Aurochs 440c Original Filipino Balisong butterfly Knife BF-09

The BF-09 Aurochs is a hand-finished Filipino balisong with a 440C blade and a stainless steel frame inlaid with kamagong. It runs 24cm open, 175g. It is for the person who has been scrolling this series, noticed most of these knives have brass handles, and wants to know what happens when they do not. That is the whole reason this one exists, so that is what this page is about.

Stainless frame instead of brass: what actually changes

Brass is the default in Filipino balisong work for good reasons. It is soft enough to file and fit by hand, it is heavy, and it goes a warm brown over a few years of pocket time. Stainless does none of that. It stays the colour it was on the day we finished it.

Some people want that. Some people want the patina.

• Ring and feel. A stainless frame gives a harder, brighter sound on the closing tap. Brass thuds. Steel clicks.
• Wear. Brass handles pick up dings from the blade spine over time and they show. Stainless resists that longer, which matters if you are still learning and the knife is still hitting things it should not.
• Upkeep. Nothing. Wipe it down. That is the list.
• Weight distribution. Stainless is lighter per unit volume than brass, so the mass in this knife sits differently. At 175g the Aurochs feels more blade-forward than a brass knife of the same weight.

That last point is the one nobody mentions and it is the one you will feel first.

The kamagong inserts on this balisong handle

Kamagong is Philippine ironwood. It is dense enough to sink in water, it takes a polish like stone, and it goes almost black with age and skin oil. We inlay it into the steel channels by hand, which is why the grain never lines up the same way twice on two Aurochs knives.

If you get one where the grain runs across the panel rather than along it, that is not a defect. That is a tree.

Specifications

Why this butterfly knife uses 440C and not something with a longer name

440C is high-carbon stainless run at roughly 58 HRC. In plain terms: it takes a proper edge, it comes back to sharp on a basic stone in about four minutes, and it does not chip when the knife lands on concrete. Which it will.

D2 holds an edge longer. We use D2 elsewhere and we are happy to say so. But D2 is more brittle and it rusts if you ignore it, and a balisong is a knife you drop on purpose. For a flipper, tough and easy to sharpen beats stubborn and fragile. That is not a compromise, it is a choice, and we are still making it.

About the name

The aurochs was the wild ox that domestic cattle came from. The last confirmed one died in a Polish forest in 1627, so the animal is not around to object to being on a knife. Heavy, stubborn, built low. It suits the way this thing sits in your hand.

Trainer version, same price

Use the option above the Add to Cart button to order the Aurochs unsharpened. Same steel, same frame, same weight. The only difference is that the edge is left blunt.

We do not charge extra for that and we do not charge less. It is the identical amount of work. If you are learning aerials, buy the trainer first and save yourself the stitches, and buy the live blade when your hands have stopped making decisions without you.

Shipping your butterfly knife

Free within the United States. Flat $49 anywhere else in the world, no matter how many knives are in the order. Every knife ships with a fitted leather sheath cut for that specific model, not a generic pouch that sort of fits.

the 440C is taken to 58-60 HRC, the same hardness we use across the whole shelf.