My very first busse ! - and some Mods too

[Bart student]

Hello folks,


A few days ago I recieved my first busse in this far away corner of Europe. After paying the mail dude the 25 bucks taxes the customs had put on, I opened up the package and saw a whole lot of plastic.. yep, Ken does pack his stuff good .
After some digging I found a greenish codura thingy with two eyelets.. seemed like I found the lower part of the sheath of my Busse Steel Heart 2 E. I inspected it closely, found that the knife is absolutely wonderfull in the hand, great balance, great feel.. truly something I never felt before. The edge seemed like new, but wasn't razor sharp anymore. Not really a suprise, afterall, it is a secondhand busse.
Then I inspected the sheath.. someone had tried to glue the kydex insert to both sides so the blade couldn't be inserted beside the sheath - I suppose for fast drawing and resheathing, I alway look at the sheath when resheathing. Now technically that isn't such a bad idea, but the dude - NOT Ken, he bought it from someone else for me - used some glue that doesn't harden, kinda like epoxy, but then the resin only with a tad of harder. OK there was work to be done here.

But first.. INFI being known for it's working nature, I went out to the woods behind the house. Now this is where a busse shines.. wood.. chopping.. working.. I took a 5 meter oak tree apart - we were gonne build a pond there anyway - , about 6 inch diameter fresh hard wood to cut down. After the first swing, you immediately feel the power of a busse.. the penetration depth and the ease of chopping were nowhere near a comparable knife in the size class, even bigger knives were not even close. However.. I did the excact same thing with a khukri I made with a convex ground 5160 with a zero-edge, and that one chopped deeper, but then.. It's twice the blade size, 4 times as heavy and has a recurve. Needless to say I was impressed. After I chopped the tree to meter-long pieces to burn up, The busse wasn't shaving -it never was in my hands - but it would still cut paper easy. The khukri on the other hand still cut, but nowhere near as smooth as the busse.. the edge had a few dull spots especially where the sweet spot is to chop. You know.. it cuts paper for 2 inches, chokes for a few mm, cuts for 2 inch, chokes again..

Both responded well to steeling, and both got to about 90 % of their original sharpness. The sap had seriously discolored the khukri, enough for me to go to the buffer, while the steel heart had a few spots were the coating was coming off near the edge, almost the whole blade was flattened coating. Not excactly a pretty sight, so while buffing the khukri, I also buffed the coating of the blade of the steel heart - this coating is a LOT more resistant that other coatings.. I figured I would spend 15 minutes at the buffer.. I stood there for well over two hours - Now it's a satin finished blade, which I personally prefer since it doesn't seem to be any rust problem.. and it slices better too

OK, back inside I started working on the sheath.. it defenitely looked like poorly mixed-non-hardened epoxy, I removed as much as I could, then figured I needed a way to make the insert stay inside. I also made the opeing hole in the kydex a tad wider, I'll probably make a full kydex sheath in a few weeks. I used double sided tape to cover the entire sheath, inserted it with some trouble, but then it stays in pretty solid. I also removed the latch and turned it around, I suppose the original owner was a lefty.

Overall I am very impressed with teh quality and workmanship in this knife, it is close to unbelievable what this INFI can do. For some reason my leatherman wave feels right at home in the pouch, it has smooth steel surfaces (the edges of the handles for steeling) and a diamond file for heavy reprofiling or coarse edges. This combo is defenitely my first choice for my survival dropping in the center of France, in July.

However.. I have a few questions too for the Busse folks :

1. The mods I did - I am a knifemaker and I buff barehanded, so I keep it cool during buffing - do they void warranty ?

2. Is there such a thing as warranty on the other side of the world (for example Benchmade it takes 30 $ to ship it there and 50 to ship it back plus like 25 taxes = just about a new BM )

3. Are there any better blades if any out there for survivalists like me or just happy campers ?

4. the combo leatherman wave - busse steel heart.. you think that is a good choice ?

5. The mods I did.. do they press down the price bigtime ( modify a spydie and you cut the newprice in half) ?

Thanks, I'll post some pics lateron.

The pics have arrived ( the butt is excactly like new, only it didn't fit my scanner)

Lemme know what you think.

greetz and take care, Bart.

 

[Andrew Lynch]

Originally posted by Bart student
1. The mods I did - I am a knifemaker and I buff barehanded, so I keep it cool during buffing - do they void warranty ?

As long as it did not affect the temper, it should be fine. Actually, I've seen Jerry cover warranty cases where the temper had be affected....basically, no fear

Originally posted by Bart student
2. Is there such a thing as warranty on the other side of the world (for example Benchmade it takes 30 $ to ship it there and 50 to ship it back plus like 25 taxes = just about a new BM )

I'm not sure. If you like, give the shop a call at 419-923-6471 .

Originally posted by Bart student
3. Are there any better blades if any out there for survivalists like me or just happy campers ?

It depends on your uses, but for a do-it-all survival knife, I really don't think so. Of course, opinions vary widely; everybody has their favorites...but, for pure performance, I think the SH is one of the VERY best, if not THE best, in this category.

Originally posted by Bart student
4. the combo leatherman wave - busse steel heart.. you think that is a good choice ?

Great combo! You're set to tackle just about anything.

Originally posted by Bart student
5. The mods I did.. do they press down the price bigtime ( modify a spydie and you cut the newprice in half) ?

I really doubt it. I might even pay extra for a well done satin finish, even if it was done aftermarket. It just depends on how it looks. Even if it did lower the price, it wouldn't be by much, IMHO.

I'm glad you like the Steel Heart. It has a large following around here, and is one of my favorite Busses.

I'm looking forward to some pics!!!

 

[Strabs]

Congratulations Bart

Take Andrew's advice and call the shop and speak with the man himself (or his awesome staff) about the warrantee issue.
You may also consider talking with Dirk (Busse's european dealer located in Germany) about this. Check out the website for his contact info - http://www.bussecombat.de/

Otherwise, the Steel Heart is the best (in my opinion) survival/camping knife when accompanied by a smaller swiss army knife or combination tool.

If you do get a chance to post some pictures I would love to see your satin finish!

 

[Eric Isaacson]

Bart,
Glad to see you over here on the Busse forum, welcome

I seriously doubt you affected the temper with the buff job. Here's some info Jerry posted regarding the temper, etc.
"As for INFI and temperature extremes, it is amazing. INFI is tempered at nearly 950 degrees. It does not begin to lose any significant hardness until it is held above 1050 degrees for a considerable amount of time. I have to believe that it would need to be extremely mishandled in order to do any noticeable damage.

Most of the simpler high carbon steels (of which INFI is NOT a member) can be drawn down in temper in a matter of seconds if the temperature hits above 500 - 800 degrees. Along the thin edge of a knife, a buffer or dremel can produce this level of heat and can cause serious damage if not executed by a professional. Always check the grade of steel and heat-treat specs. before assassinating it with the dremel tool Uncle Leo gave you for Christmas. Always keep the steel cool to the touch and you should be fine.

As far as INFI is concerned, care for and feed it like a friend. If the blade does get warm pour beer over it to cool it down. Stories out of Africa indicate that “Beer Tempering” only increases the performance of the steel. Is this true? I question nothing I hear from our friends in Africa.

Jerry Busse"

And as far as the warranty goes here's some more info Jerry posted in regards to that
" Busse Combat is proud to have the toughest warranty in the industry. Busse Combat Grade, Combat Basics, and Combat Customs are guaranteed for life against any and all MAJOR damage.
Common sense dictates that we do not cover “intentional” damage. For example: If you cut a Busse Combat Knife in half with an acetylene torch (on purpose) and then return it for replacement, we are not going to be very excited about giving you another one.
We have been asked recently how modifications of our knives might affect our warranty. Modifications can change the very nature and authorship of a knife. Simply put, we cannot warrant workmanship that we do not perform.
Specifically, if you have modifications done to your knife, outside of our shop, and the modifications adversely affect the integrity and/or performance of your knife, causing it to fail, then it should be noted that “OUR” warranty will not cover “YOUR” modifications. We will, however, continue to cover the parts of your knife that are left unaffected by your modification. For example: If you have mastodon ivory grips put on your Steel Heart II by someone outside of our shop, then our warranty will continue to cover everything except the ivory grips. So be careful. BEFORE you have any modifications done to your knife, make sure that the person doing the modification will guarantee their workmanship.
Busse Combat encourages extreme usage of our blades as they are without question “The Toughest Knives in the World”. We have no rivals. You can use a Busse Combat knife as hard as you like and our warranty has you covered. If you have any specific warranty questions please feel free to email me.
Yours in Nuclear Toughness,
Jerry Busse"

To answer your question about the warranty on that side of the world, I think the only way to get warranty service is to send it back to the shop. However, after using it good and hard for a while, do you really think that you are going to have problems that will cause a warranty issue to arise? I've tried to damage some of my Busses and without some aid(ie pipe or vise, etc) I can't do it. I've very seldom ever heard of anyone needing to use the warranty on a Busse. If you do need it I think it will be years down the road.

BTW, the resale of Busses is very strong no matter what the condition.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Bart student :

Are there any better blades if any out there for survivalists like me or just happy campers ?

Enviroment is really key here. If the tropics where the vegetation can be much softer, you would do much better with a longer and thinner blade. The Steel Heart is very good for its class of blade, and depending on where you live, this could be ideal. Personally I prefer a longer blade for reasons of reach mainly.

the combo leatherman wave - busse steel heart.. you think that is a good choice ?

A multi-tool is very nice to have, there are small blades for precision work, a way to cut and mold metal (pliers), a small saw, files etc. . I would convert one of the screwdrives to an awl and another for a scraper / chisel if they were not present.

The mods I did.. do they press down the price bigtime

For a collector, quite probably. For a user, no, two hours of skilled hand work isn't cheap.

-Cliff

 

[Chip]

Bart Student,
Welcome to the Busse forum. Glad to hear you like your
Steel Heart.

 

[Bart student]

Hello folks.. if you were wondering how a satin finished blade and coated handle look like, Just loaded a pic in the first post.

At least now the coating wont get beat up any more
Besides.. I'd rather care a bit for my precious blade the have it ugly (I know some of you people like the coating, me, I prefer a plain looking steel blade).

The satin finishing was easy ( just took long ), but when I tried to give it a smoother finish of my buffer, it kinda refused so I settled for a satin finish, like it almost was under the coating.

Greetz and take care, Bart.