What are you going to use your Basic 4 for?

Will be a great food prep knife. Should also find a place in the deer processing rotation as well. One thick and one thin should be all I ever need to take a deer from hoof to plate.


Garth
 
uyotg said:
I'm surprised to see everyone talk about kitchen stuff here :confused: I've tried cutting with these outdoors knives before and I just can't get a clean cut. Anything more than 1/8" (0.125") just ends up cracking and breaking the food rather than slicing it. The anorexic comes pretty close, plus it's a flat grind, so maybe it will do well :thumbup:
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Thank you. The thickest kitchen knife we have is maybe 0.08" at the spine. I have plenty of Busse knives, just not for the kitchen.
 
I chose the magnum for bushcraft / camping... did I make a bad choice not going for the anorexic ?
Choices are difficult
 
I will regret, bitterly, some day, not getting one of these. But, when the came up, all my Christmas money was all spent (on non infi knives! Gasp! Traditional folders!)
 
I certainly wouldn't throw away my kitchen knives, but... We use busse's when we camp for food prep and they work great, IF you pick the right ones. I (my wife) uses (stole) a banned buffalo soldier for camping cooking. It is thin, not kitchen knife thin but busse thin and it works great. I tend to use knives for food that are close by and that means my CABS. Soon to be my thin tan B4. I ain't a sushi chef so the thinner Busse's work fine for me in the kitchen. I have never met a tomatoe, potato, or onion that a thinner Busse can't handle cleanly without squishing it.

And even the fat ones make a mean PBJ!

Pete
 
And yes BigfattyT you will rue the day you passed this one up. A BAIII with res C. All those years of staring at my snakeskin BAIII wishing I had the sack to actually use it and now I can. The blade profiles seem almost identical to me.
 
uyotg said:
Anything more than 1/8" (0.125") just ends up cracking and breaking the food rather than slicing it. The anorexic comes pretty close, plus it's a flat grind, so maybe it will do well :thumbup:
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Gotta agree with you there, Uyo-amigo! It's one of those "Use the right tool for the job!!" situations. I sure appreciate the Busse Bruisers & Beasties for chopping, busting up branches, whack 'n slash at the brushpile, etc. But for kitchen slice 'n dice a thin knife (<1/16" to 1/8", preferably at the thinner end of that scale) is my couteau du jour.

As you note, the anorexic B4 may pass muster as a kitchen knife, although at 0.155" it's still a shade over the 1/8" threshold. I suspect it will work okay, especially if you thin out the shoulder just above the edge to aid in the initial penetration into the food. I'm guessing it's role will likely be chicken boning and disjointing in the Rok household food pit, plus dealing with soft veggies like tomatoes (vs rigid veggies like carrots, potatoes, yams, etc) where the food is flexible enough to bend out of the way as it's cut.
 
The difference between 1/8 inch and .155 is three (3) one hundredths of an inch (.03). Fairly arbitrary line being drawn here. Flat grind, tall blade, .155 thick, it will do just as well or better than lots of "kitchen" knives. It clearly is not designed for that but the blade itself will definitely be up to the task. For the average kitchen this would be quite a step up.

Yes, you can get snobby and say it won't work but I guarantee you can cut anything within reason without crushing or breaking. Probably not good for cheese but I have never found a knife that cuts cheese as well as the little wire thingy anyway. What is the object that you guys think this thing won't cut without breaking? I would certainly take up the challenge of cutting carrots without breaking and I have some potatoes around so I will break out the CABS and try it out (even though the B4 will be even thinner profile).

Off to the kitchen I go.

Pete
 
pedropcola said:
The difference between 1/8 inch and .155 is three (3) one hundredths of an inch (.03). Fairly arbitrary line being drawn here. Flat grind, tall blade, .155 thick, it will do just as well or better than lots of "kitchen" knives. It clearly is not designed for that but the blade itself will definitely be up to the task. For the average kitchen this would be quite a step up.

Yes, you can get snobby and say it won't work but I guarantee you can cut anything within reason without crushing or breaking. Probably not good for cheese but I have never found a knife that cuts cheese as well as the little wire thingy anyway. What is the object that you guys think this thing won't cut without breaking? I would certainly take up the challenge of cutting carrots without breaking and I have some potatoes around so I will break out the CABS and try it out (even though the B4 will be even thinner profile).

Off to the kitchen I go.

Pete
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I guess this really depends on the type of kitchen you have. Out in the woods, I'll use my B11 on everything, but you won't find me (and probably all chefs) using anything thicker than 3/32" when I cater. By that definition, yeah, I guess I am snobby :p but I do it to earn money from a hoity toity crowd that wants it quick and wants it pretty :barf:

By comparison, the thin NICK was 0.09"-0.125". My cleaver's the only one that's 0.125", and the rest are at most 0.09", so 0.125" is really an upper limit here. Not that I won't try it out with the B4 though--it's all this peer pressure :cool: The full flat grind will definitely help out the B4 though. A semi-hollow 0.125" I tried (Buck 192) didn't do so well, but made a great chopped carrot launcher. My CABS's convex grind, on top of being thicker, does not make it easy to cut hard foods quickly and for posh presentation either.
 
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