Handmade D2 Steel Balisong Knife | Rosewood & Brass Bolsters Handle | Premium Butterfly Knife with Leather Sheath BF-138

The BF-138 is rosewood set between brass bolsters. Everybody notices the bolsters because they are the shiny part. Very few people know what they are for, so that is what this page covers.

What a bolster is structurally

The handle of a balisong is not a solid block. It is a channel that the blade folds into, and that channel has to stay exactly the right width for the life of the knife. Wood alone will not do that. Wood moves with humidity, compresses where it is clamped, and wears at the pivot where all the force concentrates.

The bolster is the metal section at the pivot end that takes that load instead. It carries the pivot pin, it keeps the channel spaced correctly, and it protects the end grain of the wood, which is the part that would fail first.

Why brass specifically

• It is soft enough to be kind to the pivot. Two hard surfaces grinding on each other wear badly. Brass against steel wears well.
• It is heavy. Mass at the pivot end steadies the rotation. That is why the knife feels planted rather than whippy.
• It does not rust. It tarnishes, which is a different thing entirely.
• It can be worked by hand. Brass files and polishes on a bench without industrial tooling.

The tarnish question

Brass will not stay bright. Within a few months it dulls to a soft gold and then keeps going browner. People email us about this thinking something is wrong.

Nothing is wrong. It is oxidation and it is entirely cosmetic. A cloth and a minute of effort brings it back if you want it back. Leave it and it develops a patina that makes the knife look owned rather than bought. We prefer the second, but it is your knife.

Rosewood between them

Rosewood is dense and naturally oily, which is why it survives being handled constantly. It darkens over years. A rosewood handle at ten years old is noticeably deeper in colour than the day it shipped, and it is the single most attractive thing about owning one of these long term.

The blade, and what D2 does on a balisong

D2 tool steel at 58-60 HRC, 14cm, on a 29cm frame at 205g. D2 is a high carbon tool steel with enough chromium to resist rust without being stainless. It holds an edge for a long time and it sharpens on ordinary stones.

Who this is for

Somebody who wants the traditional construction done properly rather than a modern knife with decorative metal glued on. The money is in the fitting, which is the part you cannot see and the part that decides whether the knife is still good in twenty years.

Specifications for this D2 rosewood butterfly knife

What you actually receive with this D2 balisong

A knife that has been sharpened, tuned and checked by hand, a leather sheath cut for this frame, and a gift box.

Or take it as a trainer instead: identical frame and weight, no cutting edge, and the price does not move. Use it for anything you have not done a hundred times.

Engraving is $19 for initials or short text and $29 for a custom logo, chosen on this page. Shipping is free inside the United States and a flat $49 to everywhere else.