I DID round the tip off a bit, but that's OK - the tip was kind of lousy from the factory anyways <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Is that 1" belt preferable to a 2" for the belt sharpening? It seems like a broader surface contact would provide more consistency?

I just went and checked this dude out. These are pretty cool, indeed. I like the thought of having these available when hiking, or even in the car for emergency purposes. Seems ridiculously light. Is yours durable, MM? Which model did you go with?

For a knife in its price range, anything short of hair-popping is really unacceptable. Those knives cost a lot, and its the edge that makes a knife a knife, so you'd think it would get the extra 5-10 minutes of attention.

Couldn't agree more.


P, to v grind with a belt sander you use the platten behind the belt to keep it flat

I think I might be able to scramble around and make Scrapper this weekend. We will see how interactive the Death Channel gets!

+1


Every Busse blade I have came dull as a butter knife. I was pretty livid when I got home from BLADE to realize I had well over a thousand dollars worth of dull INFI.

I'm far more likely to give my hard-earned cash to the Swamp and Yard in most future purchases.

Sounds like Busse needs to do some more quality control. Given the hardness of INFI, working the edge does not seem like the kind of project one would want to undertake without use! Knifetests didn't note dullness on their tests, so it seems like something might be going on in their processing.

Durable is a relative term - this is a lightweight backpacking hammock, made from lightweight backpacking materials - 1.1 or 1.9 oz/yd ripstop nylon. In my case, I got a dual-layer 1.1. It's durable enough to survive minor abrasions, but I wouldn't suggest setting it up in thick brush or around thorns. It can and will tear if you are unnecessarily rough with it. However, people have through-hiked all 2000+ miles of the Appalachian trail without failure. If you wanted something obnoxiously durable, you could email Brandon directly, and he could custom-build your hammock out of whatever fabric you desire.

The biggest thing to worry about with a hammock is insulation for your butt. You don't necessarily always think of this when you're sleeping on the ground, but when you're suspended in the air and cold wind can blow beneath you you can get cold at surprisingly high temperatures. Anything below the mid 70s you will probably end up wanting SOMETHING under there. A simple closed-cell foam or insulated inflatable mat will work, and that's where the double layer hammock comes in - putting the pad between the two fabric layers helps keep it from moving around during the night. Alternatively, if you get fancier, you can mess around with underquilts, which are basically half a sleeping bag attached to the outside of the hammock underneath you.

In all fairness to Busse - they have built their reputation on obnoxiously tough knives. Some of that toughness comes from having big, thick, obtuse edge grinds. If they put great slicing edges on all their knives, they would have a lot more blades to replace when folks get their new Busse and decide to use it to chop up a motorcycle frame or carve through a refrigerator door.


PLUS, I would guess a HUGE percentage of people who buy Busse blades will never use them to slice a piece of paper, let alone do any serious work - there are a bunch of collectors, investors, and so on, and the sharpness of the knife doesn't really matter to them.


I don't really mind sharpening a knife - if I'm using it hard enough it'll have to be sharpened soon enough anyways. As they say - you can take steel away, but you can't put it back. I can convert a dull, obtuse edge to a wicked sharp thin convex, but it's a lot tougher to go the other direction.

I like the looks of the jacks r better bridge hammock.

The bridge hammocks have the flattest lay you will find in a commercially produced hammock. They are incredible if you like to sleep on your stomach, as most other hammocks just don't work with that position.

The only downsides with a bridge hammock are both related to the width - one, the hammock feels sort of narrow, so some people experience uncomfortable "shoulder squeeze" from the hammock walls which drives them nuts. The other is the spreader bars used to keep the hammock open when you're laying in it. They keep the hammock pretty wide at the head and foot end, which makes it harder to cover the whole hammock well with a tarp, compared to a gathered end hammock, where the ends are really narrow and fit more easily under a tarp.

If you use a big enough tarp, and the shoulder squeeze isn't an issue, the JRB bridge hammock will be one of the most comfortable hammocks you can find.