Falcon Handmade VG10 Super Steel Original Filipino Balisong Butterfly Knife with Brass and Kamagong Wood Handle | 24cm Lightweight Flipper Gift | BF-42

The BF-42 Falcon is the cheapest VG10 knife we make. Twenty-four centimetres open, a 12cm blade, 150g, brass and kamagong. If you are buying your first knife from us, this is the one we would point you at.

What the bottom of the range does not mean

It does not mean lesser steel. The edge on this knife is the edge on that one.

It does not mean lesser assembly either. Same pivots, same tang pin, same tolerances, same person checking it before it goes in the box. We do not run a second-tier line.

What it means is less hand work on the handle: a simpler contour, less finishing time on the brass, and kamagong rather than horn. Handle work is where the hours go, and hours are what a handmade knife actually costs.

So who should buy the more expensive ones

People who want a natural handle material, people who want the 29cm traditional frame, and people who have handled two knives and preferred how the pricier contour sits in their hand. Those are honest reasons.

People who assume the expensive one cuts better should buy this one and keep the difference. We would rather tell you that than take the extra twenty-five dollars and let you find out.

If a listing will not name the steel, there is a reason. A shop that has paid for VG10 puts VG10 in the title. A shop that has bought unmarked bar stock writes “stainless steel” and hopes.

What VG10 steel gives you here, in short

VG10 comes from Takefu Special Steel in Japan and was designed for kitchen knives: around one percent carbon, fifteen percent chromium, with cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium in small quantities keeping the grain fine. Fine grain is what lets a steel take a genuinely sharp edge instead of a merely adequate one.

It holds that edge for a long time and it does not rust when you put it away slightly damp. Sharpening wants ceramic or diamond and a consistent angle, roughly once or twice a year in normal use.

We run it at 58-60 HRC rather than the 61 a kitchen maker might use, because a balisong ends up on a hard floor at some point and at this hardness the edge rolls on impact instead of chipping. A rolled edge is a stone and some patience. A chipped one is a regrind.

150 grams

Light, quick, and easy on the forearm through a long practice session. It turns fast and stops fast, which suits chained sequences and suits learning, though it is less forgiving about timing than our 180g knives because it arrives sooner than you expect.

Kamagong is Philippine ebony: dense, close-grained, near black, and stable enough to ignore a dry winter without cracking. The brass will darken to brown over a year or two, which is brass being brass rather than a fault.

Buy the butterfly knife trainer first

The unsharpened version is the same knife, chosen above Add to Cart. Same steel, same 150g, same balance, no edge ground on it.

It is not cheaper because grinding an edge is one operation in a long build and a discount would be theatre. If this is your first balisong, buy the blunt one. You can buy the sharp one in six months when your hands know what they are doing, and that is a far better order to do it in than the other way round.

Sheath and shipping on this VG10 balisong

A fitted leather sheath comes with it, cut for the 24cm frame. US shipping is free. Everywhere else is a flat $49 for the whole order regardless of size, so international buyers do better ordering more than one at a time. Balisong law varies by country and by US state, and checking yours is worth five minutes before you order.

Basic care matters as much on the Falcon as on any of our wood handled knives, and how to prevent rust and keep a patina under control covers keeping rust off the steel and the wood from drying out. It sits in the VG10 Balisong Butterfly collection. The BF-43 Fire-Bellied Toad carries the same brass and kamagong wood combination on the same size frame.