SFNO vs. ASH-1 - and do I still need a SFNO?

willic said:
So.... In a grab bag, I got a SFNO ceracoated with the Flying Tigers shark... The ceracoat flaked very every time she was used. I took her to the woods for a long weekend and I had ceracoat in my food. LOL When I got home, I attempted a strip job. Attempted is the key word in that sentence! Anyway, that knife always seemed really thick to me. Were any of the INFI ones thicker???
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That ceracoat in my experience has to be removed mechanically. And those have multiple color layers to create the design.
I believe those were .25 ish. And yes I’ve heard of thicker infi ones out there.
It sounds defective so I’d gladly properly dispose of it for you;):p:p:p:D :-) lol
 
duramax said:
IMO the SFNO LE is the best all around. The saber grind adds durability while the .22 allows for a nice edge. So I think your good to go having the LE and willing to use it. I just stash my LE away and admire its beauty once in awhile lol :) I don’t have the walnuts to use mine lol :(o_O:p
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I am going to say something here that might be controversial and likely misunderstood by some. :oops:

I have oft said my Busses are all users. No safe queens. Several reasons for that. And this is just my thinking, ok? Of course, please skip over if you want.

These are largely computer assisted machined production knives. Absolutely nothing bad about that - especially as rendered by the Bossman, Garth & Co. A CRK Sebenza, of which I own two, are similar in this regard. The very best of this type of method. (I use those also. EDC's along with a Busse on my belt! MMS, Shank, or Scrofa) When done well, and as we all know these are done well - very well - they are art. But, they are also the very best made tools for cutting that are or have ever been made. So just to be clear here, I am in no short supply of respect and praise for all things Busse. When I say "art," I mean it in the sense that they are the pinnacle of what they represent. But what they represent are really good tools made largely via really good tools. Form follows function here as well, and when form follows function as well as it does with many of the models, the models that I personally love best (what I consider to be the "core" model lines), it is a form of art as well. Combine the two and, yes, art is made.

But again, art in the sense of the best tools for real use made by computer guided machine assist (guided by master hands who are fully capable of hand grinding a work of hand-rendered art, and hands that do just that at times). So this is art to be used. Working art, if you will. And that is a good thing.

I have blades that do not get hard use. Some do not get used at all in the sense of actually cutting stuff up, but do get used in the sense that they are carried upon occasion. So they could be, and might be, used, should the occasion present itself. Meaning they might need to be deployed suddenly and violently against an aggressor. I would not use them to cut hard things. I would not "beat" on them. A few of them are made of steel that the master smith actually created himself - meaning he actually smelted the ore. They are then forged by hand and hammer. Those are art as well. A different kind of art. Not necessarily better, but definitely art and definitely different. In fact they are quite arguably inferior as actual tools, by most definitions and arguments, though if desired and deployed correctly they will certainly cut the holy heck out of flesh! These are as close to non-users as I have, though as said, they are carried and the smith-smelted ore blades have been "uesd" in martial arts kata.

I understand preserving a Busse SNFO LE as art. But that is not for me. For me, the best way to honor that kind of art is to beat the holy heck out of it! It's ability to be so used as a tool is why it is art - again, IMHO.

Let the hate flow. And any factual corrections.
 
Kenneth F Huls

I understand your thinking, and don’t think there’s any reason to worry about any hate flowing.
We all admire our Busses or whatever in each our own way :-)
Now if there wasn’t CG Busses I’d surely use my LE or CS ones. But I do enjoy keeping some around for purely show and tell lol.
One of my other hobbies is old muscle cars. Now I truly enjoy polishing and waxing my cars, detailing gone crazy lol. That said I’m the guy who’ll drop the hammer to redline and go through the gears. While my friends cry and say omg !!! The original Muncie might grenade or that’s the orig block !!!! Well heck it’s my car ? But I get it for those that restore a vehicle. Take it to shows on a trailer and won’t start it cause the manifolds may change color. So I might be saying this all wrong lol. But I do understand where your coming from. :D:D:D

Geeezzzz I hope I said that right
Lol
 
willic said:
So.... In a grab bag, I got a SFNO ceracoated with the Flying Tigers shark... The ceracoat flaked very every time she was used. I took her to the woods for a long weekend and I had ceracoat in my food. LOL When I got home, I attempted a strip job. Attempted is the key word in that sentence! Anyway, that knife always seemed really thick to me. Were any of the INFI ones thicker???
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Will! wow ok so we had a similar experience. In fact I did a whole post about trying to strip mine and failing. I will take some pics and update that post shortly. So it turns out what was flaking is not Cerakote but a water transfer decal type thing. The cerakote underneath is really smooth and super hard. I did multiple stripper baths and had very little luck. Eventually I used packing tape to actually lift the decal remnants off the blade and a brush to clean it up.
 
willic said:
So.... In a grab bag, I got a SFNO ceracoated with the Flying Tigers shark... The ceracoat flaked very every time she was used. I took her to the woods for a long weekend and I had ceracoat in my food. LOL When I got home, I attempted a strip job. Attempted is the key word in that sentence! Anyway, that knife always seemed really thick to me. Were any of the INFI ones thicker???
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Whoa! In a grab bag no less. Like wow. I mean that purely from a collector's viewpoint (or what I assume a collector would think, as I am most certainly not a collector :rolleyes:). Rare bird (or "fish," rather), that. Congrats on putting her to use!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: It coulda been seen on a red velvet background via the 'Bay for years following that score :mad:. Interesting that the Cerakote is so flaky, yet not readily strippable o_O. Are we sure that the grinning shark is actually Cerakote like the rest of the finish?
 
I
resinguy said:
Well said.

Some of us have found that Nathan Carothers is equally an artist with CNC machines and equally dedicated to pursuing the optimum HT for a given steel.

And his blades are even harder to buy! :D;):rolleyes:o_O
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Interesting that you mention Nate the Machinist. I was going to mention him along with CRK folders, myself! I did not do so because I am trying to adhere to my denial - denial of the fact that I pretty desperately want a CBK knife as I admire him and them so very much for those very same reasons. Trying to enable that denial and singing his praises just does not help :eek:! But you are correct, of course. I am quite concerned that if I obtain one, I will just be opening another set of floodgates!!! :( And I do not want to lose my lovely, largely tolerant wife! ;)

That recent 6" Utility Fighter . . . man oh man . . . (I think that was/is the name).

Thank you, resinguy and duramax, for your understanding, and all others who restrained the hate! Really appreciate that.
 
nydude said:
. . . So it turns out what was flaking is not Cerakote but a water transfer decal type thing. The cerakote underneath is really smooth and super hard. . .
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nydude, shoulda read on and taken in your post before asking my question about whether the shark was actually Cerakote. I suspected something like this. Cool. Thanks!
 
Don’t think there’s as much hate on BF like I have seen on other forums. Me? I’m a user, and a collector, of Bussekin and other brands. As I get older, less of a user in such things as hiking and camping.

I have spent one working career in the military museum business, so I’m collecting some Bussekin models with that philosophy in mind. Rare or otherwise desirable blades that any Bussekin enthusiast would like to see - or own. Plus some blade types that I just take a cotton to. (I’m in Virginia, so that’s a legitimate phrase).

My primary focus is to obtain all of the standard Steel Heart iterations. Not CS, although might pick up one on occasion. Some duplication, if it was offered at a good price. I also look at these purchases as sound investments, and store them in a bank safe deposit box, along with gold, silver, and other fine collectibles.

So there you go. Most of us fit in somewhere within the user/collector spectrum. I have a couple of Bussekin so rare that I would be a fool to use them. And absolutely no need to, as I have others for any blading purpose I might envision.
 
here's what it looks like now. will take more pics and bring back my old thread.

7aoPyXT.jpg
 
tuica said:
Don’t think there’s as much hate on BF like I have seen on other forums. Me? I’m a user, and a collector, of Bussekin and other brands. As I get older, less of a user in such things as hiking and camping.

I have spent one working career in the military museum business, so I’m collecting some Bussekin models with that philosophy in mind. Rare or otherwise desirable blades that any Bussekin enthusiast would like to see - or own. Plus some blade types that I just take a cotton to. (I’m in Virginia, so that’s a legitimate phrase).

My primary focus is to obtain all of the standard Steel Heart iterations. Not CS, although might pick up one on occasion. Some duplication, if it was offered at a good price. I also look at these purchases as sound investments, and store them in a bank safe deposit box, along with gold, silver, and other fine collectibles.

So there you go. Most of us fit in somewhere within the user/collector spectrum. I have a couple of Bussekin so rare that I would be a fool to use them. And absolutely no need to, as I have others for any blading purpose I might envision.
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Sounds like you are having fun on your own terms, tuica. As well, you obviously have a background, and likely a proclivity, for curating. So I would hazard a guess that your approach comes naturally to you, suits you, and is rewarding for you. Good on ya'! Love those Steel Hearts!!! :thumbsup:
 
Looking at that integral dagger again I am simply mesmerized. W.O.W. CNC Art at the highest level, for sure.
I will take the 6" Utility Fighter in black Micarta over it, though. Unless I was investing like our good friend, tuica.
 
Kenneth F Huls said:
Wow, duramax, that is about as expensive a hobby as nihonto! :eek: Very cool, though! :thumbsup::cool:

Willing to share what is currently in the garage?:p
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Lol thanks :-) Yeah I’ve been into cars since 1986 ???o_O:eek:lol
Over the years focus has been primarily pontiacs, specifically firebird , Trans ams. Currently under resto is my 1970 firebird formula. I’ve owned the car since well forever lol. It was kinda my first car, long story. But she’s Lucerne blue, ram air engine, 4spd, 12 bolt. It’s currently on a rotisserie at my buddy’s shop.

First pic is really really long time ago lol
Second pic is my custom storage desk top lol and car #2
Third pic is 1970 ram air 3 engine to formula , car in first pic
5086ACAB-9659-453E-86F9-76A3E419F0A4.jpeg DCE4A393-FAE5-4B2D-9791-8A8EF88D25B6.jpeg 6AFB1DB8-5A22-401C-9EDE-EC1C336F0499.jpeg
 
duramax, thanks for the pics :thumbsup:! Sweet!:cool:I hope she all comes together for you someday, but In
know the journey is really the thing :)

You and I may be incompatible - LOL. I am a pre-'71 fastback 'stang and 'cuda guy.
 
Your welcome, happy to share them :-) it goes in spurts. Body is just about finished, -paint. Next mechanical.
I’ve had way too many car journeys then lol :-) But your right, for me it’s always been more fun redoing the car. Taking a car in that needs work. Then Having the vision of mentally seeing the car done and doing it. These are my last two full projects lol. Next car I’ll get finished and then tweak it to be mine :-) :-)
Ford !!!!!!! Ahh that’s ok I had a 69 Mach 1 and my buddy still has his 71 Mach 1 429. And the 70-71 cuda is a fav of mine :-) Always wanted one !! many moons ago I bought the drivetrain from a challenger to one day put in a cuda. Dang pontiacs got in the way lol.

Buts cars are like your orig question, SFNO or ASH1. Pontiac or ford or Chevy or Chrysler ???
Personally I’d own each, all for their own reasons. If it lumps, shakes and guzzles & spits fuel while turning rubber, I’m in...... American muscle !!!!
Guess that’s why I like Busse Combat, from their Infi to sr101, from custom shop to Combat grade. To me they all have their beauty, they all can be used or admired and just the gold standard for hard use knives.
As with cars what I like about knives is they bring together good people. I’ve got a lot of great car buddies. And thanks to BF and Busse Knives and CPK I’ve found some great knife people too :-)

Sorry I got a little long winded lol,
I can talk blades and cars loooooong time lol :-)
 
Not long-winded at all - heck, I asked! We all can talk a little bit re our passions, no?, that is what passion is!

Ford. Yeah, well, not all Fords, mind you ;). Very specific. Woulda loved your '69, I'm sure! :D Same with Plymouth - not as if I love all Plymouths or anything :)

My aunt was an original owner of a '66 Mustang. Legally blind (funny, watching her get her white cane out when she exited!), she put very little mileage on her. I was supposed to get it when I turned 16 in '82, then at the last minute someone made her a real collector's offer on it (at most it had like 20k miles on her) and suddenly I was no longer in the running :confused:. But my real love is '69-'70. or '71 will work, too. At that time in my life my neighbor a couple houses down was rumored to be on Richard Petty's crew. He had a mint blue and black '70 or "71 'cuda in the drive. Memory is that it was a hemi, but who knows? That was the baddest looking and sounding thing I have ever seen! :cool:

Shoulda bought cars like crazy in the early '80s! Couple of grand a piece . . . . makes me want to cry!

Your 400 is sweet and I hope you end up keeping her for yourself after that long a journey. She is part of you at this point!
 
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