New to Busse...Finish question

patrickcudd

patrickcudd

Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
554
I received my first Busse last week. I bought a HR in Urban Grey. I am curious why there is a finish color at all? Why are they not in satin or polished steel?
I'm not complaining, it just seems that a coating would get easily scratched and stay that way unless recoated, where a polished or satin finish could be buffed out.
 
patrickcudd said:
I received my first Busse last week. I bought a HR in Urban Grey. I am curious why there is a finish color at all? Why are they not in satin or polished steel?
I'm not complaining, it just seems that a coating would get easily scratched and stay that way unless recoated, where a polished or satin finish could be buffed out.
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Welcome aboard - Uncoated blades take a lot more work to produce due to the need for a great deal of finishing/polishing. This requires both additional man hours and polishing belts. All of this translates to longer production times, and higher production costs. Users will get their finishes scratched (character marks) but I for one don't care, that's what it is for. Infi shows a great deal of rust resistance, so with very little care that will never be an issue. You could always remove the finish yourself and polish the blade to your liking as many on this board have done with exceptional results.

Cheers :D
 
The coating is for rust prevention, which is necessary in most of the world, and/or for glare reduction, which is necessary to avoid getting your butt kicked by a team leader, platoon sergeant... or Achmed. The coating will get scratched with use, but it's been engineered so that it is rare for a single scratch to go all the way to the metal. So you still have some protection even with wear. Then when you do hit metal, just apply krylon. Remember, it's Busse Combat, not Busse Camping (and I'm laughing as I type this, I hope you don't find it offensive). For the woods, I too prefer an uncoated knife (unless I were to go to the Amazon, maybe), but while combat knives make great camp knives, troops in Iraq get priority over troops of Scouts.
Satin Finished and Double Cut knives are offered from time to time, but they almost always cost about $100 more than the coated knives. If you're serious about using a knife, you'd be better off removing the finish and applying a rough satin finish following directions that can be found on this and other forums. Here's one thread for starters: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=393237 of course, you'll probably be better off removing the coating first, but I'm no expert there.
BTW, I used those directions from the included thread, and found that it took 3-5 minutes per side to get a good finish, ymmv.
 
I think that the HR blade config would be insanely tedious to get a satin or BB finish given the lateral grooves.

I have no doubt that folks will do their own.

I'd think that add-on for all that work fro mthe shop would be cost prohibitive, and production slowing.
 
JWBirch said:
The coating is for rust prevention, which is necessary in most of the world, and/or for glare reduction, which is necessary to avoid getting your butt kicked by a team leader, platoon sergeant... or Achmed.
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This is something of an interesting topic. I think the whole coated/nonglare phenomenon is pretty much psychological. Not too offend, BUT! I read a Michael Janich article in Tactical Knives mag. where he said that the shiny blade theory was not a proven one (he was testing Mercworx). No one ever seemed to have a problem with Randalls in Vietnam. And Mr. Janich also stated that a shiny knife has been proven useful to signal on occasion. If you're in a warzone, and you really want to make a knife dull, it's a lot easier to that than to make it shiny. Just my opinion, and no, I've never been in the military. And let's not forget that it's going to be very rare that you'll have your knife unsheathed when stuff hits the fan.
 
Walking Man said:
This is something of an interesting topic, and I call BS. I think the whole coated/nonglare phenomenon is pretty much psychological. Not too offend, BUT! I read a Michael Janich article in Tactical Knives mag. where he said that the shiny blade theory was not a proven one (he was testing Mercworx). No one ever seemed to have a problem with Randalls in Vietnam. And Mr. Janich also stated that a shiny knife has been proven useful to signal on occasion. If you're in a warzone, and you really want to make a knife dull, it's a lot easier to that than to make it shiny. Just my opinion, and no, I've never been in the military. And let's not forget that it's going to be very rare that you'll have your knife unsheathed when stuff hits the fan.
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very true
It's easier to make a shiny knife dark than it is to make a coated knife shiny. In the post office, when we do night ops we use Shoe polish on our knives. :eek:
 
Noise and light discipline doesn't end when the sun comes up. If a troop in an elite infantry unit like the 82nd or the Rangers shows up to a field exercise with a big shiny knife he'll be getting his bags smoked by his team leader or the E-4 Mafia, and educated on over 100 years worth of reasons why that's wrong.

Only when you're fully aware of the rules and the reasons for the rules can you be expected to break them and get away with it. Like I've said, I've carried satin knives in combat, but I don't believe I've ever carried one bigger than a Spyderco, and even then it was very respectfully considering what would happen if a sniper saw it.

At a checkpoint in a city like Baghdad a troop isn't hiding from anyone, and can get away with more. But on a recon hide site in the mountains of Afghanistan, I wouldn't dare try.

To each his own, and I'm not trying to insult anyone's intellignece. Just have a reason for what you do that accounts for for the rules you're aware you're breaking, and an awareness of the consequences that could result.
 
I've seen my dad's shiny satin AD glare from across a 10 acre field while he was cleaning deer. Even double cut has more glare than coated and even a coated user developes some shine after being smooth out a bit but nothing like uncoated blades, you can use a satin blade as a rescue signal mirror if need be. That being said, nothing is more beautiful than satin and I love double cut:)
 
Calling BS, then offering up someone elses views? Interesting.

Wonder why the military has a lot of matte equipment?? :rolleyes:

I'll trust peoples knowledge (vs opinions) who have been in combat and know how even a small glint can mean life or death.

While I like a satin blade, for a SHTF situation, give me a glare-reducing finish. Hopefully I'll never have to know....
 
thatmguy said:
Calling BS, then offering up someone elses views? Interesting.
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Okay, so my language was worded a little strongly,my apologies, BUT.....
Michael Janich knows a lot more than most of us about bladecraft.
JWBirch,.... I'm sorry.....
We had a PM exchanged, thank you for enlightening us all.
 
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