Logo Etching & Hand Satin of the Baisc 11

Adrenaline

Adrenaline

Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Messages
251
Hello everybody, I don’t post much, but I’ve been a member for a long time.

I thought I’d make a post on etching, stripping and applying a hand satin to my Busse Basic 11.

Before you attempt any of these modifications please use all cautionary measures when dealing with the paint stripper and etching solutions.
(Safety glasses, gloves and be in a well ventilated area)

Here is the Basic 11 Prior to starting my modifications.





The first step I took was to clean the LOGO and surrounding area with isopropyl alcohol.

Next I built a dam using masking tape, be sure your tape is well stuck to the coating surrounding the logo and that you make it deep enough to prevent overflows.

Leave a small untapped area for the logo to allow full coverage of the etchant solution. (purchased at radio shack)





Etchant in it the taped off dam



Now comes the tricky part, the etchant works best when heated & agitated, so I used my heat gun on LOW to periodically heat the solution and a toothpick to stir the solution.

I heated the solution for 1 minute and stirred it once per hour for 7 hours. It is important to hold the heat gun no closer than 18” from the solution, any closer and the tape begins to melt.



Once 7 hours passed I cleaned up the solution and removed the tape.

I masked off the handle and then used (klean strip) to remove the coating.



I then proceeded to polish the spine, this area has a small amount of decarb on it, so I had to start with 100 grit sand paper on a rubber block and worked my way up to 600 grit.

I then used a sharpie to color the spine to see where and deep groves may be and sanded them out until I gained a solid polished surface.





Finally we get to the hand staining process this takes patients so take your time.

I clamped a metal polishing scotch bright pad and using a stropping motion pressing down and pulling the spine to me I proceeded to apply the satin finish.

(WARNING!! doing this process will DULL the edge because the pad is curling around it with every pass, the blade will need to be re-sharpened at the end.)

At this point you need to take care to pull the blade exactly perpendicular to the pad. If the blade is angled you will end up with scratch marks going across the factory grind pattern, instead of being exactly in line with it.



Here is the finished product, the LOGO has a nice clear deep etch and the satin finish is very nice and clean, and has been stropped to razor sharpness.

Time all together took roughly 14 hours from start to finish.







I hope you all enjoyed this it was a pretty fun project
 
Looks good brother. I envy you for being able to do what you do. Building a gun is one thing, I have no problem there. Working over a knife is outside my comfort zone though.
 
Looks great! :thumbup: Thanks for taking the time to document the process step by step with good pix, especially the etching part. :)
 
Hey dbltap45acp remember the key to any project is to think it through from start to finish before you begin, and when you get tired you need to stop.

Thanks, jaxx it actually helps to slow me down in the process when I have to take pictures and think about the process.
I have been into Busse Knives for a long time, but unfortunately i'm no hog, yet
Thank you for all the information you post, your posts have helped me make many decisions.

I'm waiting on an ASHBM from dbltap45acp, once it gets here i'll post a family photo of my Bussies & Kin. this B11 is going to dbltap45acp as part of a trade deal for the ASHBM.
I'm pretty excited as is dbltap45acp to get his B11.
 
Yeah, the above B11 is mine actually, Adrenaline worked it over for me. The ASHBM was a nice blade, and if I wanted a pure chopper it would have done great. It's a heavy blade though, I have a bad back and if I can shed a few pounds off my back while hiking then it only makes the trip better. I don't really chop a lot with my knife, I baton with it more then anything. If I chopped a lot I might prefer the SHBM over the B11.

I think the B11 Is the perfect big blade, for me at least. Big enough to chop, light enough to use as an actual knife, strong enough for hard battoning. I also have medium sized hands, and with .32 thick steel and magnum scales the grip was way to thick. If I kept the ASHBM I would need to thin it up a bit. As it sits, the ASHBM is on its way to Adrenaline as he is like 6 foot 6 with hands like a catchers mit. If they come out with a SHBM in the .25 or even .27 range and with the option of standard scales I will buy another down the road. Love the style, but it doesn't fit. I have had around 40-50 Busse blades and sold all except a few that fit me well. The B11, Boss Jack, Ratmandu, and SYKCO 311 are the ones that stuck around.

It's funny that the B11 started as my knife, traded it to Adrenaline, bought the ASHBM, and then traded the ASHBM to get my old knife back. That's how it goes though, he and I have done the same thing with Striders before as well.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the excellent information. One o' these days I will strip one...;-)
 
So what exactly is the difference between mirror and satin ? I have achieved mirror polish , not satin though
 
Mirror you can see yourself in, satin is closer to what Busse calls double cut. Almost a bead blasted look.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top