Quality of Busse Knives

Greg Davenport

Greg Davenport

Joined
Nov 29, 1999
Messages
632
Hi all,

Some of you know me and some don't and thus I will introduce myself.

I have been teaching Global Wilderness Survival for over 16 years. I am a former USAF Survival Instructor (certified instructor trainer), have a degree in rescue and survival operations, am a nationally certified Physician Assistant (practicing in the internal medicine realm), owner of Simply Survival (a serious global survival school), and author of two books on wilderness survival and living (published by Stackpole books... have just signed to do 5 to 6 more). Enough about me...

I am not a week-end knife user... I am a serious user who knows what a knife should do (I don't know how to make them
smile.gif
).

I just had the pleasure of testing the Busse Steel Heart against the anaconda and a custom made bolo I have. Here are my results:

No comparison... the Busse Steel Heart is in a totally different league. The difference was like comparing a Yugo to a Rolls Royce.

Busse has no gimicks and outperformed the other knives at a laughable level.... I tested each on pitch wood stumps and branches that were filled with knots...

The anaconda has a poor balance and it took twice as many strikes to acheive the same result. The custom knife was a bolo and its design provided better results the the anaconda but still couldn't compare with the Busse.

I will sit down and write this up in more detail... provided anyone is interested... and of course I intend to field test my new knife more as time goes on.... It has rapidly become my favorite....

Just couldn't keep this info to myself...

Best,

------------------
 
Greg
Very interesting,
I purchased a SHII Variant from Jerry and it is an awsome knife.A user thats for sure.
 
Very interested!

------------------
"KEEP IT SIMPLE"

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way"
 
I'm glad you shared that test with us! Since I'm planning to get a new Steel Heart 2 E, I'm very glad to hear now well it did. I do have a few questions though, if you don't mind.

First, what kind of Steel Heart was it? I presume it was the Steel Heart 2 E model, but I can't be sure.

Second, did you test it against the Anaconda 7" blade model or the 9" blade model?

Third, what was the blade and overall length of the custom bolo you used in the test?

Oh, and I WOULD be very interested if you could go into a little more detail like you offered. That would be very interesting.

Thanks!!
 
I own all three of the knives I tested and yes they were tested side by side. The specs on each are listed here:

The three knives I tested:

1. Steel Heart E: Blade Steel: INFI; Blade Length: 7.5 inches; Overall Length 13.5 inches; Thickness: .25 inches; Hardness: 58 - 60 RC; Handle: Canvas Micarta; Price: $297.

2. Custom Bolo: Blade Steel: 5160; Blade Length: 11 inches; Overall Length: 17 inches; Thickness: .25 inches; Hardness: 57 RC; Handle: S-10; Price: $300

3. Anaconda: Blade Steel: 1095; Blade Length: 9.5 inches; Overall Length: 15 inches; Thickness: .25 inches; Hardness: 58 - 60; Handle: Linen Micarta; Price: $265

As a knife user, I tested the knives for balance and cutting power. In addition, I tested the anaconda and steel heart against my bolo to see if they could produce the same cutting power (I have always considered my bolo a workhorse). The anaconda is about 2 inches shorter then my bolo; the steel heart is 3 1/2 inches shorter (I did not expect it to outperform my larger bolo).

The testing was done on dense knotted "lodge pole pine pitch wood", which quickly dulls a knife and is difficult to cut due to the density of the pitch and the knots. Each knife was tested using the following standards and in that order:

1. Chopping a 2, 3, and 4-inch diameter branch off of downed tree (filled with pitch)
2. Cutting into a stump and breaking away pieces of inner dry wood (filled with pitch)
3. Splitting a 4-inch diameter branch (very knotted) in half (through knots), using a pounding stick (filled with pitch).

I. Balance: For chopping I have always liked the Bolo design (with a slight drop and belly on the forward 1/3 of the blade)... it provides a sweet spot and allows me to use less energy to create the same results. The bolo feels good in my hand and allows me a smooth swing; I do not personally care for the balance of the anaconda... In addition, if used as a workhorse a belly would help tremendously. The Steel Heart is a simple knife with a handle that allows for ease of use. What amazed me about it was its balance...it is so well balanced that I couldn't believe it weighed ~19 oz and because it felt so light... I was confident my bolo would outperform it.

II. Cutting power: the results were evident from my first swing. The shorter steel heart cut deep into the pitch wood and in each case my objectives were obtained with significantly less energy and swings (about 1/2 the number of swings in each example). I was amazed that the steel heart outperformed my bolo. The bolo I designed is perfect for such tasks...

Once done... .I sat down and looked at the cost of each knife. All are similar (this I find surprising given how well the Busse did I would expect it to cost a lot more).

I have pictures and once they are developed I will post them... if anyone is interested...

Best to all....
------------------
Greg Davenport
http://www.simply-survival.com

[This message has been edited by Greg Davenport (edited 03-18-2001).]
 
Hi Dirk,

No I haven't seen the new European models... I will follow your link... If that doens't get me there, perhaps you can provide a link to them.

Take care,

------------------
Greg Davenport
http://www.simply-survival.com
 
This pretty much matches my results comparing my Natural Outlaw to my TOPS Recon Hawk.Basically there is no comparison!My Busse wins hands down.
 
Thanks Greg,

The Steel Heart is a great knife. More reviews are always welcome. Links to how to purchase your books would be nice as well.

I cut a stainless steel wire that I used to seal a truck with the other day with my Lean Mean Street and you could barely tell I had. A few strokes with my Sharpmaker and it was back easily....
 
Thanks a lot for the review greg. Very specific and complete as far as specs, go. I appreciate that.

I too am utterly amazed that a 7.5" blade can outchop an 11" blade. It must be the angle of chopping, the blade balance or something. I think it's great that a knife that's smaller and weighs less can outchop a bolo! I certainly don't doubt your results though, partly because of all the other great Busse reviews. I am saving up for the SH2 E as we speak, though it'll be a while before I can warrant buying it. Sounds like a great real-to-life survival knife.

And it would be nice to see some pics of the results and knives if you don't mind. I'm certainly interested in them.

Thanks!!

[This message has been edited by Andrew Lynch (edited 03-18-2001).]
 
Greg, can we have the weight of each of the knives in question? The handle angle, grind and weight make a huge difference to cutting ability. Just interested.
 
Greg, thanks for the commentary, it is very nice to see a review where several high end blades are used at the same time and decisive performance rankings assigned to them.

In regards to the balance of the Anaconda being poor, does this mean that you just found it balanced too far towards the tip? If so I don't quite understand how this could lower the chopping performance, unless the fatigue rate is too high. Could you describe how you are chopping? Are you using a lot of wrist snap? Where is the arc of the blade starting from?

As for the chopping performance of the SH being so high, both Busse blades I have seen (Basic #7, Battle Mistress (old style), have very thin edge geometries as compared to most heavy chopping blades like the Anaconda (which are often 2-3 times as thick as necessary for wood work). I used a Steel Eagle for awhile and it was readily outchopped by a Basic #7 simply because of the much thicker NIB edge on the Basic (the thicker primary grind didn't help much either).

If you have access to a belt sander, and are willing to do some work on the Anaconda, you can make it perform halfway decently. From the factory, if it is anyway similar to the Steel Eagle I had, the edge needs to be cut about it half. You could easily double the performance by doing this, mainly dependent on the level of penetration. The lower the penetration you are seeing with each chop, the greater the difference in performance you will note when you thin out the edge.

However you will never reach the cutting ability of the Busse Combat line as the shallow primary hollow grind on the Anaconda will be easily outperformed by the full flat grind on the Steel Heart even if you give the Anaconda a slightly thinner edge. The only way around this would be to either *really* thin the edge out (at which point it would start getting significantly damaged during heavy work) or lower the primary grind, but its not really an Anaconada anymore then.

One last point, there is a version of the Anaconda with a drop point (or similar), which would probably address the issue with the belly (or lack thereof) on the blade.

I would be interested in the specifics of your custom Bolo as well, primary and secondary grind angles, weight etc. .


-Cliff


[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 03-24-2001).]
 
I own both; a Busse BM-E and an Anaconda 9 that had the edge reprofiled. Improvement on the Anaconda was significant; I've yet to test the BM-E. Point is: isn't part of dealing with a survival situation the ability to utilize what's at hand? How often will I be able to pick my choice when the Sh#t hits the fan? The INFI is superior, but 1095 is user friendly and easily sharpened. the Anaconda fits my hand better; the BM-E has a small handle(for me). Kinda like having to sleep with the same woman each nite. Adapt.
Jason
 
While it is of obvious benefit to be able to adapt to any tool, I don't see the sense in chosing one that is directly inferior. Being prepared does include chosing the best equipment to handle the tasks that you need to be able to do.

Picking a piece of gear that is directly inferior because you should be able to adapt to any equipment is like cutting one of your fingers off because you might get injured and have to adapt to using a partial grip.

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 03-21-2001).]
 
Cliff,

I received your email and apoligize for the long departure from this topic... I have been very busy and away from home.

I have read your post and will attempt to answer your questions in the next week or so... I haven't had my pics developed yet. But will try and turn them in on monday (it will take a week to get them back
smile.gif
)

Since its first use, the Steel Heart has become my favorite knife. I have been using it a lot... I am very pleased with the INFI steel and the knifes design...

------------------
Greg Davenport
http://www.simply-survival.com
 
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