Filipino Traditional Series Damascus Steel Beautiful Tanto Blade Butterfly Balisong Knife USA Made With Stag Horn Handle BF-129

The BF-129 is the odd one out, and.00 it is also the cheapest Damascus knife we make. Twenty-four centimetres open, a 12cm tanto Damascus blade, 200g, brass with stag horn. Every other Damascus knife in the range is 29cm with a micarta handle, and this one is none of those things.

Damascus for less than plain steel

This is a genuine anomaly and we may as well point at it. The BF-129 costs less than most of the plain D2 knives in the Filipino Traditional series it belongs to, while carrying a hand forge-welded blade that takes far longer to make than a stock removal one.

The reason is run size, as it usually is. This was a long run and the setup cost divided further across it. There is no catch, no seconds grade and no story. If you have wanted a Damascus blade and found the prices off-putting, this is the one to look at.

A 24cm Damascus, which changes it more than you would think

The row worth dwelling on is the pattern. Forge-welded steel drawn out into a longer blade gets a longer, more stretched pattern. Compressed into a shorter blade, the lines sit closer together and read as denser and busier. Neither is better. They are different pictures made by the same process, and if you have only seen Damascus on long blades this will look unfamiliar in a good way.

The tanto point on a Damascus balisong

Two flats meeting at an angle rather than a curve running to a point. That puts a great deal of steel immediately behind the tip, which makes it the strongest point geometry we grind, and it is why the shape survived on working blades.

What you give up is belly. There is very little curve, so drawing cuts are poor and slicing is not what this blade is for. What you get is a tip that will not break and, on a Damascus blade specifically, a shape where the layer pattern meets the two flats at different angles and does something visually interesting at the tip that a curved profile does not.

Stag horn, which is the other thing making this one unusual

Shed antler, cut and fitted to brass. Pale cream through deep brown, with natural ridging and pitting that runs differently on every piece and cannot be matched closely even across the two handles of one knife.

It is the least slippery natural handle we work with, better than polished horn and comparable to jigged bone, because the ridging gives your fingers something to sit against. Against a busy Damascus pattern it is a bolder choice than micarta and it makes for a considerably louder knife. That is either the appeal or the reason to buy a different one.

• Normal: colour variation, uneven ridging, two handles that do not match, texture you can feel.
• Not normal: a crack, a loose insert, a gap that catches a fingernail. Ours to fix.
• Care: out of long direct sunlight, do not store the knife wet, no oil needed.

The steel, and what Damascus means on a butterfly knife

Layers of high carbon steel forge-welded, folded and drawn out, heat treated to 58-60 HRC. Very keen edge, comes back on an ordinary stone in minutes with no diamond plate involved.

No chromium anywhere in it, so it rusts if left wet. Wipe the blade dry when you put it down, light oil once a month, and keep the knife out of the leather sheath for storage. Both the blade and the horn would rather stay dry, which for once makes the care instructions simple.

Two hundred grams on a 24cm frame

The standard size at a middling weight. It rotates more willingly than the 29cm Damascus knives and asks less of your forearm across a long session, while still carrying enough momentum to give you a moment to correct a mistake.

Ordering this stag horn Damascus balisong

Unsharpened trainer, chosen above Add to Cart. A leather sheath cut to this frame is in the box. We do not charge for US delivery, and everything beyond it is $49 for the order.