The Busse Custom Shop Is Proud To Announce The Return Of The Legendary MOAB!!! . . . Coming Sunday 4-30-2023 At 9:00PM Eastern!

What's your take on the handle now that you've got it in hand? Is too thick for you as you were worried about before or has the excitement made all those concerns go away and you're in love?

Black G10 was the right choice BTW! Can't wait for mine in satin to arrive. Sadly she's still awaiting shipment for the past week or so ☹️
 
The Knife Life said:
What's your take on the handle now that you've got it in hand? Is too thick for you as you were worried about before or has the excitement made all those concerns go away and you're in love?

Black G10 was the right choice BTW! Can't wait for mine in satin to arrive. Sadly she's still awaiting shipment for the past week or so ☹️
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I hope it gets on its way quickly to you! It will be worth the wait!

So I just grabbed my chopasaures to compare(it is also black g10). By the eye test, the g10 is the same thickness. I will also note that the bottom part of the scales, all the little triangles are much more pronounced and raised/sharp on the chopasaures. I still want to actually use it and see how it performs but the added width of the steel on the MOAB does make it feel more comfortable compared to the chopasaures. I still may want to get rid of that middle swell a little but I'll definitely abuse it for awhile before making that decision.
 
rockgolfer said:
I hope it gets on its way quickly to you! It will be worth the wait!

So I just grabbed my chopasaures to compare(it is also black g10). By the eye test, the g10 is the same thickness. I will also note that the bottom part of the scales, all the little triangles are much more pronounced and raised/sharp on the chopasaures. I still want to actually use it and see how it performs but the added width of the steel on the MOAB does make it feel more comfortable compared to the chopasaures. I still may want to get rid of that middle swell a little but I'll definitely abuse it for awhile before making that decision.
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It will be SO worth the wait! This is like legendary level grail right here. Still never thought I'd ever end up with one of these thinking they were long gone. How pleased I am to see this re-released!

Thanks for the report. Sounds like she's not too bad for you so far, meaning too thick. In fact, you said it was more comfortable than the grip on the Choppasaurus which sounds pretty awesome to me! I like the grip on the AFBM and Choppasaurus, and if this is even better due to the extra thickness, I'm all for it. I prefer a thicker grip anyways, especially for larger knives.

The reason the grip pattern on your coated Choppasaurus is more pronounced and sharp than your MOAB is because you got a stonewashed MOAB.

As I understand it, for the stonewashed models, they throw the whole thing into the tumbler after the scales have already been fastened to the tang. So the handle scales get tumbled and smoothed out along with the rest of the knife.

That is exactly how my Choppasaurus is since I got the stonewashed finish on that. Definitely much smoother than my satin finish G10 scales. It's quite nice! But not too slippery thankfully.

I'm actually looking forward to the extra level of traction on this satin finished Moab though. Need to be able to securely hold on to that bad boy !
 
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Nismo17 said:
I’m pretty sure they stonewash the unsharpened blanks with no handles first
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Hmmm, I don't remember where I read that they tumbled the whole knife, handle scales and all, but I think it was just from another member and I'm pretty sure they were speculating so I could be wrong.

But, I will say, looking at my own stonewashed knife with black G10, it has all the telltale marks of being stonewashed, little random hazy spots on the smooth radiused areas of the handle just like the blade has and the patterning itself and even the rivets are duller in appearance and greatly smoothed over. My satin finished knives with black G10 do not have this and the patterning on them is sharper/more defined.

So they may do the blanks first without the handles but I still think I see evidence of the handles being tumbled too.

If you have black G10 with a stonewashed blade and also one with satin you should be able to see what I'm talking about.

When you get your stonewashed canvas micarta one, let me know if the pattern is smoother than your non stonewashed ones. I'm curious.

More importantly though, I hope you do more great videos like you did of the AFBM when you get yours!
 
The Knife Life said:
Hmmm, I don't remember where I read that they tumbled the whole knife, handle scales and all, but I think it was just from another member and I'm pretty sure they were speculating so I could be wrong.

But, I will say, looking at my own stonewashed knife with black G10, it has all the telltale marks of being stonewashed, little random hazy spots on the smooth radiused areas of the handle just like the blade has and the patterning itself and even the rivets are duller in appearance and greatly smoothed over. My satin finished knives with black G10 do not have this and the patterning on them is sharper/more defined.

So they may do the blanks first without the handles but I still think I see evidence of the handles being tumbled too.

If you have black G10 with a stonewashed blade and also one with satin you should be able to see what I'm talking about.

When you get your stonewashed canvas micarta one, let me know if the pattern is smoother than your non stonewashed ones. I'm curious.

More importantly though, I hope you do more great videos like you did of the AFBM when you get yours!
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Yep. My understanding with busse is they can hand finished/contour handle scales

Yours could’ve just been slightly touched up by finished hand after the handle milling process.

The stonewash process would potentially destroy the handles. Light Sandblast or bead blast would be a different story and it’s more gentle. I have a 1st gen HOGFSH in for spa treatment/refurb and shipping out with my stonewashed/black micarta Moab to hopefully match. Fingers crossed lol

I’m definitely going to make a few MOAB videos. One will include me chopping down one of my old basement doors. another I’m finding a location for actual field use and tree falling. Stay tuned. The hardest part is finding time these days. But I’ll definitely get something out there for you guys.
 
Take off the handle, and see if the stock is stonewashed underneath. Assuming you have the tools, and someone from the shop doesn’t respond first.
 
Also for the record I have removed a white/black g10 handle from a ASH1 that was double cut and it’s was just about fully double cut underneath except a small rectangle area in middle which has a number on it. Guessing blank or batch number.
 
Nismo17 said:
Also for the record I have removed a white/black g10 handle from a ASH1 that was double cut and it’s was just about fully double cut underneath except a small rectangle area in middle which has a number on it. Guessing blank or batch number.
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I always figured that number would correlate to a set of scales that had been pre-fitted to the blank.
 
360joules said:
I always figured that number would correlate to a set of scales that had been pre-fitted to the blank.
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yup...checks out ✔️

mine's even got the original blade paint color sharpied on...

iqLRyQY.jpg
 
The Knife Life said:
Not that I'm aware of. Mine's sitting in a holding pattern, "awaiting shipment" for around a week or so.

I'm pretty sure they're teasing me, lol.

"Oh? You like this do ya? It'd be nice to have one, wouldn't it?"
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Kinda like when ya need to pee driving home.. the closer you get, the more mentally agonizing it gets. Soon as that shipping notification comes.. its a LONG 2-3 days.
 
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