I think Resiprene-C feels the best, and like everyone says, especially on choppers, but how long is the duration of the material compared to others? In 5 or 10 years, when we're all here and some of you have 100,000 posts (Dan working on 2,ooo)Will it still be holding up? time will tell I guess, but I do like it a lot...

Reportedly it's as tough as an all-terrain truck tire. I'd expect it to last a very long time.

Ask Cliff Stamp:

http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/busse_basic.html

Basics have been around for at least 8 years and I haven't heard of any handles wearing out.

I think they should be fine unless you really abuse them.

very interesting, thanks oddball

Prying with them could make the handles loose over time. I believe that happened with the Stamp Family's Camp Tramp. OTOH, Cliff's brother is a barbarian and the fun he has with knives often exceeds what we might do.

The good thing is, the warranty covers the handles as well, so no worries. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I would like to see something a bit different for the LE's even if it is just tan handles or a Mudder. My preference would be for DFLE's with hickory handles.
It would be cheap relatively easy to work with and hickory is incredibly strong.
It is more than twice as strong as the next strongest wood, Maple which would also be a nice choice.

wood & bone crack. it seems to be a normal occurrence on traditional khukuris.
imo, Res-C & Micarta are better.

..unless we're talkin about a total safe queen type knife, some of the bone-handled game wardens from knob look pretty sweet.

If there was an LE of some type w/ Micarta, that'd be cool. But Dan has said that it isn't likely, and I'm obviously fine w/ that.

yeah, res-c is okay by me!

This has been an ongoing topic since I joined this great forum. I look at it this way: There are three grades of Busse-made knives. 1 Busse Combat is the absolute top-of-the-line hard use knife in the world. Fancy micarta handles and INFI. They are quite expensive for production knives. 2 Swamp Rat Knives has the micarta handles, but uses a less costly high performance steel, SR101. They cost slightly less than Busse Combat knives. 3 Scrap Yard Knives use the less costly to produce Respirene C handles which are very durable and comfortable. The SR77 steel is extremely tough and is derived from S7 shock steel. I am very glad Dan started SYKCO. He produces very high performance limited production knives for prices competitive with ordinary Bucks, Gerbers, Cold Steels and other popular brands. For micarta handled high performance knives I just buy Swamp Rat or Busse Combat.

HD, very well put! I'm glad Dan uses res-C, I'm sorry that Jerry keeps such a close eye on his INFI.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />