On "knifetests.com" there's a new review: Chris Reeve Green Beret 7 inch. The tests are really hard and sometimes over the top. However Mr. Noss4 abuses all the knives the same way .
Some very cheap knives like the Cold Steel GI Tanto hold out amazingly well. You should also have a look at the Fallkniven test! The Chris Reeve Green Beret however just disintegrates! Remember this is a 300 dollar knife! What also concerns me is the fact that the Doug Ritter fixed blade is made from the same material:
CPM S30V. Maybe the heat treatment was not ok for this knife?
If all (Chris Reeve) CPM S30V knives have the same properties they may not be suited for hard survival use.

I read that was was disappointed myself! looks like I will just have to get myself the Randall 25 after all!
The review on the small Sebenza was good though.
Will be getting the lady a Fallkniven, It did seem to hold up remarkably well!

S30V is known to be a very hard, abrasion resistant steel...and many times hardness equates to being brittle as well.

I have no doubts that my Gerber Freeman Hunter in S30V would break more easily than many of my other knives if stressed enough...but unlike the masked madman at knifetests.com I won't be putting mine in a vice and hammering on it with a sledge. That said, it holds an edge better than anything I've ever owned and never ceases to amaze me with slicing prowess.

On a side note...my Gerber LMF II survived the sledge treatment as per the knifetests.com testing criteria...as well as many other treatments mine will never see unless I'm burried under a ton of cinder blocks and car doors and have to dig my way out.

PS: I should mention that hard doesn't always mean brittle...how the metal is treated makes all the difference.

As you can see in the test the steel is very, very sharp. No doubt about it! In a hunter or bushcraft application there is less of a problem. Through its size and design the Chris Reeve looks and feels even breeths hard and military style use. This is not an environment of wood and flesh and hide but of armor, steel, rocks, heavy blows... The type of survival situation you will encounter is almost always unknown. Maybe it's better to have a fairly sharp but very tough knive than a "razor" that can break. When you pay as much you really should be able to trust your life on it. It certainly is possible: the tests of Busse, Cold Steel, Fallkniven, Scrap Yard etc. prove it.

I just read his test on the Fusion Battle Mistress...simply amazing even if I don't really agree with 'unscientific' methods.

I have to admit it's nice to know my LMF II won't shatter like the Reeve knife did when pushed into the realm of the unexpected. I rarely use it as it's big, heavy, and beefy but because of those traits I know it will be around to be used long after other knives have failed me.

Also interesting to note that the Battle Mistress out chopped the Granfors Bruks axe by a healthy margin...interesting but completely off topic.

I wouldn't call the methods scientific, but the methods certainly test a knife.

Now you know what Jason did after the Friday the Thirteenth series. (Only kidding)

Now you know why I own Busse knives.

You can cut down a tree with a rock or even a broken piece of glass if that's what floats yer boat. If it breaks, you toss it aside and pick up another one and continue.

As for me, I'd just as soon spend the money and not have to bother picking up and chipping rocks and glass shards (or over-rated broken knife blades) into servicable tools, unless I really have to. It's nice to know how, just like it's nice to know how to rub two sticks together to make smoke. I'd rather just use my lighter, though.

If you can take advantage of the technology, then I think you should, always keeping the basics in mind. Like Grandma said, you can cook food just as good using a wood stove as any gas or electric range out there these days, if you know what you are doing and put in the extra effort to do your part, but why would you if you didn't have to?

This is not to say I will just throw money at a problem and hope it goes away. But if I am going to spend $300+ on a knife, I am going to make damn sure that knife will do what is expected, and a fair amount of what might not be to boot.

I feel wholly confident making this statement: You can spend whatever you can afford on another brand if you want, but you will not find a better knife on the market than a Busse. Different maybe, but nothing better. Tests such as these, subjective though they may be, corroborate that claim alongside empirical data. That only leaves the questions of style, cost, and function as to preference. I believe there are enough Busse models out there to reduce two of the three subjective criteria, so then you're left answering the question "can I afford to do without what I know will be the best chance for my survival success?, all other factors being equal, and spend my money elsewhere?" If so, buy something of lesser quality and practice using rocks a lot more to cut trees down with.

The design, presentation and name of a product creates a certain image. I do now when I buy a cheap chinese hollow handle survival knife I should not expect extreme ruggedness. When I buy a "battle misstress" I sure would like to see the product assist me in battle, literally or in a survaval situation. When a well known manufacturer discribes the knife as "used by green berets" it better be utterly dependable.

Makes me glad I picked up my battle mistress from a friend for 100 bucks.... Couldn't beat that price with a stick, or the knife

-Bill Liptak

Oh man I'm jealous. If I were to be in the market for a big do-everything knife I think I'd back burner my desire for a Tom Brown Tracker and get a Fusion.

Though when I think that both my axes, my machete, my main folder, my main fixed blade, my folding saw, and my multipliers all together cost less than a new Fusion Battle Mistress...and all are quality tools in their own right...I don't feel so bad about not buying one.

But there we go again with the multi-task argument...it's way easier to carry one huge, very high quality knife and maybe a couple little extras for redundancy sake than all the hardware I have in my possesion...this topic is following me everywhere today!