Sharpen a Busse

L

ladderman

Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
14
I recently purchased my first Busse and had a question. What is the proper way to sharpen an ASH1 CG?

Thank you.
 
Congrats and welcome to the club!

There is really nothing special about sharpening INFI or a Busse. If you could sharpen your other knives, then you are good to go.

Freehand on stones.
Convex by hand
Use a device such as Sharpmaker or EdgePro
Paper sharpening wheels
Belt grinder

Each method has it's proponents, and you could produce a list of pros and cons for each.

No matter. All of these will produce a perfectly serviceable edge. Choose what works for you. If you spend any time on the Maintenance Forum here, you can find endless discussions of sharpening.
 
I can sharpen a knife (pretty well) and I'm certainly not interested in over-complicating anything, so I'll stick with my current methods. I was hoping to keep it simple.

My first Busse (of many) will be a user.

Thank you both for your feedback, I appreciate it.
 
I would just stick with what you know. INFI is very easy to sharpen compared to other steels as well. Congrats on the ASH, it was my first Busse.
 
Sharpening

"INFI's high level of chip resistance also makes it the easiest steel to resharpen by hand that we have ever encountered. I personally fall into the category of "hand sharpening challenged". I've heard tales of those who can sharpen ball peen hammers to a razor's edge on an Arkansas stone in less than 5 seconds flat. My experiences have always been to the contrary. The spine of the knife is usually sharper than the edge when I'm finished applying my magic stone sharpening technique. One of the great features of INFI is that simply stropping away from the edge (the way a barber strops a straight edged razor) on a ceramic stick is basically all that is required to resharpen INFI. Since you're not chipping steel off the edge there is no need to grind any steel away. This feature of INFI will, likewise, allow you to keep the same overall profile of the knife for a much greater period of time."

Jerry Busse


I have used this method, and it works for me.
 
Thanks, Horn Dog. Stropping away from the edge with a ceramic stick works very well for those of us who do not chop cars and cinder blocks with our Busses.
 
question: what kind of ceramic stick? anyone have any pics? is this how most of you sharpen your Busse's?
 
pmsayre153 said:
Thanks, Horn Dog. Stropping away from the edge with a ceramic stick works very well for those of us who do not chop cars and cinder blocks with our Busses.
Click to expand...

Wait what about those of us that do chop cars and cinder blocks?

d.weglarz13
Ankerson has a series of videos that shows him sharpening a blade, and he explains each step, look for them they shouldn't be hard to find (not the using ceramic stick though).
 
I'm no expert, but it seems the consensus from the sharpening crowd here that the more you sharpen INFI, the less often you need to sharpen it. A fact first put forth a long long time ago by Jerry himself and confirmed anecdotally by other BF members.

I'm a big P-word and have yet to really go at it on my INFI. I'm gonna convex one of my Swamp Wardens when it gets in and move on from there.
 
I have convexed all mine. All by hand using sandpaper/mousepad. I just maintain my edges on a strop. Easiest way for me by hand. I have a fixed sharpening system that has not seen the light of day for a couple years.

Just do what you know. I will say, that since I switched most of my users to convex edges they are sharper. Not becsuse convex are sharper, but because they are so easy to maintian, that I will just do a few passes per side, whenever they get used.
 
I would also like to see some pics of these supposed ceramic sticks, where to buy 'em, and videos of you guys using them so I can see what the "Busse sharpening system" is all about
 
Bigfattyt said:
I have convexed all mine. All by hand using sandpaper/mousepad. I just maintain my edges on a strop. Easiest way for me by hand. I have a fixed sharpening system that has not seen the light of day for a couple years.

Just do what you know. I will say, that since I switched most of my users to convex edges they are sharper. Not becsuse convex are sharper, but because they are so easy to maintian, that I will just do a few passes per side, whenever they get used.
Click to expand...

I use the same technique :thumbup:
 
Grrrrr.....I had a long reply all typed up and IE froze up!! :mad:

I have been using a Gatco 3 stone system on all my knives for years. It has worked great for the most part. But since getting into Busse knives a few years ago, I find most of my blades are too big and too thick for the clamp to be very effective. I have used the Gatco on my .20" Game Warden with some success. I attempted to sharpen my .22" ASH1SE, but it just didn't work too well.

After playing with sandpaper and mousepad on a cheap Mora, I used it to sharpen my ASH quite successfully. I wasn't trying to go for a polished convex edge that you see a lot of the HOGS do. I was just trying to sharpen it. Edge trailing and a few different grits and I had a beautiful edge in no time. I would still like to try a leather strop, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I haven't tried sharpening my FFBM yet, but when I eventually need to, I intend to use sandpaper.

I would really like to try out the Edge Pro one of these days. But that's a lot of lettuce to drop on a sharpening system and I just haven't gotten up the courage to take the plunge. You can buy a lot of sandpaper for the price of an Edge Pro. And with so many people saying sandpaper is the way to go...there's gotta be some truth to it.
 
I beat my CGASH1 all the time and sharpen it regularly. If the edge is really dull I'll give it a little hit on an EZE-LAP diamond stone (600 grit) and then polish it up with a stropping on some 1200 and 2000 wet-n-dry paper, and finally putting that "cut a hole in the space time continuum" edge with a polish strop on some leather with a little buffing compound on it. Works a treat and the edge lasts for weeks! Easy to do too :)
 
d.weglarz13 said:
question: what kind of ceramic stick? anyone have any pics? is this how most of you sharpen your Busse's?
Click to expand...

They used to cost $0.99 each at Smoky Mountain. They are $1.99 now. Just a simple ceramic rod with a wooden handle. I have them all around the house. I keep one in the kitchen to touch up those knives, too. You can see pictures at http://www.eknifeworks.com Look under sharpening and accessories.

They have several models. I have used them for years. When they get slick and loaded up, I just scrub them with Comet cleanser and they work like new again. For big jobs like convexing or reprofiling an edge, I use a Kalamazoo 1" x 42" belt sander.
 
Here's a pic of what I use to maintain edges and sharpen recurves. The ceramic stick came with my edgepro

marco.jpg
 
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