Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
--Specifications--
This is another of Luke Freeouf's blades. It is one of the smaller and slimmer blades from Busse Combat, made from 3/16" steel as opposed to the more common 1/4" stock. It comes in at 260 g so it is still decently heavy. It has a high flat grind, 2.5 cm wide, on a blade that is 3.3 cm wide. The edge had been heavily modified by Luke to increase the cutting ability. The edge was now ~ 0.032 x 0.085" which gives about 11 degrees per side. On one side the edge is bled back into the primary completely whereas the other side has a slightly distinct edge bevel, in any case it is obviously fairly acute. The handle texture is very secure, and doesn't feel aggressive enough to cause discomfort, though it might be a problem for some. The rear talon slopes back, so there is no discomfort there which is a very good thing. The edge has some damage about one mm in depth along several locations due to contacts off a railroad rail.
--Modifications--
I spent some time cleaning up the edge, mainly removing most of the damage. When I was finished there was a distinct edge bevel on both sides, very close to flat around 10 degrees per side, with just a hint of edge curvature in the last fraction of a mm just due to the belt being slack. After setting the bevel on the belt sander, I finish honed it with waterstones, 1000 and then 4000 grit, and then gave it a few passes on CrO loaded leather. I didn't use the belt sander for finishing simply because I don't have fine enough belts. The final edge profile after modifications and sharpening was :
0.005" x 0.015"
0.010" x 0.035"
0.037" x 0.089"
0.059" x 0.160"
0.078" x 0.230"
--Stock testing--
The edge ran between 150-190 g on the thread push cutting, showing that my sharpening was off by about 25-50% of maximal. Checking the edge under magnification, I could see some rough spots, little chips about five microns, I simply didn't hone it hard enough, more pressure needed to be used I had been sharpening a lot of 5160 lately and was using the same pressure without thinking. Now the blade could easily shave, push cut paper and such, but the sharpness could still be improved as noted. Anyway, cutting 3/8" hemp it did well, taking from 18-21 pounds on a rocking push cut out near the tip where the curvatures is most extensive. For reference, the Twistmaster from Cold Steel takes about 40 lbs to make the same cut, so the BA3 has a huge advantage. However the true ability of this knife to perform came when I did some whittling on one inch hardwood dowels (Basswood). It took on average 2.5 +/- 0.2 slices to make a point, compare this to 12.2 +/- 0.8 with the Twistmaster.
I was really surprised how well it did on the wood as it approached the performance of an Opinel. One of the major influences was the overall rugged nature of the knife. The drastically slimmed out edge helped, but I have blades with more acute edge profiles which can't cut the hardwood as well because I can't put as much force into the cut as the blades might break. With the BA3 I had total confidence that the blade would not be bothered by even the heaviest cuts I would perform. The handle is also well shaped to fill out my hand and offer a very secure grip, both of which also significantly increasex the power I could provide to the cut. Specifically the handle thickness is 0.713". While I would prefer a full "E" grip, this one though was still very comfortable and secure through extended hard wood whittling.
After cutting the points, I later reduced four feet of 3/4" basswood dowel to a pile of shavings. Going very fast and heavy, the blade quickly ate up the dowel and produced a nice pile of kindling, performing among the top of what I have seen. The full length handle kept the butt out of my grip eliminating a hot spot, and allow full power cuts. No discomfort at all was experienced during the cutting. The index finger dent is secure and allows torquing without being too constraining and thus hand size specific. The blade still shaved after the dowel cutting. The only grip drawback was that with a soaped up grip, heavy stabs were not possible, a more significant guard would be needed for this level of security.
-Drawbacks to the 3/16" stock-
Ok so the blade cut cord and wood very well, is there anything that it doesn't do very well. Yes. Using it in the kitchen it takes a more force to slice up thick vegetables compared to a well made kitchen knife. Quality kitchen cutlery is simply made from much thinner stock and is ground with much thinner edge bevels. Of course we are still taking about not very much force in total. I did not need to lie down and take a nap after dicing up some carrots, peeling some potatoes and chunking up some turnips, but you are doing more work with the BA3, so if it was offered as a pure kitchen knife, it probably would not get too many favorable reviews as it is overbuilt - that really should not be a surprise. On meats and such, it does just as well as the best kitchen knife I have and it comes down to which one had the the best sharpening job.
Getting more specific, so we can see just how much of a difference we are talking about, I used a fresh raw carrot which was one inch at the base and did some cutting. The Badger Attack took between 4.75 - 5.25 lbs to make a 1/8" slice. Using a Japanese utility kitchen knife (<a href="http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=218529">ref</a>) it only took between 3.25 to 3.75 lbs. So the Japanese knife, even though it has a similar edge angle, does much better as the blade stock is much more acute and the edge is much thinner. However we are still talking about very little force, just press down on a scale and see how difficult it is to exert ~5 lbs of force. The reprofiled BA3 in fact performed much better than many production kitchen knives I had with NIB edge profiles, showing just how significant an influence edge profile alone can make to cutting ability. I used some other vegetables and similar differences were noted. For example cutting through a two inch potato (new white), the BA3 took 2.75 to 3.25 lbs and the Japanese knife 1.75 to 2.25 lbs. The potato while much thicker, was much softer and thus bound less and thus was easier to cut.
However a real functional disadvantage was seen when slicing up thick cardboard, using the BA3 to break down a lot of 1/4" thick cardboard as compared to a much slimmer knife, specifically an Olfa heavy duty snap-off cutter, the BA3 would induce a much greater fatigue rate due to its thicker stock. I was cutting very thin strips to use for various tinder experiments, and the thinner Olfa could not only cut much more narrow strips, but would leave the strips straight, whereas the BA3 would cause the strips to fold up. You would also see a similar disadvantage on cutting very thick rope, say one inch or so. Very basically the disadvantage of the thicker stock will only be seen if the material being cut can exert a binding force on the blade which is significant in depth, most materials don't actually do this. Of course the BA3 has much better edge retention than the Olfa knives, but you can just replace the blades on the Olfa and sharpen them later.
-Advantages to the 3/16" stock-
These are fairly obvious. First off all comes the confidence for very heavy cutting. As noted in the above this can actually lead to greater cutting performance for a wide range of tasks as you can simply use more force than you could with a slimmer blade. This also leads to is also a wider scope of work. For example while doing a routine inspection of a family grave plot I noticed a couple of fence slats had come loose as the wood had rotted around the top nails. I just worked the point of the BA3 under the wood and pryed the slats off. It is the same when using it for baton work, cutting wood. The knife can be pounded in very deep and then leaned on to break the wood out. Or as a splitter, it can be heavily twisted in thick wood to break it apart. Quite simply you have a lot more strength than in a thinner blade - but yes, you do give up some cutting ability as noted in the above on heavily binding materials.
-Edge retention-
As noted in the above, the edge retention was very high on the wood cutting, and overall during use the blade stayed sharp for very long. Looking to get a bit more specific I then did some cutting on 3/8" hemp, 2" draw cuts with the blade having a 22 degree 600 grit DMT micro bevel (0.05 to 0.1 mm wide). The cuts were done on a scale do the the amount of force that was used could be measured. The results showed a significant increase in edge holding as compared to production steels like Carbon V (Twistmaster specifically). This was verified by the comparison of the cutting ability throughout the cutting, as well as checking the edge under magnification. The wear on the edge of the BA3 was much slower.
-Summary-
This knife reminds me of a blade of which I think of very highly, the Boye drop point hunter. Boye also made many of his knives out of very thick stock (0.25"+), and they cut very well on many materials because of the edge geometry. Once the BA3 had been modified to a similar intended edge design, it handled like a Boye only with a more secure and comfortable handle and with a much more overall rugged blade. It would be a very nice general utility knife with a strong combination of cutting ability and overall functionality. For just general light cutting, you would probably be better off with a much slimmer knife such as a Deerhunter from A.G. Russell, however if you wanted more prying functionality and the ability to really lean into the blade hard during cutting then the BA3 really stands out (as well as increased edge holding, overall durablity, Busse warrenty etc.). Busse is coming out with some slimmer blades as well, so these would be worth looking into if you were focused on lighter work.
-Cliff
This is another of Luke Freeouf's blades. It is one of the smaller and slimmer blades from Busse Combat, made from 3/16" steel as opposed to the more common 1/4" stock. It comes in at 260 g so it is still decently heavy. It has a high flat grind, 2.5 cm wide, on a blade that is 3.3 cm wide. The edge had been heavily modified by Luke to increase the cutting ability. The edge was now ~ 0.032 x 0.085" which gives about 11 degrees per side. On one side the edge is bled back into the primary completely whereas the other side has a slightly distinct edge bevel, in any case it is obviously fairly acute. The handle texture is very secure, and doesn't feel aggressive enough to cause discomfort, though it might be a problem for some. The rear talon slopes back, so there is no discomfort there which is a very good thing. The edge has some damage about one mm in depth along several locations due to contacts off a railroad rail.
--Modifications--
I spent some time cleaning up the edge, mainly removing most of the damage. When I was finished there was a distinct edge bevel on both sides, very close to flat around 10 degrees per side, with just a hint of edge curvature in the last fraction of a mm just due to the belt being slack. After setting the bevel on the belt sander, I finish honed it with waterstones, 1000 and then 4000 grit, and then gave it a few passes on CrO loaded leather. I didn't use the belt sander for finishing simply because I don't have fine enough belts. The final edge profile after modifications and sharpening was :
0.005" x 0.015"
0.010" x 0.035"
0.037" x 0.089"
0.059" x 0.160"
0.078" x 0.230"
--Stock testing--
The edge ran between 150-190 g on the thread push cutting, showing that my sharpening was off by about 25-50% of maximal. Checking the edge under magnification, I could see some rough spots, little chips about five microns, I simply didn't hone it hard enough, more pressure needed to be used I had been sharpening a lot of 5160 lately and was using the same pressure without thinking. Now the blade could easily shave, push cut paper and such, but the sharpness could still be improved as noted. Anyway, cutting 3/8" hemp it did well, taking from 18-21 pounds on a rocking push cut out near the tip where the curvatures is most extensive. For reference, the Twistmaster from Cold Steel takes about 40 lbs to make the same cut, so the BA3 has a huge advantage. However the true ability of this knife to perform came when I did some whittling on one inch hardwood dowels (Basswood). It took on average 2.5 +/- 0.2 slices to make a point, compare this to 12.2 +/- 0.8 with the Twistmaster.
I was really surprised how well it did on the wood as it approached the performance of an Opinel. One of the major influences was the overall rugged nature of the knife. The drastically slimmed out edge helped, but I have blades with more acute edge profiles which can't cut the hardwood as well because I can't put as much force into the cut as the blades might break. With the BA3 I had total confidence that the blade would not be bothered by even the heaviest cuts I would perform. The handle is also well shaped to fill out my hand and offer a very secure grip, both of which also significantly increasex the power I could provide to the cut. Specifically the handle thickness is 0.713". While I would prefer a full "E" grip, this one though was still very comfortable and secure through extended hard wood whittling.
After cutting the points, I later reduced four feet of 3/4" basswood dowel to a pile of shavings. Going very fast and heavy, the blade quickly ate up the dowel and produced a nice pile of kindling, performing among the top of what I have seen. The full length handle kept the butt out of my grip eliminating a hot spot, and allow full power cuts. No discomfort at all was experienced during the cutting. The index finger dent is secure and allows torquing without being too constraining and thus hand size specific. The blade still shaved after the dowel cutting. The only grip drawback was that with a soaped up grip, heavy stabs were not possible, a more significant guard would be needed for this level of security.
-Drawbacks to the 3/16" stock-
Ok so the blade cut cord and wood very well, is there anything that it doesn't do very well. Yes. Using it in the kitchen it takes a more force to slice up thick vegetables compared to a well made kitchen knife. Quality kitchen cutlery is simply made from much thinner stock and is ground with much thinner edge bevels. Of course we are still taking about not very much force in total. I did not need to lie down and take a nap after dicing up some carrots, peeling some potatoes and chunking up some turnips, but you are doing more work with the BA3, so if it was offered as a pure kitchen knife, it probably would not get too many favorable reviews as it is overbuilt - that really should not be a surprise. On meats and such, it does just as well as the best kitchen knife I have and it comes down to which one had the the best sharpening job.
Getting more specific, so we can see just how much of a difference we are talking about, I used a fresh raw carrot which was one inch at the base and did some cutting. The Badger Attack took between 4.75 - 5.25 lbs to make a 1/8" slice. Using a Japanese utility kitchen knife (<a href="http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=218529">ref</a>) it only took between 3.25 to 3.75 lbs. So the Japanese knife, even though it has a similar edge angle, does much better as the blade stock is much more acute and the edge is much thinner. However we are still talking about very little force, just press down on a scale and see how difficult it is to exert ~5 lbs of force. The reprofiled BA3 in fact performed much better than many production kitchen knives I had with NIB edge profiles, showing just how significant an influence edge profile alone can make to cutting ability. I used some other vegetables and similar differences were noted. For example cutting through a two inch potato (new white), the BA3 took 2.75 to 3.25 lbs and the Japanese knife 1.75 to 2.25 lbs. The potato while much thicker, was much softer and thus bound less and thus was easier to cut.
However a real functional disadvantage was seen when slicing up thick cardboard, using the BA3 to break down a lot of 1/4" thick cardboard as compared to a much slimmer knife, specifically an Olfa heavy duty snap-off cutter, the BA3 would induce a much greater fatigue rate due to its thicker stock. I was cutting very thin strips to use for various tinder experiments, and the thinner Olfa could not only cut much more narrow strips, but would leave the strips straight, whereas the BA3 would cause the strips to fold up. You would also see a similar disadvantage on cutting very thick rope, say one inch or so. Very basically the disadvantage of the thicker stock will only be seen if the material being cut can exert a binding force on the blade which is significant in depth, most materials don't actually do this. Of course the BA3 has much better edge retention than the Olfa knives, but you can just replace the blades on the Olfa and sharpen them later.
-Advantages to the 3/16" stock-
These are fairly obvious. First off all comes the confidence for very heavy cutting. As noted in the above this can actually lead to greater cutting performance for a wide range of tasks as you can simply use more force than you could with a slimmer blade. This also leads to is also a wider scope of work. For example while doing a routine inspection of a family grave plot I noticed a couple of fence slats had come loose as the wood had rotted around the top nails. I just worked the point of the BA3 under the wood and pryed the slats off. It is the same when using it for baton work, cutting wood. The knife can be pounded in very deep and then leaned on to break the wood out. Or as a splitter, it can be heavily twisted in thick wood to break it apart. Quite simply you have a lot more strength than in a thinner blade - but yes, you do give up some cutting ability as noted in the above on heavily binding materials.
-Edge retention-
As noted in the above, the edge retention was very high on the wood cutting, and overall during use the blade stayed sharp for very long. Looking to get a bit more specific I then did some cutting on 3/8" hemp, 2" draw cuts with the blade having a 22 degree 600 grit DMT micro bevel (0.05 to 0.1 mm wide). The cuts were done on a scale do the the amount of force that was used could be measured. The results showed a significant increase in edge holding as compared to production steels like Carbon V (Twistmaster specifically). This was verified by the comparison of the cutting ability throughout the cutting, as well as checking the edge under magnification. The wear on the edge of the BA3 was much slower.
-Summary-
This knife reminds me of a blade of which I think of very highly, the Boye drop point hunter. Boye also made many of his knives out of very thick stock (0.25"+), and they cut very well on many materials because of the edge geometry. Once the BA3 had been modified to a similar intended edge design, it handled like a Boye only with a more secure and comfortable handle and with a much more overall rugged blade. It would be a very nice general utility knife with a strong combination of cutting ability and overall functionality. For just general light cutting, you would probably be better off with a much slimmer knife such as a Deerhunter from A.G. Russell, however if you wanted more prying functionality and the ability to really lean into the blade hard during cutting then the BA3 really stands out (as well as increased edge holding, overall durablity, Busse warrenty etc.). Busse is coming out with some slimmer blades as well, so these would be worth looking into if you were focused on lighter work.
-Cliff
