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Every thing you ever wanted to know about INFI Steel, but were afraid to ask
This is from August 6, 1998
an email Jerry wrote, talking about his new steel.......
There will be a test after it's been read.
"Interesting facts about INFI:
Although the hardened INFI knives are 60 - 62 Rc we have yet been able to
chip an edge. The edge can be dented or disalligned but its high level of
malleability at such high hardness has never been duplicated by any other
steel that we are aware of or have tested. We have bent INFI 35 degrees in
a vise and it springs back to true. Why? What is the benefit to the
customer? Not only does this test demonstrate the enormous toughness and
lateral strength of an INFI blade but because our hardness is homogenous
and not differential it demonstrates the amount of lateral strength and
"spring" that the edge has as well. Many knives, which are differentially
tempered, are done so because the steel being used does not possess great
levels of inherent lateral strength at high hardness. In other words, if
the entire knife were left at the same hardness as the edge the knife would
be brittle in comparison to the same knife when differentially tempered.
Carrying this thought even further, it tells us that if the knife is
brittle or possesses low levels of lateral strength at high hardness then
the edge must possess these same characteristics even when differentially
treated because the edge is at the higher and more brittle hardness. The
other question that arises is which hardness will the point be at on a
differentially treated blade? There are only two choices; it is either the
high brittle hardness, like the edge, or the softer spring temper, like the
spine. Neither one offers optimal performance for the tip of the knife,
which is often the most, used portion of the blade. INFI does not suffer
from this malady because it is the only knife steel ever tested that has
achieved such high levels of lateral strength with a homogenous hardness of
60 62 Rc. No other steel has even neared this performance level.
INFI's high level of chip resistance makes this the easiest steel to
resharpen by hand that I have ever encountered. I personally fall into the
category of the "hand sharpening challenged". I've heard tales of those
who can sharpen ball peen hammers to a razor's edge on an Arkansas stone in
less than 5 seconds flat. My experiences have always been to the contrary.
The spine of the knife is usually sharper than the edge when I'm finished
applying my magic stone sharpening technique. One of the great beauties of
INFI is that simply stropping away from the edge (the way a barber strops a
straight edged razor) on a ceramic stick is basically all that is required
for INFI. Since you're not chipping steel off the edge there is no need to
grind any steel away. This feature of INFI will, likewise, allow you to
keep the same overall profile of the knife for a much greater period of
time. Cool, huh?
Stainless? Not supposed to be. However, INFI has demonstrated very high
levels of stain resistance in many different climates. Uncoated blades
have been tested for more than a year in Alaska and have made their way
into the wilds of British Columbia, the High Sierras and the tropical rain
forest. No rust in Alaska or British Columbia! No rust in the High
Sierras, even when exposed to great quantities of blood and left in the wet
grass overnight. The tropical rain forest, which has been known to rust
plastic (just kidding), did offer the toughest of the environmental
exposures and a light speckling of oxidation did occur but was easily
removed in the field with a hand rubbing of sand and water. No pitting was
reported. Now I'm sure that salt-water exposure would offer some different
results. The point is that although INFI is not a stainless it is certainly
not a rust aggressive steel as many of the high carbon steels have proven
to be. Couple this with our coating and you've got yourself a fairly
maintenance free knife.
How does it compare to other steels? Simple question, complex answer.
INFI represents what I have always dreamed of in a knife steel. Tougher,
by an enormous margin, than any other steel I've ever tested. Unparalleled
edge holding under high impact and in cutting tests. Shock resistance that
begs you to "bring it on". An ease of resharpening that you have to see to
believe. Higher levels of lateral strength at high hardness than have ever
been achieved by any other steel. We have published our test results and
our testing methodology. We have video taped all of these tests and play
the video at the knife shows we attend. We encourage all knifemakers to
duplicate our tests. We also encourage other knifemakers to supply us with
their testing criteria and videotape of their test results so that we might
perform the same tests on our INFI blades. We love testing knives! We
destroy more knives in a year than most custom knifemakers manufacture in
the same period of time. The only competitor's performance results that we
will publish will be those that have been supplied to the public or to us
privately by other makers. We will only publish the name of our
competition if they give us permission to do so. If you want to know how
another maker's knife will compare to a Busse Combat knife ask the other
maker to duplicate our tests. We will gladly duplicate their tests.
Will you notice the difference between our knives and our competitions? I
don't know. Most consumers will never take a knife to its limit. Many of
the high performance knives on the market surpass the abilities of human
abuse and cannot be taken past those limits without the assistance of
leverage devices and insane behavior. There are some out there, however
who have some real issues, who's primal urges cause them to run screaming
through the forests. Who seek therapy in the wilderness and only find some
resolve after cleaving down a patch of trees (dead ones of course) large
enough to constitute a small rain forest. For those of you who can relate
to this sort of behavior and think it beats the heck out of golfing, then
we make the knife you've been looking for. If you're the type of person
who wants more horsepower than you'll ever be able to use, then here we are
waiting for you with a knife and a guarantee,
Are we the only knife you should ever buy? I hope not. There are an
enormous number of fine knives and knifemakers in the market place. We
salute those companies who strive for performance and not cosmetics. Some
achieve both. The overall performance of knives has greatly increased over
the past 15 years. Some companies and makers achieve better performance
through better design, some through better construction, and some through
the use of better materials. Some have achieved one or two and, rarely,
some have achieved all three. I believe that Busse Combat has achieved all
three and we are not the only ones. On the other hand there are many
designs that confuse me, many choices of materials used that seem like a
waste, and construction choices from handle construction to blade grind
that seem to have been based solely on cost of manufacture. However, if
there is one thing I've learned, it is that the more I learn the more I
realize I don't know. Are there absolutes in design, construction, and
material choice? You better believe I think so, but these are only based
on my personal experiences and therefore are nothing more than opinion. I
learned through too many years of graduate school and academic study that
even though my opinions are supported heavily by facts they are still
nothing more than opinions. I believe that knife manufacturers who strive
for performance should keep an open mind.
Are we excited about INFI? Oh yeah! In fact it is difficult to contain
ourselves. We have invested a lot of time and money in this project. We
were prepared to invest more until we got it right. Luckily, more than ten
years and countless bucks later we hit the jackpot! Lucky us, lucky you.
With a steel like INFI it's easy to understand why we offer the toughest
guarantee in the business. We guarantee against any and all major damage,
including the handles, including accidental damage forever. We highly
encourage gross abuse as it is covered by OUR warranty. The only thing we
do not cover is intentional damage. For example, let's say you cut your
Busse Combat knife in half with an acetylene torch. We probably wouldn't
cover that . . . unless it was accidental, in which case we would send you
new knife. I have rambled for too long here. Thanks for bearing with me
and stay tuned to our website for more info in the future on INFI."
Your friend,
Jerry Busse
Post Extras
Every thing you ever wanted to know about INFI Steel, but were afraid to ask
This is from August 6, 1998
an email Jerry wrote, talking about his new steel.......
There will be a test after it's been read.
"Interesting facts about INFI:
Although the hardened INFI knives are 60 - 62 Rc we have yet been able to
chip an edge. The edge can be dented or disalligned but its high level of
malleability at such high hardness has never been duplicated by any other
steel that we are aware of or have tested. We have bent INFI 35 degrees in
a vise and it springs back to true. Why? What is the benefit to the
customer? Not only does this test demonstrate the enormous toughness and
lateral strength of an INFI blade but because our hardness is homogenous
and not differential it demonstrates the amount of lateral strength and
"spring" that the edge has as well. Many knives, which are differentially
tempered, are done so because the steel being used does not possess great
levels of inherent lateral strength at high hardness. In other words, if
the entire knife were left at the same hardness as the edge the knife would
be brittle in comparison to the same knife when differentially tempered.
Carrying this thought even further, it tells us that if the knife is
brittle or possesses low levels of lateral strength at high hardness then
the edge must possess these same characteristics even when differentially
treated because the edge is at the higher and more brittle hardness. The
other question that arises is which hardness will the point be at on a
differentially treated blade? There are only two choices; it is either the
high brittle hardness, like the edge, or the softer spring temper, like the
spine. Neither one offers optimal performance for the tip of the knife,
which is often the most, used portion of the blade. INFI does not suffer
from this malady because it is the only knife steel ever tested that has
achieved such high levels of lateral strength with a homogenous hardness of
60 62 Rc. No other steel has even neared this performance level.
INFI's high level of chip resistance makes this the easiest steel to
resharpen by hand that I have ever encountered. I personally fall into the
category of the "hand sharpening challenged". I've heard tales of those
who can sharpen ball peen hammers to a razor's edge on an Arkansas stone in
less than 5 seconds flat. My experiences have always been to the contrary.
The spine of the knife is usually sharper than the edge when I'm finished
applying my magic stone sharpening technique. One of the great beauties of
INFI is that simply stropping away from the edge (the way a barber strops a
straight edged razor) on a ceramic stick is basically all that is required
for INFI. Since you're not chipping steel off the edge there is no need to
grind any steel away. This feature of INFI will, likewise, allow you to
keep the same overall profile of the knife for a much greater period of
time. Cool, huh?
Stainless? Not supposed to be. However, INFI has demonstrated very high
levels of stain resistance in many different climates. Uncoated blades
have been tested for more than a year in Alaska and have made their way
into the wilds of British Columbia, the High Sierras and the tropical rain
forest. No rust in Alaska or British Columbia! No rust in the High
Sierras, even when exposed to great quantities of blood and left in the wet
grass overnight. The tropical rain forest, which has been known to rust
plastic (just kidding), did offer the toughest of the environmental
exposures and a light speckling of oxidation did occur but was easily
removed in the field with a hand rubbing of sand and water. No pitting was
reported. Now I'm sure that salt-water exposure would offer some different
results. The point is that although INFI is not a stainless it is certainly
not a rust aggressive steel as many of the high carbon steels have proven
to be. Couple this with our coating and you've got yourself a fairly
maintenance free knife.
How does it compare to other steels? Simple question, complex answer.
INFI represents what I have always dreamed of in a knife steel. Tougher,
by an enormous margin, than any other steel I've ever tested. Unparalleled
edge holding under high impact and in cutting tests. Shock resistance that
begs you to "bring it on". An ease of resharpening that you have to see to
believe. Higher levels of lateral strength at high hardness than have ever
been achieved by any other steel. We have published our test results and
our testing methodology. We have video taped all of these tests and play
the video at the knife shows we attend. We encourage all knifemakers to
duplicate our tests. We also encourage other knifemakers to supply us with
their testing criteria and videotape of their test results so that we might
perform the same tests on our INFI blades. We love testing knives! We
destroy more knives in a year than most custom knifemakers manufacture in
the same period of time. The only competitor's performance results that we
will publish will be those that have been supplied to the public or to us
privately by other makers. We will only publish the name of our
competition if they give us permission to do so. If you want to know how
another maker's knife will compare to a Busse Combat knife ask the other
maker to duplicate our tests. We will gladly duplicate their tests.
Will you notice the difference between our knives and our competitions? I
don't know. Most consumers will never take a knife to its limit. Many of
the high performance knives on the market surpass the abilities of human
abuse and cannot be taken past those limits without the assistance of
leverage devices and insane behavior. There are some out there, however
who have some real issues, who's primal urges cause them to run screaming
through the forests. Who seek therapy in the wilderness and only find some
resolve after cleaving down a patch of trees (dead ones of course) large
enough to constitute a small rain forest. For those of you who can relate
to this sort of behavior and think it beats the heck out of golfing, then
we make the knife you've been looking for. If you're the type of person
who wants more horsepower than you'll ever be able to use, then here we are
waiting for you with a knife and a guarantee,
Are we the only knife you should ever buy? I hope not. There are an
enormous number of fine knives and knifemakers in the market place. We
salute those companies who strive for performance and not cosmetics. Some
achieve both. The overall performance of knives has greatly increased over
the past 15 years. Some companies and makers achieve better performance
through better design, some through better construction, and some through
the use of better materials. Some have achieved one or two and, rarely,
some have achieved all three. I believe that Busse Combat has achieved all
three and we are not the only ones. On the other hand there are many
designs that confuse me, many choices of materials used that seem like a
waste, and construction choices from handle construction to blade grind
that seem to have been based solely on cost of manufacture. However, if
there is one thing I've learned, it is that the more I learn the more I
realize I don't know. Are there absolutes in design, construction, and
material choice? You better believe I think so, but these are only based
on my personal experiences and therefore are nothing more than opinion. I
learned through too many years of graduate school and academic study that
even though my opinions are supported heavily by facts they are still
nothing more than opinions. I believe that knife manufacturers who strive
for performance should keep an open mind.
Are we excited about INFI? Oh yeah! In fact it is difficult to contain
ourselves. We have invested a lot of time and money in this project. We
were prepared to invest more until we got it right. Luckily, more than ten
years and countless bucks later we hit the jackpot! Lucky us, lucky you.
With a steel like INFI it's easy to understand why we offer the toughest
guarantee in the business. We guarantee against any and all major damage,
including the handles, including accidental damage forever. We highly
encourage gross abuse as it is covered by OUR warranty. The only thing we
do not cover is intentional damage. For example, let's say you cut your
Busse Combat knife in half with an acetylene torch. We probably wouldn't
cover that . . . unless it was accidental, in which case we would send you
new knife. I have rambled for too long here. Thanks for bearing with me
and stay tuned to our website for more info in the future on INFI."
Your friend,
Jerry Busse
Post Extras
Thanks Chuck!!
)