Handmade Karambit Balisong Butterfly Knife | Matte Stone Washed D2 Tool Steel | OD Green Micarta Handle with Leather Sheath BF-179

The BF-179 is a karambit balisong in stone washed D2 with OD green micarta panels and brass hardware, $235. It is photographed as two knives, which needs explaining before anyone orders expecting a pair.

Why two in the photograph

You are looking at one product shown open and closed, laid nose to tail so the two states read as one shape. A karambit balisong is difficult to understand from a single image. Open, it is a hook with a handle. Closed, it is a curved bar with a ring, and the blade has vanished entirely inside the handles.

That transformation is most of the appeal and none of it survives a single photograph. So there are two. One knife ships.

The pivot geometry, and why a curved balisong is harder to build

On a straight balisong the two handles are mirror images swinging around parallel pivots, and the blade sits neatly between them when closed. Everything is symmetrical and the tolerances are forgiving.

Curve the blade and the symmetry breaks. The handles have to follow the same arc as the blade or they will not close around it, which means each handle is a different shape from the other rather than a mirror of it. The pivots have to be positioned so the belly of the blade clears the inside of the arc through the whole swing, and the tolerance for getting that wrong is small. A millimetre out and the edge kisses the handle on the way past.

This is why a well made karambit balisong costs what it does and why badly made ones develop a dull spot on the belly within a month.

Canvas micarta in olive drab

This is the canvas weave rather than linen, which means a coarser texture and a bit more grip. The green is in the cloth itself rather than applied to the surface, so wear does not reveal a different colour underneath.

It behaves like all micarta: entirely stable, indifferent to weather, better in a damp hand than a dry one, and it needs nothing from you ever. The high points will burnish with handling to a faint shine, and that is the only change it makes.

Brass hardware on a working knife

Slightly unusual on something this utilitarian, and the reason is practical rather than decorative. Brass pivots bear against steel without galling, so the action stays smooth without a bushing. It also gives you a visual reference: a brass pivot that has started to darken unevenly is telling you where the friction is.

Specifications for this OD green micarta karambit balisong

Ordering the BF-179

One knife, sharpened, tuned and checked by hand, with a fitted leather sheath and a gift box. D2 wants a diamond plate when it eventually goes blunt.

Or take it as a trainer instead. Identical frame, identical weight, no cutting edge, and the price does not move.

Laser engraving is $29, chosen on this page. Free shipping inside the United States, flat $49 worldwide.