What brought you to...

Just an Ohio jab. Gotta give Eric and Shaggi grief on a regular basis... ;)

Zal, Andrew is a god one to emulate, I agree.

Actually, I'm coming down to Shepherdsville in a couple weeks. Gotta get my Knob Creek fix.
 
Swamp Rat Knives. They ARE a gateway drug!!! Got turned on to the Rats (never heard of them) after buying my first 'decent' folder. (CRKT) Then came the Busses (never heard of them either) My folder is at the bottom of my work bag. I have the CRKT,Ka-Bar and a Chris Reeve on the way. EVERYTHING else is either Busse or SRKW,and thats the way it's gonna stay.

Wet
 
I started looking for a dependable knife years ago as a firefighter in Hartford, Something that would be sharp enough to cut me out of any entanglements and tough enough to use as a pry bar for forcible entry. Unfortunately, I retired before Jerry started making knives. The quest for the perfect knife lasted long after retirement and led me to a local sporting goods shop where I found this knife that fit perfectly in my hand. Iw was so well balanced that it felt like an extention of my arm. The dealer had little information other than, "I think it's a Busse" A search of the net turned up the Busse web page and an e-mail to Jerry identified the knife as an A2 Mean Street. Well, I got the fever. What followed was a SH-E, a BM-E, 3 of the 4 basics and a NO-E. Still looking for a Basic #5 to complete the Basics.



Happiness is putting the wet stuff on the red stuff
 
To be honest, Swamp Rat Knives.
I joined the forums a little before the SRKW line kicked off.
After owning a camp tramp, I started to get real interested in the parent company.
 
I was directed to Busse Combat by a fellow forumite in search of the mystical 'do it all' knife.

Like many knife-newbies, I thought that there would be one single knife I would find that could do everything plus some. Thus, I ordered a SH-E..waited WAY too long (not really that long ;) ) and finally it arrived. I was extremely pleased with the SH-E, but for me, the handle was just too large.

After slowly realizing all the different characteristics of blades and knife sizes, and learning there is no 'do it all' knife, I went in search of the best of the best for each individual need.
Later, after reading up more and more from all the great guys here on the busse forum, I learned of all these 'other' Busses that had been discontinued such as the straight handled BA,SH, and BM. After that, I was done for. Its been a land slide downhill since then.

Now, my favorite single carry knife is definitely the SHBA. Damn I love that blade! And for those future trips *camping in Montana hopefully this summer:)* I will probably take the 5/16" SHSH (thx Eric!) and my AD when it arrives.

Keep makin those bad-ass blades Jerry
 
I can still hear the terrifying crackle of breaking branches and the rhythmic pounding of the earth--the sound of a charging bear. That ENORMOUS momma black bear then proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes pacing in circles within about 3 feet around me--sometimes even brushing up against me--scratching and swatting the ground, barking, growling, woofing, panting, snuffling.

I stood there with my Spyderco Catcherman in my hand, waiting, thinking to myself that the knife wouldn't even get through the hide without snapping--and if it did, it wouldn't even pierce through the fat layer. I was sure I was going to be mauled to death.

Then the bear lost interest and walked away. The first thought on my mind was, "I'm going to buy the hugest, most vicious knife there is".

Silly, I know, but that's how it started. From there, I bought my first large fixed blade knife. While I was in the wilderness with a large fixed blade, I put it to some use. It turned out to be a worthless POS which soon broke. Then came the next unsatisfactory one, and the next....

I'd seen those ads for Busses in the magazines (the ones where with the skeleton, with some slogan about "In case you can take it with you, better make it a Busse), but I didn't know any better.

Eventually, I found my way to Bladeforums. I saw everyone's testamonials about their Busse knives, and their level of user satisfaction. I saw the pictures of the knives, and how perfectly utilitarian their design was, and how elegant the aesthetics were. I saw the Busse warranty. Etc.

Then I bought some. I called up to place my order, and got to talk to The Man. And right off, he was making me an offer which went further out of his way to achieve customer satisfaction than I'd ever experienced before. (Friendly--genuinely--too.) And I used 'em. I've had and used lots of knives. Busses are so much better than the other knives I've used, that I can't even come up with a satisfactory ending for this sentence!

--Mike
 
Hype..... nothin' but hype. :rolleyes:

Not Buyin' that? Ok. Read on....

I was hunting elk in a beautiful, remote piece of wilderness area. Long day, on a hot set of tracks, late into 3rd season at around 11000 feet. All of a sudden it was 1730 hrs, I was a LONG way from being out, and the fabled high-country insta-blizzard set in with a vengance. Spending the night became a definite possibility. And there I was, in typical cock-sure Rainmaker fashion, with nuttin' but a Benchmade folder to claim as a cutting tool. Oops!

Wouldn't have killed me, years of running around in the boonies has left me with a decent set of skills and a damn good PSK, but I did have a little momentary anxiety. Dropped straight down (almost literally, as in on my ass in the dark for most of 1000 feet), popped out of the clouds and only another hour or so from the trail.... and all ended well. But it got me to thinking....

So I started my quest. I had some fixed blades, they would have been fine, but the "what if" bug had been planted. I looked and looked, finally stumbled on Bladeforums and Busse Combat. And man, there was a LOT of hype to sift through. Having long been of the opinion that where there's smoke there's fire, however, I decided to give 'em a try. Picked up a Basic 7, 5, and 3.... decided that they were almost perfect, but I wanted to give pure, unadulterated INFI a try.

I'm not a collector, I don't have safe queens (well ok, right now I have 2 - and they're both Busses.) I don't like the big E handled knives, I'm not a radical disciple of the asymmetrical edge, but damn..... never have I seen a knife that's the equal of my Satin Jack for MY purposes. Likewise my LMS, and - I think - my Groovemaster (I'll know more about the GM once the snow melts.)

It WAS hype that led me to Busse knives. There's still a lot of hype to sift through. Fortunately for all of us, most of it's true. :cool:
 
A few years ago I was looking for a heavy-duty field knife and began to do some research on khukuris. I eventually found the Himalayan Imports website via a search engine. There I learned about BFC and shortly thereafter I started hearing about Busse knives (I think I first heard of them in one of Cliff Stamp’s postings). I checked out the Busse website and was immensely impressed by what I saw (especially the Battle Mistress), but I wasn’t quite ready to spend that much on knives at the time (my sickness hadn’t progressed into the advanced stages yet ;)). I lurked around the Busse forum for a while, and I was lucky enough to win a Mean Street in the “guess-the-secret-ingredient-in-INFI” contest…that was my first taste of INFI. The MS is a great knife, but at the time I was focused on other types of blades so I put it away in the knife drawer and largely forgot about Busses for some time. I got a Basic 7 when they came out and thoroughly enjoyed using it…unfortunately it was lost during a move some time ago.

As I made the progression (that most of us do) from inexpensive to higher-end production knives and eventually on to customs, I began to realize that I was accumulating a lot of knives that I would probably never use. I had a few bowies from ABS smiths and some beautiful Damascus pieces, but they were just eye candy that never got used (I’m embarrassed to admit that I was afraid of getting them “dinged” :(). At this point I started looking into a relatively inexpensive do-everything knife that I could use without worrying about damaging it (I really missed my Basic 7). Fortunately, Swamp Rat Knife Works was making its debut at this time…I purchased a Battle Rat, and thus began my re-immersion into the Busse community. I started “hanging out” in the SRKW forums, and that led me back here. After seeing some of the great recent offers, I finally took the plunge a few months ago and ordered an Active Duty. That was followed in short order by a satin-finished Mr. MoFo and a soon-to-be-delivered (I hope) Desert MoFo. Add in a couple of Rats (including the recent INFICoot) and you can see how I may be beginning to develop an addiction ;). I guess I finally reached a point where I’d rather spend my limited funds on toys that I can use and enjoy rather than collector’s pieces. The obvious quality of Busse knives, coupled with their stellar warranty and customer support, seemed to be just what I was/am looking for. The congenial atmosphere here probably had a lot to do with my fascination with these knives as well…I’m afraid that y’all are encouraging my bad spending habits :p.
 
I have walked in and out of this Busse door many times. One of these days, I reckon I will be chased out for just window-shopping and not actually buying any items!

I have heard and read about the famous Busse. Honestly, the design has shaken but not stirred my soul. I like what I have heard about the magnificent qualities of the knife. In fact, I salivate a little when nobody is looking.

But life can be cruel. It's that darn wallet of mine, it refuses to cough out the contents no matter how many times I slap it around.

I wish I could say "Busse, Busse, my kingdom for a Busse."
The foreign exchange rate is a killer, me being the victim. But still, a man can hope even if there's nothing left.

Hope springs eternal, dare I hope? :)
 
The voices told me to buy a Battle Mistress, then a Satin Jack, a Paul's Hatchet, Mr.Mojo and now one of those desert Bandi coots.:(
 
I was not a knife nut. Just a regular ol' computer geek. Then at B&N I saw Tactical Knives magazine. Picked up a copy and was reading through it. Lots of nice pictures of cool knives. Saw an article on butterfly knives and how a company called Benchmade was re-introducing them. Then I bought one. That started the slippery slope to knifenutdom. I was looking for cheap places to buy knives and saw an ad for 1sks.com They had a link to this forum so I started reading as much as I could. Busse was mentioned as the toughest out there and that got me interested. So I meander into the Busse section. Little did I know what was going to happen. INFItious struck me and I've had the bug ever since!
 
This is the first chance that I have had to read this thread. . . Man, this is interesting stuff!!!! Great thread!!!!! Thanks for your input guys.

It seems like amost everybody got hooked in a different way. . . .

Suddenly I feel like "Huggy Bear" the Crack dealer!!!! ;)


Jerry
 
Thanks for that vision Jerry, I can just see you wearing a large collared purple trench coat with fluffy cuffs and bowler hat.....:D
 
I had been a knife collector for years, mostly folders. Never really was into fixed blades. I was reading this for sale ad about a Busse Mean Street and it sounded interesting. So I bought it. I thought it was little high for such a small knife. OMG, when I got it, I saw what all the fuss was about! The knife was like a crowbar with a sharp edge. I WAS HOOKED!!! I haven't looked back! Now 30 or so Busse's later....well you get the picture, including this one: :eek:

attachment.php
 
Jerry "Huggy Bear" Busse! I may not have a web cam, but I can see it in my mind's eye and that is classic! :D :D :D
 
Looks like they changed the verbage slightly and it appears that whatever you own before the enactment of SB1195, you can keep. Still sucks if you plan on buying in the future. I wrote Senators and the Governor and put them on notice that my business will move out of state if this goes through along with 10 jobs,accounts and over $200,000 spent every year with Illinois vendors alone.Way to pay off that $5 Billion debt! On the bright side, whatever I don't spend on "assault weapons" I can use to buy an Assault Shaker! :D Unless they ban those too.:barf:
 
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