Is a Busse Worth it?

customizerwannabe said:
My bad. Nope. It wouldn't be a GW, that's for sure. I have one but didn't and wouldn't pay 400.00 for it. I wouldn't pay 400.00 for any of their 4 inchers. I'm not really sold on the INFI is the "all things" concept. It's good steel, but it still rolls and can chip. I'm liking Horton a lot lately. Again though, a bigger blade. For a blade around 4" get a Strider folder and you have the best of both worlds. Tough and pocketable for around the same price.
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Good heavens.:eek: Don't think I've paid much over $200 for a GW, unless it was a heavily "tricked out" version ...

And of course INFI will roll and/or chip. It's only steel, after all.:)
 
Well, some tend to think it is SUPERsteel. Strong, sure but not indestructible as is often hyped by users. I love Busse's and own around 20 but I keep an open mind about their virtues and shortcomings.
 
Are Busse's worth their price?

IMHO - No.

Do I love the Busses I own and intend to buy many more?

HECK YES!!!


Busse knives are a luxury item - especially given the two sister companies with lower prices, similar performance, and the same outstanding warranty. I happen to enjoy the luxury of those items, but I don't delude myself into thinking I'm getting an extra couple hundred dollars worth of performance if I buy a Battle Mistress over a Dogfather.



The one caveat to the "is it worth it" discussion is resale value. If you buy at factory prices for normal production runs (ie not the obscenely priced Custom Shop offerings with fancy handles and custom grinds), you can beat the living crap out of a knife, and sell it for very little loss, and possibly a profit.

I like that. A LOT.

I can test my knives for real, use them exactly how I would like to use a hard use knife, and then make the decision as to whether I want to keep them. INFI in, INFI out is a semi-joking mantra, but also holds a lot of water - you can easily finance an ever-rotating stable of knives without investing much additional capital, if you are willing to let go of older knives to finance new purchases.
 
MustardMan said:
Are Busse's worth their price?

IMHO - No.

Do I love the Busses I own and intend to buy many more?

HECK YES!!!


Busse knives are a luxury item - especially given the two sister companies with lower prices, similar performance, and the same outstanding warranty. I happen to enjoy the luxury of those items, but I don't delude myself into thinking I'm getting an extra couple hundred dollars worth of performance if I buy a Battle Mistress over a Dogfather.



The one caveat to the "is it worth it" discussion is resale value. If you buy at factory prices for normal production runs (ie not the obscenely priced Custom Shop offerings with fancy handles and custom grinds), you can beat the living crap out of a knife, and sell it for very little loss, and possibly a profit.

I like that. A LOT.

I can test my knives for real, use them exactly how I would like to use a hard use knife, and then make the decision as to whether I want to keep them. INFI in, INFI out is a semi-joking mantra, but also holds a lot of water - you can easily finance an ever-rotating stable of knives without investing much additional capital, if you are willing to let go of older knives to finance new purchases.
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Well put!
 
Another point to make is that Busses cost a lot less if you buy them when they are offered. Sometimes there is a 50-100% markup on the secondary market. Especially by the "flippers" who buy a dozen or more of a model, and then sell them at a serious markup, sometimes before the original offering is sold out.

I understand why Bussekin markets the way they do, but I think the actions of guys ont he secondary market hurts them in terms of new customers as well. It'd be nice is Swamp Rat or Scrapyard would make a "basic" series of knives that were always available from the store, so new people could cut their teeth, before deciding on one of the limited run models.
 
Hey guys,

I'm fairly new to these forums and must admit that my only hard use knife right now is in fact made of infi and I'm super happy with it.

anyway, it seems that the conversation keeps going back to resale and retained value. well isn't that the only testament one needs for a product? most of you guys seem happy to pick up a Busse user even if you're the fifth owner and the previous four put it through hell. It sounds like you can sharpen it up, take it to the woods, and trust the heck out of it.

I was just introduced to the world of high end folders and art knifes, many of which are in the thousands, and none of which I really think will take the abuse a Busse would.

my two cents

good luck to all with their preferred sharp pointy stuff.
 
deadhorsebeat_4.gif

I love my INFI. I also love my SAK Farmer and Cold Steel Finn Bear.
The INFI I have and have had will knock the socks off any other steel I have used. Is it worth what? Is it worth having, pursuing and using? Yes. That's my answer. I don't like the prices, but I don't like the cost of gasoline either. But I buy gas to go places, mow my lawn, so on and so on, and I own INFI to use. If I owned a knife safe, I'd sell it to buy INFI (and a couple Fiddleback's I have wanted for awhile;))
 
Andros said:
When you see this kind of performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlrH37WU9Wk from a 6 1/2" blade I think that you can safely say a Busse is worth it! Note, this is just the Skinny ASH-1 and not the full thickness ASH-1!
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Just to be mean to you for raising this thread from the dead. That is just slightly better than typical performance for a knife of that size and weight. Looks like soft wood, my guess is either popular or pine based on the bark which is why it both chopped and split so easily.

Now I'm not trying to say it did poorly, but that kind of activity could have been done with a buck 119. No not nearly as efficient, but with that wood, the buck 119 would have done all of that just more slowly. I'm almost 100% positive that Joezilla's designed Rodan - from condor would do all of that and its street price is $20. Heck, take a look at the reserected misanthropist thread where the OP baton his mora#1 through lead pipe not once, but complete deconstructs the pipe with his knife.

Busse's are nice and their steel attributes lend themselves to extreme performance plus they have wonderful handles. None of that is usually necessary. Again, based on the video posted, you could have used any knives. Some would go a bit faster than others, few, if from a reputable company would have any problems nor suffer edge dulling from the activity shown in the video.
 
Wow! I did not expect to see this thread resurface!

The thread, like the objects of its central question, has defied expectations in terms of durability. And, as is the case with the objects of its central question, we are now left with questions of worth. ;)

All the best,

- Mike
 
Mentor said:
And, as is the case with the objects of its central question, we are now left with questions of worth. ;)

- Mike
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Maybe not. How do you, not people in general but you, decide if something is "worth" it? What's your rational and criteria in making the decision, take for example a survival knife?
 
I was on the NO side of this issue because I don't much care for large heavy knives and had never had a chance to try any of the small Busse's. MANY Thanks to a forum member, I now have Busse's to try out. Will report back later.:thumbup:
 
Ramm9 said:
Maybe not. How do you, not people in general but you, decide if something is "worth" it? What's your rational and criteria in making the decision, take for example a survival knife?
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You can't. It was a problem with the wording of the thread title.

There are many people have never heard of Busse-type knives and would not think they are worth it if the company and its products were brought to their attention. I suggest that this number approaches the human population size. There is probably a very small subset of this group who might think it is worth it because they just happen to love high end gear.

There is a relatively much smaller subset of people familiar enough with the world of cutlery and who have heard of Busse. One subset may think it is worth it and another subset do not so. These people may be further divided into categories of knife desires - outdoor/military/collector/folder/fixed etc. Each of these categories of people may hold different proportions of opinions.

There is a very very small set of people who opted to purchase Busse knives. At one point, all of these people thought they were worth it. After all they bought one. A small fraction of folks were disappointed (I submit they do exist even though I'm not one of them) and changed their mind from thinking they were worth it at the time of purchase to thinking they aren't worth it afterwords.

Then there are the 1000 or so people who viewed this thread. All of them likely falling into the last 2 categories, none of them likely to have changed their opinion one bit after having read it.

How much subjectivity versus rational criteria goes into deciding the 'worth' of something? Most people are irrational on purchases, especially those related to higher end product lines. I submit that citing a feature or characteristic of the wanted item that is unlikely to ever be utilized/realized is an irrational argument not a rational one. As far as I can tell, this thread has a lot of irrational logics associated with it. Of course, I do not deny my lack of logic when it comes to buying cutlery ;)
 
kgd said:
Just to be mean to you for raising this thread from the dead. That is just slightly better than typical performance for a knife of that size and weight. Looks like soft wood, my guess is either popular or pine based on the bark which is why it both chopped and split so easily.
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If you feel bored by the post all you have to do is look elsewhere.

Now I'm not trying to say it did poorly, but that kind of activity could have been done with a buck 119. No not nearly as efficient, but with that wood, the buck 119 would have done all of that just more slowly.
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Among the knives I own is the Buck 119 and the Skinny ASH-1. To compare these two is like comparing apples and oranges. I think you missed the point in my post: the key word was “performance”. Will the Buck 119 chop? Yes. How easily will it do it though? Will you expect the edge of a Buck 119 last that long in this kind of chopping? No way at all. Things though tend to converge in wood splitting as long as the wood is soft. This is where the knife acts as a wedge. A wedge doesn't need to be sharp to perform wood splitting.

I'm almost 100% positive that Joezilla's designed Rodan - from condor would do all of that and its street price is $20.
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Are you referring to wood splitting or wood chopping? Wood splitting can be done even with a small hatchet and wooden wedges. http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/tinyhatchets2.html
What do you think? Should we skip dependable knives and go for this approach? As for wood chopping this is where you need momentum and a light knife of equal blade length can't do what you saw on the video. If however you have any evidence that supports otherwise I'd appreciate it if you'd share it with us.

Heck, take a look at the reserected misanthropist thread where the OP baton his mora#1 through lead pipe not once, but complete deconstructs the pipe with his knife.
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You can go through lead pipe even with a pen knife. Lead is a very soft metal.
 
Mentor said:
And, as is the case with the objects of its central question, we are now left with questions of worth. ;)

All the best,

- Mike
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Ramm9 said:
Maybe not. How do you, not people in general but you, decide if something is "worth" it? What's your rational and criteria in making the decision, take for example a survival knife?
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I thought this would be misunderstood.

I should have written; How do you specifically Mentor, as the OP decide if a knife is worth it?
 
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