Duck Vg10 Original Filipino Balisong butterfly Knife BF-37

The BF-37 Duck is a 150g VG10 balisong, brass handles with kamagong wood inserts, 12cm blade in a 24cm frame. It is one of the light knives in the animal series, and the thing worth talking about on this one is not its weight but where that weight sits. Balance is what makes a balisong feel right or wrong in the hand, and almost nobody sells on it because it is harder to photograph than a shiny handle.

Balance, and why it matters more than total weight

Two knives can both read 150g and feel nothing alike. What you notice in the hand is where the mass is relative to the pivots, because that is what decides how the handles want to swing.

A 12cm blade in a 24cm frame means the blade is exactly half the open length, and the handles are carrying brass along most of their run. The result is a knife that balances close to the pivot area rather than out at the tip. Handle-heavy knives swing easily and come round fast. Blade-heavy knives feel like you are throwing something. The Duck sits in the first camp, and that is the ordinary, sensible, well-mannered end of the spectrum.

What that means when you actually flip it

• The knife starts easily. Less effort to get the first rotation going, which makes chained moves feel less like work.
• It reverses cleanly. Light and centred is the combination that lets you change direction without a fight.
• Aerials need more from you. There is less mass holding the line in the air, so a sloppy release shows.
• You can practise for a long time. This is the underrated benefit of 150g and the reason most people end up owning one.

The plainest knife here, deliberately

No horn, no bone, no two-tone inlay. Brass and kamagong, cleanly fitted, and that is the whole specification of the handle. We mention it because buyers sometimes read plain as unfinished, and it is not. Built to the same recipe, and the difference is handwork on the fit rather than any exotic material.

If you want a knife that draws comment across a table, look at the Crocodile in carabao horn or the Glass Lizard with its bone and kamagong inlay. If you want a knife that just works, this is it.

Specification

The VG10 steel underneath

VG10 is a Japanese stainless developed for kitchen knives. Around 60 HRC, roughly 15% chromium. Fine edge, good retention, no rust in normal life. It is the cheapest steel band on this site, which surprises almost everyone, because the name has been used as a premium selling point for years by people who did not have to buy it.

The honest caveat is sharpening. A genuinely dull VG10 edge is more work to bring back than 440C, because hardness cuts both ways. Keep it stropped rather than letting it go and you will never meet that problem.

Brass, kamagong balisong handles and the passage of time

The brass darkens. Give it a month of pocket time and the Duck will be browner and duller than the photograph, and after a year it will read as a knife somebody actually uses. Polish returns it to yellow in a couple of minutes if you would rather it stayed bright, and you can do that as often as you like without harming anything.

The kamagong needs nothing at all. It is one of the densest hardwoods in the Philippines, heavy enough to sink in water, and it shrugs off the handling that would mark a softer timber. No oil, no wax, no maintenance schedule. Two inserts cut from the same billet will still differ slightly in figure, because it is wood and not plastic.

Trainer version and shipping on this VG10 butterfly knife

Order it unsharpened using the option above the Add to Cart button, same 150g, no edge. Fitted leather sheath included with every knife. Shipping is free in the US and a flat $49 to the rest of the world.

the VG10 is hardened to 58-60 HRC, which is the window where it holds an edge without turning brittle on you.