Buying Busses is sure different than anything I have seen in over forty years of knife collecting. And they can be quite expensive. The SYKCO line is reasonably priced, though. Once you see what the DF can do, it seems like a bargain. I like my Rangers, Ontario/RATs, SOGs, Cold Steels, Beckers, and all. It is nice to know that I have the strongest knives in the world in the Busses (all 3 brands). It makes them special. They are better than they have to be. As far as I am concerned, all of the Busse-made knives are in a class by themselves. I am a Cold Steel fan from way back. Their Carbon V high performance knives raised the bar for mass produced knives. Then came Jerry Busse. Busse is the standard for high performance knives now. Does anyone seriously doubt that a Busse, Swamp Rat, or Scrap Yard can take the "Cold Steel Challenge" and beat them? The Dog Father and Battle Mistress are both tougher than the Trailmaster. I'm sure the Swamp Rat Mastiff is right up there, too.