Elephant Vg10 Original Filipino Balisong butterfly Knife BF-41

The BF-41 Elephant is a 24cm VG10 balisong at 180g, brass with kamagong. Most balisong pages talk about flipping and stop there. This one is about the other thing a balisong is, which is a knife.

A balisong is a genuinely good carry knife

The design is old and it is old because it works. Two handles fold around the blade, so the edge is covered without a spring, a liner lock, a detent or anything else that can wear out or fail. There is nothing in a balisong to break. It opens one-handed faster than almost any folder once you know it, and it closes just as fast.

What it gives up is discretion. A balisong opening is loud and it looks like a performance whether you meant one or not, which is why you should think about where you are before you open one to cut a box.

What 180 grams does when you are cutting rather than flipping

Weight is usually discussed as a flipping characteristic. It matters just as much in use. A 180g knife pushes through cardboard, rope and packaging tape with less effort from you, because the mass is doing part of the work that your hand would otherwise do.

The 12cm blade is long for an everyday task and that cuts both ways. Long blades are better at drawing cuts and worse in tight spaces, and a 24cm knife open in a small room needs more thought than a folder does.

Why VG10 is the right butterfly knife steel for actual use

VG10 is a Japanese stainless from Takefu, built for kitchen knives: roughly one percent carbon, fifteen percent chromium, with cobalt and vanadium refining the grain. That kitchen heritage is exactly why it suits a knife you intend to use rather than only flip.

It takes a fine edge and holds it through a great deal of cardboard. It does not stain when you cut something wet and put it down. High carbon takes a slightly better edge and would have rust spots on it within a month of this kind of use. D2 lasts longer between sharpenings and then makes you find a diamond plate.

Hardened to 58-60 HRC. Sharpening wants ceramic or diamond, a consistent angle, and about once or twice a year unless you are cutting every day.

Living with brass and kamagong on a working balisong

Brass darkens with handling and it darkens faster on a knife you actually use, because hand oil and air are the whole mechanism. Within a year a used knife looks obviously used. We think that is the best thing about brass and some people cannot stand it, which is why we also build knives with stainless bolsters.

Kamagong is Philippine ebony, dense enough not to swell, close-grained enough not to hold anything you would rather it did not, and it does not need oiling.

Where the law sits, plainly

Balisong legality varies by country and by US state, and it changes. Some places treat them as ordinary folding knives, some restrict carry, and a few ban possession outright. Most of the knife law pages on the internet are copies of a copy from years ago. Read your own state or national rule before you order, and check it again before you carry rather than assuming it stayed the same.

The name

It is the heavy one, and it is called Elephant. We will not insult you by pretending there was more thought in it than that.

Trainer, sheath and shipping on this VG10 butterfly knife

The unsharpened trainer is the same knife, selected above Add to Cart. Same steel, same 180g, same balance, no edge. The price does not change because grinding an edge is one operation in a long build.

A fitted leather sheath is in the box, which matters more on a knife you intend to carry than on one that lives on a shelf. US shipping is free, flat $49 anywhere else for the whole order.