You don't have to go with a paid subscription, but there are a lot of good things over there. I look in on the Busse Combat sub-forum quite a bit, and occasionally the Swamp Rat sub-forum (which, like the Busse one, is more active than their official forums).

I also used to buy quite a bit from the Himalayan Imports sub-forum, which is why I'm not so hot for more Bussekin Khukris -- I've already got 40 or so heavy-duty HI khuks and perhaps a dozen of their swords; of that pile, I've always used the same CAK when I need to clear tree limbs broken off by storms. I occasionally buy hard-to-find or out-of-production knives, as well as customs from the Exchange, and have been visiting the knifemakers forums (particularly Fiddleback's) increasingly. You don't have to join if you don't want to, but as forums go, BladeForums has a lot to offer and that's where 'ganza procedures are always posted. For a long time, the "old school" hogs were sometimes unfriendly towards newbies, but Jerry made it clear that new hogs get the same opportunities and status as older ones; the "old guard" who couldn't accept that have largely left, so it's a better place to hang out than it was for a while.


Ganza shipping is typically figured as a base price for the first knife (I'm not sure, but $16.95 comes to mind) + some amount for each additional knife (once again, not authoritative, but $4 comes to mind). It's not based on weight, but on number of knives, and adds up faster than you might think on little knives. Perhaps they'll do something special because 'vores are so light, but that's how shipping normally works. You've been here long enough to know that already, but I wanted to mention it for some of the less experienced who may not.