How to Sharpen a BUSSE Bushwacker Mistress

cziv

cziv

Joined
Nov 24, 2005
Messages
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I need to know how to Sharpen a BUSSE Bushwacker Mistress. My Junglas came screaming sharp - unreal actually - from the factory. My Bushwacker Mistress is a convex blade but has a small utitlity edge on it that's not very sharp. Barely slices a piece of copy paper.

I was told they ship this way for safety reasons - yah - just like they don't come with a sheath either. So I asked in the BUSSE forum and was told to sharpen using a stropping motion only and never to sharpen towards the edge.

I bought a Junglas at the same time that is crazy sharp!! I've been using that since there's no comparison in sharpness. I'm trying to sell the BWM and if it doesn't sell I'll have to have a sharp (very sharp edge) on it.

Should I use sand paper and a mousepad or drag it across stones? What do you guys think? :)
 
I'm not the guy to really be giving advice on this but the sandpaper method is the way to go I believe. If you are going to use a mousepad, make sure you use an old school one that has soft cushion and not a hard top. A phonebook will also work. After the sandpaper move on to a compound loaded strop. I bought the complete sharpening kit from knivesshipfree.com which comes with several grits of sandpaper, a double sided strop, 2 compounds, and a box that turns into your sharpening table.

Watch these videos here http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages/Sharpening-Videos .
 
I have an older shbm and have messed around sharpening it for years. I have come to believe that the mousepad is too soft and has too much give. If you want to do the sand paper route use it over a piece of leather. Then take the sand paper off and work the strop with compound. I have gotten pretty good results with that.

My latest and greatest is a belt sander to get the convex sharp and then buff it on a paper wheel. This is the best combination i have found for my use to date. If you use a belt sander practice on some junk first and dont let it get hot. You have to use some sense here and there is some cost involved but it doesnt have to be huge.

Another option would be to send it to Richard who posts frequently on this board and he could tune it up for you. The only downside is that you wont have learned anything. I had the best of both and went to see him, got my knife tuned up and he tutored me on how to do it.

BTW, if I may ask, why are you selling it? Unless you really need to you might regret that someday.
Josh
 
j_d said:
I have come to believe that the mousepad is too soft and has too much give.
Click to expand...

I think that's relative to the amount of pressure you use. A lot of people have success with mouse pads. I guess it's whatever works for you.
 
He is using a really, really, big, heavy manly knife. Im sure it could be done on a mousepad, or air mattress for that matter but leather is going to give more consistent results without having to over focus on how much weight he will have to hold off the pad, my experience and opinion only.
Cheers
josh
 
j_d said:
He is using a really, really, big, heavy manly knife. Im sure it could be done on a mousepad, or air mattress for that matter but leather is going to give more consistent results without having to over focus on how much weight he will have to hold off the pad, my experience and opinion only.
Cheers
josh
Click to expand...

I agree. Well said.
 
Might have to take a ride down to Richard's and have him work his paper wheel magic on it. Thanks! ;)
 
There is nothing special about sharpening INFI. Since you have DMT stones and ceramic rods, you have the tools. Many folk use 'standard' V edges for their Busse knives. Some Busses have a true zero edge convex, and for those, one would use the stropping technique, or a belt grinder.

And you're right, it should have been delivered sharp.
 
If you go to see Richard plan on spending some time there. He is a good guy and can show you some stuff. For convexing he will likely use his really cool home made belt sander and then a paper wheel to buff the edge - if i had to guess. I would also take anything else you have and have him tell you how to use it. Also ask him if you can check out the k2 knife he made.
Josh
 
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