Ginto Handmade Damascus Steel Balisong Knife| Micarta & Brass Engraved Bolsters Handle | Premium Butterfly Knife with Leather Sheath BF-148

The BF-148 puts a Damascus blade against micarta panels with engraved brass bolsters. There are two different metals doing visual work on this knife and they are meant to be read together, which is worth explaining because most people only notice one of them.

Grey pattern, gold cut

The blade is grey with a light and dark pattern running through it. The bolsters are gold with a cut pattern running across them. Both are patterned metal, and they are deliberately opposite: one is cool and organic, formed by folding steel, the other is warm and geometric, cut deliberately by a hand.

Between them sits micarta, which is dark and plain and does not compete with either. That is why this combination works. Remove the micarta and put stag there instead and you have three busy textures shouting at each other.

What happens to the brass over a year

Brass will not stay bright, and on an engraved surface that matters more than usual. As it tarnishes, the recessed cut lines darken faster than the raised polished areas, because your fingers polish the high points and never reach into the grooves.

The result is that hand engraving becomes more visible with age, not less. New engraved brass is subtle. Two year old engraved brass has the pattern picked out in dark against gold, which is the look people are usually trying to fake with chemical blackening.

You can polish it all back to uniform brightness if you prefer. We would leave it. It is the only thing on this knife that improves without you doing anything.

The Damascus steel on this butterfly knife

Two steels forge welded into a billet, folded to multiply the layers, drawn out, ground to shape and etched. The acid bites one alloy harder than the other and the pattern stands up in relief. It is structural, not applied, so sharpening will never wear it off.

Hardened to 58-60 HRC. That is a working hardness. The blade holds an edge well and sharpens without diamond plates. It does not cut better than a good mono steel at the same hardness, and anybody who tells you Damascus is a performance upgrade is selling rather than explaining.

The micarta balisong handle, briefly

Canvas layers set in phenolic resin and compressed solid. Waterproof, impact tolerant, temperature stable, and it needs no care of any kind. It grips better when your hands are damp, which is the opposite of what polished materials do. It is the sensible choice on a knife that gets carried rather than displayed.

Who this is for

Somebody who wants Damascus and hand engraving without a handle that demands maintenance. It is one of the better value Damascus pieces here, because the saving is entirely in the handle material rather than in any of the labour.

Specifications

What ships with this Damascus balisong

Every knife leaves here sharpened, tuned and flipped by somebody before it goes in the box, with a leather sheath cut to this frame and a gift box around the lot.

Pick Trainer above Add to Cart and you get this same knife unsharpened: same size, same weight, same price. It is the sensible way to learn anything new.

Optional engraving runs $19 for initials or short text and $29 for a custom logo, selected on this page before checkout. United States shipping is free. Elsewhere is a flat $49.

If you want to know what genuine layered steel looks like under an etch, our guide on how to spot fake Damascus before you buy walks through the tells. The Ginto sits in our full collection of Damascus balisong knives, and if you like the pairing of micarta and brass but want a shorter, quicker frame, the Mayon carries the same combination on a ten inch knife.