what competition is the competition grade for?

Competition Grade is just the designation of the finish on the blade. It means the knife is uncoated and unpolished/beadblasted. The knife finish is exactly as it was coming out of cnc without ANY work going towards cosmetics. It also means that the edge is convex ground and not too far off from actually being zero ground (no secondary bevel).

They're not for any competion and as far as I know (not too much in this respect) it doesn't come close to meeting the requirements of the existing chopping competitions.

So far competition grade knives have only been released at the Blade 2008 show and were marked as such. They were the Hell Razor (previously released in different configurations), the SARsquatch (first and only time release outside of the following Bladeshowganzaa), and the Jackhammer (previously released under different configuration with the Busse/Les Baer gun/knife combo.
 
Competition as in choppin, hackin, slicin and dicin competition. No finish, but a better edge. Ready to rumble in a head-to-head cage match against any other blade on the planet.

Harkens back to the old asym. edges that were highly polished and finished. The ones that Jerry used to push cut 4 billion pieces of 1" hemp rope, or however crazy-many pieces he actually did.
 
+1 on what's been said so far,
and I think it's the blade finish and edge type that Jerry
would show up with at any cutting competition.

The Competition Grade SARsquatch...

01SARsquatchSE20081710.jpg


02SARsquatchSE20081704.jpg


03SARsquatchSE20081689.jpg


04SARsquatchSE20081690.jpg


05SARsquatchSE20081692.jpg


06SARsquatchSE20081697.jpg


07SARsquatchSE20081700.jpg


08SARsquatchSE20081703.jpg


Best cutting edge I've seen from Busse of late...
It is very close to the edge Boss put on the WASP
and Hood article SHBMs :cool:


.
 
I have an original A2 SH-1 with a similar finish that I picked up on the secondary market. According to Jerry, it is one of ten that were to be submitted for evaluation by a law enforcement unit, but apparently it got sold to an individual instead.

From this, I have been assuming that the Competition Grade Finish was just that - an unpolished, working finish used on blades submitted to law enforcement or military units for evaluation for possible purchase, in other words, in "competition" with submissions from other manufacturers.
 
MikeH said:
I have an original A2 SH-1 with a similar finish that I picked up on the secondary market. According to Jerry, it is one of ten that were to be submitted for evaluation by a law enforcement unit, but apparently it got sold to an individual instead.

From this, I have been assuming that the Competition Grade Finish was just that - an unpolished, working finish used on blades submitted to law enforcement or military units for evaluation for possible purchase, in other words, in "competition" with submissions from other manufacturers.
Click to expand...

An original SH-1 in A2 or ATS-34??? :confused:

An A2 model would be rare fo sho!

.
 
MikeH said:
Of course it's ATS-34. Old Fart brain fade.:confused:
Click to expand...

:)

I have those too... and I'm not even that old. :o

Here is Jerry's post on the new comp grade finish. :cool:
And the link... http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504710&highlight=Competition

Jerry Busse said:
Did I scare you with that one boys??? :eek:. . . . I know I sceeeaart myself !

So, what exactly is a Competition Blade Finish you may ask???. . . Purty darned ugly my friends. . . purty darned ugly!

When we run new designs for our destructive testing we don't worry too much about the finish. . . but boy can those puppies cut!!!. . . We put a zero convex bevel along the edge that screams!!!!. . .

We don't worry a bit about finish, since the name of the game is performance. . . We usually take a blade straight from the furnace and do a light pass on a wheel and then it's all about the edge. . . .

It is difficult to put this type of edge on a regularly finished knife since the edge finishing process usually rides up fairly high on the bevel. :eek: . . .Very cool!!! :cool:

We leave behind all of the peen marks, INFI dimples, and anything else that might be there. Sometimes we double cut them before edging. . .sometimes we don't. There is no set criteria as to how ugly these blades can get. . . .

Handles can be a bit rough as well. . . .fit and finish? . . . Uh, probably not gonna find it here kids.

These are beaters of the first degree. . . You'll never have to worry about marring up the finish. . . because we've already done that for you!

So, I guess the question is. . . If we priced these near the regular combat grade price point, would you be interested in buying one?

Here's a pic of the Jack Hammer with the Competition Finish:

CompetitionFinish.jpg
Click to expand...
 
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Also, a lot of makers test their blades on a regular basis to assure they are up to snuff on strength and edge holding. Usually, they don't finish the blades very much, as there is no sense in putting a satin polish on a blade just to test it.

With this finish on the knife there is no initial sadness or sorrow at the first couple of scratches. The knife already has them, and more won't even be noticed.
 
In the thread Jerry implied the handle may be a little rough and the fit may not be up to par.

Shoot, my Handle fit and finish is perfect! And all I saw at Blade had a perfect handle fit and finish :thumbup::thumbup:
 
What are the zig-zag scratches on the Jackhammer ricasso? Are those the peen marks? What are peen marks?
 
ARD RI said:
What are the zig-zag scratches on the Jackhammer ricasso? Are those the peen marks? What are peen marks?
Click to expand...

Peen marks are from "peening" generally used to shape metal parts with I THINK some sort of tiny hammer or punch of some sort....I usually see it and hear of it in the context to having peening marks on the brass guard of a bowie or something along those lines. I generally see it in brass works and other soft metals. In steel they normally refer to it as forging marks or hammer marks or something along those lines, from what I've seen and been told at least. Busse's won't have peening marks OR forging marks as they're not forged or fabricated by hand....they're produced with CNC machines. Those marks you see are probably from the machines.

Forgive me if my terminology is off :p
 
I think it's a rolling mark or somesuch thing from the steel mill. They just decided it wasn't worth wasting steel to surface grind it.
 
peening is a surface process done to soft metal parts to impart a hard surface to them. Not a great idea for blades and definitely not what Busse does. Those are marks from the hot rolling mills most likely, and they are not machined off to make them pretty. Most of the coated Busses look like this when you remove the coating. The only two finishes that have had all grind marks removed are satin and Double cut(a finer type of bead blasting).

As for competition, Jerry's intent was to sell these cheaper so people would not worry about going out and bashing them and the SARSQWATCH is absolutely probably the best deal in a large busse I have seen in years.
 
I love it myself, Would have been nice if it had been an original offering with the combat grade FBM's, and saved me the trouble of removing the coating and figuring out how to clean up the blade a bit since I don't have a sandblaster.
 
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