D2 Tool Steel Filipino Balisongs Butterfly Stainless Steel Brass with Bone with Rose Wood Inserts Black Mamba Knives World Class Knives | BMK-479

Description

Brass bolsters, alternating bone and rosewood inserts, and a blade cut with a full row of holes and a heavily scalloped spine. Nothing about this one is restrained.

Made with one buyer in mind: the collector who already owns the plain models and wants something that stops people mid conversation. It is the most ornamented balisong in the D2 group.

Two materials in one handle

The inserts alternate bone against dark rosewood down the length of each handle, separated by pinned joints. That is more work than a single material and it introduces a real consideration: the two move at different rates. Wood swells and shrinks with humidity more than bone does, so over a few years you may feel a hairline step at a joint in a dry winter that vanishes by summer. It is cosmetic. It is also the reason mixed handles are rare.

That spine

The scalloped upper edge is not a saw and will not cut anything. It is a decorative treatment ground into the spine, and it does two things worth knowing. It removes weight from the top of the blade, which shifts balance very slightly toward the edge, and it gives dirt somewhere to hide. Cleaning the scallops needs a corner of cloth pushed into each one rather than a wipe down the flat.

Who it is wrong for

Anyone who wants to use a knife. The pierced blade, the ornamented spine and the mixed handle all exist for the eye, and every one of them is a place for moisture to sit. If your interest is a knife you can throw in a bag and forget, buy something plain in the same steel and spend the difference on stones. It is also awkward to hold reversed, because the scallops sit under your thumb.

Cleaning something this fussy

Compressed air is more useful here than a cloth. Blow the holes and the scallops out after handling, then wipe the flats and let it dry completely before it goes away. Keep water away from the joints between bone and wood. Brass takes fingerprints instantly and comes clean with a dry buff, or you leave it and let it dull evenly, which most owners do. Understanding how handle construction differs helps you see where dirt can and cannot reach.

Things people check first

Are the scallops sharpened? No, and they should not be. The sharpened edge is the underside only.

Do the holes make the blade weak? Not in handling. They would matter if you pried with it, which you should not.

Which shape is this called? Blade shapes explained covers it, and the engraved brass and camel bone model shows what the same instinct looks like in Damascus.

Model: BMK-479