Handmade D2 Steel Balisong Knife with Rosewood & Brass Bolsters Handle | Custom Butterfly Knife with Leather Sheath BF-131

The BF-131 is a D2 blade set in rosewood with brass bolsters, and it is one of the knives people most often ask us to put a name on. So this page is mostly about engraving, because it is the one decision on this listing that cannot be undone.

What engraves well and what does not

Metal takes an engraving cleanly. Brass takes it beautifully, because the cut edge is a slightly different colour to the polished face and the letters catch light from the side. Steel takes it sharply but quietly. Rosewood takes it too, though wood is a different animal: the grain decides how the line sits, and a letter that crosses a dark grain band will look thinner there than it does on the pale wood beside it. That is not a flaw. It is what wood does.

Here is the honest ranking, from a bench that has done a lot of these:

• Brass bolsters. Best surface on this knife. Small text stays readable.
• The blade. Clean and formal. Keep it short, because a long line on a 14cm blade gets cramped fast.
• Rosewood. Warmest look, least crisp. Beautiful for initials, unkind to a paragraph.

Initials, logo, or nothing

Initials or short text is $19. A custom logo is $29. Both are done before the knife ships, which is why we ask you to choose on this page rather than emailing us afterwards.

Now the part most shops will not tell you: a lot of people should choose nothing. If you are buying this for yourself and you are still deciding whether balisongs are your thing, leave it plain. A plain knife can be sold, gifted or traded. An engraved one belongs to one person forever. If you are buying it as a gift, engrave it, because that is the entire point of a gift and the $19 does more emotional work than any other $19 on this site.

Why D2 for a balisong that gets handled this much

D2 is a high carbon, high chromium tool steel. It holds an edge for a long time and it resists rust better than a plain carbon steel, though it is not stainless and it will spot if you put it away wet. At 58-60 HRC it sits in the range where it is hard enough to stay sharp through months of use and still soft enough to sharpen at home without specialist gear.

For a knife that gets opened and closed a few hundred times an evening, that matters more than the edge does. The pivot area sees more wear than the cutting edge ever will.

The rosewood and brass handle combination on a balisong

Rosewood is dense, oily and dark, and it goes darker with handling. Brass bolsters do the opposite of what people expect: they do not stay bright. They dull to a soft gold and then, if you leave them alone, they go browner still. You can polish them back in about a minute with a cloth, or you can let them age. We prefer them aged. A brand new brass bolster looks like a product. A five year old one looks like something that belongs to somebody.

Who this one is for

Somebody who wants a working balisong that also looks like it was made on purpose. It is not the cheapest knife we sell and it is nowhere near the most expensive. It sits in the middle on purpose, which is exactly where most people should be shopping.

Specifications

In the box with this D2 butterfly knife

The knife, sharpened and tuned by hand before it left the bench. A fitted leather sheath, cut for this frame rather than bought by the dozen. A gift box, because a good number of these are bought for somebody else.

You can have this one unsharpened instead: same frame, same weight, no edge, and the same price either way. Choose it on this page.

Engraving is optional. Initials or short text $19, a custom logo $29, chosen before you add to cart. Shipping is free within the United States and a flat $49 everywhere else.