Handmade Balisong Kitchen Chef Knife | Forge Finished High Carbon Steel | Stag Handle with Copper Bolsters and Leather Sheath BF-172

The BF-172 is a 12 inch balisong chef knife, forged high carbon, stag panels, copper bolsters. The copper is the reason this listing exists separately from the BF-165, so that is where we will spend the words.

Copper bolsters are uncommon, and here is why

Copper is soft. Softer than brass, considerably softer than steel, and a bolster is not a decorative part. It carries the pivot and takes the load every time the handle swings, so working in copper means machining it thicker and fitting it tighter than you would have to with brass.

It also marks if you look at it wrongly during assembly. Most workshops fit brass, which behaves, and move on with their day. We fit copper on a small number of pieces because nothing else on a knife ages quite like it.

What the copper will do

Darken. First to a deep rose, then towards brown, and eventually to a patina that sits somewhere between bronze and chocolate. Hands accelerate it, because skin oils and salt are exactly what copper reacts with, so the areas you hold will always be a shade ahead of the areas you do not.

This is not tarnish in the sense of damage. It is a stable oxide layer and it protects the metal underneath. If you want it bright again, a minute with a copper polish takes it back and the clock starts over. Our advice is to leave it. A knife that records who has been using it is worth more than one that does not.

Copper against stag

Stag runs cream to tan to a weathered brown at the bark. Copper starts warm and moves brown. The two materials converge over a few years rather than diverging, which is unusual, and it is the reason this combination gets made at all.

Set the same stag against steel bolsters and you get contrast. Set it against copper and you get a knife that looks increasingly like one object rather than three materials bolted together.

The blade, briefly

Hand forged high carbon, forge scale left on the flat, bevel ground to bright steel, hardened to 58-60 HRC. It takes a very keen edge and gives it up quicker than D2 would. It also comes back on a stone in minutes rather than an evening, which is the trade most people would take.

It has no corrosion resistance to speak of. Wipe it dry and it will outlive you.

One thing to avoid

Do not put copper and acid together and walk away. Lemon juice, vinegar and tomato left sitting on a copper bolster will strip the patina in patches and leave a mottled surface that takes a full polish to correct. Rinse and dry after acidic work and none of that happens.

Specifications for this stag and copper balisong chef knife

Ordering the BF-172

Sharpened, tuned and checked by hand, with a fitted leather sheath and a gift box.

Laser engraving is $29, chosen on this page. Free shipping inside the United States, flat $49 worldwide.