First, welcome to the Forums and welcome to Busse. Second, reach out for and get to know one Andy Priscoe of Sharper Instincts. Andy is the east coast guru of things sharp called Busse.
The Basic line has blade lengths (in inches) of 3,5,7, and 9 with their model numbers corresponding to the length of the blade. The handles are a rubber-LIKE material called resiprene which has many of the attributes of rubber without all of the detriments. The Basic Line is made of "Modified INFI" which, please forgive my less than scientific description, is almost as good as INFI and much better than most other blade steel/heat treat combinations. The Basic blades are smooth black coated and are the lesser priced, more user oriented, less collector oriented of the two lines. **Important Footnote: This in
NO WAY, SHAPE or FORM implies that the Combat Line is not intended to be used, far, far from the case.
The "Combat" line is made of INFI and generally has Micarta handle slabs with a quilted or checkered finish for additional grip. The full tang protrudes aft past the slabs for pounding, knocking, rapping,
communiciating
, you get the idea.
The Combat line has a much lower
aspect ratio than most knives even the Basic line, in other words, a wider blade (from cutting edge to spine) and are generally heavier for their given blade lengths. I am a big fan of Busse Knives, relatively new myself, and find their website lacking compared to others, but I much prefer Jerry & Company making knives with their time, even if at some toll to their website.
The Lean Mean Street, Mean Street, Badger Attack, Natural Outlaw, Steel Heart (the "SH" you inquired about) and Battle Mistress are their combat line from small to large. The "E" designation represents
Ergonomic handle, as opposed to "Straight" handles. The "E" handles bend down some from parallel (to blade). The straight handles are not as functional, IMO, but have garnered collector status and collector value due to their no longer being produced. Not all items are always readily available and not all are in current production and or immediate distribution. This is where Andy Priscoe comes in. He is a great guy and very helpful to Busse fans veteran and newbie. "Variants" , which are a Priscoe specialty, are combat line quality knives that vary from the norm.
The company is one of the very good ones in the industry that actually cares about their customers and their products. Jerry Busse actually
reached out to me after I posted, in a passing comment, about a minor cosmetic flaw in my Badger Attack/E.
He contacted me via email, off Forum, not in any fashion as a "glory hound" and invited me to sent the knife back for him to fix, redo and otherwise make perfect. He has done similar to/for others. He cares.
Again, welcome to the Forums and be advised that I am far from expert on the topic above and invite those more experienced than I to jump in and supplement and/or correct me as needed.
[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 05-06-2001).]
