Asian Palm Civet 440c Original Filipino Balisong butterfly Knife BF-07

The BF-07 Asian Palm Civet is a 29cm balisong with a 14cm 440C blade, 210g, brass bolsters and deer horn inserts. There is a second knife in this range with the same animal on it, and this is the big one.

Veinte y nueve, and why the size stuck

Twenty-nine centimetres open is the traditional Batangas frame. The smiths called it veinte y nueve and it was the standard long before the export market decided knives should fit in a pocket.

The size was not arbitrary. A 14cm blade is a working blade, long enough to be useful for the things a farm knife was actually asked to do, and a 29cm handle span gives you enough leverage to control it. Everything smaller than this was a later concession to carrying it discreetly.

What it means in the hand is a knife that rotates slowly for the same wrist movement, because the arc is longer. Beginners often assume big means difficult. The slower rotation actually gives you more time to see a mistake coming. What it does punish is a lazy grip, because there is more knife and 210g will find out whether you were holding on.

Two knives, one civet

Same steel, same animal on the label, different knives entirely. If you want the traditional size and the heft that comes with it, this one. If you want something that lives in a hand rather than filling it, the BF-08 costs twenty-eight dollars less and is the better everyday choice.

210 grams on a long frame

This is not one of our heavy knives. Our brass 29cm knives run to 300g and beyond, and at 210g this one is comparatively restrained for its size, which we think is the sweet spot on this frame.

Enough mass that the rotation carries itself, light enough that a long session does not become an arm workout. If you want the traditional length without committing to a 300g knife, this is the one to start with.

440C, and what it does on a balisong

An American high-carbon stainless: about one percent carbon and seventeen percent chromium. The chromium is why it does not rust and the carbon is why it hardens properly. The letter matters, because 440A and 440B do not have enough carbon to be worth grinding, and a listing that says only “440 stainless” is usually telling you which one it is by not telling you.

Ours run at 58-60 HRC. Easy on a stone, good working edge life, and no weather anxiety. For a 14cm blade on a knife that is also a heritage object, that is the right set of compromises.

Living with a deer horn balisong handle

Cream through smoky brown, streaked, and different in every knife because it grew rather than being cut from sheet. Yours will not match the photograph and the two handles may not perfectly match each other. That is horn.

Keep it out of long direct sunlight, do not store the knife wet, and it needs nothing else. It will take a soft shine at the contact points over a year or two, which is the good kind of wear. Cracks and loose inserts are our problem, not normal variation, and we will fix them.

The name, since we are here

The Asian palm civet is chiefly famous for a coffee process we would rather not describe on a product page. It is also a small, sharp-faced, extremely capable animal, and we prefer to think that is the half we named the knife after.

Trainer, sheath and shipping on this 440C butterfly knife

The unsharpened trainer is the same knife, selected above Add to Cart. Same steel, same 210g, same balance, no edge, same price, because grinding an edge is one step in a long build.

A fitted leather sheath comes with it, cut for the 29cm frame rather than the standard 24cm. Free US shipping, flat $49 to anywhere else for the whole order. Check your local knife law before you order.