Do I? I don't have anything from the Bussie family yet, and this isn't much more than another ESEE or TOPS.

I have an older one; excellent knife.  There steel really takes an excellent edge and it's a bullet-proof knife option for that size-range. I'm using a few customs, so it doesn't get much use, but it's one I wouldn't let go...

ROCK6

Steel is way better than anything ESEE or TOPS puts out, and the warranty is arguably better as Busse's is totally unconditional outside of "trying to break it on purpose."

I've never seen a warranty claim turned down.  Dude over on BF ran over one of his with a riding lawn mower by accident and Busse fixed it and the (edited: knife owner) owner merely posted a thread about how dumb he was.....busse saw it and told him to send it in.

The only drawback is you need to source your own sheath.  Not hard, about $40 additional cost.

I like making my own sheaths anyway!

Ha, me too.  Funny that.  I'd definitely buy a ratmandu before I bought a comparable tops or esee.  Don't get me wrong, the ESEE product is quite good.

But in comparison between using both their steels, the SR101 in the ratmandu is going to hold an edge longer than the ESEE, by about 2x at least.

Both SR101 and 1095 are susceptible to corrosion, so that's a wash.  I've found that both SR101 and Rowen's 1095 are easily brought to a very sharp edge without trouble.  You will have to grind a little longer on the SR101 to set the edge.....I guess what I'm saying is that as long as you go through the motions of sharpening properly, both don't seem to resist taking a VERY sharp edge like other steels I've tried....where they get sharp but won't cross that plane into VERY sharp without lots of frustration.

The handle is reportedly quite comfortable as well, whereas the ESEE and tops handles are going to be more basic.

Had to quote it before I fixed it didn't ya?

No worries.  I helped you out.

Naturally now that I'm on the verge of ordering I started looking at Bark River Bravo 1.5's.

I have a custom shop Ratmandu, they are fantastic knives. SR101 is outstanding steel, they have also done some runs in INFI which is even better. I don't think there is a better all around fixed blade at the price point.

Attached File

If it helps you at all, the Bark River will be in your hands much faster than the ratmandu.

Certainly, and I don't own anything from Bark River either. Good problem to have, I can remember when I had no idea about the differences in steel and mostly owned Cold Steel.

I like my Ratmandu, but its pretty obtuse edge from Busse. I still need to reprofile mine. If you don't want to make a sheath  Al Welke makes great ones  "Azwelke"  I have a couple of his sheaths and they are quality.

Just bought a new general purpose knife that has been awesome, thin enough for fine work but very tough so far. Rogue River - L.T. Wright A2 STEEL  LT wright knife they make for Knives ship free.

The good: cant go wrong with Ratmandu and its variants( INFIdu, Swatmandu, B.I.G. infi etc...)
The bad: you will most likely get addicted to the Busse and kin knives.
I have a couple of users, and Ive batoned fire wood with them.
Imho, They’re very versatile and would fit a great camp knife role.

The ratmandu has the most comfortable handle of any knife I’ve held/owned.  It’s for sure a beefy knife and well worth the wait if you decide to order one.

I switched gears and got a G29.4 instead. Maybe in the future.

I had a custom shop Ratmandu one upon a time. It was a nice knife, but the coating wasn't something I was interested in, and I made more money selling it to buy what I wanted than stripping a new knife. If I were in the market for another, I wouldn't hesitate to order one. The handle scales are top notch.

I was pretty unhappy with my Swamp Rat. Imagine a sharpened piece of bar stock coated in truck bed liner with some G-10 attached. They're a pretty decent value and perform well, but I don't like them.

Bark River would be my preference.

It's a good knife

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Great knife after being reprofiled

Same, or Fallkniven.

I owned quite a few Busse knives at one time.  As another poster mentioned, you have to reprofile them to be of any use.  Reprofiling INFI is a chore.

At the time I was doing a lot of camping and hiking.  After reprofiling a nuclear edc for use, it became apparent that field sharpening with a little whetstone would be more difficult than it should be.  So I found myself being too careful with it.

I sold or traded off the Busse knives.  Got more practical knives with better edge profiles and slightly thinner blades.  Then I got older, married, etc and quit hiking/camping so much.

Busse retain their value as long as you don't use them.  Jerry has a heck of a business model that's endured for some time.  Release a knife that has a different color handle scale, a .1" longer blade, or a different color coating, and folks will line up to buy it.  And the cease production of that blade after 250 units or so are sold.  Make another variant, wash/rinse/repeat.

Just my opinion.

You’re not alone in That opinion. The Man Du, IMO, is a very good knife for the price, but I order mine specifically with V edges in the sub 40 range and tell them not to ship it out if it’s not shaving sharp. I’ve had positive results with my RMD SE, BeefManDu, JackManDu, and InfiDu. That said, I’m about to release the BeefManDu and others.