Oh look, it's a SAR 4 in really high visibility orange! Thanks to the INFImous Skunk for shipping this little beast my way and answering my drunken emails for 'where is my SAR?' 
Oh, and photographs are of my SAR4, but they're not taken by me, in case you were wondering why the photos suddenly look that much better than my previous ones.
First impressions, when she arrived some days ago, was really that this thing is a lot larger than it looks. And heavier. Overbuilt in the usual Busse style. I liked it on first sight when I got it in my hands. It isn't crazy fat, at about .21" thick, but thick enough to be extra tough. Blade is 1.5" wide. The tip of the knife is rather thin, so this isn't a case of the "tipless tip" as with the monstrous FFBMs. The grind on this SAR4 is one of those mysterious "full-height convex but with a secondary bevel convex edge", but it works for me.
Fit & finish is actually the best I've ever personally seen on a Busse. The satin finish is beautiful, the G10 scales are pretty and perfectly flush with the tang as they should be. There is a kind of 'nuclear meltdown' ballbearing effect, too, making the whole knife look more elegant and less aggressive. The only cosmetic issue that I could identify is one very common on blades that have been sharpened by hand - the grind at the very tip is somewhat uneven. All in all, though, great fit and finish. The thumb notches aren't sharp, so they don't hurt my finger as I expected they might.
As you may notice, it's also easy to keep clean. Doesn't take a patina quickly at all. After the more messy work, a bit of Flitz polished her right up to looking better than she did out of the box.
Factory sharpness? I think we've all heard some reports of Busses coming with very dull edges. Some of us have received some on the duller side of things. This SAR4, though... well, today, and after some varied use on this SAR4, I gave a young (very young, and very little) potential future piglet this SAR4 to play around with, and she made this. Or more precisely, a lot of this (under my watchful eye, of course):
I must have lost half of my printer paper. For some, that edge may not be "sharp enough", but it certainly is at least "sharp" rather than any form of "dull." I don't need an edge any sharper than this for anything I might use this knife for. Not shaving sharp, but cuts printer paper and newsprint effortlessly all day long. Good! The edge may look a bit rough, but it cuts. I have not sharpened it any yet, but soon I will. After I give it some attention, it'll be sharp enough to shave the hairs off a mosquito.
Balance is very, very handle heavy, making the SAR 4 quick in the hand. Some may not like this, but it works for me, especially in a knife of this size.
Grip is comfortable and the G10 doesn't feel slick at all. Due to the curvature of the handle, the shape of scales, and the talon hole / guard / choil area, some grips like the side grip are uncomfortable, but the most commonly used basic grips work fine. No Busse pinky in chopping here, and you can take your grip way back on the handle if you want to chop, and make that much more effective.
I used the SAR4 in some basic tasks from cutting up some vegetables, a bit of wood work and some batoning and even chopping down a couple of upstart young trees that were in the wrong part of the yard. It's not a thin knife, but it does a decent job with the cutting and slicing. It has length enough for small to medium batoning, and the rounded spine is rather friendly even on less than sturdy wooden batons. So far, no surprises, really. The surprising part, to me, was that this thing also chops. In fact, better than many 5" and 6" bladed knives I have used, including for example the M.95 Sissipuukko (or Ranger Knife to those preferring English), my CGBATACs (which are even more handle heavy than this SAR4, having G10 mags) and the RAT Cutlery RC-6. But then, perhaps this shouldn't be called the SAR4, because it does have a 5" blade (well, it is closer to 5" than 4" or even 4.5" ) .
As for the butt... I find this design to be an improvement over the usual pointy ones. Easier to hammer on things when the butt is wider and rounder. Uhh... well, you get the picture.
All in all, I'm satisfied with the SAR4, and will be trying to get another one eventually. Good knife, but not a small one. It clearly fits into the medium size category of "do-all" type woods / survival knives. It would also do a good job as a hunting knife, and I intend to use it for such purposes later on. I like the SAR4 a lot more than I like the BATAC. I would recommend a SAR4 to anyone in the market for a medium size Busse or a strong survival knife in the 5" to 7" blade range. :thumbup:
However... there is one big caveat. And that is the choil. Ye gods, the choil! :barf: I could write 12 pages of print-unworthy text about the choil on this knife, but because I like the knife otherwise, I will make it much shorter. In short, the choil on the SAR4 is one of the most atrociously horrible, pointless choils I have ever seen. I can see absolutely no use to it except making sharpening a teeny weeny bit simpler for those who care about such things. It's too small for even my puny little fingers to choke up on it, but large enough for stuff to get stuck in there during long cuts. In fact, I can't think of any way the choil could be any worse - any change would be an improvent: if the choil was larger you could choke up on it and get a better grip right next to the cutting edge at the cost of some grip comfort; if it was smaller it would at least be less of a hindrance and take the edge a bit less far away from your hand; and if it was left out completely you could get a nice good grip pretty close to the cutting edge while still enjoying the comforts of the handle. The choil really needs to go. A choilless SAR4 would be a great improvement over the current design, and the current design is likable already. Could somebody tell me why there is a choil like this on the SAR4, when there is no choil on the KillaZilla, a khukri for Pete's sake? Why, Jerry, why?
Oh well. I can live with that choil, but I can't live with not ranting about it a little, as you can see. LOL. Overall, I would give the SAR4 8 points out of 10. It would've gotten a 9 without the choil, and this in mind, those amongst us who aren't bothered by choils should read this review as giving 9 points for the SAR4. I shall be using this knife a lot during the summer. It was definitely worth the price, although I now fear that I'll be less and less able to resist satin finished Busses in the future, even though they come with a premium.
Oh, and photographs are of my SAR4, but they're not taken by me, in case you were wondering why the photos suddenly look that much better than my previous ones.
First impressions, when she arrived some days ago, was really that this thing is a lot larger than it looks. And heavier. Overbuilt in the usual Busse style. I liked it on first sight when I got it in my hands. It isn't crazy fat, at about .21" thick, but thick enough to be extra tough. Blade is 1.5" wide. The tip of the knife is rather thin, so this isn't a case of the "tipless tip" as with the monstrous FFBMs. The grind on this SAR4 is one of those mysterious "full-height convex but with a secondary bevel convex edge", but it works for me.
Fit & finish is actually the best I've ever personally seen on a Busse. The satin finish is beautiful, the G10 scales are pretty and perfectly flush with the tang as they should be. There is a kind of 'nuclear meltdown' ballbearing effect, too, making the whole knife look more elegant and less aggressive. The only cosmetic issue that I could identify is one very common on blades that have been sharpened by hand - the grind at the very tip is somewhat uneven. All in all, though, great fit and finish. The thumb notches aren't sharp, so they don't hurt my finger as I expected they might.
As you may notice, it's also easy to keep clean. Doesn't take a patina quickly at all. After the more messy work, a bit of Flitz polished her right up to looking better than she did out of the box.
Factory sharpness? I think we've all heard some reports of Busses coming with very dull edges. Some of us have received some on the duller side of things. This SAR4, though... well, today, and after some varied use on this SAR4, I gave a young (very young, and very little) potential future piglet this SAR4 to play around with, and she made this. Or more precisely, a lot of this (under my watchful eye, of course):
I must have lost half of my printer paper. For some, that edge may not be "sharp enough", but it certainly is at least "sharp" rather than any form of "dull." I don't need an edge any sharper than this for anything I might use this knife for. Not shaving sharp, but cuts printer paper and newsprint effortlessly all day long. Good! The edge may look a bit rough, but it cuts. I have not sharpened it any yet, but soon I will. After I give it some attention, it'll be sharp enough to shave the hairs off a mosquito.
Balance is very, very handle heavy, making the SAR 4 quick in the hand. Some may not like this, but it works for me, especially in a knife of this size.
Grip is comfortable and the G10 doesn't feel slick at all. Due to the curvature of the handle, the shape of scales, and the talon hole / guard / choil area, some grips like the side grip are uncomfortable, but the most commonly used basic grips work fine. No Busse pinky in chopping here, and you can take your grip way back on the handle if you want to chop, and make that much more effective.
I used the SAR4 in some basic tasks from cutting up some vegetables, a bit of wood work and some batoning and even chopping down a couple of upstart young trees that were in the wrong part of the yard. It's not a thin knife, but it does a decent job with the cutting and slicing. It has length enough for small to medium batoning, and the rounded spine is rather friendly even on less than sturdy wooden batons. So far, no surprises, really. The surprising part, to me, was that this thing also chops. In fact, better than many 5" and 6" bladed knives I have used, including for example the M.95 Sissipuukko (or Ranger Knife to those preferring English), my CGBATACs (which are even more handle heavy than this SAR4, having G10 mags) and the RAT Cutlery RC-6. But then, perhaps this shouldn't be called the SAR4, because it does have a 5" blade (well, it is closer to 5" than 4" or even 4.5"
) . As for the butt... I find this design to be an improvement over the usual pointy ones. Easier to hammer on things when the butt is wider and rounder. Uhh... well, you get the picture.
All in all, I'm satisfied with the SAR4, and will be trying to get another one eventually. Good knife, but not a small one. It clearly fits into the medium size category of "do-all" type woods / survival knives. It would also do a good job as a hunting knife, and I intend to use it for such purposes later on. I like the SAR4 a lot more than I like the BATAC. I would recommend a SAR4 to anyone in the market for a medium size Busse or a strong survival knife in the 5" to 7" blade range. :thumbup:
However... there is one big caveat. And that is the choil. Ye gods, the choil! :barf: I could write 12 pages of print-unworthy text about the choil on this knife, but because I like the knife otherwise, I will make it much shorter. In short, the choil on the SAR4 is one of the most atrociously horrible, pointless choils I have ever seen. I can see absolutely no use to it except making sharpening a teeny weeny bit simpler for those who care about such things. It's too small for even my puny little fingers to choke up on it, but large enough for stuff to get stuck in there during long cuts. In fact, I can't think of any way the choil could be any worse - any change would be an improvent: if the choil was larger you could choke up on it and get a better grip right next to the cutting edge at the cost of some grip comfort; if it was smaller it would at least be less of a hindrance and take the edge a bit less far away from your hand; and if it was left out completely you could get a nice good grip pretty close to the cutting edge while still enjoying the comforts of the handle. The choil really needs to go. A choilless SAR4 would be a great improvement over the current design, and the current design is likable already. Could somebody tell me why there is a choil like this on the SAR4, when there is no choil on the KillaZilla, a khukri for Pete's sake? Why, Jerry, why?
Oh well. I can live with that choil, but I can't live with not ranting about it a little, as you can see. LOL. Overall, I would give the SAR4 8 points out of 10. It would've gotten a 9 without the choil, and this in mind, those amongst us who aren't bothered by choils should read this review as giving 9 points for the SAR4. I shall be using this knife a lot during the summer. It was definitely worth the price, although I now fear that I'll be less and less able to resist satin finished Busses in the future, even though they come with a premium.
