Does anyone have a Busse public defender?

B

Blairdoc

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Jun 6, 2007
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156
I was wondering who has a Busse public defender and if so:

1) What do you think of it as a general utility blade and is it suitable for a general use knife in the woods?

2) how much are these going for now? and......

3) edited as it belongs in the Exchange

Thanks in advance for all replies and hope to hear from you soon:D

-BlairDoc
 
Welcome to the forum.

The PD is a great little blade. A lot of folks are regretting not picking one up when they were all over the place.

On a side note, all solicitations are to be made in the Exchange.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Sorry about that somewhat new here will make sure not to do it again.

As a side note I have an ASH1 variant the one on the company store website black on black that is a great knife for the woods but was looking for something a little more compact and the Public defender caught my eye. I know the sar5 is out ind the sar4 should be here soon enough but neither hold too much interest for me even though they would probably be a better bush craft knife just still wondering who can chime in about using the Public Defender as one
 
I haven't surfed the exchange in a long time, but from a topical search it looks like 250-350 for cg versions, and 350-550 for custom shop versions.

if you can get a custom shop version that has the hollow grinds on it, they I'd say it would make a fine general utility knife. I still don't like the tanto style, americanized or traditional, but if you like it more power to you.

If your looking at the standard cg - they are tanks. after I sharpened mine for several hours down to 24 degree's per side on the main grind and 35 degree's per side on the front (I had to cut into 1/2 of the main grind to get that degree), it did alright. before I sharpened it though - it was a pry bar. not even a sharpened prybar, with the factory edge I couldn't cut fabric with it. it would shave, but I couldn't do anything more then that because of how quickly the blade went from edge to 3/16" thick.

The grind is low, it's thick at the edge, and the tanto front requires VERY heavy grinding to get down to a normal knife geometry. However, it is one of the strongest feeling busse's i've handled.
 
There are two ram's horn PD customs on the exchange right now. I think they are around $450. Beautiful knives!
 
To Last Visible Canary that is exactly the info I was looking for, Thank you! from the info you provided it sounds as though if I put the work into it I'll have a very useable blade. I don't mind too much re-profiling the blade geometry but as you said it will wear a 1/2 inch back from the edge and no doubt take the coating along with it hmm........decisions, decisions
 
I don't know if this image will show up or not:
n769951865_214920_4085.jpg


you can get a rough idea of how much sharpening is needed to get it a fairly obtuse angle on the forward edge (35 degree's per side - 70 degree's total). it is also VERY difficult to sharpen a knife like this on an edgepro table system. something that clamps the spine of the knife or hand sharpening might be easier
 
Thanks for the pic, looks like you stripped the blade? also looks like a Puko (I think that's how it's spelled) also seems like it would be ridiculously handy. by the way do you think if you left the coating on that only the polished edge in your pic would be left without the coating and exactly how long is the blade from what I gather 4 1/2 - 5 inches? sorry about all the questions but all replies are greatly appreciated.
 
I get 4-5/8" (0.383') on my 3/16" thick Jungle PD. It's been hollow ground so the edge profile is much slimmer. I've carried it in a Kydex sheath but not so much in the city. The Tanto has its uses but skinning rabbits ain't one of them
 
I was happy to pay $400+ for a snakeskin one a few months ago. Just to add to my snakeskin collection.

It's an OK knife. It's no AD or GW, tho.
 
Blairdoc said:
Thanks for the pic, looks like you stripped the blade? also looks like a Puko (I think that's how it's spelled) also seems like it would be ridiculously handy. by the way do you think if you left the coating on that only the polished edge in your pic would be left without the coating and exactly how long is the blade from what I gather 4 1/2 - 5 inches? sorry about all the questions but all replies are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how the pd looks like a puukko. puukko's generally have much lower grinds, less then 1/2 of the blades heigth, and they tend to be zero ground. The stock thickness on most puukko's is also much thinner, less then 1/8" thick.
military_puukko.jpg


http://homepage.mac.com/zombiekiller/badmojo/pd.html
pd01.jpg


pay close attention to the spine show of the tip in that image. note how it goes from 3/16" thick to edge in less then 1/2", and a THICK edge at that. the front edge is not made for cutting on this knife. The hollow ground versions have much better main edge geometry, but the tips and front edge are still WAY overbuilt. The pd is like the pure bred fighter series, but some how made to be thicker at the tip. which is really saying something. the pbf's are the tankiest knives in the entire busse catalog. even the off duties have thin edges.

yes and no about the coating. with the edge pro apex sharpening system, it gets kinda hard to keep the coating pristeen when doing radical sharpening like this. 1/8" of the coating above the edge would have been smoothed out even if I taped it off from the stones rubbing against it. at the angle it's sharpened at, you'd get about the same results from hand sharpening.


as a general fan of all things busse, I love and hate the pd, just as I love and hate the pbf series. The larger pbf works okay as a chopper becuase of how thick it is, but they are all terrible cutters. I love thick knives, but when the edges are as thick as these, you have to realize that they are not going to cut well at all. and realistically, it's not even good at stabbing things. because the tip gets so thick so fast, you are more likely to have the knife stop dead after 1/8" penetration. It's made to withstand HUGE amounts of abuse, not to do any particular task efficiently.
 
I never really liked the blade... I would rather go with other makers for that type of design.
ie. Warren Thomas

Here was the one I owned sporting fugly camo...
DSC04067.jpg
 
nut_sak_himself said:
warren thomas??? who's that???
Click to expand...

http://www.wtknives.com/

I would NEVER EVER EVER suggest that anyone EVER attempt anything even remotely abusive with his knives. his materials just do not sit well with me for anything above cutting soft materials. It's kind of like the other side of the pd coin, the pd is to thick to be a good cutter but can hack at car doors all day, and warrens titanium/carbon fiber knives are to fragile to do anything but slice soft materials, but I'm sure they do that very well.

maybe I'm wrong and he's found a way to make titanium into a strong tough steel, maybe he's found a way to bring it up to par with high carbon tool steels.

Beautiful knives, just on a completely different spectrum of use then busses.
 
Uncle Jarvis---Jump'n Jack Flash!!! That dang WT never got back to me about his #2 folder! Oh well. That money went for my Red GW. Thanx for the pix.
 
Uncle_Jarvis said:
Um... I'll take this over a PD any day ...
Click to expand...

I probably would as well, but I'd take a gw, culti, pbf, or almost any other busse over the wt piece any day. pd however... thats probably bottom of my list of busse knives I like, so ya. warren thomas would be more interesting to me then another pd at this point.
 
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