i beleive that i saw someone say this a while ago, but its worth saying over again,
if someone would be willing to go through the effort and time, i would be very, very willing to buy a book of busse. a history of the knives, the knife making, a nice visual catalog of the variants and standard models, and more over, a list of the knives made before the striaght handled days, ala the feild grades.
as to the history of busse, as in before what can be read on the last year of posts, i know nothing.
definitely badmojo.tv. wealth of info
right now, one of the best ways to get a knife straight from busse combat, is to call them up, and ask if they have anything in stock. if not, you have two choices for knives that are being made currently, the assault shaker and the active duty. these are the two knives that arent going to change with the new line of models thats coming out, so they are available still. (so it seems)
the as is 117@, the ad is 217.
the new lines price list curtasy of hdwrlover
Item Blade Overall Price Avail
M.O.A.B 13" 18" ON REQ
Natural Outlaw 6.75" 12.5" $287 Sept.
Active Duty 3.5" 7.75" $187 Sept.
Badger Attack 5" 10.5" $227 Oct.
Pronto Tonto 6.75" 12.25" $287 Oct.
Tank Buster 5" 10.5" $227 Nov.
Pronto Recurve 6.75" 12.25" $287 Nov.
Fusion Heart 8" 14" $347 Dec.
Tanto 6" 11.75" $247 Dec.
Satin Jack 6" 11.75" $247 Jan.
Paul's Hatchet 3" 9.5" $227 Jan.
Proto Fighter 6.75" 12.25" $287 Feb.
Air Rescue 5" 10.5" $227 Feb.
Fusion Mistress 10" 16" $397 Mar.
Public Defender 5" 10.5" $227 Mar.
SF Recurve 6" 11.75" $247 Apr.
Assault Shaker 2.5" 5.5" $117 Apr.
so far, busse combat has had 3 major lines of production models.
the straight handles,
the ergo's
and the fusions.
for the smaller knives, there was also the 3rd generation handle set up, that was a striaght handle with an index finger groove. this came after the ergo line.
the straight handled line tended to have wider blades then the ergo line, and the new fusion line is tending towards the old style, and are no longer making the blade models similar, only for their length. each one of the new knives is different in and of itself.
the old straight handles tended to wear on the palm, as there were straight.
the ergo line beefed up the handles making them wider, and gave them the busse logo style drop, so that the knie was at a very slight angle to the hand.
the new line has three handles, fusion, special forces and tactical. the tactical has a nice palm swell, a thumb ramp, and a "stinger" like skull scrusher. the special forces is a smoothed out version of the fusion handles, with a light palm swell, and a very slight dip in the but of the knife. it features a skull crusher and a (dont know the name of the hole). the fusions have a large curve in the butt of the knife, with a smooth texturing in the micarta so that the hand doesnt get irritated while doing heavy impact chopping, further up on the knife, nnear the blade, the texturing is aggressive, to give better grip.
you can see all the new line, with names attached here
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=272691
you can find the info on the schedule and some of the ordering set up at the above posted post (tentative schedule)
on most of them its linen micarta....
badmojo has info on infi.
rarely if ever chips, dents and rolls instead of chipping. has excellent lateral stress abilities, even at high hardness. holds and edge well and sharpens easily. (compared to d2 in my 806d2, its easier. compared to m2 in a bm nimravus, considerably easier. compared to strider bg-42 - ITS LIKE BUTTER.) while its not stainless, it does resist rust well. but like all knives, if you take care of them, chances are its not going to give you to much of a rust problem.
as far as high alloy steels, i can think of no other thats as strong as infi. L6, 1050 and such, spring steels, they can take a serious beating, ala the himilayan imports, but ats34, s30v, bg-42, i wouldnt trust trying to pry hard with them. (or hitting wood on a bed of rocky soil)
im pretty sure that busse combat will sharpen it as you want it to be sharpened.
the customs are handled by master bladesmiths that work at the busse compound, but if its a custom, it goes through jerry's hands and as far as i know, inspection and approval.
grind frontal design being when jerry takes it to the grinder without a sketch, or any previous designing. whatever comes, comes.
lol... sorry.... when people ask me about knives at work, i can rant for days... even though i really dont know very much.... hope some of that helps. most of that info can be found on the boards, or at badmojo (thats where i found it. stick around for about 4 months, and you'll know a fair bit. enough to know what you like
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