Balisong Butterfly

Can a balisong butterfly be anything other than a pocket flipper?

Yes, and this page is the proof. The two handles and two pivots that make a balisong open the way it does are a frame, and a frame can carry more than one kind of blade. Of the 151 knives here, 127 are the classic straight bladed flipper most people picture. Sixteen put a curved karambit blade on the butterfly frame, and eight put a kitchen blade on it. Same mechanism, three very different jobs. It is worth knowing which one you are looking at before you add anything to the cart.

The flipper: 127 knives, and still the one to start with

This is the balisong as Batangas makers have built it for generations: a straight blade, a latch, and handles that fold around the edge. It is the family with the widest choice by a long way, in 440C, VG10, high carbon, D2 and Damascus, with handles from kamagong and carabao horn to stag horn and rose wood.

If you want to learn to flip, want a first balisong, or want a knife that does ordinary cutting jobs, this is your family. The other two are brilliant at narrower things and awkward at most of what a flipper does well.

The karambit balisong: 16 knives with a curve and a ring

A karambit blade curves like a talon and has a finger ring at the butt. It cuts by drawing rather than pushing, so on rope, webbing, straps and cardboard it is a different tool from a straight blade. On a chopping board it is poor, and we would rather say so here. The ring is about retention: your finger goes through it and the knife stays in your hand when that hand is wet.

Thirteen of ours are high carbon, two are matte stone washed D2 and one is Damascus. The handle list is the most adventurous in the workshop: OD green and black micarta, wenge, walnut, olive burl, buffalo horn and bone, mother of pearl, copper and a skeletonised full steel frame, with titanium rings on three of them. The curve flips in an arc that passes closer to your fingers than a straight blade, so learn on a trainer. The full shelf is on our karambit balisong page.

The kitchen balisong: 8 pieces for the board and the table

Nobody needs a butterfly kitchen knife, and we will not pretend otherwise. What you get is a real forged kitchen blade on a butterfly frame whose handles fold closed over the edge, so the knife protects itself in a drawer. Six are chef knives, in high carbon, D2 and Damascus. Two are table pieces: a steak knife and fork set and a steak knife set of three, both high polished high carbon with rose wood. Handles across the eight include stag, ram horn, buffalo horn, buffalo bone, walnut burl and rose wood. Hand wash them, always. See the balisong kitchen knives shelf.

Still weighing a karambit against a flipper? Our balisong vs karambit guide sets them side by side.

Questions about the three families