Looking for the ultimate fixed blade

I think I want Busse to make me a custom knife that looks something like what strider has to offer with the EB-LT, I like the warranty on Busse's knives, Im just unsure if they would make a custom blade? I emailed them with no response.

You could get a custom from Justin Gingrich at www.rangerknives.com if you don't find what you need in his production line. They are about the toughest blades on earth, at the best prices on earth, with the best customer service in the known universe. Justin will be moving his shop mid-october, so if you want a custom it might be 6 weeks or so, but i'm guessing, you should really contact him. Everyone i know who has a ranger thinks the world of them. Good luck, please let us know what you end up doing.
 
Man, the airborne rangers look like some tough guys that's for sure, my final choices I think have been narrowed down to two knives:

#1. Strider EB-S. I like the lifetime warranty and how mick says if you break it he'll be surprised. lol

#2. Trident Oberon-02. Im kind of leaning towards the strider though because there's only a 5 year warranty on trident knives, what's that about? Do any of you think that sounds bad? Everything else for that price has a lifetime guaruntee?

Thanks so much for all your replies!
 
For God sakes man get a Busse. There is not a tougher knife on the planet. They also hold their value extremely well.:thumbup:
 
Bob Dozier Wilderness Knife, Trident Custom Knives Oberland & TCFM models, Fehrman...pick any model...its 3V steel. And yeah I suppose Busse fits the bill too since I have 3 of his too.

Ciao 4now
Ron
:rolleyes:
 
I have had a couple specwars, a nimravous, and have had experience with the seal 2000. Crowbars are about the toughest things around, but they cant cut worth a damn, that’s what I'd say for the seal 2000, why would you put serrations on the part of the knife you use mostly for carving? And what is it made out of, 440c, I mean common.

The specwars I loved, but they are not really the most user-friendly knives. With the chisel grind they can be awkward to carve with, and the full chisel grind is difficult to sharpen in the field, forget taking a chip out of the edge, you've got to remove ALOT of metal (did it once when I got it back from a friend who had “bought” it but never paid, he decided to test the strength by cutting some cinder blocks, great idea), I think I did break a small bit of tip off one of them too. The handles on the speckwar are some of the nicest I've come across though.

My favorite by far has been the Nimravous (with the M2 blade) sure its not the most pry bar like knife, but it sure dose cut beautifully, has good balance, a great utility blade shape that’s the right thickness for most carving / cutting jobs, a comfortable and precise handle, and HAD a great sheath (bring it back benchmade!) the most abusive thing I've done with it is baton it through wood to split it, witch it held up fine for. The M2 doesn’t have the best reputation for shock resistance, but it takes and holds a great edge. My theory is if you have a knife in a survival situation, your most important tool and that witch your life depends on, you wont go digging a hole or prying rocks with it, or using it for anything that could potentially break it, you'll be careful with it and use it for what a knife is intended, and in that respect the nimravous is a great knife.

I have a fair bit of experience in survival type stuff (tom brown's school and the Wilderness survival school) and I've never found the need to do super abusive things with my knife, batoning it through wood is about the most. In my experience its much more useful to have a fine and precise cutting tool than a heavy and awkward pry-bar like knife, there is allot of detailed cutting to be done, much more so than all sorts of chopping this and digging that. Of course ideally I would have 2 knives, and one of them would be big and heavy duty, but I'm sure I would use the smaller one 80% of the time, and if it came down to choosing one, I'd probably take that.

As far as the other knives your considering, they don’t look as though they are the most versatile designs, and the stryder specifically doesn’t appear to have the most comfortable handle for extended use, think hot spots! My hand hurts just looking at it! I'll put in my vote for the Busse of course if price is no object and you want the toughest (I've got 2 FBM's on the way), but along with the Busse I would definatly carry a nimravous (they make it in D2 now, and i think they brought back the G-10 handles, they were aluminum for a while) or a bark river, my freind has one and its verry much a user knife, nice geometry and grind, good steel, cant go wrong.
 
for indestructible, busse. i recently took my HR through a 30+ day field problem here at Ft. stewart. i did not torture test anything, i just used it. it did not fail and i have no reason to think that it ever would. i also carried a nimravus for smaller cutting tasks that would have been more awkward with the larger HR. that worked out as such a wonderful pair that since then they stay together for every outing.
 
DreamHawk, why limit yourself to just one knife.?

Here is my expert opinion (I'm not really an expert, but I sometimes play one on the forums :D .). Get a Busse Steel Heart or Battle Mistress and the Bark River of your preference (I recommend the Kephart :) ), follow this up with a Vic SAK of some form. All the bases are covered with a combo like this and the extra weight using a SAK Huntsman and BR Kephart is roughly 10 oz.
 
If you want a tough custom try Mineral mountain Hatchet Works.Also have you looked at TOPS knives?
 
Toughest I've owned to date is Busse, handsdown. Get yourself a nice 1/4" slab of INFI and beat away :thumbup:
 
If you don't want to spend money on a Busse, try one of the other Busse family knives; Swamp Rat & Scrap Yard.
 
I like Chris Reeve fixed blade stuff. I've got one of his smaller fixed blades (Shadow III) but his larger fixed blades looks pretty tough. I like the idea that his fixed blade knives are made of one piece of steel (from tip to handle) and I like the knurled handles.
 
I also very much like CRK fixed blades too. I also have a Shadow III; great knife!! I also like the idea of the one piece knife!! The handles is very comfy in my hand.And you store some stuff in the hollow handle as well.
 
My theory is if you have a knife in a survival situation, your most important tool and that witch your life depends on, you wont go digging a hole or prying rocks with it, or using it for anything that could potentially break it, you'll be careful with it and use it for what a knife is intended, and in that respect the nimravous is a great knife.

I have a fair bit of experience in survival type stuff (tom brown's school and the Wilderness survival school) and I've never found the need to do super abusive things with my knife, batoning it through wood is about the most. In my experience its much more useful to have a fine and precise cutting tool than a heavy and awkward pry-bar like knife, there is allot of detailed cutting to be done, much more so than all sorts of chopping this and digging that. Of course ideally I would have 2 knives, and one of them would be big and heavy duty, but I'm sure I would use the smaller one 80% of the time, and if it came down to choosing one, I'd probably take that.
...I couldn't agree more...my sense is that "you have been there, done that". Experience has also lead me to believe that one is best served with 4-5" blade with a fairly thin profile, compared to the pry bar approach.
Just my 2 cents.
-Best
 
price is not an issue!

enviable.
then it would seem you should get into custom knives.
take your time and enjoy the pleasure of searching around which makers will suit your taste and need best.
also, I wonder, and the maker might ask, what knives you've already broken on what occasions; that should determines how much 'tougher' you need to go in what ways.
good luck,
t.
 
Since $$$ is not an object, I would suggest Shane Sibert!! His stuff is out of this world!! Or Trace Rinaldi.

 
Wow, thanks or all of your replies, this was my first post quite a few months ago! Since then I've learned ALOT and I see myself wondering if Busse would make a custom blade that looked like a strider and just laugh..:p

I eventually bought a SwampRat M6 and am waiting for my custom sheath from Armorall Leather.....CANT WAIT!!! Anyways this knife has been on quite a few outings since then and has served me well. I also wear a leatherman Charge TI to accompany it. But as you guys were saying Id love to look into getting a smaller dozier or the nimravus to accompany it.

My next knife will be the Busse Hellrazor, I thought buying the M6 would slake my thirst for the INFI Hellrazor, but I think it increased my INFI lust ten fold. I will post some pictures up of my M6 in the field the next time I go out with it.

Thanks again for all of your posts!!
 
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