Just "Discovered" Busse.. Pros/Cons?

M

Murky Depth

Joined
Apr 18, 2005
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200
Howdy everyone.

I've been into knives for a long time, but for one reason or another, Busse knives flew under my radar of interest & curiosity until recently. I've never handled one, although I kinda blew past the booth @ the Blade show a couple of years ago, thinking to myself that those were some interesting brutes. I should have picked one up & examined it.

My questions are,

At those prices, what is the fit & finish like? I'm big on perfection once a knife is upwards of 300 bucks (I blame CRK for that). Would you say that their price is well justified, given what the competition has to offer in terms of similar knives?

Also, who would you say is Busse's main competition, & what are some good alternatives in this particular genre of knives? By the way, I wanted to post this here instead of the Busse forum to minimize bias.

Thanks.
 
I owned a busse active duty for a year or so. The blade resembled a large sebenza and I had heard great things about Busse so I bought one used.

- Fit and finish on the knife was fine.

- Sheath was poor, you'll need to buy some kind of aftermarket sheath/kydex, etc.

- Knife was sharp, but because of it's greater thickness, was not a good slicer as compared to other sharp knives with thinner blades. I'm sure that it would hold up to any sort of use/abuse fine. Depends on what you want, slicer or sturdy.

- I sold it later to buy a different knife (sebenza) when funds where low.

I think the price was entirely justified (for the active duty). For me, there's no way I'd spend the $600 and up for a larger busse fixed blade.
 
I have a Busse MOFO>MOJO< , which I belive are Combat knives, very light and fast , also I have a Steel Heart E which is great as a camp knife , chopper, The blades are made from Infini , a custom blend of steel of Mr Busse design ,One of the best knife steels .The sheaths are not up to CRK, Busses have a cult just like CRK , Striders, I own three or four of each , get a Busse and if you find you dont like her they sell hella fast at what you paid for her.Stop over to Busse's section and tell them what you want in a knife and they will hook you up.
 
Their competition is probably Strider, Fuhrman, CRK, and their own budget line, Swamp Rat. Heavy duty field knives. Very reliable. As Dave said, not the slicingest knives out there, but ... with a bit of reprofiling, many of the smaller models will do that too.

There is a certain collectability aura about them, which adds to the price. But as working knives, they'll pay it back in the long run, since it's almost impossible to destroy one by human effort and if you do, they'll replace it.

Be sure to check out their forum here. Very approachable people, both company and its devotees -- They have a lot of fun for the money they spend. :D
 
silenthunterstudios said:
What's the Busse equivalent of the Swamp Rat Bog Dog?
Click to expand...

The Anorexic Badger LE is more like the Dog Skinner than a Bog Dog, but is the closest thing I'm aware of in the Busse line. I've seen a few come up for sale in the last year. It's a Badger Attack III with .150" blade stock instead of the usual .188", and a pretty satin finish.

The next closest thing I can think of is the Desert Anorexic Badger Attack (my favorite, and currently only Busse). It's the same as the ABLE except for a desert coating and desert micarta slabs. There were only a few hundred made, but they pop up for sale all the time.

Jeremy
 
Before I only wanted cheap knives. After three months on this forum, I want all of the expensive knives. Sheesh!

Liking those Anorexic Badgers. Goofy name, but good looking knife!
 
DaveH said:
- Sheath was poor, you'll need to buy some kind of aftermarket sheath/kydex, etc.
Click to expand...
I never had a problem with the sheaths.
IMO, they're as good as they need to be, but if you don't like them, Jerry has been kind enough to recommend a number of sheath makers.
 
Busse knives are UBER-Tough. If you look at similar finished knives that claim to be UBER-Tough, you won't find many in the price range of Busses.
Busses offer:
1) Uniquely tough steel
2) Uniquely awesome heat treatment
3) Rarely - A really good cryo treatment.
 
Walking Man said:
I never had a problem with the sheaths.
IMO, they're as good as they need to be, but if you don't like them, Jerry has been kind enough to recommend a number of sheath makers.
Click to expand...

My Steelheart-E sheath is good for a survival knife. I keep a Wenger Mountianeer and a Lansky ceramic rod in the pocket. My Public Defender came with a sheath that would be good if it had a usable retention system. Instead it has a piece of paracord with a snap. Even cheap knives have better systems. The knife either has to be tied in or just sit loosely in the sheath. I like the fact that the sheath can be put on or removed from the blet without taking the belt off but the retention system is useless. I'll get a kydex sheath made one of these days. The knives a good though.
 
DaveH said:
...the $600 and up for a larger busse fixed blade.
Click to expand...
The standard editions are not in that price range, the Battle Mistress was somewhere about ~$350 for the last version.

Have they announced the price for the new Steel Heart and Battle Mistress?

The edges are fairly standard for that class of knife, more acute than most tacticals.

For example the Gerber Silver Trident had a much more obtuse edge than the Camp Tramp, and even my old SHBM.

They are not optomized for light work though, clear soft woods and that kind of thing.

With that being said, it isn't like they have sub-par cutting performance, live demonstrations have been done on one inch ropes, videos showing cuts through 10 strands, 2x4 chops, etc. .

Wood working axes will actually be more acute at the edge, good ones anyway, most utility axes you buy now are far thicker, I have reground quite a few.

They will adjust edges on request though so specify what you want. I did when I recently ordered one as it is far more acute than what most people would want.

-Cliff
 
After CRK, as you said, it's difficult to find the same level of fit and finish. Busse fit and finish is very good, but, IMO, Chris Reeve is still the bench mark.

Competitors: Swamp Rat (their sister company), Strider, and Fehrman. I own a few Swamp Rats, and they are very good, but I've never felt the need/desire to buy a knife from either of the other companies mentioned.

Are they worth the price? IMO, yes they are. I've bought two Busses in the last seven months, and have two on order. As soon as the Tank Buster and Badger Attack TAC are available I'll order them as well.

The wait for a Busse to be made can be agonizing, but if you're into CRK you know about waiting for your knife.

Final thoughts: The great thin about the knife world is that it is big enough to support several great makers. Because of this I get to own Busses, Swamp Rats, and Chris Reeves. I'm very glad that I've got all three, but if push came to shove it's the Busses that I wouldn't part with.
 
Thanks for the input. The Mr Mofo & Uncle Mofo are the ones I've been eyeing; they seem to have a bit more of a classical shape than the other models. I'd love to have a fixed user with quarter-inch stock. One day when the budget loosens up.
 
Hi All-

Currently own a Steel Heart-e (SH-e) and a customized Pepper Shaker (PS). The knives are very nice and certainly all-business. My black SH-e is a user while the PS hangs around my neck in razor-sharp pristine condition as a last-ditch knife in an emergency situation, like cutting out of a stuck seatbelt... They are made with top craftsmanship and will survive a nuclear blast.

The downside is dealing with their bizarre decision to have a "rotating" availability of knives. Visit their site and you'll know what I mean...it's as if Chevrolet informed the marketplace that the Corvette could only be viewed and ordered in February and August. The car would then be removed from their website for the remainder of the year. Other Chevy vehicles would then be pictured for the remaining ten months of the year on a rotating schedule for ordering. I never understood their reasoning.

As a knife company, just decide what models you'll make available to the consumer and simply picture ALL of them on the site with prices...

~ Blue Jays ~
 
From the threads I've read in the Busse forum, Mr. Busse seems like an absolute master in salesmanship. The custom features, 'special' sales, and large variety lead to more repeat customers. Thats especially true when you don't allow the customer to buy everything they want right off the bat. You make them wait months or longer and they'll want it even more. And as they wait, they'll talk about the knives, yielding free advertising. I'm sure producing a bunch of the same knives at once is far easier than producing a handful of each type every month, but I'd be willing to bet that the production design has more to do with brilliant marketing than knife making...

I've been heavily considering getting a Busse or a Swamp Rat myself...

Mark
 
Blue Jays said:
Hi All-
The downside is dealing with their bizarre decision to have a "rotating" availability of knives. Visit their site and you'll know what I mean...it's as if Chevrolet informed the marketplace that the Corvette could only be viewed and ordered in February and August. The car would then be removed from their website for the remainder of the year. Other Chevy vehicles would then be pictured for the remaining ten months of the year on a rotating schedule for ordering. I never understood their reasoning.

As a knife company, just decide what models you'll make available to the consumer and simply picture ALL of them on the site with prices...
Click to expand...
I agree with you 100%, & this is exactly why I have not given Busses a serious look since I first caught wind of them a looooong time ago. I looked at the site & saw only a scant few models -- none of which hit the spot for me. I didn't even realize that other models existed. I think that if they took a more conventional approach to production, then they'd sell more knives. But who knows, maybe they don't want to sell more. That's a possibility too.
 
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