My INFI is sharp

David Brown

David Brown

Kydex Sheath and Holster Artist :)
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Jun 4, 2001
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Hi Everybody,

I do not mean to offend anyone, I am just trying to understand ?

I do not know what or why a few people (not just one or two, a few) are complaining about INFI blades not being sharp ? :confused:

I have had several, & all of them are sharp, they shave at the very least ?

I have received knives from some other companies & they were not as sharp as I like them, but all my Busse's, Swamp Rat's & Scrapyards, have been very sharp, some have been sharp enough to split hairs, not just shave but split hairs !!!!:eek:

Some here and elsewhere have been very vocal about how "not sharp" they are ? I really do not get it ? Sure one or two or heck even a couple may make out of the shop not "air bleeding" sharp but if they are not to your liking I have yet to see Jerry, Garth or Amy tell someone "tough it was sharp enough for us"

Quite on the contrary they always say "send it in & we will make it right."

It may be that some are expecting a level of sharpness from a semi-custom blade, that may or may not be feasible on a COMBAT KNIFE.

I can not speak for Busse, but this may be some reason as to them not being absolute air bleeding screaming razor blades;

1. It will take a lot longer and a bunch more hand labor to achieve a level of sharpness that some expect. That would put it in custom range & would raise the price quite a bit. Now the Customs from the Custom shop I have never heard anyone complain about ?

2. And I think this is the most important;

If you put a really thinned out razor edge & change the edge geometry on a combat knife & chop hard wood, bone, bricks, metal signs, or whatever it will fold over & crush the thinned out metal.

As has been done in the past leading to complaints of "I can not believe what happened, I thinned my edge out to 10 degrees on each side & chopped shale rock with it & it bent" then said person took macro pics of the damage (1/8" dents at best) and complained all over the internet about it.

Because Jerry is the guy he is he "made it right" as he always does.



Again I do not want to offend anyone, I just;

1. want to understand the reasoning behind being so vocal about it ?

2. Maybe shed a little light as to why they may not all be "air bleeding sharp" and what sharp is on a combat knife.

3. All, and I do mean all of mine ( and over 9 years that has been a few hundred) have been plenty sharp right from Busse.

Jerry is a great man & even more so one of my great friends.

He has integrity & all ways makes things right, so if your INFI is "not sharp" send him an e-mail, give him a call, I am sure he will fix you up.

Thank you all for listening, again no offense I just felt it needed to be said :)

Let's Drink

Root Beer :)
 
Agreed. I have had a lot of blades and they all would cut your butt!. May not shave your mistress up close;):D


but they were nothing to send back . Much less complain!
 
Some come sharp. Some don't. I do not expect a very thin edge on a hard use knife.
 
All of mine have been sharp that came directly from Busse, so I am with you, I don't get it.

Some of the profiles have not been very thin but that is easy to remedy.
 
Mine have all come sharp too. :thumbup:
I am not a fan of any factory edges though...I like to thin my edges out.
I think the thick edge is really for major abuse of the knife with less damage. Leaving the shoulder on the edge stops damage.
Busse's are built for combat.:eek:
Combat is more than chopping wood or slicing paper.


I am not sure, but I think Busse would reprofile any blade before shipping, after it was paid for, if you ask nicely.
 
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Yeah, what HD said - some of my knives have come with decently usable edges, of the variety I would expect on a mass-produced knife. The FSH I got from Blade West, for example, came with a nice edge that could make fuzz sticks and chop with no visible damage.


The NMSFNO from BLADE, however, was so dull it took TWICE as many chops to get through a small log as the much lighter and thinner Cold Steel LTC Kukri, which had seen LOTS of chopping in the past, and never rolled or chipped except that one time I hit a metal pole with it. The NMSFNO had what was, IMHO, an unacceptable level of sharpness, especially on a $400 knife. It was outchopped by the both lighter and shorter Scrap Yard Regulator, which had a fantastic edge from the shop, and a crazy thick 1/3 inch thick blade to boot.

Of the few Busse knives I have purchased, most of which came from shows, I would say somewhere between a third and half of them had edges that were, in a word... CRAP. They couldn't even slice paper cleanly, let alone whittle hair. Most (four) of these sub-par edges were from BLADE Atlanta, and it's quite possible that there was just a bad batch of knives that didn't get enough attention due to the massive numbers of knives that needed to be produced during the run-up to the show, but it did sour my opinion of INFI sharpness.


Busse has phenomenal customer service, and I have NO DOUBT whatsoever that they would put laser-sharp edges on any blades I chose to send back - far sharper than I would ever be able to accomplish myself. But, I don't want to be without a knife for a couple of weeks waiting for it to be sharpened when I can do a halfway decent job of it myself. The point is - this shouldn't be an issue in the first place, and the knives should be sharp out of the box.


Maybe I've just gotten really unlucky, but I have definitely gotten some non-sharp blades, although most of my recent purchases have come with much better edges, so perhaps things have improved in the last six months, and it was just a glitch.


If you look at the improved edges I have put on any of my knives I've reprofiled, you will find that they are not razor thin, nor do they chip and roll when I chop or baton with them, but they perform a HELL of a lot better than they did when I got them.
 
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oeser said:
All of mine have been sharp that came directly from Busse, so I am with you, I don't get it.

Some of the profiles have not been very thin but that is easy to remedy.
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It is good that all yours came sharp. That doesn't mean everyone else's did. If you were to receive a dull one, you would get it. My Sarsquatch CE was very sharp right from the factory. Most of of my other Busses came with a decent edge. A few did not.
 
I had a Skeleton Key that you couldn't cut butter with. Honestly.

And I've had a Basic 5 that was so sharp it cut you just looking at it. SCARY.

The rest are somewhere in between. You must have some soft fur, Dave. I've not been able to shave hair with all of my blades. Nope. MOST. Not all.

Do I care? Not really. I'm perfectly satisfied with the blades. As I suspect all of those who keep buying INFI despite the "not air bleeding" blades.

And as the Boss would say, "Let's drink!"
 
Dennis in MA said:
Do I care? Not really. I'm perfectly satisfied with the blades. As I suspect all of those who keep buying INFI despite the "not air bleeding" blades.

And as the Boss would say, "Let's drink!"
Click to expand...

I care, but not enough to stop me from buying them. I'm gonna have to sharpen a knife one way or the other eventually, but it is nice to be able to get a blade and actually use it right away without putting a lot of work into it.

That said, where else can I get INFI, and where else can I get the Busse warranty and customer service? If that means I have to get the occasional dull knife, then I'll get the occasional dull knife.... I'll piss and moan about it, but I'm not sending it back.





Busse is the reason I bought a belt sander. I used to be satisfied sharpening my knives with a mousepad and sandpaper, but I had to do so much reprofiling that I had to upgrade my techniques.
 
Horn Dog said:
It is good that all yours came sharp. That doesn't mean everyone else's did. If you were to receive a dull one, you would get it. My Sarsquatch CE was very sharp right from the factory. Most of of my other Busses came with a decent edge. A few did not.
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My comment was not directed to you, I was just agreeing with Dave in the fact that it seems to be a running joke that Busse knives are dull and "I don't get it." I have been fortunate that all of the ones I have purchased have been sharp. If I received one that was dull maybe I would "get it". Got it?:D:thumbup:
 
All my Bussekin knives have come pretty dang sharp, except for my FFBM. That thing is just meh.
 
All mine that I've gotten new have been sharp, some very sharp. I've got a Sarsquatch that's got a very obtuse angle at the edge, but it's still decently sharp.

Ironically, probably the two sharpest from the factory that I can recall were thick and thin INFI, a BATAC SE and a BAD. :D
 
some were sharp, some were dull. postage to and fro for overseas customers to fix things is very expensive, it may add an additional $50-100, depending on how big and/or heavy the blade is. there's also the problem with customs etc and timing.

I expect all blades to be razor sharp, having paid a couple hundred dollars. I understand it will not be as sharp (or efficient a cutter/slicer) as say, a NIB spyderco folder out of the box (they're so much thinner) but they should still shave. a shaving sharp edge does not mean it has to be thin, but well ground.

saying that all busses are razor/shaving sharp is just not true, I've handled about 7 of them, and none of them shaved out of the cardboard. I can sharpen ok, but I'm not an expert (so my bevels may not always be symetrical and nice) but without a belt sander/paper wheels or a big stone, sharpening a big blade isn't that easy for me. I also dislike having the sharpen a brand new knife.

that being said, I still like INFI a lot. Once it's properly sharpened, it's the shiznit. and if I can afford it, I will still buy busse blades.
 
I haven't bought a lot of "factory direct" blades from Busse. Of the five (two skinny ASH's, a NMFBM and two NMSFNO's) only two were decently sharp. The other three were extremely dull. I also aquired a FFBM secondhand which was claimed to be and seemed to be in new/factory edge conditon which while not dull was far from being able to shave. The few others I own were already sharpened by the original owner by the time they got to me. Does it bother me that they are not sharp? No, not really. It is going to be sharpened at some point, and probably thinned a bit anyway. Have I ever said anything about it? No, because it is not a huge issue for me. But if someone asks me I'm going to be honest. My opinion based on my limited exposure is that Busse blades aren't always very sharp from the factory, and some are downright dull. Again, just my experience, and I'm certainly not complaining.
 
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The factory edges I have received were all sharp.

I agree, that there needs to be a level of sharpness attained with any knife. A 20 dollar knife should still shave out of the box.
 
I love the people and knives of Busse, and use no other fixed blades anymore; however:

* my ASH1 wasn't even remotely sharp when it arrived from the factory. it was dull...

* my BAD was a little sharp, but for a thin super-duper-slicer it was far from super sharp.

both were bought new from the factory/skunk.

I just deal with it and didn't complain or send them in.

I mention it only to confirm it does happen, more frequently than some think - I believe, and my hope is that such comments help the fine folks at Busse tidy up the QC process.

Feedback, factual and objective constructive criticism in this case, is a good thing...

They're still the best fixed blade knives in the world, with a similarly killer warranty. ;)

That help?
 
I guess I have been lucky because every Blade that I have received from Busse, Swamprat and Scrapyard has been shaving sharp. Usually the first thing I do is take it out of its cardboard sheath and shave some arm hair (don't have much left with the recent purchases). I agree that some have been sharper than others, but they all would shave. So in my experience, I have been totally satisfied with Busse sharpness!:D:thumbup: Lets Drink!!!
 
Having only two Busses, only one of which had a factory edge i'll chime in a little.

My ash-1 had an EXTREMELY obtuse edge angle which I somewhat understand, but the actual edge lacked ANY refinement whatsoever. It looked like it was sharpened on a 50 grit belt and then shipped out after pulling the edge through a piece of wood to knock off the bur. It would shave a TINY bit and could not cleanly push cut paper. Now it's convexed and sharp as all hell, with NO durability to spare.

Honestly, you don't need a 60 degree bevel to have the knife be durable, but I see the need as to why they're shipped so thick. I do know that if you pay 300, 400, 500, 900 bucks for a knife, the edge however thick should be polished.

That is pretty much my only criticism.
 
For me the sharpness of the blades when I receive them is a moot point, as I use them a lot and sharpen them myself. I too often change a bevel degree the day I get the knife to suit my purpose. But I admit the level of sharpness was not the same for all 6 Busse's that I have. Some were Ok, some were not.
 
David,

I only own a few Busses.. a SUS Scrofa, NMSFNO, and SAR4LE..

both the Scrofa, and NMSFNO were not sharp.. they were not dull as a butter knife, but they would both catch on slicing paper, and had a difficult job on Cardboard.

I think there was a lot of confusion between edge sharpness and cutting geometry on your original post.. the NMSFNO has a very fat geometry that will let it take abuse.. this should not be mistaken with the quality of the refinement on the edge to make it capable of splitting hairs. I have many knives that split hairs but can hardly slice a tomatoe because of their geometry..

I also dont think any prices need to be raised to get a consistent level of sharpness.. other companies that I buy from are consistently bleeding sharp out of the box on almost every knife.

I noticed a simple fact on the 2 knives that were not so sharp.. The Edge bevel still had scratch marks of about 120grit. now.. I can make 120grit grind shave arm hair with stropping.. but without stropping its sharp but gittery.. This is where I feel my busse knives sat on the scale..

It only took a few minutes to refine the edge and make it sharper on some sandpaper.. so.. If I can make the knife consistently hair popping in only a few minutes then so can Busse without an increase in prices.. That being said.. I've seen nothing but graciousness from Busse to everyone, and I think the issue is that people should learn to sharpen :) I don't get people that never sharpen a knife and have to send it to the factory to clean up.

As for the NMSFNO. I reprofiled and blended the main convex with the edge convex and I have not sacraficed much at all in edge thickness but the knife is now one of the sharpest AND best slicers I have..

One thing I do agree with is that there is too much complaining loudly about edge quality instead of praising steel quality and heat treat.. Sharpening is the bread and butter of knife use.. everyone needs to do it.
 
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