How did you discover Busse?

I was gifted my First Busse years ago from an IPSC shooter who I did some custom work on one of his 1911 Race Guns...Well I was not expecting anything other than labor fees....BUT one of the Best Gifts you can receive and the Tonnage I own Now is from how well the Gift Performed.:cool:
 
I was late coming here, but it was unavoidable.
I'm a casual user and seldom (never) get to the woods.
Commonly, a 3.5" bladed folding knife has been clipped in my rh pocket. Two yrs ago, I tried out my first 3"-3.5" cross-draw fixed blade, and have continued to carry both types of knives every day since then. Quite frankly, the high-grade folder seldom gets pulled for duty.
Always seeking to find a "better" blade for cross-draw, I purchased (to check out) and immediately resold many of the higher grade mid-tech and custom fixed blades in the approximate 3"-3.5" blade-length. I based my choice on blade-steel and finish, spine thickness and blade-shape, knife OAL, scale material and grippiness, reputation on BF, ease and security of cross-draw carry and deployment, and perhaps other parameters that don't occur to me at the moment.
Of course, once you've tried the rest, you're ready for the best.
I had shied away from Busse for a long time, perhaps due to its high cost and feeling that Busse offered only large, thick blades best suited for massive heavy-duty work. I was wrong. Finally, two months ago, I found a a thinner-bladed Game Warden that had a spine thickness of 0.170" and I bought it. Two days later, I found another one in 1/8" and happily snapped it up and have carried it ever since.
Due to the thinner blade-stock, it is necessarily weighted pretty heavily toward the grip, but I understand the Busse principle and accept it. I would, however, have welcomed a tapered (or skeletonized) tang with this knife to push the balance point forward toward the blade.
Finally, I re-profiled the blade to 34 degrees included angle, and it now fits my (very) casual life-style much better...kitchen duty or other house-hold minor cutting.
Busse makes good stuff. The Game Warden is a nice knife; I like it a lot.
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I've always been interested in knives. Prior to the internet, all I knew about knives was learned second hand, and reading gun and knife mags, taking thins with a grain of salt.

Then, I was at a gun show in Louisville in the early 90's. I saw several people standing around a table, and when I got closer, I saw a Madman chopping on a metal chair leg. Seeing the prices, I thought there was no way I'd be able to afford to pay that much for a knife.

Fast forward to about 7-8 years ago. I'd always wanted a Busse since that day at the gun show. I joined BladeForums, and found out about Swamp Rat and Scrap Yard being related to Busse. Eric, being in the same city as I was, sold me my 1st Bussekin, a Tan and Black Paper Micarta Ratmandu.

Then I later found O2W.

My wallet hasn't been the same since.
 
I was looking for a strop. Tripped over an air bleeder strop made by guess who... ;)
...Still looking for one lol :D
 
I saw busse online while browsing survival knives7 or 8 yrs back. but couldnt find any for sale was a noob to buying and only recently bought my first rmd black blade .green canvas the thing is a tank i do see why people may shy from buying these from europe anyways .the wait. although not very long.the price the rmd isnt very expensive but as i live in ireland .i do pay about 230 euros all in taxes n the like .but once i held it in my hand i actually carried it around the house in my hoody pocket for about a week havent used it outdoors yet as i am going to after christmas 3 month old son has my priority at moment but i am impressed and a swamp rat rucki is next then battle mistress f..c.k..n love em . J
 
I believe it was last year I was looking to get rid of a GEC, and a couple other traditionals, that just wasn't for me as I discovered anything over 2-blades in a single frame was excessive (multi-tools excluded). During that time, my enabler arrived, Uncle Timbo Uncle Timbo (different username then). I believe one of the trade options I had listed at the time was for a bigger knife as I was kind of discovering them at the point after having used hatchets for a long time but finding myself in a situation where machetes got a lot of work and I was just impressed with what a really long cutting edge can do, especially as you get tired and less accurate.

Well, a stripped ratweiler was offered as he didn't use it after getting an infi-weiler. I think this picture says the rest of the story up to a few weeks ago and then my first busse, the new nano fusion steel heart, is on order.
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bikerector bikerector , glad I could help you see the Busse family light. I can't wait to see your pictures of your new Fusion Steel Heart.
You're like me, I don't believe you have any Safe Queens. Your knives have to pull their own weight. The day I received my Infiweiler I took her out back and fed her some wood.
 
I saw their ad in a Blade magazine many years ago. The ad had a TGLB in it. I pretty much thought it was the coolest looking knife I had ever seen. I went to their website and ordered the TGLB in tanker grey with green/black G10 handles. Between the time that I ordered seemed like an eternity. When I received the knife I was absolutely floor boarded by it, it was 10 times better then I had even imagined it would be. I dont have that first TGLB anymore but have several other ones. Everytime I use one I still think its awesome.
 
I was researching knives back in 2011/12 and I stumbled on the site. Glad I stumbled. Great knives, warranty and people.
 
I had been into knives for several years but started off mainly looking for good budget blades and moved up the cost curve fairly slowly. I had heard of Busse and thought the designs were awesome, but always sort of felt they were out of my price range.

Then one day I was riding my bike in a local cemetery a few blocks from my last house and saw this:

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For whatever reason, seeing this family plot marker really stoked my interest. I had heard Busse was based up in Ohio and thought there might be a connection to this plot where I was. With a little digging I learned about the Busse Brick Company that was once based in NKY, (the SOB handles and the Mentor pay homage to this). After that the pieces really started to fall into place.

Even more interesting for me was when I saw the Busse name come up in some genealogy research that my family members were working on. Eventually I was able to determine that Jerry and I have some common ancestry! :eek::eek::D:thumbsup:

While the connection goes back several generations and is pretty distant, it was still a really cool discovery and it gave me something to point to when people ask why I'm such a crazy knife knut. :confused: It's in my blood!! :cool:

Jerry was awesome when I reached out to him via email with some questions and pics. I ordered a RMD from the Swamp and had at least 3 more from the exchange before it even shipped. Hooked for life.
 
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I had heard about Busse through this forum but it wasn't until going to a gun show where Hammy had a table full of the Busse family of blades and I was actually able to fondle one.
 
The very first?

Saw some of the original ads for the ASH1 in blade magazine (I think it was blade magazine) and thought "that's a good looking knife"

First 'for real' was at the knob Creek shoot, they had a table full of stuff. WAAAAY out of my range then, but the folks were awesome to talk to. That was 08 or 09 or so, maybe a tad earlier.
 
simple, i was looking for a chopper and started to look for custom work, nearly had one but the guy said: i quit so sorry

i continued searching and the timing was kind of perfect, the 1311 just got out, saw it and many review. got one.
 
Had read a few articles in American Survival Guide. The one that piqued my interest was the one by Chris Jankowsky. Tested a boatload of fixed and folders. The litany of tests he put them through far exceeded my anticipated usage parameters.
The Winner, fixed blade, was the SHSHII. The Folder was the Benchmade AFCK.
I figured if I got one of each, I'd be set.
Went to local GS, Busse was set up, with the National Sales manager manning. Started talking. Bought an apprentice wrapped Mean Street, and put a down payment on a SHSHII.
Got it after paying off, and fell in love. Started buying what I could, and picking the sales managers brain.
Then, there was a local show that needed covered as the other rep was at an out-of-state show, so I did a show, and had a good good showing.
Back then, (2001-2002ish) one could still find Busses for a great price, especially the "variants" (go do your homework).
It was a slippery slope, and I have loved every second of it. Met many many good people, established lifetime friendships, and, ended up with a nice stable of Busse blades, both common and rare (AF) ones.
Great product, great people.
 
Been collecting since 1986, started with an original cold steel tanto and just worked my way through pacific cutlery, timberline, Gerber, a few original CRK from South Africa.

In the 90’s moved to Benchmade, Emerson, Gryphon, later on Microtech and Protech. Finally over the last decade or so heavily into ESEE, damn fine workhorse with a great warranty.

Then while watching WD I saw Daryl’s knife and thought I need one of those! After a bit of looking into I saw the price list and wait times and was like “yeah someday”. Always been more of a point of purchase kind of guy, the thought of waiting for anything was out of the question.

Eventually I broke down and dropped a ton of unexpected cash on a custom shop TG and that was the end of it.

I’ve been scaling down my collection over the last year and investing the proceeds into new Busse’s as I’m now assuming they’ll be the last knives I ever need....

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I discovered Busse when my Tactical knives mag came in and had a steel heart article. This was in 1995-6 ish. I do not remember the exact month of the magazine. I then met Busse at a Gun/knife show in CA where he had his tables and several people working for him. There was lots of people surrounding the table and I doubt that more than a few words exchanged. That was in 1997-8 ish. I had ordered several knives at that time from Busse. At this time BF did not exist. KF and RecK existed. BF was created around that time and that is a whole other story.
 
I've loved knives ever since I got my first SAK when I was 9. I still have the scar on my finger she gave me on my first attempt at wood carving.

I've always carried a knife but it was usually a Chinese CRKT or Kershaw. About 6 months ago, I decided that I needed to finally break down and get myself a "nice" knife so I started checking out brands online and landed on Benchmade.

Well, I ended up getting ripped off on a fake benchmade auto from OfferUp and when I started trying to confirm my suspicions, I found BF and this awesome community.

Since then, I've bought and sold well over 100 blades and many other gadgets and gear along the way. One of those items I purchased was a laptop from the well known super HOG Chad Pirtle and he starts telling me how he has all these Busses. He is a super cool, down to earth guy so I thought - man, if Chad likes these things, they've gotta be nice because he's got good taste.

Now I have 27 Busses with at least 5 more on the way and 3 Swamp Rats and 3 SYKCOs. I may have gotten a late start but I'm not letting that stop me from trying to catch Chad. Lol

I can't even get excited about other blades now that I'm a Piglet and I've decided to let go of everything except a few select folders (Spyderco and CRKs) and my Bussekin. It's a sickness but at least there's a cure - Bacon!

Chris
 
I saw an ad in Blade Magazine in like 2014-15ish for the TGLB. I lurked on their website for a few months before ordering one. Once I recieved it that was it I was hooked.
 
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