Donkey Vg10 Original Filipino Balisong butterfly Knife BF-34

The BF-34 Donkey is the plainest knife in our VG10 line and the best place to explain the steel, because there is nothing else on it to distract you. Brass and kamagong, 24cm open, a 12cm blade, 150g.

What VG10 steel actually is on a butterfly knife

The spec box says Vg10 Super Steel. We did not invent that phrase and we would rather it did not exist, but it is what the whole industry prints, so here we are.

VG10 is a stainless steel made by Takefu Special Steel in Japan. It was designed for kitchen cutlery, which is why it turns up in every second Japanese chef’s knife, and the recipe is roughly one percent carbon, fifteen percent chromium, with small additions of cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium. The chromium is what stops it rusting. The vanadium keeps the grain fine, and fine grain is what lets a steel take a genuinely sharp edge rather than a merely acceptable one.

None of that makes it magic. It makes it a very good, very well understood cutlery steel that has been in production for decades and behaves predictably. Predictable is what you want in a knife you are going to throw around your knuckles.

How it compares to the other three steels we use

Read that as four different answers rather than a ranking. VG10 is the one with no bad column, which is precisely why it costs what it costs and why we put it on more knives than anything else.

Hardness, and why we do not run it harder

We heat treat to 58-60 HRC. Japanese kitchen makers often take VG10 to 61 or a shade beyond, and on a chef’s knife that is the right call, because a chef’s knife lives on a board and gets treated with some care.

A balisong gets dropped. Not maybe, not if you are clumsy. Everybody who flips a knife drops it, usually on a hard floor, usually in the first month. At 61 HRC the edge chips when it lands and a chip is a regrind. At 59 it rolls, and a rolled edge is twenty minutes with a stone and a bit of patience. We would rather sell you the second problem.

150 grams, and the plain frame

This is the light end of the range. Brass bolsters, kamagong inserts, nothing inlaid, nothing engraved. The knife turns quickly and stops quickly, which suits fast chained work and suits a long session because your forearm is not carrying 225g through every rotation.

Kamagong is Philippine ebony, dense enough that it sinks rather than floats and close-grained enough that it will not dry out and crack the way an open-grained wood does. It is nearly black. Against polished brass that contrast is most of the reason this knife looks like anything at all.

Sharpening a VG10 balisong, honestly

• What to use: ceramic will do it. Diamond will do it faster and with less swearing. Do not bother with a pull-through, on this or on anything else.
• How often: once or twice a year in normal use. VG10 stays usefully sharp long after most owners stop paying attention.
• What to avoid: chasing a thinner angle than we ground. VG10 rewards a consistent bevel far more than an aggressive one.
• Rust: unlikely, but stainless is not stainproof. Dry it if it goes in the sink.

It is called Donkey

Every animal in the series had to go somewhere. Donkeys are stubborn, hardworking and universally underrated, which is closer to an accurate description of this knife than most of the marketing we could have written instead.

Trainer, sheath and shipping on this kamagong balisong

The unsharpened trainer is the same knife, chosen above the Add to Cart button. Same steel, same 150g, no edge. It is the same price because grinding an edge is one operation in a long build, and if you are new this is the version to buy.

A fitted leather sheath is in the box. US shipping is free, everywhere else is a flat $49 for the whole order. Knife law varies by country and by US state, and checking yours before you order is worth the five minutes.