you could do your own clip and serrate it.
 
I've had a number of medium to large camp knives over the years (including a FBM LE, but not a FSH). I thought my NMSFNO was the perfect woods/camp/trek knife until I received my new SAR-8 LE - it's incredible!
 
I've had one NMSFNO with machine handles, one with hand-shaped, and one FSH. The FSH remains and I couldn't be happier. Very comfortable and a hell of a chopper.
 
It is worth noting that the rarest 8 inch knife to be seen on the exchange is probably the NMSFNO LE....they were expensive compared to the combat version but those who scored them must be very happy as they are hardly ever sold. I have a NMSFNO CG and love the balance and feel of these knives....

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IMO it is very hard to seperate the NMSFNO from the FSH D/C I have....but the variant model does edge ahead because of the additional features....however there is a big price difference between the two....albeit not such a big difference between the cost of the NMSFNO LE.
 
I can only agree with the majority of the comments regarding FSH - its handle is great for bringing down entire rain forests. I like my NMSFNOs, but somehow the handles are just not that comfortable.
 
The FSH's at factory prices at Blade West weren't quite as bad, price-wise, compared to the NMSFNO....


Just sayin' ;)
 
NMSFNO handles aren't the best. I like the feel of the SAR handle and the balance of SAR-8. Not sure about chopping though- have not tried it yet.

I am even thinking of feeding my NMSFNO handle to my Dremel to slim it down in the middle... Anybody has any advice on doing that?
 
Dremel's are not the best tool for this at all....I have sanded down a lot of my knife handles which come in the magnum size for a bespoke fit or just to remove hot spots on some of them...I use a triangular shaped electric sander...if you don't have digital calipers to take readings for uniformity of stock removal use a black magic marker and draw stripes across the handle...then sand them away in a uniform fashion and replace and repeat....my NMSFNO above was lightly sanded in this fashion to give me a smoother grip...often sanding develops the grain pattern on the linen micata grips better for a prettier effect...but the important thing is to go off feel as to what suits you...

A dremel has far too small a sanding surface and will leave gouges IMO...
 
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