Description
Chico wood is the odd one in this range, pale where most balisong timbers are dark, and hard enough to argue with a chisel.
| Overall length | 9.1 inches |
| Blade length | 4.4 inches |
| Handle length | 4.7 inches |
| Steel | 1095 + 15N20 Damascus, 352 layers |
| Hardness | 58–60 HRC, oil tempered |
| Handle | – Brass with Chico Wood Inserts |
Aimed at: anyone tired of every handmade knife arriving in near-black wood. Chico is sapodilla, the tree chewing gum used to come from, and it finishes a warm sandy brown with a very fine, almost poreless texture. Set against brass it reads light and clean instead of heavy.
How pale wood ages differently
Dark timbers hide what happens to them. Chico does not. Skin oil moves into the fine grain and the insert goes a shade or two deeper along the middle of the handle where your fingers sit, while the ends stay lighter. Within a year the handle carries a visible record of how you hold it. Some people want exactly that and others find it untidy, so it is better known before you buy than after.
Soft metal in the right place
Brass is far softer than the hardened billet it closes around, and that is deliberate. When the handles slam shut on a fast rollover, the metal that gives is the frame and not the edge. A flattened corner on a bolster is damage you can ignore. A dinged edge is not. Putting the softer material where the impacts land is a design decision rather than a cost saving.
What is inside the blade
1095 supplies the carbon and darkens under etch. 15N20 carries nickel and stays bright. Weld them, fold to 352 layers and the boundary between the two becomes the pattern you see, held at 58 to 60 HRC by an oil temper. Our walkthrough of how Damascus steel knives are made covers the forge welding step by step.
Care: chico is close-grained enough that it drinks nothing, so keep oil off it entirely. A wiped-on coat will sit on the surface and collect lint. The blade is the part that needs attention. Dry it, oil it lightly, and never shut it away damp. Brass responds to any household metal polish. Work along the length of the frame rather than across it so the scratch pattern stays consistent.
FAQs
Is pale wood more fragile? Not this one. Sapodilla is dense and interlocked, which is why it served as a tool timber in Central America long before anybody put it on a knife.
What are the darker alternatives? The bone and black horn D2 balisong and the engraved brass and buffalo horn balisong both go the other direction.
Does the hardness rating apply to the whole blade? Yes. The figure on the sheet is the tempered hardness of the finished billet, edge and spine together.
Model: BMK-431
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