What's so special about the Busses?

The Chef said:
-That story is simply amazing...coming in second place in a three knife race and undergunned with a shorter blade; my god, imagine what you could have done if you spent more money on a longer Busse, you might have actually won. Maybe a Busse sword would be a good buy next...

No matter how much I read on this forum about the virtues of Busse product there is no buy in on my part. I have owned and traded away or sold every Busse product I've had for one reason or another but keep my Becker, Ranger and HI products. I don't feel bad in the least about beating them to hell, they always sharpen up again.
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Sarcasm mixed with a touch of hostility tends to undermine one's credibility.
 
sirahren said:
I own a couple, one of the neatest things about them is how active Jerry and the entire staff is on the Busse forum. I guess its sorta cultish, I've never really thought about it.
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Jerry is very active and stands behind his products. To me though, the forum is just plain nauseating. The tacky inside jokes, the same cast of characters, the "superior" ones, the hypocrites. It's more like a lonely hearts club.

I've owned and used quite a few of the knives (30 or more) over the last couple of years. They are nice, but certainly there are knives out there that are a better value in my opinion. The hype, the over inflated secondary market pricing, and the lack of a sheath is just plain ridiculous in my opinion.

<sheath rant>.....Granted, I understand Jerry's position, that when he included a sheath, people whined and didn't like them. There has to be a better compromise though than selling a knife without a sheath, Christ!!! At least offer a sheath that can be bought separately! It doesn't take a lot to have a crude sheath put together. Look at the excellent Kydex and leather sheaths Bark River includes with all of their knives. To make matters worse, in my experience, the very people who Jerry endorses to make sheaths for his knives have been slow and unresponsive, albeit they are nice guys. I've dealt with 4 of them. I don’t want to send multiple emails and wait weeks or months for a darned sheath that should have been included. I believe Jerry should hire an in-house sheath guy, or deal himself with the sheath makers he has endorsed and stock their products which would save us all the pain and aggravation of getting a sheath made </sheath rant>
 
on_the_edge said:
Absolutely not. He needs to be credible to make his opinion believable.
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So do you and having a high price club does not equal credibility.

All of that having been said, I would like to try a Busse out, but the Internet Kool-Aid Slurpee Club is sickening.
 
Don Rearic said:
So do you and having a high price club does not equal credibility.
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I agree that having a high price club is not itself sufficient to warrant credibility. However, I think there is credibility in the Busse product as well as a history of use and testing to back it up, regardless of other available brands.


Don Rearic said:
All of that having been said, I would like to try a Busse out, but the Internet Kool-Aid Slurpee Club is sickening.
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You may find what I am about to say incredible, but if you should find yourself in southern Arizona sometime, you can have your pick of any of my Busse users and try one. And if you won't ever be in AZ, then ask on the Busse forum if anyone lives near you so you can see and handle a Busse for yourself. You may be surprised at the result. And if that doesn't work, PM or e-mail me. :)
 
There is nothing a busse will do that a becker or carbon v trailmaster wont do and as at least one bf member has proven that carbon v holds it's shaving edge longer while cutting and chopping with that said though a busse is alot tougher than carbon v blades. (a becker or trailmaster is much more likely to snap in freezing temperatures)
 
I asked this same question on the Busse forum (bad idea, by the way).

The response that hit home the best for me was something like, and I'm paraphrasing here:
"Busse's are like cars, liquor, and women. At the top end, the price rises rapidly for small gains in performance."

That says it all for me. I will not be such a fan-boy hater as to not admit that if all things were equal, I'd pick the INFI steel knife. I can not, however, say that I would pay three times as much to get it. The small gain in performance for me, does not justify the added cost.
 
sdt11670 said:
There is nothing a busse will do that a becker or carbon v trailmaster wont do and as at least one bf member has proven that carbon v holds it's shaving edge longer while cutting and chopping with that said though a busse is alot tougher than carbon v blades. (a becker or trailmaster is much more likely to snap in freezing temperatures)
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Busses certainly aren't magical in any way, and the higher in the price range you go the smaller the performance increase you get, but Busses will in fact do some things that some other knives like Beckers or Cold Steels will not do reliably. Now, whether you need or want a knife that will do these things is a different question and entirely up to you and your needs. You can do some pretty insane prying work with a Busse that would honest to god break a Becker or a Cold Steel in two. You can cut through some materials with a Busse that will totally demolish a high end Cold Steel or similar. The way I see it, it's ugly to even compare those two manufacturers. Busse is perceived as expensive by many, myself included, but compared to, again, Cold Steel, underpriced! :D Look at the prices Cold Steel demands for their "high end" San Mai stuff, and then compare its performance, warranty, and any other factor, with Busses. Anyone with anywhere near an unbiased view on the subject will quickly notice Cold Steel has reached world record levels in overpricing their San Mai stuff. Really, if we're talking value for money, I don't think the Cold Steel high end stuff is worth even half of what they go for.
 
Resale value. You can always dump one for nearly if not what you paid if it's not beat on too much.

Look at the lower end Scrap Yards. After a build is done and there aren't any left, they start showing up in the exchange forums for 10 - 15% mark up over retail.

It's economics.
 
jarlaxle said:
Thanks. I was hoping for a .14 or . 17. the thin ones.
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Hunt around on the exchange. The two sizes you are looking for can be found in the OJ Warden (Orange G-10 handle) and the SMOG Wardens. They are desirable and you have to be quick to get one. I have one of each to go along with my fat .220 version. Great little knives...
 
Busse has attained almost cult status which may either sway you away from them, or draw you in out of curiosity. The bottom line is they are tough and made for abuse, but I find that most of their new designs don't look very functional and they are way too thick in general. Also the way of ordering them now is a bit screwy with fast action "ganzas".
I owned many of the older designs straight handled BM's, SH's, MS's and BA's. They were good field knives, but their value, even beat up as they were, made me sell them. INFI steel is good, it performed as a high quality carbon does. I don't think it's magical, but I also never tried to purposely break one.
 
I have one that I use along with other knives of the same size and purpose. To be honest, although its a quality knife, it does not perform any better or stay sharp longer than my Ontario Spec Plus knives. For that reason, I wouldn't buy another one. I see them as pretty over priced.
 
g30ff said:
Heh. That reminds me of another thing that's hard on the uninitiated--those darned Busse acronyms. As far as I know SFNO stands for 'Steel Fusion Nuclear Orgasmatron' and I even own a couple Busses.
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Now that's funny :D . I'll remember that next time I'm on the Busse forum.
 
udtjim said:
I have one that I use along with other knives of the same size and purpose. To be honest, although its a quality knife, it does not perform any better or stay sharp longer than my Ontario Spec Plus knives. For that reason, I wouldn't buy another one. I see them as pretty over priced.
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I would have to experience that one myself. They beat every knife in every way I have ever owned and thats a few. For many blades it isnt even close so I have issue with your statement as I own Ontario Spec + and they have a loong way to go.

I do however hate the hype and the people who never used a Busse but brag its the best with 25 blades in plastic.

Doesnt deminish the steels performance however. Some cant separate the hype hatred from the reality that this is a majic steel or heat treat or whatever the hell they do to it.

And now its affordable for most.

Skam
 
Elen said:
Busses certainly aren't magical in any way, and the higher in the price range you go the smaller the performance increase you get, but Busses will in fact do some things that some other knives like Beckers or Cold Steels will not do reliably. Now, whether you need or want a knife that will do these things is a different question and entirely up to you and your needs. You can do some pretty insane prying work with a Busse that would honest to god break a Becker or a Cold Steel in two. You can cut through some materials with a Busse that will totally demolish a high end Cold Steel or similar. The way I see it, it's ugly to even compare those two manufacturers. Busse is perceived as expensive by many, myself included, but compared to, again, Cold Steel, underpriced! :D Look at the prices Cold Steel demands for their "high end" San Mai stuff, and then compare its performance, warranty, and any other factor, with Busses. Anyone with anywhere near an unbiased view on the subject will quickly notice Cold Steel has reached world record levels in overpricing their San Mai stuff. Really, if we're talking value for money, I don't think the Cold Steel high end stuff is worth even half of what they go for.
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Agreed however i think it was in levines guide (i have so many books i can never remember) where it states that many high end factory knives are more pricey than many handmade blades due to the higher quality of todays factory pieces. I do agree however san mai is ridiculously priced,however have you seen the punishment those blades can take? you can bend one 180 degrees without snapping the darn things!
 
sdt11670 said:
Agreed however i think it was in levines guide (i have so many books i can never remember) where it states that many high end factory knives are more pricey than many handmade blades due to the higher quality of todays factory pieces. I do agree however san mai is ridiculously priced,however have you seen the punishment those blades can take? you can bend one 180 degrees without snapping the darn things!
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180 degrees? Uh... well, can't say I have seen anyone do that. :D I have beaten on a CS San Mai knife, though, and can safely say that they'll lose their edges to chipping and suffer catastrophic blade failure in tasks that Busses can survive intact and ready to go with a little sharpening, particularly in prying and chopping into the kind of materials you shouldn't chop into with a knife, such as concrete. The San Mais do, at least, beat Busses in corrosion resistance, but that's about it.
 
I have used them, and modified them for others. You can keep them. THey are poorly finished, expensive, and generally better hammers than knives. Your milage may differ.
 
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