Old versus New INFI

Moloko Plus

Moloko Plus

Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
653
It has been mentioned before, in various threads, that there was an old INFI and that it is somehow different from new INFI. It would make sense that the alloy would change a little over time, but I am wondering if there is a difference in performance and if this difference would even be noticeable during normal (ie non-abusive) use.

Can anyone shed any light on this?
 
Moloko Plus said:
It has been mentioned before, in various threads, that there was an old INFI and that it is somehow different from new INFI.
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:confused: I don't recall reading this. Do you have a link? Might you be confusing this with the different heat treat on the first 300 SHBM?
 
As far as I know, the elemental composition of the alloy has stayed the same , but the heat treatment and such has been slightly modified. The original INFI blades were hardened to 60-62 RC. The current ones are hardened to 58-60.

This information is to the best of my knowledge; I welcome elaboration or correction.
 
Balislinger said:
Have you tried PMing papathud to see what he meant?
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No, I have not, but you're right, I probably should.

I am only curious if anyone has noticed a performance difference in their older versus their newer Busse knives. I don't own any old ones and the knives I have (all made in the last 6 years) are not noticeably different in terms of toughness.
 
Evolute said:
As far as I know, the elemental composition of the alloy has stayed the same , but the heat treatment and such has been slightly modified. The original INFI blades were hardened to 60-62 RC. The current ones are hardened to 58-60.

This information is to the best of my knowledge; I welcome elaboration or correction.
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Thank you! I'm not sure if that hardness difference would translate into a significant performance difference in non-abusive uses. As an uninformed guess I imagine the lower hardness would make it easier to sharpen and possibly make it easier to dent, tear, or otherwise sustain damage in extreme uses (which are outside the realm of what I use mine for).
 
Old INFI should be disposed of properly. Please contact me for proper procedures and shipping address.
 
Actually, there is no difference in regards to the ease of sharpening that I can see. If there's one at all, it's so insignificant that you'd never notice. HOWEVER, with the higher RC you have better edge retention all around and might be able to get your knife even sharper with the only detraction being that it's not AS tough as it would be at the current, lower RC. I think Jerry decided to go with a lower RC for toughness.....it seems that the knives are also ground thicker as well. Both to make them nearly indestructable. Though the old ones were tough as nails and you'd never have a problem with their stregnth unless you were TRYING to break them, Jerry probably just wanted to make sure you could go ahead and break up concrete driveways without a problem if that floats your boat. Like a I remember that a dude did with his 1/300 of course breaking it.

I've used a few 1/300's and had plenty of work/fun with them with absolutely no problems and there's some here that have used them for years with the same experience. You CAN see the edge retention difference. The 1/300's for example seem like they get even sharper with use.
 
pbubsy said:
Actually, there is no difference in regards to the ease of sharpening that I can see. If there's one at all, it's so insignificant that you'd never notice. HOWEVER, with the higher RC you have better edge retention all around and might be able to get your knife even sharper with the only detraction being that it's not AS tough as it would be at the current, lower RC. I think Jerry decided to go with a lower RC for toughness.....it seems that the knives are also ground thicker as well. Both to make them nearly indestructable. Though the old ones were tough as nails and you'd never have a problem with their stregnth unless you were TRYING to break them, Jerry probably just wanted to make sure you could go ahead and break up concrete driveways without a problem if that floats your boat. Like a I remember that a dude did with his 1/300 of course breaking it.

I've used a few 1/300's and had plenty of work/fun with them with absolutely no problems and there's some here that have used them for years with the same experience. You CAN see the edge retention difference. The 1/300's for example seem like they get even sharper with use.
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That's what I was looking for. Thanks for your help!
 
Not uncommon for the early big choppers in INFI to get sharper when used chopping wood, I noticed this first in the fall of 1999, called and asked Jerry, He said some thing about a possible wire edge and the chopping acting as polishing.

I have had the same thing happen on three other Busse knives, one SHSH and two different one of three hundreds.

INFI being a non specific can vary in any way that suits the company.

Heat treat, alloy make up, but as to exactly what that means you would need to get Jerry to talk about it.

I believe that the company looks to make the finest most durable product possible.

I believe that the company has done a good job of that so far.

I think that the thin knives coming out are a big step because people do actively Stupid things with these knives, I know I did for a year or two.

Busse knives, knives you can do really stupid things with and still have a well functioning knife, with edge holding first in the world in the larger knives.

In the smaller knives while you might find a knife with sort of the same ability to hold an edge, the over all knife will not be nearly so durable as a Busse in INFI.

Edited to add:

I would like to see on going tests like in the late 90s and early 2000s
 
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