Balisong Butterfly Knives

The balisong or "butterfly knife" originated in the Philippines and it is the key weapon of the Filipino Martial Art known as Eskrima.

A balisong, aka butterfly and or fan knife, is a uniquely designed folding pocket knife that became popular in the U.S. back in the 1980's and they are still very popular today. But before you go out and purchase one, please check your local and state laws to see if it is legal to have automatic knives or balisongs in your area.

A bali-song is an amazing knife made with two handles that counter-rotate around the tang. The tang is the base of the butterfly knife blade. The steel blade is easily exposed with little more than a flick of the wrist. When the handles are closed, the blade is concealed within grooves located in the center of the handles. Pop the locking latch. Release the bite handle. Flip, spin, and catch the bite handle and the butterfly knife blade is exposed. Though butterfly knives can be intimidating when used, the act of "flipping" or "fanning" the balisong or butterfly knife is generally performed for art or amusement purposes.

To get an idea of what a bali-song (butterfly knife) looks like, check out these Great Butterfly Knives

When selecting a butterfly knife, there are a few things to keep in mind:

The first thing people want to know is, where to get a butterfly knife from....

I do not recommend you go running down to your local flea market and picking one up. I love flea markets, but generally speaking, a butterfly knife from a flea market will be a cheap balisong, made with cheap parts from China.

Most of them are put together by the dealer with brass pins and shoddy craftsmanship. Over time, those cheep brass pins will stretch and allow for too much bladeplay. You will find that after a bit of use, those brass pins tend to stretch and the balisong blade will become loose in the handle. This allows the blade to flop around. When that happens, I call it blade play.

Should that blade play become excessive, discontinue using that knife and dispose of it properly.

Butterfly knives are not a toy. They can be very dangerous if made or used improperly.

Should a retaining pin break while being used, the butterfly knife blade can separate from the handle, fly across the room, and injure someone.

Fortunately, no-one got hurt, but I have had that very thing happen to me on two occasions. The safe handle pin broke and the other half of the butterfly knife flew across the room. The first time that happened, the butterfly knife blade did stick into a chair that a friend of mine was sitting in.

The second time the blade popped off it went straight up in the air. All I could do was cover my head and hope that it missed me on the way back down. It did miss me, but I never bought another cheap bali-song again.