Tactical Knife

[MarshJr]

i live in atlanta, how tough/expensive are tickets to the show??

 

[Moloko Plus]

How does the meaner street cut?? How does it compare to the basic #5, and how hard are the #5s to find? Is 340 a decent price for the meaner street??

The Meaner Street cuts nicely - it has a decent length and a nice configuration, so you can stab, slice, and pry with it (careful with this last one!). It's a bit fat so it's more of a utility knife than a fighter. If you want something closer to a fighter get a Leaner Meaner Street, but you'll pay more for it.

There's an old school style Mean Street on the exchange right now with a reduced butt going for around the $500 mark. I'd buy it but I don't need another EDC. However, this is THE ONE if you want something small yet incredible durable with a 4 inch blade.

I think the $300 range (+/- a bit) is fair for a Meaner. There are a LOT of them out there so use the forum search tool and you can root out a good one in no time.

 

[Moloko Plus]

i still think of the idea of calling the hg55 a "fighter" is silly. I don't know why people think thick knives with thick edges and tips are good at cutting meat, cause they really aren't.




the pub defender is WAY overbuilt. the one from the factory I got couldn't cut fabric with the main edge, and the front edge couldn't cut -anything-. it was set at the factory to something like a 50 degree per side edge and took hours of stone work to get it down to 35 degree's per side. I found the tanto style to be frustrating in daily use. it's an okay prybar, but I'd prefer the dumpster mutt over it because it's thicker and has a better edge profile for daily use.

basically - you'll have to remove a lot of metal from the edge to get a good knife out of it. I'd prefer a killer bee, dumpstermutt, or rat tail over it because of the tanto edge.

seconding the basic 5 - its about as good of an all around beater as you can get, small choil, thick enough blade for prying, thin enough edge that you won't get frustrated with it for being to over built, blade heavy balance, really nice res-c handle ergonomics, fairly light for the amount of edge and steel you get.

I agree with your PD assessment. I had more issues with the uber-handles as they were like having a sword handle on a pocket knife. I modded mine quite heavily and have had excellent performance from the resulting knives.

Many Busse EDCs will require major modification prior to urban feasibility, unless "urban" for you involves carrying around a massive slab of steel and using it to bash, break, and chop things. Busse knives aren't exactly subtle and this is a good thing in many ways but can give a false sense of feasibility in areas that are simply not practical (see, for example, the "blade catch" on the Mojo or the "fighter" HG55).

 

[MarshJr]

I live in Atlanta and I may stop by the show next weekend... Will there only be new models to see/buy or will older stuff be available as well??

 

[giant1]

How does the meaner street cut?? How does it compare to the basic #5, and how hard are the #5s to find? Is 340 a decent price for the meaner street??

I have a Leaner meaner (same as the one in the ebay for sale post) that started life with a coated blade. I want to use it around the house for chores and some food prep so I had the coating removed and been slowly working the profile on a wet stone to get it a little thinner. It's nearly there, today infact I put a convex edge on and it seems to be cutting quite well.

They start life out quite thick and as somebody mentioned thick knives don't make the best slicers. But a thicker blade might be useful to you in your situation.

They are very different from the Strider though, so it might take some getting used to

 

[MustardMan]

i live in atlanta, how tough/expensive are tickets to the show??

With the VIP pass, it's 6 bucks - not sure about normal admission.

Definitely check it out if you live in Atlanta, though - lots of quality Busse family knives will be available.

 

[Dr Heelhook]

Are Busse knives very rust resistant? I know they are very hard to break, but the main issue in this topic was rust.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

Are Busse knives very rust resistant? I know they are very hard to break, but the main issue in this topic was rust.

they are nearly stainless. there was a very good description of how and why, but i've long since lost the link and the details of it. the essence of it was that the chromium content, while less then the 11% requirement for stainless, has only a small amount bound up, a large portion of it is free floating in the steel matrix. something like the low content of carbon results in a relative low amount of chromium carbide, which in turn results in high amounts of free floating chromium to create the passivating chromium oxide required for the stainless action of stainless steel...

something like that?

real world - most of the rust you'll find is very topical and wipes off easily with a brillo pad.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Typically, if you use a knife, even a rust-prone knife, it won't get rusty.

 

[giant1]

Typically, if you use a knife, even a rust-prone knife, it won't get rusty.

+1

Also if it is satin finish and you keep it fairly clean it will not be a problem

 

[fishface5]

you're IN Atlanta?? OMG I'm so jealous! Go to the Blade show and you will be dizzied by options.

 

[rpn]

you're IN Atlanta?? OMG I'm so jealous! Go to the Blade show and you will be dizzied by options.

Yeah your set!

You'll be able to handle the meaner and some other blades in this size. That's great, you'll see what fits your hands and needs! :thumbup:

 

[book'em]

One of these with black coated blade and black handle shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[resinguy]

Thanks for the replies guys. JWBirch, you are absolutely right, i am sort of looking for an excuse to buy another knife...ie the grass is greener syndrome. I really do like my strider and it is the perfect size for vest carry. I get the sense you know what its like to carry a heavy kit and i do value your opinion.

I guess what i end up buying is going to be based very highly on availability. I like the public defender, meaner street, active duty, and possibly the SAR4.

I noticed this auction on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/BUSSE-CUSTOM-PA...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

and if it doesn't sell i may inquire the owner if he is willing to split up the pair, since its a little out of my price range for the pair. Anyone interested in splitting it with me? The larger of the two knives (meaner??) looks like it would really fit the bill.

I love the busse knives, but i HATE that some specific models are so tough to find. I dont wanna wait a year for one of those models to become available, but what can ya do.

Those are sweet knives, Ban does great mod work. And Okuden sheaths are some of the best for tactical carry. But you need to know that because of the reginds on that pair, it is unlikely that any blade damage would be covered by the Busse warranty.

 

[MarshJr]

After doing some reading, i am definately going to the show. Wow, what a great opportunity!! Any other knive companies i should make sure not to miss while i am there??

 

[resinguy]

After doing some reading, i am definately going to the show. Wow, what a great opportunity!! Any other knive companies i should make sure not to miss while i am there??

There are other knife companies? Who knew!

 

[MustardMan]

After doing some reading, i am definately going to the show. Wow, what a great opportunity!! Any other knive companies i should make sure not to miss while i am there??

It's probably blasphemy to mention on this forum, but I'll throw RAT Cutlery out there - not nearly the variety of designs that Busse have made, but they have a similar warranty and a growing fan base.

I'm excited to check out the custom makers at the show - no one brand, just a lot of guys working out of small shops pouring their lives into making knives. You gotta love that. :thumbup:

 

[iamtoast]

I wish I could go. It will be a good opportunity to try many knives in hand. It might be a good idea to cut a ruler to the largest size that you think would fit your kit. There are supposed to be two new knives from Swamp Rat at Blade, one of which is on the smaller size. The smaller sized scrap yards would probably fit the bill nicely too and there will be a selection of them at blade that are not readily available elsewhere.

http://hogcult.com/chart is a great resource, you can compare the busse knives to you overall length of your tanto and see what stacks up the best.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

After doing some reading, i am definately going to the show. Wow, what a great opportunity!! Any other knive companies i should make sure not to miss while i am there??

i would personally make sure to hit the busse family of knives, then look for bark river knife and tool.

just for grins try to find the condor table, mmhw (mineral mountain hatchet works), airkat, entrek, wetterlings/gransfor bruks, and extrema ratio's table. all of those are sure to give you some interesting eye candy. and dark ops if they're even gonna have a table, always good fun.

the two custom makers I'd personally go to for knives I'd actually like to have -
john greco
gene ingram
kikuo matsuda


and at hous and more. those are just my personal favorites that I'd look for.

 

[JWBirch]

... I modded mine quite heavily and have had excellent performance from the resulting knives.

Many Busse EDCs will require major modification prior to urban feasibility, ....

I hope Jerry is paying attention to this thread. There is hardly a mid-size Busse Combat blade that you can safely stab with. Notice that Benchmade remade their Nimravus series so that you're less likely to slip up on the edge if you do have to stab with it. The Busse mid-size range would be a lot more useful if it was safer for the people who need them most. Sorry to be so blunt, just looking out for my boys.