Scrap Yard, Ranger or SK5 Trailmaster

I have kept shopping, and I am about to buy an RD9 from Ranger. But I am still curious, looking on Ebay and other places, it looks like most folks buy Busse products (Busse Combat, Swamp rat and Scrap Yard) as an investment to sell later.

Does anybody actually use a Busse?
 
seth2915 said:
I have kept shopping, and I am about to buy an RD9 from Ranger. But I am still curious, looking on Ebay and other places, it looks like most folks buy Busse products (Busse Combat, Swamp rat and Scrap Yard) as an investment to sell later.

Does anybody actually use a Busse?
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Go on over to the Busse forum and ask. Those people abuse their Busses.
 
seth2915 said:
I have kept shopping, and I am about to buy an RD9 from Ranger. But I am still curious, looking on Ebay and other places, it looks like most folks buy Busse products (Busse Combat, Swamp rat and Scrap Yard) as an investment to sell later.

Does anybody actually use a Busse?
Click to expand...

Hell yes, they do! I own several Busses that I beat on with some regularity (and some that I won't normally ever carry, just own to look at them or in case I misplace my user knife).

However, many people like to avoid using the most expensive of their knives. No harm in that. Busses do make good users. Very good users.

With that said, I find myself beating on my Ranger RD7 more. Why? Honestly, it's probably because of the price. It feels good in the hand, does its job, and doesn't break the bank. Nor can it be considered an investment that I could even think about selling at a premium later, so I can feel free to do stupid things with it. This is my problem, though - Busses are absolutely knives designed to be used and used hard.
 
Here is the guy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre testing a Scrapyard knife made of SR77,
Modified S7, They use it to make jack hammer bits:D
The rest of the videos are at knifetests.com

[youtube]4ODwoWE8vco&rel=1[/youtube]
 
I know some people hate Knifetests and all, but looking at the amount of abuse that Scrapyard knife took before it finally broke is a pretty strong case that the product is as tough as they say it is. Holy crap!
 
Just ordered the RD9, and I really appreciate all the insight y'all have offered. Justin said I should have it by the end of next week, and his price on the custom touches (I asked for a false edge because I like them) was about as cheap as he could have charged without just doing the work for free.

I look forward to playing with this one. Updates, for those of you who care, when the new one comes.
 
Get a Ranger RD, their are an excellent value for the money. More available than the SRKW or whatever they are called now, and they will do everything the Busse will do at a fraction of the cost, except look as good in photos, and not give you the bragging rights of owning a Busse. Justin's turnaround time for custom work is usually pretty quick, and he doesn't believe in price gouging.
 
DogFather is way tougher than the other two, by a large margin, if that is what you are after.
 
The Dog Father was very tempting, but the fact was Ranger won on customer service. I got rave reviews on Ranger and Scrap Yard, but even more rave reviews on how easy Justin Gingrich was to deal with. Nothing against the scrap yard guys, just what I saw. I e-mailed Scrp Yard to see about the Dog Father, but they said they didn't know when they would have more. That was the last I heard from them.

And unfortunately, Scrap Yard hasn't had a Dog Father for sale in weeks, maybe longer. The only one I could find was on Ebay for a lot more than I wanted to spend. Good knife, no doubt, but more than I wanted to spend. THe prices were about the same on the company Web sites (Ranger and Scrap Yard), but I have waited awhile for Scrap Yard, and no more DFs. Sad. I may get one in the future.
 
seth2915 said:
The Dog Father was very tempting, but the fact was Ranger won on customer service. I got rave reviews on Ranger and Scrap Yard, but even more rave reviews on how easy Justin Gingrich was to deal with. Nothing against the scrap yard guys, just what I saw. I e-mailed Scrp Yard to see about the Dog Father, but they said they didn't know when they would have more. That was the last I heard from them.

And unfortunately, Scrap Yard hasn't had a Dog Father for sale in weeks, maybe longer. The only one I could find was on Ebay for a lot more than I wanted to spend. Good knife, no doubt, but more than I wanted to spend. THe prices were about the same on the company Web sites (Ranger and Scrap Yard), but I have waited awhile for Scrap Yard, and no more DFs. Sad. I may get one in the future.
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I think you are confusing customer service with availability. Scrapyard has top service, it is just that the availability is not good if you did not happen to get it when it came out.

I agree that a Ranger knife is easier to get for sure and a better way to go than cold steel anyday.
 
Well, I got the RD9. The closest thing I have to a complaint are the cosmetic imperfections indicitive of a handmade knife, and those would only really bug me from a $1,000 custom knife. I had asked Justin to give me a false edge on the clip, and it came back perfect. I had expected him to do it on a finished knife, which would have left exosed steel on the clip. But he apparently coated the blade after grinding the false edge.

Top notch work all around, especially for the price (base + $5 for the false edge). Also, I ordered it Tursday, and Justin estimated it would get to me by the end of the next week. I had it by the following Monday. I don't know how he does it, but great work, Justin!

And if y'all want to continue to comment, I am as much an info junkie as I am a knife junky. Thanks all for your input. I really appreciate it.
 
seth2915 said:
BTW, does anybody know what SR77 steel is? Scrap yard uses it, and it is apparently something akin to S-7, but S-7 has a pretty low carbon content. Does anybody know how to get the chemical specs for SR77, or is it another Busse proprietary steel?
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Here is the alloy composition of S7:


C 0.45-0.55
Mn 0.20-0.80
Si 0.20-1.00
Cr 3.00-3.50
Mo 1.30-1.80
V 0.20-0.30(a)
Cu 0.25
P 0.03
S 0.03
 
Justin also makes blades out of s7, and apparently if youre getting a custom piece made he'll do it in s7 for pretty much the same price as 5160.
 
seth2915 said:
Well, I got the RD9. The closest thing I have to a complaint are the cosmetic imperfections indicitive of a handmade knife, and those would only really bug me from a $1,000 custom knife. I had asked Justin to give me a false edge on the clip, and it came back perfect. I had expected him to do it on a finished knife, which would have left exosed steel on the clip. But he apparently coated the blade after grinding the false edge.

Top notch work all around, especially for the price (base + $5 for the false edge). Also, I ordered it Tursday, and Justin estimated it would get to me by the end of the next week. I had it by the following Monday. I don't know how he does it, but great work, Justin!

And if y'all want to continue to comment, I am as much an info junkie as I am a knife junky. Thanks all for your input. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

LOL, yes, that's Justin for you - Rangers aren't the prettiest knives in the world, and can be pretty rough in the fit and finish department if you're the perfectionist type, but they do their job as hard use knives very well indeed. On the other hand, Justin does, on request, make very beautiful blades as well, such as nice mirror polished and stag-handled bowies. The standard Rangers, though, are all business, no bling bling. Personally, for the type of knives Rangers are, which is hard use items, that works well for me - it would be kind of a shame to beat something that looks like it could be Miss Knife Universe into oblivion and back. :D


sketchbag said:
Justin also makes blades out of s7, and apparently if youre getting a custom piece made he'll do it in s7 for pretty much the same price as 5160.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Justin does blades out of S7, but unless I'm mistaken, they are notably more pricey than than the 5160 blades.
 
I suggest Scrap Yard knives. You wont find better and I seriously doubt you can come close for the price.


This is the Dog Father being tested (SR77). It didn't break!
Check out Noss's destruction test on the Scrapper 6.
http://www.knifetests.com/scrapyardscrapper6test.html

What more can you ask, what more do you need?

If you intend on using your knife, If you need to depend on your knife then get a Busse group knife.

DogFatherTothefloor3.jpg


DogFatherTothefloor.jpg



Tang
handle.jpg
 
Well I got the Ranger, used it a bit, decided what I wanted out of it and did a little work on it.

I ground the blade to be a little thicker at the edge and to change the tip shape slightly. I took off the black epoxy and gave it a satin finish, first with a new 120-grit belt and ending with with an old, dull 120-grit belt. That seemed to keep the friction down, which minimized sparking and let me do more precise work. I left the coating on around edge of the tang to keep the knife from rusting in my hand. I stopped grinding long before any part of the blade got hot to the touch, so I kept the original heat treatment intact.

Finally, using a silicon carbide water stone and 1000-grit sandpaper, I put a convex edge on it, which is why I wanted a thicker edge in the first place. That helped me get the edge profile I wanted. It shaves and chops very well and very easily.

Granted, I probably voided the warranty with all that work, but given the original high-quality workmanship, I somehow doubt I'm going to need it.
 
seth, congrats on the Ranger. Post some pics of it when you get a chance. I am sure it will give you years of service. :thumbup:

it was a great choice and much better way to go than either ontario or cold steel, both of which suffer from unreliable heat treatment, ie, one can be good and the next can be bad.
 
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