I had a huge redwood deck in my backyard that was rotted from termites. The guy that owned this house before me fancied himself a horticulturist and so planted a ton of stuff out there and turned the place into a minor jungle. To top it off, possums had been living underneath this monstrosity for some time now, and something died out there some months back. A real disaster area.
The guy who built the deck 13 years ago built it like a tank. He dropped big blocks of cement into the ground to build it. But he did not use treated wood and, when I moved in 2.5 years ago, the thing had already suffered major rot.
So yesterday I started tearing this thing up. I took the BM with me, strapped it on my military web belt, and put it through its paces.
I chopped a lot of redwood, both rotted wood and good wood. A few times my blade whacked old nails. Once it sheared a nail in two. I chopped a lot of old vines. And when I found out that the big possum had a bunch of babies, I felt comfortable with a big blade to chop any pissed-off mom who decided to come at me. Believe me, though, I'm a nice guy and I like animals. I let the babies get back to their mom (she ran like hell to a different part of the deck), and I left them all alone. In the middle of the night they moved out and found a new home. I felt comfortable with this blade handling varmints, though, and I can see the benefits of having a big chopper in the event a varmint freaks out.
My blade looked like it suffered a couple of very small chips. Upon closer inspection, though, it looks like perhaps the blade only rolled. Nothing significant. This thing is a true workhorse. The teflon coating is starting to get nicely worn down. And, for the most part, this blade is still shaving sharp. As far as the rolls go, I plan to contact the Busse factory and see if they will put a new edge on it for me. I could probably do it myself, but I want it done properly.
This thing functioned great. The balance is, of course, superb, and it is not very difficult to chop like hell and not really get fatigued. I plan to maybe get a Kenny Rowe sheath for it down the line. I think this thing is hands down the best hard use survival blade out there.
The guy who built the deck 13 years ago built it like a tank. He dropped big blocks of cement into the ground to build it. But he did not use treated wood and, when I moved in 2.5 years ago, the thing had already suffered major rot.
So yesterday I started tearing this thing up. I took the BM with me, strapped it on my military web belt, and put it through its paces.
I chopped a lot of redwood, both rotted wood and good wood. A few times my blade whacked old nails. Once it sheared a nail in two. I chopped a lot of old vines. And when I found out that the big possum had a bunch of babies, I felt comfortable with a big blade to chop any pissed-off mom who decided to come at me. Believe me, though, I'm a nice guy and I like animals. I let the babies get back to their mom (she ran like hell to a different part of the deck), and I left them all alone. In the middle of the night they moved out and found a new home. I felt comfortable with this blade handling varmints, though, and I can see the benefits of having a big chopper in the event a varmint freaks out.
My blade looked like it suffered a couple of very small chips. Upon closer inspection, though, it looks like perhaps the blade only rolled. Nothing significant. This thing is a true workhorse. The teflon coating is starting to get nicely worn down. And, for the most part, this blade is still shaving sharp. As far as the rolls go, I plan to contact the Busse factory and see if they will put a new edge on it for me. I could probably do it myself, but I want it done properly.
This thing functioned great. The balance is, of course, superb, and it is not very difficult to chop like hell and not really get fatigued. I plan to maybe get a Kenny Rowe sheath for it down the line. I think this thing is hands down the best hard use survival blade out there.
Possum? awh how cute 
