Let's see how long I can get away with this:
I backed into BFC several years ago. Shortly after that I backed into the Busse forum here. Shortly after that I bought my first Busse.... then my second Busse.... and so on, and so on, and so on. I owned models ranging from the BM-E (which I detested) through the Active Duty, and pretty well covered the size spectrum available at that time.
After comparing Busse to the other knives I own/owned, here's what I think:
1) INFI is a dead-tough steel and you can't hurt it (more later, in #3)
2) Like most tough steels, it doesn't hold an acute cutting edge through the work
I typically use a knife for. (
Settle down, guys, I'm not done yet.) MOST of my outdoor knife work involves skinning animals, with camp-type chores thrown in. My Groove Master, My Active Duty, and my beloved Satin Jack ALL let me down on animals. None of them would skin elk, deer, or even antelope without losing the cutting ability they had when I started the task; on elk, I had to stop and sharpen the AD halfway through dressing and skinning out a big bull. I think wild game dressing/skinning is one of the fastest ways to dull a knife, and I've never seen anyone do a meaningful comparison in that area. So, I drifted away from Busses for my typical outdoor needs because it was too much like trying to hunt elk with a shotgun: it was the wrong tool for the job.
3) On one of those trips, a buddy of mine was using my Groove Master to skin a rabbit we'd popped on the way home. Like an idiot, he hacked through the rabbit and into the rim of a 55 gallon drum set up at camp. Knocked a hell of a ding out of the drum... and there was the tiniest, just-barely perceptible little roll in the edge of the knife. That's a tough steel, and if that's what you're after then you won't find a better knife.
4) Customer Service: Well..... I've had stuff stuck at the Busse shop, whether a new knife or one sent back for work. I never found their service folks to be evasive, I never found them to be unconcerned, and they never failed to make my problem right. Some folks tell different stories: My experiences always resulted in a positive outcome for me.
And top THIS: I sent two knives in for reprofiling, and that ultimately would have been a much more time-consuming and expensive task than I thought (or was originally told.) Jerry Busse called me to talk about it, and when he found out I was out of town - visiting my Mom in the hospital - he went out of his way to track me down. When he found me the FIRST thing he did was ask how my Mom was doing; we got around to knives a few minutes after that. Now I'd swapped email and some prior phone conversations with him on several occasions, but never has another manufacturer made an effort like that. He may come across a little flashy, but he always did me right without hesitation. And... sometimes he went WAY out of his way to do it.
5) I don't think knives should predominately be choppers. I don't think knives need to be indestructible at the expense of slicing and cutting ability. I accept that under specific circumstances I'd be damn glad to have one that absolutely could not break. I believe that most times what
I really need is one that I don't have to stop and resharpen, halfway through a bull elk, in the middle of an after-dark snow storm, on the side of a mountain.
6) I will always own at least one Busse, and it'll probably be one of the bigger ones. I won't use it much because for 98% of my knife work I want long-lasting, wicked-sharp edges on my knives; I think other steels do that better than INFI does. However, when I need a knife that will hack through trees, barb-wire, 55 gallon drums, or anything else I stumble across... and then manage to at least limp through the slicing tasks, I'll grab the Busse and be damn glad I have it.
I don't go out of my way to break knives, and I don't set up controlled tests to compare knives. I'm a rabid, generally successful hunter; I'm a rabid, frequent camper; I use knives hard for both of those things. I think Jerry Busse's a great guy with good intentions; I think he makes the closest thing to an indestructible knife that you'll find, and I'll always own one of 'em. Most of the time, however, I'm better served with a product designed for a different set of criteria.
Pisses me off, too, 'cause I think Busses are just... cool as hell.
