Today I received two of the new Kydex sheaths - one each for my #3 and #9, so I thought I'd toss out my first impressions.
Before I do, though, I'd like to explain how I got mine. I ordered a #9 from the BladeForum store last year, I think in September. When the brown truck arrived, I saw that I had a problem. I am seriously left-handed when it comes to sharp things - I'd rather trust someone with hand tremors to hold a bowl of nitroglycerine next to my head than to use any knife in my right hand, especially a Busse. When I placed the order, I had hoped it had an ambi sheath. I had to have the #9 whether it did or not, so I didn't check when I ordered. Needing to find a solution, I called Busse and spoke with Dave. After explaining my problem, I asked if I could get a left-handed sheath. He said "Sure, just send us the one you have and we'll swap it as soons as we have some in stock." A few weeks later, I got a #3. Same problem. So I emailed Busse, and Susan said they'd get a lefty to me for that one as well. As many of us know, in order to have Busse quality, one learns to have patience when ordering direct. About once a month since, I got an update from Dave, Susan, or Jerry, along with an apology for the delay and a thank you for understanding.
A couple of days ago, I got home from work and Dave had left a message, saying my sheaths just went out the door and that I should have them within a couple of days. Said they'd been made by the new in-house maker. I was treated openly, honestly, and honorably by Busse. I sure didn't expect a phone call! They truly went out of their way to make sure I was happy. I've sent questions to another well-known maker and never got an answer - talk about bad service. Even though I waited for several months, these sheaths are worth every minute! I'm not a distributor, I don't work in the knife industry, and I'm not a high profile customer. I'm just an average joe who was treated great. Thanks, Busse!
I very seriously doubt these new sheaths could be any stronger without being made out of steel. The Kydex is 3/32" (or something very close to that). They are noticeably thicker than the sheets used for the original Basic sheaths. Construction is VERY clean and purposeful. One of the first things I noticed was that they aren't made by folding a sheet of Kydex, but by joining two separate halves. The sheets must have been formed either before they were joined, or as part of the joining process. The outer edge is very well shaped, almost perfectly symetrical, but off just enough to be able to tell that it was handmade, and not cut on a machine. I'm guessing, but the trimming had to come after the riveting - the seam between the two halves is darn near perfect. As a matter of fact, the #9 is so well joined, you can't see the line between the two halves - it's totally disappeared! It actually looks as if a 3/16" sheet was somehow split and the knife was forced into the split.
Well, I quickly grabbed a Pelican Super MityLite and headed to a dark closet. The light is an 8000 candlepower xenon that always finds cracks and gaps. Lo and behold, with the flashlight pointing inside the sheath, ZERO light came through the seams - none, zilch, nada. It turned out that the seams are totally watertight! Neither sheath has a drain hole, a nice touch given the watertight construction, IMNSHO. Since modified INFI is known to be extremely rust resistant, I'd rather have the water tightness than drain holes. Water and junk can still get in the top of course, and it has no where to drain, but both sheaths can be submerged up to the topmost rivet and the blade stays dry. No other sheath I've ever owned could do that.
Overall forming is very well done. All edges are rounded so you won't get a cut from a sharp edge. Under the handle, on the body side, the Kydex has been formed into very sharp 90 degree corners. I haven't seen very many kydex sheaths, but I've never seen one that even comes close to the cleanness of the bends on these sheaths. The rivets are well spaced, crimped nicely, and have no burrs.
Interestingly, on the #9 the top 2 rivets have a solid surface on the end opposite the crimping, rather than the usual hole all the way through like the remainder of the rivets. These same solid rivets are used to attach the nylon belt loop to the top of the sheath for the #9. I suspect they were used to provide a little more strength when drawing and re-inserting the knife. The belt loop also has a snap strap for extra retention and could handle a belt a little over 3" wide.
On the #3, Chicago screws are used to attach the Kydex belt loop. There is no strap for the #3 handle. Elsewhere, the #3 has pass-through rivets. It appears that, if you wanted to lower the #3 on your waist, you could simply remove the screws, flip the loop, and put the screws back in. This couldn't be done with the original #3 sheath. Having a bit of a spare tire, I really appreciate sheaths that allow themselves to be worn low enough that the handle isn't constantly pressing into my side. The belt loop on the #3 will accomodate up to 1-13/16".
While the belt loop on both sheaths are big enough for my purposes, I'd like for the loop on the #9 to be either adjustable or replaceable so that you could adjust how high it rides on your waist. Except for that, I can't see changing anything on either sheath. The #9 doesn't have a leg strap, nor slots for one, which the originals had, but when you get two replacement sheaths that are handmade like I did, well, you go out and get your own leg strap and don't complain!
Kudos to the new in-house sheathmaker. He/she may be new to Busse, but they've obviously been making sheaths for quite a while. I'm not sure whether craftsmen or artist is the right term, but both fit. Artistic craftsmen seems appropriate. Simply put, these new sheaths are worthy of holding a Busse.
Now, I'm looking forward to exercising my patience while waiting for perfection to arrive in the form of a custom Busse. I just have to save the money and decide what I want...
Ray
------------------
Knowledge without understanding is knowledge wasted.
Understanding without knowledge is a rare gift - but not an impossibility.
For the impossible is always possible through faith. - Bathroom graffiti, gas station, Grey, TN, Dec, 1988
AKTI Member #A000831
[This message has been edited by Codeman (edited 04-28-2000).]
Before I do, though, I'd like to explain how I got mine. I ordered a #9 from the BladeForum store last year, I think in September. When the brown truck arrived, I saw that I had a problem. I am seriously left-handed when it comes to sharp things - I'd rather trust someone with hand tremors to hold a bowl of nitroglycerine next to my head than to use any knife in my right hand, especially a Busse. When I placed the order, I had hoped it had an ambi sheath. I had to have the #9 whether it did or not, so I didn't check when I ordered. Needing to find a solution, I called Busse and spoke with Dave. After explaining my problem, I asked if I could get a left-handed sheath. He said "Sure, just send us the one you have and we'll swap it as soons as we have some in stock." A few weeks later, I got a #3. Same problem. So I emailed Busse, and Susan said they'd get a lefty to me for that one as well. As many of us know, in order to have Busse quality, one learns to have patience when ordering direct. About once a month since, I got an update from Dave, Susan, or Jerry, along with an apology for the delay and a thank you for understanding.
A couple of days ago, I got home from work and Dave had left a message, saying my sheaths just went out the door and that I should have them within a couple of days. Said they'd been made by the new in-house maker. I was treated openly, honestly, and honorably by Busse. I sure didn't expect a phone call! They truly went out of their way to make sure I was happy. I've sent questions to another well-known maker and never got an answer - talk about bad service. Even though I waited for several months, these sheaths are worth every minute! I'm not a distributor, I don't work in the knife industry, and I'm not a high profile customer. I'm just an average joe who was treated great. Thanks, Busse!
I very seriously doubt these new sheaths could be any stronger without being made out of steel. The Kydex is 3/32" (or something very close to that). They are noticeably thicker than the sheets used for the original Basic sheaths. Construction is VERY clean and purposeful. One of the first things I noticed was that they aren't made by folding a sheet of Kydex, but by joining two separate halves. The sheets must have been formed either before they were joined, or as part of the joining process. The outer edge is very well shaped, almost perfectly symetrical, but off just enough to be able to tell that it was handmade, and not cut on a machine. I'm guessing, but the trimming had to come after the riveting - the seam between the two halves is darn near perfect. As a matter of fact, the #9 is so well joined, you can't see the line between the two halves - it's totally disappeared! It actually looks as if a 3/16" sheet was somehow split and the knife was forced into the split.
Well, I quickly grabbed a Pelican Super MityLite and headed to a dark closet. The light is an 8000 candlepower xenon that always finds cracks and gaps. Lo and behold, with the flashlight pointing inside the sheath, ZERO light came through the seams - none, zilch, nada. It turned out that the seams are totally watertight! Neither sheath has a drain hole, a nice touch given the watertight construction, IMNSHO. Since modified INFI is known to be extremely rust resistant, I'd rather have the water tightness than drain holes. Water and junk can still get in the top of course, and it has no where to drain, but both sheaths can be submerged up to the topmost rivet and the blade stays dry. No other sheath I've ever owned could do that.
Overall forming is very well done. All edges are rounded so you won't get a cut from a sharp edge. Under the handle, on the body side, the Kydex has been formed into very sharp 90 degree corners. I haven't seen very many kydex sheaths, but I've never seen one that even comes close to the cleanness of the bends on these sheaths. The rivets are well spaced, crimped nicely, and have no burrs.
Interestingly, on the #9 the top 2 rivets have a solid surface on the end opposite the crimping, rather than the usual hole all the way through like the remainder of the rivets. These same solid rivets are used to attach the nylon belt loop to the top of the sheath for the #9. I suspect they were used to provide a little more strength when drawing and re-inserting the knife. The belt loop also has a snap strap for extra retention and could handle a belt a little over 3" wide.
On the #3, Chicago screws are used to attach the Kydex belt loop. There is no strap for the #3 handle. Elsewhere, the #3 has pass-through rivets. It appears that, if you wanted to lower the #3 on your waist, you could simply remove the screws, flip the loop, and put the screws back in. This couldn't be done with the original #3 sheath. Having a bit of a spare tire, I really appreciate sheaths that allow themselves to be worn low enough that the handle isn't constantly pressing into my side. The belt loop on the #3 will accomodate up to 1-13/16".
While the belt loop on both sheaths are big enough for my purposes, I'd like for the loop on the #9 to be either adjustable or replaceable so that you could adjust how high it rides on your waist. Except for that, I can't see changing anything on either sheath. The #9 doesn't have a leg strap, nor slots for one, which the originals had, but when you get two replacement sheaths that are handmade like I did, well, you go out and get your own leg strap and don't complain!
Kudos to the new in-house sheathmaker. He/she may be new to Busse, but they've obviously been making sheaths for quite a while. I'm not sure whether craftsmen or artist is the right term, but both fit. Artistic craftsmen seems appropriate. Simply put, these new sheaths are worthy of holding a Busse.
Now, I'm looking forward to exercising my patience while waiting for perfection to arrive in the form of a custom Busse. I just have to save the money and decide what I want...
Ray
------------------
Knowledge without understanding is knowledge wasted.
Understanding without knowledge is a rare gift - but not an impossibility.
For the impossible is always possible through faith. - Bathroom graffiti, gas station, Grey, TN, Dec, 1988
AKTI Member #A000831
[This message has been edited by Codeman (edited 04-28-2000).]
