Bad MOJO - Custom Gallery

There will be two different grades of customs coming from our shop. "SOME", not all, of the Standard Custom Models will be worked on by some of our apprentices and some of our master bladesmiths. I will be working on all of these knives but may not be doing "all" of the work myself. These knives will be completely hand-ground, polished, fitted, handled, shaped, and sharpened by hand. There will also be a sole-authorship, "Signature Grade", meaning that "all" of the work on the knife has been done by me, personally. Unfortunately, since my hand was blown to pieces, I am not able to make as many knives as I used to, as it now takes me much longer to do some of the operations involved. The signature series will be priced higher than the customs that have shared authorship. I hope this clarifies any questions of authorship.

Jerry Busse
12/18/01

Ready to order your custom Busse?
Call Marc Fratello, Custom Shop Director, at 419.923.6471 and press 4 for the Custom Shop or email Marc.

X1 - Eric's Flying Tiger

In November 2001, the Flying Tiger was let loose into the world at the NYC Show. The 1st Flying Tiger made by Busse is now in the hands of Eric Isaacson.

X2 - Shadow's custom Tanto.

X3 - Dark Nemesis' Bad Apple from the 2001 NYC show.

Hey all, first let me tell you that the Bad Apple is by far my favorite Busse purchase for everyday use. Not sure why, but this integral handle idea that Jerry started has got me addicted! Here are the specs of my Bad Apple.

- Blade Length: 3.5"
- Upper false Edge Length: 2.25"
- Overall Length: 8.0"
- Overall Thickness: 3/16" (0.1875")
- Handle Insert: CG Black Micarta or Custom with "unique" materials
- Two talon holes
- B.A.T. Equipped

There isn't even a way to describe how comfortable it is in my hand. After having the opportunity to hold this and a MS, I would pic the Bad Apple any day. The large tear drop shape of the rear handle gives a great grip for your last two fingers. It's extremely fast and well balanced, with the balance point for mine being right behind the forward talon hole. On the top side there is about a 1" flat section behind the false edge that is perfect for moving yor thumb up for added control. It's really a great little knife!!

I've been trying to find other Bad Apple owners, but I appear to be the only one.

Dark Nemesis

Bad Apple Trivia:

The Bad Apple is an interframe design, meaning that the area where the handle is located is milled completely through and therefore serves two purposes. It not only lightens the knife considerably but serves to protect the handle material from any impact damage that might occur. This impact protection is not necessarily important with canvas micarta but proves invaluable when using natural materials like ivory, bone, and some of the exotic woods.

Many of the Bad Apples that will be at the NY Show will feature these natural materials. I have done some with Birdseye Desert Ironwood as well as Stabilized Giraffe bone and some of the nicer stabilized woods.

The edges will most likely be zeroed out. However, I sometimes change up when grinding in order to keep it interesting. I have already made three of these that are deeply hollow ground as opposed to having the BAT grind. . . . .ahhhh the beauty of customs.

These will only be available in customs as the grinds need to be done by hand and will therefore be reserved for the custom shop. I will be doing all of the work on these blades myself, and they will therefore be limited in production. The Combat grade with Canvas Micarta Handles will be priced at $475.00. The models that feature natural materials require much more hand fitting and will start at $525.00 and go up from there, depending on the materials used.

More later,
Jerry Busse
10/30/01

BAT Trivia:

BAT stands for the new Busse Armored Tip. Only available on the new handmade, sole-authorship, signature series customs.

The two new custom models that feature the BAT have three separate and different types of grinds . . . Flat, Convex, and Hollow, all combined to make for the strongest and greatest penetrating tip that we have ever tested. . . . . Both are completely hand made. . . One is Lighter, . . .Meaner. . . Shorter. . . and more Concealable than a Mean Street. . . . . The other will stand to redefine ultra-lightweight fighting Bowies for quite some time. . . . and of course both are made of the highest performance steel on the planet - INFI.

Jerry Busse
10/29/01

X4 - "Flying Rhino" at the 2001 NYC show.

X5 - "Flying Croc" at the 2001 NYC show

X6 - "Flying Whale" at the 2001 NYC show

X7 - NUCLEAR Tiger!

X8 - Photo from Bladeart, Eric's Flying Tiger.

X9 - Flying Tiger

Uhhhh Oh!!!! There was a Break Out at the Shop!

Right now there's a BTOJ getting torn to pieces. . . . A Flying Tiger cut a hole in the shop wall a couple of days ago and was heard mumbling something about ". . . missing the the Flying Mo'". . . . . . something. . . . anyway, it carjacked a BTOJ and headed west. It should be in California about now and I'd like to to take this moment to warn Firehorse that it is outta my control!

Good luck Ed . . . you're gonna need a truck load of raw meat. . . Now you've got two of them to feed, and they're hungry.

Jerry
3/2/02

Click here to see more photos of the Flying Tiger.

X10 - Busse Bad Boyz
Flying Tiger & Flying Mojo, left & right respectively.

Click here to see more photos of the Busse Bad Boyz.

X11 - Internal Affair with Sunset Colored Blade and Ivory Micarta Handles

Ultra light. . . one of a kind. . . . Multi-colored decarb finish. Super Sharp with a BAT point. Yowza!!!!!

Jerry
04/26/02

X12 - Internal Affair with Sunset Colored Blade and Ivory Micarta Handles

X13 - Internal Affair Combat Grade

Imagine a 3/16" 10 inch long INFI bowie blade with a BAT point, canvas micarta handle, double cut finish, that ONLY WEIGHS 9 1/2 ounces!

Jerry
04/26/02
(edited)

X14 - Internal Affair Combat Grade

X15 - Internal Affair LE

X16 - Internal Affair LE

X17 - Pink Apple!

This Customized Bad Apple with 3 1/2" blade has got "pretty" written all over it. Gentle recurved blade, reinforced tip, decorative pins, and stabilized bone handles. A similar one is $567 (05/02).

X18 - G R O O V Y . . .

X19 - Uncle Screwtape's Might Behemoth on the bottom & the plastic pattern on top.

X20 - Arctic Team 1

Jerry finally agreed to put through the Custom Shop a very limited number of this fantastic piece - the Arctic Team 1. Based upon a 3/16" Battle Mistress, they are the remaining knives from a certain (not to be named) foreign military unit overrun. As such they will not be produced - once these are gone they are gone forever (as in extinct). And of course, they are INFI !!

Note the special coating - it is the same as our black coating except in white (hmmmm, hint as to why that military unit wanted them - perhaps northern European??). The white coating aids not only in camoflague but also corrosion resistance.

The knife comes with the snake skin camo handles and either with or without serrations. Price on the non-serrated is $597. Price on the serrated version is $647.

Note: the serrations are for real! They work great and cut through rope and two by fours without binding as normal serrations would. Sharpening is also easy due to the distance between the grooves.

Marc
05/31/02