Handmade Authentic Butterfly

How closely will your handmade knife match the photos?

Closely in shape, size and steel. Less closely in colour and grain. That is the honest answer, and it is the question we would ask first if we were buying a handmade balisong from someone else. The blade profile, the frame and the fit are built to the model. The handle inserts are cut from material that grew, and no two pieces of horn, bone or hardwood come out the same. The photo shows you the model. The knife in your box is one particular example of it.

What stays the same, and what does not

Two knives sold under one BF number share a steel, a blade shape, a frame metal and a handle material. They are ground and fitted to the same pattern and pass the same four checks before boxing: function, alignment, pivot action and blade condition.

What moves is everything nature decides. The streaks in a carabao horn insert, the depth of black in kamagong, the texture of stag, the tone of bone. A grind finished by hand can also catch the light a little differently from the one photographed. None of that affects how the knife works, and all of it is why the knife is yours rather than a copy of ours.

Where the variation is biggest

Kamagong is the insert you are most likely to meet here, on 61 of these 128 knives. It is Philippine ebony, and ebony runs across a wide range of density and colour, from solid black to streaked. Rose wood, on 19 knives, varies in figure and warmth.

Horn varies most of all. Hold a carabao horn handle to a window and you see amber layers running right through it, and those layers are never in the same place twice. Deer horn and stag horn are textured, and the texture is different on every tine they come from. Bone takes a crisper polish and stays paler, so it varies less.

At the stable end is micarta, a composite, which is on four knives here and looks much the same from one to the next. The one knife on this page with a solid brass handle, the Catfish BF-21, varies mainly in how it patinas once it is yours.

Some knives combine two materials, so the counts overlap. The one buffalo horn piece is our BF-163 chef knife from the balisong kitchen knives shelf. For how each material feels and wears, read the handle materials guide, and for the bench steps behind all of this, see how a balisong is made.

Variation or defect: where the line sits

A different streak in the horn is variation. Handles that close out of line, a loose pivot, or a fault in the steel or handle material itself is a defect, and our warranty covers it. Our return and exchange policy is clear that colour variations and handle patterns are not grounds for a refund, so if colour matters a great deal to you, choose micarta.

Questions about handmade variation