Why doesn't Busse include sheath??

Gerberblades

Gerberblades

Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
4,302
So I got to thinking, I am paying $300 dollars and WAY up for these Busses, and they dont even come with a sheath...:thumbdn: What I think Jerry should do is give you a list of choices for sheaths for your knife and that particular sheath is included w/ your knife. (Leather, cordura, kydex)
 
Jerry makes quality knives not sheaths.:thumbup:
 
Jerry is a master of the steel. He knows that and leaves the sheaths up to the folks who are masters of those domains.

Most of us have different preferences on both the type and style for sheaths. Personally, I would rather just pay for the knife & then get the sheath I actually want from a sheath maker. :thumbup:
 
When you buy art, should the artist supply the frame too? Thats too K-Mart.:D
 
I think Jerry stopped offering sheaths cause there are too many folks wanting different sheaths for the same knives. Simply offering different sheath choices sounds easy but who is gonna eat the cost on the ones that don't sell? I know it can be inconvieniant now but there are planty of sheathmakers out there for whatever choice you want. That being said I too wish they came with something other than cardboard. At least something useable to get you into the field :)
 
Still it would be nice if he could get a Eagle sheath like strider dose for their knives.
 
Sheaths are a personal thing for many folks, and a simple way of making your Busse unique. Sure it is convenient to get a sheath with a knife, but how many sheaths will fully appeal to a wide audience? Also, if nothing else, adding a sheath would make expensive just more expensive, and more complicated for the Busse crew.
 
He does provide a sheath, it simply has no belt attachments.
I would rather pay the lower price and select the sheath that best suits my needs than get a sheath that I don't have any use for included at a higher price.

Remember, just because it is included does not mean that it is free, we would still have to pay for the "included" sheath, and then look for the sheath that best suits our needs.
 
Bill Siegle said:
I think Jerry stopped offering sheaths cause there are too many folks wanting different sheaths for the same knives. Simply offering different sheath choices sounds easy but who is gonna eat the cost on the ones that don't sell? I know it can be inconvieniant now but there are planty of sheathmakers out there for whatever choice you want. That being said I too wish they came with something other than cardboard. At least something useable to get you into the field :)
Click to expand...

Agreed. One of the extremely few things I find negative about a Busse purchase. Just an option of a simple kydex or leather sheath with no customization would be really cool, like at the Busse Company Store. Until this happens though, Spec-Ops Brand is getting quite a bit more business.;)
 
I don't mind the fact that sheaths aren't included, but I would indeed appreciate it if Busses came with a decent (decent meaning not necessarily a pretty one, but one that doesn't fall apart and has reasonable attachment options) sheath. At the prices Busses are right now, I don't think adding 10 to 70 dollars on top of it would kill me any more than it kills me now. :D
 
I'm not sure what the confusion is about.

I own no Busse's (high school salary) but know that they are best of the best. Just like David Brown, Normark, Chris Cravitt, or any other leather/kydex benders excel in what they make.

Mr. Busse makes a fantastic product. The only one I know of that truely lives up to the hype you Busse fanatics give! :D
 
Despite all of the excuse making, there is nothing good about not at least offering a basic sheath - even if its at additional cost. Many or most of the custom fixed blades we see for sale come with at least a basic leather sheath, and even Scott Gossman for example is including a sheath (used to be leather, now kydex) with his PSK's for something like $65 inclusive. PSK's aren't Busse's no doubt, but the point is that it does not break the bank to include, or at least offer at additional cost, a basic sheath.

Ultimately, since folks are buying Busses at fat prices even without a sheath (as I did), there is no market incentive to make one available. Thats the real reason we don't see them. Its not because the Master cannot be distracted from his Zen state to find a sheath maker.
 
I had an Issue with the sheath thing for awhile myself but after getting quality sheaths from Rowe's Leather, I understand. So treat yourself and your knife to a fine hand made sheath for that Busse and after awhile you will be at ease with it.

A high value knife deserves a high value sheath.

RickJ
 
I would love to have a basic Busse sheath with any knives I buy from Jerry. However I understand the reasons in avoiding supplying a sheath as for all those who say they don't want one then it's a waste of time and money for the company.
One way I could see of getting round this would be to have an inhouse sheath maker able to quickly turn out basic kydex and leather sheaths. That way if you don't want a sheath with your knife then theres no waste. Would also mean a guy making special sheaths for the custom shop and ganzaas. Might have to make him part-time though depending on volume of sheaths needed.
For the moment I make do with adapting sheaths that i've got.
 
It's far too complex for Jerry to be the middle man for sheath makers. There are too many models and many variations within the models to do it efficiently or effectively IMHO.
 
The original busse's all came with Eagle Industries black cordura sheaths they had a great way to fasten I had never seen before.. a 550 cord going through the sheath attached around back, then on the front the 550 cord is attached to a snap piece.. You could wrap the cord around the knife handle for really secure hold or tighten up the knot in the back of the sheath so the 550 cord just covered over the chole area.. a Great design... and you hook up your knife to your LBE the day you got it without waiting for custom $$ sheaths to come in...
a potental option which I used on one of my FBMs ,was to order the sheath from Scrap yard for $19.95.. they make a really good sheath which fits the 1/4 " thick blades well and they are cheap, but not cheaply made.. Unfortunately, scrap yard does not make a sheath for Every blade option Busse puts out, but you have a 10" option, a 7.5" option and a 5" option last time I checked.. Yes, I would like to see a "basic" sheath come with the knife, but I love the knives, and will continue to buy them.
 
heres the thing -

jerry has stated time and time again that the shop is consistently slammed with orders, but on the whole the wait times are 3 months or better these days on production blades. thats down from 9 months and up. things are looking better. right now, there are no long term production blades. before, there was a set of knives that didn't very in thickness, length, or heigth. you could order 10,000 of the same sheath and you'd be able to use it for years because it only had to accomodate one known knife geometry. jerry now makes any given knife size for a few months or less. and each knife tends to have a variation, a different thickness. the knife sizes now fill out the entire spectrum, rather then only 5-7 sizes/shapes.

In order to offer a sheath with every model and every variation, he would have to produce a new sheath for literally every single knife design and variation he produced. in the last 4 years, thats been a HUGE number of designs. for the fsh alone thats 4 different sheaths required - fsh, hh, moash, flying moash. each sheath would require a specific size for each of these variations, because they were different in thickness, and with the moash to flying moash, slightly different in heigth.

how could jerry over come this?

he could buy a ton of kydex insert cordura sheaths, take out the insert, and modify them for each variation. he could make a run of kydex sheaths for each model. or he could make a single kydex sheath per each and every knife going out of the shop.

why not do that?

-buying kydex inserts and modifying them would require a section of the shop to be dedicated to the task. that section could just as easily be used to keep the production flow of the knives going faster and more efficiently. you still might not get a perfect fit.
-making a large run of kydex sheaths off of one model variation would again require a section of the shop to be dedicated to the task. and because of the nature of kydex, you wouldn't get a perfect fit from knife to knife. it would be close, but some would be tight and some would be loose.
-making a single sheath for every single knife that came through the shop would require an extra 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on whether they could have a good efficient assembly line set up for them. you'd need 4 or 5 guys working the line to keep up with production, one at the heating and stamping station, one at drilling, one at cutting and edging, and one at inspection. and a section of the shop, and machines, would have to be dedicated to it.



okay, so he'd have to do all that. why not? the customers would be way happier right? nope. 80% (arbitrary number) would be happy, and the other 20% would be unhappy saying that they spent 40$ on a sheath, and they should be getting better quality for it. it doesn't fit right. there aren't enough options like different colors. they want silver rivets, not brass or black. they want a different type of retention at the top of the kydex sheath.

and that isn't a hypothetical - thats how it was when jerry was making sheaths for his knives. there were those who were happy with what they got because it was something, and there were a lot of people who wanted better.



so cheers to you jerry :thumbup: for letting a dedicated sheath maker do his work and take the complaints, I'm more then happy to see an increase in knife quality rather then see a low end potentially ill fitting sheath included with my purchase.
 
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