What makes busse knives so desireable?

Is it worth it? My uncle is a rancher in Colorado who's worked hard all his life and uses his tools correctly but hard nonetheless. He would never pay more than $50 for a knife. To him, it's not worth it. Knives are PURELY tools to him, and have no romance one way or another, and he's made it to this point in his life quite successfully using a Case slipjoint. Some would read this and say with vindication, "Ahah!! See?" and then go on about how they feel the same way; to which I have to respond, "And he also would never, ever, ever hop onto an internet forum to talk about knives."

Busses, Ferraris, real diamonds, pretty girls...these are all things that you can absolutely get through life without. There's also always going to be a whole lot of people who lust after them, and with reason.

Very well said!! I appreciate knives and am looking at my first Busse myself. Battle Mistress seems to be my fav so far.
 
Never Dull... Welcome!

Please let us know your thoughts Post-Mistress as well...
 
The above posts have answered the question better and in more detail than I could.

But I will say, in my experience, that INFI is great steel. The knife designs are one major reason. They are just cool to look at!

I don't like every design they have ever made, but darned near it!

As for hard use, I believe no other steel has a better balance of properties for it. In a 10 to 12 inch blade length you can generate a lot of torque and stress on an edge. This is where Infi excels. Hit a rock while chopping, and instead of a big chip out of the edge, you will get rolling (much much easier to fix! Trust me!). Push the steel back into place then strop it and you are good to go.

As has been said, it is not the very best steel for super thin edges. Some people like to take their small knives to razor thin cross section. Infi is not the best for this application.



The SAR3 you are ordering (Search and Rescue) is a stout little knife. It will have a relatively thick edge. Great for hard use. I convex all my edges, and the SAR3 will probably benefit by taking the edge back a bit.

My EDC from Busse is the BAD (Boney Active Duty) is a thin, higher hardness model. Great little slicer! But that very thin cross section means it won't be a tough as the SAR3 (or the .22 pumpkin handled GW I sold). But it is plenty tough for about 99.9% of anything I would normally expect a knife to do. If I am stuck, and have to pry open a heavy steel door, I will wish for my GW back.


Great knives. You will enjoy!
 
"Further, I feel INFI really excels and shines over the competition when it comes to heavy beatings - I love BIG Busses (7" and up) and there is a noticeable difference as compared to other steels with regards to edge durability - INFI tends to roll instead of chipping out and is easily steeled back to normal. The edge retention is also very good."

BINGO!

I myself have only sipped very sparingly of the coolaid, but have accumulated a load of Busse nonetheless...due to the quality. Like many, i think they excel as hard use knives.

Once upon a time...I believed, like many reasonably savvy users, that any claim of "MAGIC STEEL" had at least a 99% probability of being more BS, like previous claims (though steel does vary, of course). But for some reason, i began to wonder if Infi & Busse might be different. I finally bit the bullet, decided to see for myself and bought a straight handle Battle Mistress, then in current production. MSRP was $350 and i paid the princely sum of $25 as a premium to avoid about 6-8 months wait.

I tested it on "hedge" trees on my farm...aka Osage Orange, Bois d' Arc, Bodark, Maclura Pomifera. I don't know if dry "hedge" is the toughest wood on the planet...it is around here. It dulls your axes, chainsaws etc. faster than anything i know. I went to town on both green & dry hedge for about 2 hours. I wore out my arm; it chopped very well, of course. But what impressed me is that i could detect absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the keen edge. It would still dry shave just as easily, neatly & cleanly as before. Any other tool i tried previously would have been dull as a hoe.

I don't mean to insult anybody, but much of what passes for humor on BF, and the vague hints followed by much frenzied speculation, are no big thrill to me & the way the knives are marketed & sold annoys me...but the blades are more than worth it.
 
Thanks to everyone for their input. I must agree that the artistic ergonomics are second to none if the durability is there to match DING, DING,DING WE HAVE A WINNER! I am already looking at a Tank Buster and the Nuclear Meltdown Special Forces Natural Outlaw. I will wait for my first one to arrive, before purchasing a bigger blade.
 
Don't just look at Busse knives. Their sub-companies, Swamp Rat and Scrapy Yard, are basically Busse Combat with different steels. Same heat treat, same warranty, same family of people, different models, steels, and handles. All VERY cool :)
 
Don't forget the party;):D

We are about to kick off 3 days of epic madness at one grand family reunion!


Get one, use it, come to a show, and it will all make sense. Welcome:)
 
You can write reams about them however to keep it simple "For extream hard use knives there just isn't anything better"..........
 
Micro-Bevel said:
Don't just look at Busse knives. Their sub-companies, Swamp Rat and Scrapy Yard, are basically Busse Combat with different steels. Same heat treat, same warranty, same family of people, different models, steels, and handles. All VERY cool :)
Click to expand...

Well, not the SAME heat treat, but equally excellent heat treat. :D
 
Seen some amazing videos from Knife Tests of utter abuse of Busse knives. But then I see the price tags and really ask myself if I'd really abuse a $300+ knife like that.

Probably not.
 
I don't use my knives even close to what knife tests put them through however, I do use them and once in a while I even beat and pry with them and over the years I have left my share of knife tips in logs. Knife tests takes a lot of heat for the testing they do. I dont know anyone who uses their knife to cut through a cinder block or beat it through a piece of steel however thats not the real point of the tests. The real point is that when I grab my Bussy and I need to use it a little extra hard I know it can handle it and the tip won't be left behind, with many knives thats just not the case. So in a nut shell are they worth the cost yes they are.
 
For me, Busse makes knives that are just so much more versatile than others that I have used. I’m a remodeling contractor and misuse my Busse knives in just about every way imaginable. The Tank Buster was the model which was current when I discovered the company, and is still the one I carry most frequently. My other EDC is a Scrap Yard Scrapper 5 LE (also in INFI) built by one of Busse’s sister companies.

While I refuse to wear a tool belt, I always have my knife, so it sees quite a variety of chores. In the last week with the Tank Buster, I have:

Chopped away branches covering a window
Used it as a prybar to pull up deck boards
Pried off a fascia board
Scraped a piece of trim to match an irregular wall
Scraped some paint off rotting siding
Opened quite a few paint cans
Driven several flat head screws
Pounded an offending staple back into place
Cut up 30 yards of carpet
Cut at least a half dozen metal bands off a crate of tile
Pried out a video who’s case got stuck coming out of the ‘Redbox’
And finally, actually used it as a steak knife at Outback Steakhouse because they RAN OUT OF STEAK KNIVES!!! Imagine the waiter’s surprise at my new steak knife!

I’ve owned a lot of knives, but none that I have used so much and show so little evidence of damage. There’s about a dozen more Busses in the safe right now, including the most recent; a Muk with pumpkin handles. The bug bites hard indeed!
 
A Mistress or a Steel Heart will surely answer you qeustion :)

+1 on what everyone else said.

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I have a lot of respect for Busse knives. They are designed first and foremost to be users. They have comfortable handles that are safe during use (your hand is secure and is well protected from the edge) and durable blades that are designed for utility and to take a lot of abuse. There are a few exceptions to this rule, mostly when Busse releases a design that is more "fighting" than "combat utility" oriented such as the HG-55 which has a relatively fragile tip or the swords like the Gladius, which I view as being "just for fun" and not a mainstream offering, however overall there isn't a hint of "mall ninja" in the vast majority of designs with weird, over-done grip retention schemes or ridiculous sawteeth or gimmicky blade grinds.

In addition to the consistently excellent design the materials are durable, high-quality, and well-finished for their intended purpose. All my Busses have excellent grinds, came with good quality coatings, well-fitted handle scales, and acceptable edges (although I know for a time people were complaining about poor factory edges). In my experience the finish quality and evenness of grinds is on par or better than similarly priced custom knives. The coated blades don't have a high degree of finish underneath but I do not see that as a problem.

On top of this, there is the excellent Busse warranty and reputation for customer service.

A lot of people feel that Busse knives are overpriced when compared to custom knives. I tend to feel that they are priced very fairly or even cheaply when taking into account the excellent designs, good quality material and finishing and support behind it all.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded to my question. For those other CTers out there, I live in Granby. I have to admit that it is the ergonomics of the knives that drew me in initially.
 
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