Handmade D2 Steel Balisong Knife| Stag & Rose Wood Handle | Premium Butterfly Knife with Leather Sheath BF-158

The BF-158 is a D2 blade on a 22cm frame with stag horn and rosewood panels. Twenty two centimetres is noticeably shorter than the 29cm we build most of these at, and this page is about what you gain and what you give up.

Seven centimetres is more than it sounds

A 29cm balisong is a considerable object. Open, it is longer than most people’s forearm from wrist to elbow. Closed, it is a solid weight that a trouser pocket knows about all day.

At 22cm the knife stops announcing itself. It sits in a pocket the way a large folding knife does rather than the way a tool does. For anybody who wants to actually carry a balisong rather than keep one in a drawer, that difference decides the question.

What you give up

• Rotation time. Shorter handles turn faster. Less time to see an error and fix it.
• Forgiveness. The 29cm frame absorbs sloppy timing. This one reports it.
• Presence. If you want the knife to look substantial in the hand, longer wins.

None of that matters if you already flip competently. All of it matters if you are learning.

What you gain

• Carry. The main reason anybody buys this size.
• Speed. Quicker, snappier, more responsive to small inputs.
• Less fatigue. Lower mass over a long session.
• Fit for smaller hands. If 29cm handles run past your grip, this will feel correct immediately.

Stag horn and rosewood together on one balisong handle

This handle uses both materials rather than choosing one, which is unusual and looks it. Stag is pale cream to tan, irregular, grippy and maintenance free. Rosewood is dark, dense, oily and it deepens in colour over years of handling.

Put together you get light against dark, irregular against straight grained, and a handle that looks assembled by somebody making a decision rather than filling a slot. Neither material is high maintenance: a wipe of mineral oil on the rosewood once a year is the whole job, and the stag needs nothing at all.

D2 at 58-60 HRC, and what that gives you on a balisong

High carbon, high chromium tool steel. Long edge retention, sharpens on ordinary stones, resists rust well without being stainless. On a 10cm blade the edge is short enough that sharpening takes very little time, which is a quiet advantage of the smaller frame that nobody mentions.

Who this is for

Somebody who wants a balisong they will actually have with them. It is the least expensive knife in this entire block, and that is because it is smaller, not because anything was skipped.

Specifications for this stag and rosewood balisong

What you actually receive

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.