Is the Busse market mostly collector driven?

Andy the Aussie said:
There are several analogies that can be made, watch TV, bet you see a KIA/Toyota/Ford/GM TV commercial at some point in a day, how many time do you see Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini etc etc run a TV ad or have a dealership in a small town. Now these are still production vehicles, just like Busse are production blades, but the buyer is a different kettle of fish than the average Toyota/Kia/Ford buyer is. Maybe a better educated/more discerning about the item and of course $$s come into play.

Emt… I get what you are saying, but I don’t think it is about “collectors” it is more about “educated buyers” …. it is why Jerry does not NEED to offer his blades through large retail outlets. There are clearly enough “educated buyers” to keep him (and a good group of staff) well and truly in business. Why that “education” has brought the buyer to Busse for differs person to person no doubt at all.
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As for the analogies, I see where you are coming from in one aspect, but in another you are comparing apples and oranges. A top end car is only going to be afforded by a miniscule part of society/consumers. And those consumers know very well what those cars have to offer from a collector AND user standpoint from all the use of them in racing, movies, by celebrities, sports figures, rappers, etc.... so advertisement and stocking of them at the local dealerships are not needed.

As far as educated buyers vs. collectors....yes...that might be a better way of saying it but we are still going back to the ONLY educated buyers being collectors because, unlike the brands the big stores carry, you are FORCED to know knives VERY well and FORCED to do your own research on Busse because the information in the form of ads and product availability just isn't out there for your average sportsman or citizen.

-Emt1581
 
Just based on what I've seen, generally the folks that have a vast collection of Busse tend to have their fair share of LE, anniversaries and such, also have the most ruggedly used ones as well. I've only got one piece of Kin, a Scrapivore, which is my go to little fixed blade.
 
emt1581 said:
As for the analogies, I see where you are coming from in one aspect, but in another you are comparing apples and oranges. A top end car is only going to be afforded by a miniscule part of society/consumers. And those consumers know very well what those cars have to offer from a collector AND user standpoint from all the use of them in racing, movies, by celebrities, sports figures, rappers, etc.... so advertisement and stocking of them at the local dealerships are not needed.

As far as educated buyers vs. collectors....yes...that might be a better way of saying it but we are still going back to the ONLY educated buyers being collectors because, unlike the brands the big stores carry, you are FORCED to know knives VERY well and FORCED to do your own research on Busse because the information in the form of ads and product availability just isn't out there for your average sportsman or citizen.

-Emt1581
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I think that his analogy is quite accurate. Go show the average citizen or sportsman your $180 Emerson or your $130 ESEE and they would balk at the price. To them what you get at Walmart, Sports Authority, and the like is all they need or want. Not to say that they are wrong, but Busse's are just in a different ballpark that the average consumer/user wouldn't understand. Until they came here.:D
 
To me a collector is someone who buys the knives as show pieces as opposed to using them. I could see having several Busse knives and wouldn't necessarily consider myself a collector. It makes sense to have knives from a game warden up to a battle mistress as they all serve different purposes. For most people I would say that what you get from a Busse doesn't really warrant the price over an ESEE or Bussekin. It's kinda like saying it makes no sense to drive a BMW when a Corolla can do the same job.

Most Busse knives are released as a run and when they're out they're out so , of course, collectibility is there (gotta catch em all). I think that a majority of people will buy a Busse with intent to use it with a minority being collectors. If you cruise around this site it may seem different but those with an actual collection I would say are a minority. I've owned several Busse knives, most I've sold because they were just sitting in a drawer. A knife if wasted to me if I don't use it.

Knives like this... Really anything over $100 would flop in the Wal-Mart market place. Most people don't know what Infi is...Hell, most people don't know what makes a decent knife. It's a specialty thing and people who want something like that know where to find them. You don't go to the Wal looking for a dry aged rib roast, you go looking for a cheap steak to throw on the grill. If you want quality you know where to find it.
 
I take your point mate, however my best friend is NO collector of anything, but his main blade (just the one) is a Busse, he just took the time to do the reading/research before he put his $$s into it. That is what I mean about educated I guess.
 
I myself have just started buying Busse/Kin at the beginning of 2013. So far I have 4 with more soon on the way. I myself heavily use all of the Busse knives that I've bought so far. Prior to buying Busse I've actually only bought 1 other knife which was a Kabar. Since then I've sold the Kabar and pretty much from here on ought if I need/want a knife for a role I'll only buy Busse/Kin. I would consider many of us collectors.

When a Ganzaa or show offering comes out I know many of us are guilty of the strong want/desire to buy. Especially because many of them are limited or won't be seen again models for many years unless going through the Custom Shop. Many even buy the offerings just to handle them and if the knife speaks to the owner they keep it if not they let it go on the exchange and make some money or at bare minimum get what they put into it. Theres just so many things about Busse that make it a beautiful thing and a wonderful following. So whether you or anyone else are considering themselves a collector thats left open for discussion. However theres no doubt that Busse products are highly collectible due to their limited productions, offerings and all of the above.

Only the Bossman knows the future of Busse which by my limited knowledge has already came a long way! :thumbup:
Either way whether they go bigger or stay where there at Im enjoying the ride and can't wait to be part of it for years to come.

Pardon any rambling I didn't proof read and I may have repeated myself. I am drinking.
 
I think most fit into the category that I'm in...we have several users and several others because, well, WE CAN. How many users does one need? Answer: not many; How many Busse and Kin does one need? Answer: None; How many Busse and Kin does one want? ALL OF THEM! Nuff said...
 
Why buy Busses? / Who buys Busses? I buy them for the same reason I buy G Loomis rods, Shimano reels, Dodge trucks with Cummins diesels etc. I am a sportsman who appreciates using quality equipment. I buy other makers knives too.
 
I would not want to see Busse in wal mart. I think there would be about as much a chance of that as seeing a Randell or CRK hanging in the blister pack right beside them. Some things are not meant to be sold in a mass market and I truly believe that 99.9 percent of wal mart customers would not know what they were looking at if wal mart sold these types of knives. On top of that I would guess that if you hung a Busse or any other brand of knife in the 300 to 500 dollar range in a walmart for 150.00 it would not sell as most wal mart customers are simply not looking for very high quality products in that store.
 
I started buying Busses back in the 90's. As a former SERE instructor I always said I would buy the best tool I could afford. I used, and broke or had fail, many different popular makers before I got to Busse. Since that time I have even, dare I say, tried other brands which did not do what I needed the tool to do. I have owned over 50 Busses thru the course of time. I used 95% of them. I am now down to my favorite 10 or so which will take care of my family of 6.
I buy what works with-in my budget. If all I could afford is a Gerber bowie, which I have 1 of, then I could make it work for most tasks. I sure wouldn't use it to beat thru a 8"x8" with a 20 oz framing hammer like I've done with my original 1/100 SHBM! You may be correct to assume that just any old knife may work in most situations in skilled hands, but, in all the situations I've come across all over the world I KNOW my Busse won't fail. I don't want to be in the situation again where I was penny wise and pound foolish at an inopportune time.
Busse has it's niche and it doesn't include being available at Wally World. They really don't need to do a lot more advertising. They seem to be quite happy with the market share they have in relationship to their manufacturing process and potential. Honestly, so am I.

Bob
 
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emt1581 said:
As for the analogies, I see where you are coming from in one aspect, but in another you are comparing apples and oranges. A top end car is only going to be afforded by a miniscule part of society/consumers. And those consumers know very well what those cars have to offer from a collector AND user standpoint from all the use of them in racing, movies, by celebrities, sports figures, rappers, etc.... so advertisement and stocking of them at the local dealerships are not needed.

As far as educated buyers vs. collectors....yes...that might be a better way of saying it but we are still going back to the ONLY educated buyers being collectors because, unlike the brands the big stores carry, you are FORCED to know knives VERY well and FORCED to do your own research on Busse because the information in the form of ads and product availability just isn't out there for your average sportsman or citizen.

-Emt1581
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I think Andy's analogies are spot on, AS are you saying, "is only going to be afforded by a miniscule part of society/consumers." Another analogy is a .30-06 will drop an Elk, But so will my .375 H&H Mag. A Buck 119 will clean a deer just as good as a BATAC-LE. It's all about choice!!!

Hi my name is Russ and I am a Busse Combat collector, I am also a Busse Combat user. To define collector you might as well say anyone is a collector if they have more than one of anything. I've bought tools just for the sake if the one that I use breaks. Does that make me a collector of tools.
 
I believe times have changed. In the 90's it was all about using. Now it seems the pendulum has swung to collecting, though there are plenty of users. I only have the BM I bought in the 90's and I use it regularly, plus a Battle Rat I found at a gun show that I bought for my son to use. I would probably have more but don't care to jump through the hoops or buy on the exchange. This has probably saved me a lot of money and made married life much easier. Clearly Busse is a successfully company that puts out an outstanding product and its not my place to tell them how to run their business but I do wish they would offer their products in stock at a retailer again. If I could turn back the clock and just buy them again like buying any other quality tool or firearm I'd probably buy a couple more.
Regards,
Josh
 
Not sure what bucket I fall in, but based on the definitions above, I guess I would be classified as a functional collector. I am in the process of picking up a number of Busse/Kin knives to meet specific needs such as skinning, EDC, combat, camp and chopper. As others have noted, there is some overlap with the knives associated with these tasks but I chose to purchase specific ones for each task.

I have a similar approach to firearms. As my wife often says, "Do you really need XXX firearms?" No, I don't need that many, but I chose to since each fills a particular niche. As RussMO said, I could use my 338-06 to clean out the prairie dog town or use my 1911 as my primary carry piece when in the mountains, but neither is suited for that particular purpose compared to my 220 Swift or Ruger Alaskan.

I count myself blessed to be able to enjoy the Busse/Kin knives. These aren't inexpensive knives, but quality items that you can be confident will be handed down for a couple of generations rarely are.
 
I have not been into knives as long as some of these guys, but I think it does definitely depend on your definition of collector. I own more DVD's than I can count and have every one of my favorite movies, but I do not consider myself a movie collector. I own far fewer knives, but I guess if asked I would say that I am a collector. I have both users and non-users, Busse's and non-Busse's. I guess it would be easy to say that the difference is whether you use them or not, but I kind of disagree. I use my user knives far more than I use my movies on the shelf. The difference to me is that everyone under the sun owns movies, not everyone has 20+ knives laying around. If a person owns 4 Ferrari's they are a car collector, whether they sit in a garage or get driven every day. So by that definition, then I would say almost everyone that buys a Busse more than likely becomes a collector.....because you can never own just one Busse.

So....to answer your actual question. In MY opinion, the Busse market probably is mostly collector driven, but not all of those people intended(or consider themselves) to be collector's. Hope that all made sense.
 
RussMo said:
I think Andy's analogies are spot on, AS are you saying, "is only going to be afforded by a miniscule part of society/consumers." Another analogy is a .30-06 will drop an Elk, But so will my .375 H&H Mag. A Buck 119 will clean a deer just as good as a BATAC-LE. It's all about choice!!!

Hi my name is Russ and I am a BusseHolic, .
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I think Russ is onto something here with the gun analogy.

Are you a one knife one gun guy
Buck 110 and a 30-06 for everything

or are you a right tool for the right job guy.
22LR for plinking (MS)
220 Swift for chucks (SHBA)
25-06 for Antelope (Ratmandu)
30-06 for deer (SHSH)
35 Whelen for moose & elk (NMFBM)
50 Alaskan for Brownies (MOAB)
 
Any carpenter owns multiple hammers. Different types of hammer for different uses. Finish hammer, framing hammer, roofing hammer, sledge hammers of different weights, single jacks, ball peens.

That does not make him a hammer collector.
 
emt1581 said:
Now where I'm going with this is my curiosity if we'll ever see Busse/kin go mainstream to maybe a Wal-Mart or Cabela's? Price-wise they really are competitive with a lot of other brands for what you are getting. And I know plenty of people that'd buy them if they were more educated on the quality like...say...from...ADVERTISING (TV, Mags, etc.).
-Emt1581
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I doubt this day will ever come, at least I hope it wont. The biggest attraction to me is the personalized service we presently receive on this forum from Busse, as well as the attention to detail and the quality that goes into the Busse / Kin knife lines. In order to supply knives on a scale to support retailers such as Walmart or Cabela's would require a much different manufacturing and customer service model. While this type of model would certainly increase sales for Busse and likely profits, the quality of the knives on this scale would suffer simply to meet demand.

Lets hope we never see that happen.
 
lsheldon said:
I doubt this day will ever come, at least I hope it wont. The biggest attraction to me is the personalized service we presently receive on this forum from Busse, as well as the attention to detail and the quality that goes into the Busse / Kin knife lines. In order to supply knives on a scale to support retailers such as Walmart or Cabela's would require a much different manufacturing and customer service model. While this type of model would certainly increase sales for Busse and likely profits, the quality of the knives on this scale would suffer simply to meet demand.

Lets hope we never see that happen.
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You can have higher production than the Busse groups generate while still maintaining remarkably high QC. Just take the Rowen shop for example, I don't think anyone would argue that shop puts out a heck of a nice production knife for its cost.

That being said you would lose some of the ability to change handle scales and blade colors. Its all a cost vs profit thing for any business be it knives or any other product/service. The Busse shops produce a high quality product with a high mark up to a select group of buyers Capitalism at its finest.
 
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