Production Bushfinger Review #2

abrasion

abrasion

Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
1,549
So I received the Production Bushfinger today.
I have owned a few Survive Knives and I really liked their simplicity and high end materials but couldn't get past the fit and finish. The Bushfinger has no such problems. The fit and finish is what you would expect from Andy and Crew.

There are a few things that are a must haves for me when choosing a knife.

1. Is the knife comfortable? ✔️

2. Is the handle material grippy enough for wet use(I live in Oregon)? ✔️

3. Is the edge thin enough to perform fine tasks(anyone who has owned a Busse knows what I'm not looking for)?✔️
4. Is the fit and finish near perfect?✔️

So I took out my Hiking Buddies to see what they thought. I think they were impressed...

 

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One of our favorite things to do is go to our little hiking spot to sit by the fire.

Some really fat wood...


This is a nice piece of white oak for the fire.
This stuff was really hard.

Let the processing begin...
 
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So after a couple of hours I have to say that I am really impressed with the knife. It performed great and held an edge very well. Day one is in the books. I will update this post often so stay tuned...
 
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Yea, the cnc grinder cringed when I told him how thin I wanted the edge. LOL. Most production knives just don't go that thin. But that is how we make them here, and how we grind them, and how I design them and how knives really work. With steel like CPM S35VN, I'm not worrying about strength, so it just doesn't make sense to have a thick edge on there.

Man, I'm glad you're liking your knife. And I think your Hiking Buddies are even cooler than the Hiking Buddy. Great pics!
 
Looking good man, though I can only see the first pics...not sure what's up with that. It's cool that you're getting the young ones involved.


Fiddleback said:
Yea, the cnc grinder cringed when I told him how thin I wanted the edge. LOL. Most production knives just don't go that thin. But that is how we make them here, and how we grind them, and how I design them and how knives really work. With steel like CPM S35VN, I'm not worrying about strength, so it just doesn't make sense to have a thick edge on there.

Man, I'm glad you're liking your knife. And I think your Hiking Buddies are even cooler than the Hiking Buddy. Great pics!
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Yeah it has historically, from what I have seen anyway, mostly been that thin on folding knives. One reason I wanted to really test their heat treat hard, with fixed blades typically experiencing more exerted force than folders. I have tested a LOT of CPM S35VN over the last few years, with one other fixed blade being almost that thin. I've seen enough to know any issues that could have arisen would have stemmed from heat treat issues and not the steel or the grind. The one I have has seen some pretty intense use, and I have been really impressed with how well it performs.
 
I had a good time with the two boys yesterday and I'm sure we'll be back for more tomorrow. The older one was asking about building a figure four trap so that'll be on tomorrow agenda.

This may sound weird but I don't even own a computer anymore, everything I post is done through Tapatalk. I'll have to go through photobucket and edit the pictures.
 
Looks good abrasion. Cool seeing your hiking buddies getting into it as well.

I can only see the pics in the first post as well btw.
 
abrasion said:
I had a good time with the two boys yesterday and I'm sure we'll be back for more tomorrow. The older one was asking about building a figure four trap so that'll be on tomorrow agenda.

This may sound weird but I don't even own a computer anymore, everything I post is done through Tapatalk. I'll have to go through photobucket and edit the pictures.
Click to expand...

That sounds like it will be awesome fun man. I love watching my daughter work on her knife skills. She doesn't know it yet, but there is a Hiking Buddy that I just got for her waiting at the PO right now. She will be super excited the next trip out...though I have a weakness for Hiking Buddies and will have to play with it myself some first :)

Doesn't sound weird at all to me man. Because of all the photo processing and editing I can't imagine my life without a larger screen, key board, and mouse. But in doing my work I see where the trend is definitely headed to almost exclusively hand held in the consumer market. Because I do have my pc at me desk, and my lap top that I use in the field, I tend to fight it and delay responding a lot of times till I am at one, or will even pull over and fire up the laptop to deal with some important issues. But even in my work, more and more of it is being handled via my phone.
 
mistwalker said:
That sounds like it will be awesome fun man. I love watching my daughter work on her knife skills. She doesn't know it yet, but there is a Hiking Buddy that I just got for her waiting at the PO right now. She will be super excited the next trip out...though I have a weakness for Hiking Buddies and will have to play with it myself some first :)

Doesn't sound weird at all to me man. Because of all the photo processing and editing I can't imagine my life without a larger screen, key board, and mouse. But in doing my work I see where the trend is definitely headed to almost exclusively hand held in the consumer market. Because I do have my pc at me desk, and my lap top that I use in the field, I tend to fight it and delay responding a lot of times till I am at one, or will even pull over and fire up the laptop to deal with some important issues. But even in my work, more and more of it is being handled via my phone.
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That's awesome mist! All my kids love my Hiking Buddy, I have two others. They'll have to wait a little till they get their own but for now they all have Beckers and couldn't be happier.
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abrasion said:
That's awesome mist! All my kids love my Hiking Buddy, I have two others. They'll have to wait a little till they get their own but for now they all have Beckers and couldn't be happier.
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Yeah, she has one other custom made and given to her by a friend of mine a few years ago, but the handle doesn't give her enough control for wood working...it's too close to being round. She also has a small TOPS I picked up for her that she can do her rough-use experiments with, but it's a scandi...and there will definitely be some strict rules concerning the Hiking Buddy and usage of, but on of my wife's favorite sayings is "start as you mean to go on" and I took that to heart. The HB just has a better blade profile and handle ergonomics than anything I have been able to find on the open market, and I was going to wait to get her a mid tech version...and may still for the training sessions. But she is a very color oriented little girl and I thought the "Professor In A Blender" burlap would be both colorful for her, and yet durable. We'll soon see anyway :)
 
abrasion said:
Is the edge thin enough to perform fine tasks(anyone who has owned a Busse knows what I'm not looking for)?✔️
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Awesome, I know exactly what you're talking about and it's good to know that this has a properly thinned edge. It'd probably do well on some kitchen duty, too.
 
Great post abrasion! Those are some really nice pics and some very good info. I like your fire spot, it looks like a good one!
 
I was completely impressed when these came in. I had some reservations when Andy told me what he was doing, but once I had them in hand, I called him and told him I didn't know what I was talking about before!
 
Great pics and comments, love the one with the split log and the knife in the middle!
 
Do you guys remember that sweet fat wood I had.


This is what's left of it.


So I packed this home with me with the intentions of processing it with my axe and saw for some kits and such. Then I got to thinking I have this knife I'm testing...mmm.

Let me first say I would never do this with one of my Fiddlebacks. It not that I don't think they can handle it they are just the wrong tool for that job. Some of my big choppers, especially the ones from Bill Siegle would make short work of that little piece of fat wood.

So I got to thinking if it was ok with Andy I would process this beast up with the Bushfinger. I thinking it could handle...
 
I made a short video of Andy batoning yesterday with a ladyfinger.. It's on Instagram
 
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