Lizard High Carbon Steel Original Filipino Balisong butterfly Knife BF-71

The BF-71 Lizard is a 24cm high carbon balisong, 12cm blade, 180g, brass and kamagong. We build knives in four steels and people ask us which is best roughly once a day, so this is the page where we answer it properly.

There is no best. There are four answers to different questions

Steel is a set of trade-offs and you cannot have all of them. Hardness, toughness, edge retention, corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening pull against each other, and every alloy is somebody’s decision about which to prioritise.

The one question that decides it

Not which is sharpest. Not which lasts longest. It is this: do you want to maintain a knife, or do you want to own one?

• You enjoy maintenance. A stone in a drawer, ten minutes on a Sunday, a blade that changes colour as you use it. High carbon, and nothing else will satisfy you.
• You want to sharpen it twice a year and forget it exists otherwise. D2. It holds an edge for a very long time and then demands proper equipment once.
• You want the best all-round stainless. VG10. No bad column anywhere on that table.
• You want low fuss at the lowest price. 440C. Easy to sharpen, will not rust, entirely sufficient.

Things people believe that are not true

“Stainless does not rust.” Stainless resists rust. Leave 440C in salt water and it will spot too, just far more slowly. Nothing here is stainproof.

“Harder steel is better steel.” Harder holds an edge longer and chips more readily. On a knife that gets dropped as often as a balisong, chipping is a worse failure than dulling. We run everything at 58-60 HRC for exactly that reason.

“Super steel means a better knife.” Heat treat matters more than alloy. A well treated 440C blade outperforms a badly treated exotic one every single time, and the badly treated one costs more.

“440 stainless” is a steel. It is three: 440A, 440B and 440C, and only the C has enough carbon to harden properly. A listing that drops the letter is telling you which one it bought.

Why this particular butterfly knife is high carbon

Because plain carbon steel has a finer grain than any stainless at the same hardness, and fine grain is what lets an edge go genuinely keen rather than merely sharp. Straight razors were carbon steel for two centuries and woodworkers still argue about it, and neither group is being sentimental.

Iron, about one percent carbon, essentially no chromium. What you give up is corrosion resistance entirely. Wipe the blade dry when you put it down and it will develop a grey patina that protects it. Neglect it wet and it pits orange, which does not come out.

The frame and the kamagong handle

Twenty-four centimetres at 180g, brass with kamagong inserts. The standard size at the weight most owners settle on, and kamagong is Philippine ebony, dense and stable and entirely maintenance free.

Ordering this balisong

Unsharpened trainer, chosen above Add to Cart. A fitted leather sheath comes with it. Free US shipping, flat $49 elsewhere for the whole order. Check the knife law that applies where you live before ordering.