- Joined
- Apr 29, 2012
- Messages
- 515
I just got my FIRST Battle Mistress.
I'm sure I 'm not the only who has been dredging through threads like 'Just a Little History' ( http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/943874-Just-a-little-history ) trying to find their 'perfect knife'...
For a while I've been desperate to get a 'big' Busse -- One that can do whatever I ask of it and beg for more. Well I spent hours ogling different Mistresses.....
SHBM: Would love to own one of these, and is the grail, but just waay out of my current price range. (I WILL get one one day)
BME: One or two people love them. I liked the look of the handles best out of the range and also loved the ASM grind, but I just couldnt stand the bullet-type nose
CGFBM: Possibly too tall a blade, and I don't like the look of the fusion handles. Think the CBT looks quite cool though
FFFFFFFBM: too heavy for my intended use. I want something I can thrown in the ruck, and walk 50 miles with.
NMFBM: looks great, and I like the look of the NMFSHBMLB even more, but again this is too big, 11.5'' is into machete territory.
In the end I realised the Mistress I liked the look of best of all was...........
THE BASIC 9!!?
-- perfect blade shape/size and lightweight, didn't mind the Res C
However, two things stopped e being able to get my hands on a B9. Firstly, They do not come up often on the Exchange, and all I had was a couple of knives to trade. Living in the UK and not having cash makes it a bit tricky to do a trade via the exchange. Secondly, I kept having this nagging feeling about it being MINFI. And I know that's a bit irrational as there's not supposed to be much difference, but when you have just one knife, you want it to be THE best.
This led me to start looking at 'variants'.... and out of all the variants that I saw, I started to notice that there were a lot of incredible looking BME variants which had been given bowie-style tips. These I liked, especially the Internal Affair!
So back to the Mistress that I just got...........
I got a sterile BME in a trade with a guy here in the UK. I'd noticed that BME's had very similar dimensions to the B9, so after a week or so of consideration I decided to grind (
shock horror) a bowie variant-style tip on the BME. Then I ground the butt off the handles leaving only a small 'skull crusher'. It's what you might call a 'Cole Fighter Variant' (although 'Deviant' might be a better word than Variant )
This way I have ended up with something close to my ideal big knife... relatively lightweight, and nice size (think of it like a B9 with micarta handles) with exactly the shape that I wanted. It even has the ASM grind like the B9
It's not quite finished yet, the finish needs some work, but essentially its there. Here are a pic
Anyway, I hope that no one hates me too much for 'butchering' this INFI, but I'm happy with it
I think I'll call her Kali after the somewhat mischievous Hindu goddess of destruction!
I'm sure I 'm not the only who has been dredging through threads like 'Just a Little History' ( http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/943874-Just-a-little-history ) trying to find their 'perfect knife'...
For a while I've been desperate to get a 'big' Busse -- One that can do whatever I ask of it and beg for more. Well I spent hours ogling different Mistresses.....
SHBM: Would love to own one of these, and is the grail, but just waay out of my current price range. (I WILL get one one day)
BME: One or two people love them. I liked the look of the handles best out of the range and also loved the ASM grind, but I just couldnt stand the bullet-type nose
CGFBM: Possibly too tall a blade, and I don't like the look of the fusion handles. Think the CBT looks quite cool though
FFFFFFFBM: too heavy for my intended use. I want something I can thrown in the ruck, and walk 50 miles with.
NMFBM: looks great, and I like the look of the NMFSHBMLB even more, but again this is too big, 11.5'' is into machete territory.
In the end I realised the Mistress I liked the look of best of all was...........
THE BASIC 9!!?
-- perfect blade shape/size and lightweight, didn't mind the Res C
However, two things stopped e being able to get my hands on a B9. Firstly, They do not come up often on the Exchange, and all I had was a couple of knives to trade. Living in the UK and not having cash makes it a bit tricky to do a trade via the exchange. Secondly, I kept having this nagging feeling about it being MINFI. And I know that's a bit irrational as there's not supposed to be much difference, but when you have just one knife, you want it to be THE best.
This led me to start looking at 'variants'.... and out of all the variants that I saw, I started to notice that there were a lot of incredible looking BME variants which had been given bowie-style tips. These I liked, especially the Internal Affair!
So back to the Mistress that I just got...........
I got a sterile BME in a trade with a guy here in the UK. I'd noticed that BME's had very similar dimensions to the B9, so after a week or so of consideration I decided to grind (
shock horror) a bowie variant-style tip on the BME. Then I ground the butt off the handles leaving only a small 'skull crusher'. It's what you might call a 'Cole Fighter Variant' (although 'Deviant' might be a better word than Variant )This way I have ended up with something close to my ideal big knife... relatively lightweight, and nice size (think of it like a B9 with micarta handles) with exactly the shape that I wanted. It even has the ASM grind like the B9
It's not quite finished yet, the finish needs some work, but essentially its there. Here are a pic
Anyway, I hope that no one hates me too much for 'butchering' this INFI, but I'm happy with it
I think I'll call her Kali after the somewhat mischievous Hindu goddess of destruction!
Last edited:
:thumbup:
