INFI vs A2 comparison?

A2 is a "TOOL STEEL" used for making Hard working tools that has found its way into Knifemaking...It is a Premium Steel
SR-101 (52100) that has been Tweaked by Busse it is a Ball Bearing Steel...It is a Moderately Priced Blade Steel (the Busse heat treatment improves this steel)

Both A2 and SR-101(52100) are available to ALL BLADESMITH's/Knifemakers....INFI is a proprietary Carbon Steel which has been Tweaked by Busse for their own use.

Let's not Forget that the emergence of SR-101 in BUSSE blades is recent to bring the price of the product down for the consumer in the BATTLE GRADE MODELS introduced for O2W...
SR-101 is the Replacement for SR77 both Steels were primarily SWAMPRAT and SCRAPYARD Blade Materials.

A2 is the Better Choice over SR-101 IMO...and It is the Middle Child between INFI and SR-101!!!
 
F'lar said:
Read my post, by Ban.
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Yeah thanks flar I did it was just ten years old and just wanted to know if there was anything new.

Busto said:
A2 is a "TOOL STEEL" used for making Hard working tools that has found its way into Knifemaking...It is a Premium Steel
SR-101 (52100) that has been Tweaked by Busse it is a Ball Bearing Steel...It is a Moderately Priced Blade Steel (the Busse heat treatment improves this steel)

Both A2 and SR-101(52100) are available to ALL BLADESMITH's/Knifemakers....INFI is a proprietary Carbon Steel which has been Tweaked by Busse for their own use.

Let's not Forget that the emergence of SR-101 in BUSSE blades is recent to bring the price of the product down for the consumer in the BATTLE GRADE MODELS introduced for O2W...
SR-101 is the Replacement for SR77 both Steels were primarily SWAMPRAT and SCRAPYARD Blade Materials.

A2 is the Better Choice over SR-101 IMO...and It is the Middle Child between INFI and SR-101!!!
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This is great stuff and is kinda what I was hoping to hear! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Thank you sir!

F'lar said:
What he said. +1
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So you in FOUR show? LOL 4 sho?
 
Busto said:
A2 is a "TOOL STEEL" used for making Hard working tools that has found its way into Knifemaking...It is a Premium Steel
SR-101 (52100) that has been Tweaked by Busse it is a Ball Bearing Steel...It is a Moderately Priced Blade Steel (the Busse heat treatment improves this steel)

Both A2 and SR-101(52100) are available to ALL BLADESMITH's/Knifemakers....INFI is a proprietary Carbon Steel which has been Tweaked by Busse for their own use.

Let's not Forget that the emergence of SR-101 in BUSSE blades is recent to bring the price of the product down for the consumer in the BATTLE GRADE MODELS introduced for O2W...
SR-101 is the Replacement for SR77 both Steels were primarily SWAMPRAT and SCRAPYARD Blade Materials.

A2 is the Better Choice over SR-101 IMO...and It is the Middle Child between INFI and SR-101!!!
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I would agree with this assessment wholeheartedly.

ETA... This just may be the first Busse I order two up front, instead of ordering one, then desperately searching the for sale items for a second.
 
I'm curious, with Busse's heat treatment (confirmed to involve cryo treatment, right?) how much does A2 benefit? I thought that cryo had a greater benefit on complex stainless steels than on high carbon steels? How will a Busse A2 perform next to, say, a Bark River in A2? (Not trying to get anyone to bash either, it's just that my experience with A2 has almost exclusively been with my Barkies.)
 
A2 will hold an edge better than INFI. There are significantly different between 1% vs 0.6% carbon content.

INFI will has better overall toughness and rust resistance.
 
Well it's busse... so if your rambo enough to break it beating the hell out of it you get a shiny new one or credit.... didnt they jusy take care of a guy who broke a knife prying open a trailer hitch? Forgot what thread it was in.
 
With Carbon Steel a simple quench is all that is needed to produce a hardened blade. The additional touch of adding a cryo quench not only adds a little extra hardness and wear resistance without any sacrifice in toughness. At room temperature not all Austenite has transformed and the Cryogenics transforms any remaining austenite to martensite fully hardened steel. This treatment must be done before any "Tempering" to ensure no "Retained Austenite". I would say that ALL A2 Blade steels are Cryo Treated because they are a more complex steel that say O1 or W2 and require a Higher heat treat temperature.
I have chopped with both... Busse out performed Bark River (Bravo). And Both are Excellent Knives
 
Busto said:
With Carbon Steel a simple quench is all that is needed to produce a hardened blade. The additional touch of adding a cryo quench not only adds a little extra hardness and wear resistance without any sacrifice in toughness. At room temperature not all Austenite has transformed and the Cryogenics transforms any remaining austenite to martensite fully hardened steel. This treatment must be done before any "Tempering" to ensure no "Retained Austenite". I would say that ALL A2 Blade steels are Cryo Treated because they are a more complex steel that say O1 or W2 and require a Higher heat treat temperature.
I have chopped with both... Busse out performed Bark River (Bravo). And Both are Excellent Knives
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This is basically what I had thought. Interesting though, what you're saying about how all A2 is cryo treated. I suppose that just because it is high carbon, it still has a lot of other elements mixed in that can benefit very much from the finer grain structure a good cryo treatment provides. And yes, I expect Busse A2 to pretty much out perform anything except for INFI when it comes to toughness. I have had very good results from BRK A2, but have seen some chipping occur from fairly extreme use with dried out wood. We are talking about some thinner edges there, as well.
 
StealthCaliber said:
Well it's busse... so if your rambo enough to break it beating the hell out of it you get a shiny new one or credit.... didnt they jusy take care of a guy who broke a knife prying open a trailer hitch? Forgot what thread it was in.
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Yep, no doubt the best warranty in the biz, hands down! I would never pry a trailer hitch with one of my knives though, lol. Nice to know that if I had some kind of total judgement lapse, I would be taken care of, however!
 
Apocryphiliac said:
This is basically what I had thought. Interesting though, what you're saying about how all A2 is cryo treated. I suppose that just because it is high carbon, it still has a lot of other elements mixed in that can benefit very much from the finer grain structure a good cryo treatment provides. And yes, I expect Busse A2 to pretty much out perform anything except for INFI when it comes to toughness. I have had very good results from BRK A2, but have seen some chipping occur from fairly extreme use with dried out wood. We are talking about some thinner edges there, as well.
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A2 although it has a 1.0 Carbon also has 5.0 chromium and 1.0 molybdenum and like chromium molybdenum increase hardness penetration. A2 is an "Air Hardening" steel which as the name implies is COOLED with air....There are a number of way to accomplish that process I use Thick Aluminum Plates and place the blade between them with air purge to quickly quench the blade. Now the A2
being a more complex steel that requires High Heat and LONG soak time at temperature that it is a practice to wrap the blades in Stainless Steel Foil to decrease scale build up and decarburization so the blades are under pressure with quench plates to keep them from warping. The other method I employ is shielding gas (nitrogen) in the Heat Treat furnace which helps to eliminate scale.
 
So there ya go folks a2 vs infi vs sr101 all the info we needed. An in between steel. If it wasnt much more expensive, more work to temper and treat it'd probably be busses' battlegrade option of choice. Hell we might see more A2 options in the future, they had to place a large order I'm sure to cover the 1000 or however many TGa2s they have to crank out. Unless dumpster dan scoops it all up and uses it for special edition Yard blades :D
 
A2 is the old school steel that we built our extreme performance reputation on and used, nearly exclusively, for all of our big blades for 15 years leading up to the introduction of INFI!

So before INFI Jerry had all the performance dialed in with this Steel...:cool::thumbsup:
 
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