- Joined
- Oct 26, 2000
- Messages
- 6,104
The Busse allure is pretty strong
NO vs SJ?
I don't know. The SJ is pretty close to the Basic 5, and I had a NO, but only limited use before selling it-dumb da dumb dumb
The Basic 5 was a great knife, and I put it through hell from the first day I got it (had been reading Cliff's reviews, and wanted to see for myself what these Busses were all about). The handle fit my small hands well, but for heavier use, I do prefer the handle of the B7/9 now that I've had a chance to try that size out.
Blade's long enough to split 3-4" wood easily with a baton-the "wedge" shape of the 5's blade works great for this, and it even chops ok with a choked back grip. I've cut down small trees, and limbed out a few with it. Mostly it was my "ultimate beater", field expedient crowbar, and such. Took an unbelievable amount of abuse, and it turned out the HT was messed up from the start by the serrations being added without coolant being used on the blade (you can see my post about it in the Busse forum ~a month ago) which made it all the more impressive to me.
The NO is a real hunk of knife. It chopped great for a 6" blade, and has this feel of total indestructability. For an all-around "medim" fixed blade, I thought it was about perfect. It is pretty heavy, though. Everyone who handled it commented on the weight. The E handles weren't just right for me, since I have small hands, and tended to beat up my pinky-the only reason I sold it. Man I love that blade, though.
Not to confuse things even more, but Basic 7's are still floating around at decent prices, and I think the advice to check out the Beckers is good, too. Again the handles are a little big for my short fingers, but I've owned a Brute, and still have a Combat Utility 7 and a Patrol Machete. Great knives for the money, very tough.
If you want to try out the CU7 for awhile, say the word...mine has taken a pretty good beating, without any real damage except for the coating. I'm pretty caught up in the Basic 9 for the moment, so the BK7 is just sitting around right now.
NO vs SJ?
I don't know. The SJ is pretty close to the Basic 5, and I had a NO, but only limited use before selling it-dumb da dumb dumb
The Basic 5 was a great knife, and I put it through hell from the first day I got it (had been reading Cliff's reviews, and wanted to see for myself what these Busses were all about). The handle fit my small hands well, but for heavier use, I do prefer the handle of the B7/9 now that I've had a chance to try that size out.
Blade's long enough to split 3-4" wood easily with a baton-the "wedge" shape of the 5's blade works great for this, and it even chops ok with a choked back grip. I've cut down small trees, and limbed out a few with it. Mostly it was my "ultimate beater", field expedient crowbar, and such. Took an unbelievable amount of abuse, and it turned out the HT was messed up from the start by the serrations being added without coolant being used on the blade (you can see my post about it in the Busse forum ~a month ago) which made it all the more impressive to me.
The NO is a real hunk of knife. It chopped great for a 6" blade, and has this feel of total indestructability. For an all-around "medim" fixed blade, I thought it was about perfect. It is pretty heavy, though. Everyone who handled it commented on the weight. The E handles weren't just right for me, since I have small hands, and tended to beat up my pinky-the only reason I sold it. Man I love that blade, though.
Not to confuse things even more, but Basic 7's are still floating around at decent prices, and I think the advice to check out the Beckers is good, too. Again the handles are a little big for my short fingers, but I've owned a Brute, and still have a Combat Utility 7 and a Patrol Machete. Great knives for the money, very tough.
If you want to try out the CU7 for awhile, say the word...mine has taken a pretty good beating, without any real damage except for the coating. I'm pretty caught up in the Basic 9 for the moment, so the BK7 is just sitting around right now.
