SHBM - getting to know the big girl (pic heavy)

Dicko

Dicko

Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Messages
332
G'day all,

Took off into the scrub today to briefly try out the SHBM I scored a little while ago, my very first Busse.

To my knowledge, what I have here is a 1/300 SHBM and I have it on good authority from some far more knowledgable than I, that this knive was made very early in the run.

It's in excellent, lighty used condition. A small amount of scuffing of the coating. Missing the top part of the sheath.

First impression: indestructable! And it bites into wood, holy hell does it sink deep! It just feels like it would survive anything! I attacked a couple of smaller eucalyptus 'box' saplings, a fairy dense & tough wood that has uses as fence posts, sleepers etc. It's a fairly tough wood & reasonably pest resilient.

Anyhoy, I digress! I will let the pictures do the talking...















Forgive the wild chopping, first time using a knife!











Took me a fair bit of effort to get this far - tough going!









Also, if there is anyone who can chime in with further information about the origingal SHBM's, I'd be very grateful.
 
No extra info to offer, but I must say, that is a beautiful blade! Thanks for the photos, I'm glad to see you're putting it to good use :thumbup:
 
Nice one mate! :thumbup:
Looks like you've got a bushbasher sorted now.
 
Smooth Handle! In some collectors circles the holy grail of the first 300. 14 the number that sticks in my head maybe less with smooth handles. One of the protos is featured in the first series of the American Survival Guide magazine.

Wonderful to see one in use!!!
 
leatherman said:
Smooth Handle! In some collectors circles the holy grail of the first 300. 14 the number that sticks in my head maybe less with smooth handles. One of the protos is featured in the first series of the American Survival Guide magazine.

Wonderful to see one in use!!!
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Had it not been used already I doubt I would have given it a run. I'll have to see if I can find this magazine you speak of.

However, given that it had seen the light of day a little, I just had to.

After the small amount of wailing on her this morning it was as if she just looked at me, raised an eye brow & said 'is that all you've got?'
 
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That is a beauty and you are a very fortunate man to have one. A genuine piece of Busse Combat history. (Just got a BIG ASHBM myself. A beast.) Google "badmojo.net" and, in Galleries II, click on 'Battle Mistress' for lots of pics and a bit of history at the bottom of the gallery.
Pete
 
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leatherman said:
Smooth Handle! In some collectors circles the holy grail of the first 300. 14 the number that sticks in my head maybe less with smooth handles. One of the protos is featured in the first series of the American Survival Guide magazine.

Wonderful to see one in use!!!
Click to expand...


OK, that's helpful. When the pics were first posted two weeks ago, I thought then that smooth handles were unusual on the early blades, but wasn't certain.

That article from ASG has been posted here, someone took pics of the pages and posted them.
 
The first run of SHBM's had smooth handles across the board. So you will see 1/300's and non 1/300's with smooth handles. The next set of handles had partial grooving in between the bolts, the next handles had all grooving with bolts, then came hollow rivets. The handles were always grooved by that time. There is more that came later, but this is good for this discussion. There was probably a little more than 50 1/300's made with smooth handles. I have had 2-3 and I know others who have had that many and my old 1/6 which is a 1/300 was a smooth handle. Funny thing is that the 1/300's all were ground exactly the same at around .25" thick without coating, I have not seen one that was a fatty. The thickest one I have had with coating was 0.278" This is why the 1/300's feel so good balance wise. light and fast, comparatively. Also, the 1/300's were not the first SHBM's, but they were early.

Congrats on a beautiful 1/300. I wish mine was a used one so I could beat on it, but it is not. So I just stare at it now while my oldest user gets beat on.
 
Thanks Cobalt for the clarification! :D I do remember those first SHBM's did not have the swedge now. A little coffee and the brain is working better now.

Of those with the swedge, is that where I remember 14? I want to remember also that there were three different grinds on the swedge? Those 6 you speak of were the almost sharp correct? Then it got a little flatter and flatter.
 
leatherman said:
Thanks Cobalt for the clarification! :D I do remember those first SHBM's did not have the swedge now. A little coffee and the brain is working better now.

Of those with the swedge, is that where I remember 14? I want to remember also that there were three different grinds on the swedge? Those 6 you speak of were the almost sharp correct? Then it got a little flatter and flatter.
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The very first ones had a very mild long swedge almost could not even call it a swedge but it is I guess. But the distinctive feature of the oldest ones was that they were all not perfectly flat ground. The blade profile stayed thicker to within 3/4 inch from the edge near the tip and then convexed down to the edge and tip. This made them tip heavy and very massive. Cliff's knife was one of those, I have several as well, and lil foo has the Ron Hood knives and those were the same design. Funny thing is that some of those were given grooved handles, even though the blanks were older. The 14 is kinda like the 6 as in 1/6. I don't believe for a second that there was only 6 of the 1/6 swedges. But who knows.
 
look at the second one from the left. A 1/300 with sharpened swedge and hollow rivets.

next5.jpg
 
And that folks is why Busse knives history is so fascinating. There's always, and i do mean always another knife out there that doesn't follow the time line. That INFI BBSHSH is a good example, dont know where it is, but been told its out there.

But the Steel Heart has an even more confounding story line. :p
 
leatherman said:
Thanks Cobalt for the clarification! :D I do remember those first SHBM's did not have the swedge now. A little coffee and the brain is working better now.
r.
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Dwayne, I missed this part. Yes some of the first ones did have a mild swedge, but it was not the 1/300 style swedge. The one below has a mild swedge and it is one of the early ones. A lot of the early LE's had this mild swedge and the thicker blade profile.

shbmle024.jpg
 
I've read somewhere that those swedged bad boys hold an edge longer.... Also.... What other differences, and what's different about the heat treat?
 
Dicko, that is a beauty SHBM. Glad to see it getting used!
 
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