Is any Busse a "Survival Knife"

[Pointy!]

Would you call any of the Busse knives a "Survival Knife" and if so which one? Why would you reccomend this knife as a survival knife instead of the others?

 

[sevenedges]

If I were going grab a wilderness survival knife my natural pick would be the Straight Handled Steel Heart or the Straight Handled Battle Mistress. The Battle Mistress being the first pick.


However you could use your little assult shaker to survive certian situations. So you could call any knife that you used to survive anything a survival knife. I guess

 

[Andrew Lynch]

Yes. Some are better than others (for a single-knife scenario). I would go with a SH or BM for that

 

[SALTY]

Even thogh I will probably start and finish this post with a recommendation that you get the SH, I have mentioned many time that survival means different things to different people in different settings. My friend's wife thinks that getting stuck in a ofur star hotel is survival mode compared to what she is used to.

With that said, if given enough time and ingenuity, much can be done with little. After all, look what mankind has done. There are those who are alive today who were alive when the Wright brothers first flew - amazing, huh?

The basics are, of course, oxygen, thermal protection (fire and/or shelter), water and food - pretty much in that order depending on climate, circumstances and what not.

When I think of survival, I do not think of building long term shelters and the beginnings of a colony. I am looking to keep myself alive, comfortable and getting out! Usually two knives are nice, a multi-tool or SAK with various features and a small and sharp cutting blade and then the chopping, prying, digging, pounding, splitting hunk of a knife. All of the larger Busses (and many of the small ones) would suffice but mny thoughts are generally the bigger the better unless the bigger is so big that you do not have it with you when you need it because it's so cumbersome to carry that you don't carry it. As promised, I will end where i started and say that the Steel Heart is big enough ... and small enough as well.

 

[1whobuys]

All of them are survival knifes.

Because all of them will do what ever you ask of them and never fail.

 

[Geraldo]

My SH-E (with a wicked-sharp symmetrical edge) would be one of my top choices for survival.

That said, your edc might be the only survival knife you have access to in an emergency. Choose wisely.

 

[marsupial]

While I agree that any knife is a survival knife there are some suited to some tasks better than others.I like the SH and the BM however I never did to well fileting fish or skinning squirrel with them,they are just to wide a blade better suited to heavier chores.My first pick for an all around survival knife and the one I carry is a 3/16 SJ with a symmetrical edge.This knife can do light chopping,filet,skin,whittle and is still large enuff to be self defensive if need be.Due to its size and blade design it can also be lashed to a pole easier(although I wouldnt reccommend it),its also more concealable,its also more sheeple friendly(not that I care).The SJ is an all around winner in my book(go easy on me you steel heart fans!)

 

[tackleberry]

In an emergency in the remote wilderness (there's my assumption) I'd go with the bm-e, no question.

I believe that your options, and odds for that matter, increase proportionally with the size of the blade you carry with you into the wild. Said another way, I think that a larger piece of steel can almost always handle the tasks of a smaller blade, but not vice versa. The BM-E is heavy and cumbersome in comparison to the SJ, NO, or even the SH, but I'd rather have a huge slab on INFI on my side in a real wilderness emergency than have one of its smaller bretheren.

You can talk in circles on this issue, debating the situation, the variables, the needs, etc., but at the end of the day, a BM-E will skin a dead animal just fine. If you're actually in a situation where you need to skin something you've just killed by necessity, you aren't going to mind the relative inefficiency of the BM in comparison to a smaller, more wieldy knife.

However, I can guarantee that if you have to chop anything down, to say build a viable shelter, you are going to pissed if you're stuck with a smaller blade.

Just my $.02.

 

[flatlander]

My opinion is my SHBM for anything but desert. There I'll take my SJ as there's not need for a BIG blade in the desert. I've been in both these situations in the military and that's what works for me. But then again, I've just been a lowly grunt for 21 years so what do I know. The brass say all I need is my bayonet
Bob

 

[Strabs]

The Steel Heart and a SAK or smaller Busse (GM, BA, or AD) would make me happy any day of the week

If I had to choose only one I suppose I could get by with a 1/4" Satin Jack or ergo Badger Attack (...ok, maybe even a Natural Outlaw )

 

[Rainmaker870]

Satin Jack, per my opinions as expressed in the Bussecombat forum:

Satin Jack. (Specifically, my 5/16" Satin Jack.)

If you've gotta have more knife than that I'd suggest the NO (although I've never actually held one.)

I guess my choices might be different if I lived in the jungle - but I don't. They might be different if I lived somewhere that required the chopping down of live trees - but I don't. I live in the Rocky Mountains, and in MY part of the Rockies chopping is something to be done for fun / convenience, not survival: way plenty dead wood already lying on the ground, and it takes a lot less time to break it off in the fork of a tree than it does to chop it up. For that matter, I've also taken good sized (3") dead limbs off a tree with my LMS, but it takes longer. Lots longer.

I take a mid-sized hatchet in case I DO want to chop something, but I'd leave the hatchet long before I had to drop the knife. I'll make a digging stick before I start scooping gravel, so digging's not a consideration.

I owned a CG Steel Heart for a while. Without getting into Straight vs. E-handle stuph, the knife was too big for me. I guess, if prying something OPEN was a concern, I'd have to change my viewpoint. Not too many crates, doors, or vehicles require that kind of attention at 10,000 feet.

The SJ is heavy enough to withstand anything a Busse is meant to withstand. It's small enough that it never gets in the way (which means I always have it with me.) With a reprofiled edge it's thin enough to easily make a fuzz stick, skin a small critter, etc. It's big enough and thick enough to split wood quickly with a baton. About the only thing I wouldn't do with it is fight a big predator; taking one of those on with your knife - any knife - is pretty much an exercise in futility anyway. (Make a long club, you'll have better luck.)

So my vote goes to the SJ, with a distant 2nd place for the NO.*

*Reprinted by permission from myself

 

[SALTY]

Steel Heart and a Busse folder would make me happy any day of the week.