I would have to say, my biggest concern with Busse, is their Quality Control on edges.
Getting a $500 knife and having to spend serious time working on the edge is unacceptable. I don't care what people think.
I have knives ranging from $30 to $700 or so.
I would be pissed if a $30 knife from CS came and it was not sharp. It has never happened yet, but if it did, I would be pissed.
Most of the factory knives I have gotten from Busse with the original factory edge were sharp on the flat, and not sharp on the tip.
The SS was hair popping the entire length.
Ash1CG was shaving sharp out to the tip.
BAD had a wire edge the entire length, that would not slice paper (fixed with bit of work on the strop).
The B11 had a great edge until the last two inches at the tip. In cutting a water bottles, if you hit the tip, the bottle would just bounce away. Anywhere on the main edge it would slice through a bunch of bottles. I fixed that on a diamond stone with just a few minutes per side, then a strop.
The KZII had a pretty sharp edge out to the last two inches of the tip, then I would guess it was about 80-90 degrees inclusive. Really really obtuse, and not sharp at all. I have spend some serious time convexing that one with sand paper, and taking some shoulder off and bringing the edge up. Not quite done, but getting there. I could have fixed it in about 20 minutes on the belt grinder, but just don't want to worry about screwing it up, and voiding warranty.
Again, I have knives from a few manufacturers, and am continually floored that Busse's have such an issue with the edges, particularly the tip. I think it costs them tons of business, because most are not willing to or able to fix them.
That said, I will keep buying and using and loving them. But, I can put a decent edge on them my self.
For sharpening, having the ceramic stick, and strop will likely get the job done, but you might want to look into getting a few stones as well.
A diamond set in coarse, medium and fine would be my suggestion (I only have a small smith stone ceramic v rod set).
The reason I say that is that the ability to fix dings and such is easier with the stones.
I use sandpaper mouse pad to convex and to touch up when duller than a strop will quickly bring back.
If you let a convex edge go for a long time and go back to the sand paper, you don't really have to "re-profile" or "regrind" the edge. It really should just be a quick touch up.
Mouse pad, sand paper of various grits, and I also bought a pane of glass that I use under the set up. That way I have a true flat surface, and can get right up to the edge. Also, if I am doing some serious work, I can tape the sand paper at the corners to the sheet of glass which is larger.
It really is not that convex edges are so much superior than V ground edges.
A sharp edge is a sharp edge and both will cut.
If you can get sharp V edges that is fine.
If some one handed me a Battle Mistress with a sharp v grind to chop with, I would not be thinking "crap, this v edge is really bumming me out" Sharp is sharp.
I think that convex edges of similar angle to v grind edges are a bit more robust, and may bite a bit deeper than a v grind because of the smoother transition and lack of a more defined shoulder, but really, unless you are a competition cutter, or something, the difference won't be as noticeable as you think.
Now, a convex edge with a blended transition to a flat grind, or a full convex zero edge will be a better performer for chopping (as long as the edge geometry is decent). An example would be the NMFBMLE with the full convex grind to zero edge. Sucker is a chopper. The Test Team KZ had a full convex grind to zero edge, but they left the edge geometry too thick near the edge, and performance suffered greatly. Same type of grind, but the difference is all in the profile/geometry. If you go too thin, you will be rolling and bending your edge under normal use, so it is a balance.
Thick enough be robust but thin enough to be able to bite deep.
My real thing about convex edges is that they are just so easy to maintain. I have a 4 sided strop that I made my self. Loaded with compound. I just strop the edge of the knife if I have used it that day. A few passes per side, and hair popping sharp every time. I don't have to set anything up, or make a mess. the other great thing is that it travels so well. Toss it in a bag or pack (inside a plastic bag so you don't get stropping compound on everything). You can make really simple easy to carry travel size stropping kits too. Pack up real light and small, and be able to field maintain your edge super easy.
Learning to convex my knives seemed to make me a much much better sharpener free hand on stones. I don't know why.
Before I learned to convex by hand, I was terrible with a stone. I would actually make the knife less sharp every time. I had to use a fixed sharpening system to get results.
I can sharpen on a fixed angle system like a champ, and scare my family with the edges (even my dad and brother who both have the same system were always asking me what the heck I was doing to get the edges so sharp).
All that said, pick a method, and just spend some time figuring it out. One tip is to try the method with cheaper knives and learn it before tackling it on your Busse's.
I convexed one folder before trying it on my Infi, and that was enough to show me how really really easy it was.
