"Memories. . . .like the corners of my . . ." mmm, I can't seem to remember the next word in that song. . . only more proof that I have lost my mind.
These knives look great! The cord wrap as well as the large camp knife were made in the '80's and were kept around the shop and used as hole patterns for drilling. I finished them up and sold them sometime in '92 or '93. The cord wrap is D-2 steel, The camp knife is A-2 steel and the original Steel Heart is ATS-34. Not all original Steel Hearts were ATS-34 as they were mostly made from A-2.
The ATS-34 models are very rare as less than 200 were made. All of these were made by me personally and were a bear to make because of the identifying characteristic. The identifying characteristic is the 3" diameter grind line as observed in the choil area. We had special tooling made just for this operation in order to deliver excellent lateral strength to the blade. It's a great little knife and I have seen the rare ATS-34 models sell for as much as $1,200.00. The A-2 versions commonly run in the $600.00 - $800.00 range. It all comes down to finding the right buyer.
The camp knife is, likewise, fairly rare as it was not a standard model and is deeply hollow ground. The little para cord model was made prior to Operation Desert Shield and was available to police and military only throughout Desert Storm. We still get calls from proud owners of these little demons inquiring as to whether or not we still make them. These were some of the earliest variants as I would hand grind different shapes and grind configurations in each blade. Very few, if any, have twins.
Early Busse knives are quickly being recognized as highly collectible. I have personally made thousands of knives and rarely see any of these for sale. As Busse Combat continues to grow and expand and move more towards production the handmade models appear to become increasingly more valuable.
Constraints put on me by available time and the fact that my injured hand only allows for minutes of continuous grinding as opposed to the endless hours I had previously enjoyed are certainly harbingers that my days of handgrinding may soon come to an end. The custom "Variants" that I now make will certainly become very rare as they represent, what appears to be, the end of my custom grinding days.
Congratulations on your collection.
Yours in 17 years of Nuclear Toughness,
Jerry Busse
