Damascus Balisong Butterfly Knife Original Traditional Filipino Butterfly Batanga Knife with Beautiful Shiny Brass and Ram Horn Handle | DB-02

Description

DB-02 measures 11.4 inches from tip to latch, which puts it at the long end of what a Filipino butterfly knife is usually built to. The blade is deeply etched Damascus, the channels are polished brass, and the inserts are ram horn.

Best in the hand of: someone with long fingers and some experience. A five and a half inch blade swinging on a five and nine tenths inch handle covers a wide arc. That arc is slow and readable once you know the knife, but it is unforgiving of a lazy grip, and at six and a half ounces there is real momentum behind every rollover. If this is your first butterfly, buy something shorter first.

The etch

Deep raindrop figure — the billet is dimpled, then forged back flat so every layer surfaces as a ring — and etched hard so the 1095 goes near black and the 15N20 stays bright. The contrast is far stronger than on a lightly finished blade, and it reads clearly across a room. Because the pattern runs through the billet rather than sitting on top of it, sharpening and years of use will not erase it, though a heavy polish will fade the surface contrast until you re-etch.

Brass and ram horn

Brass is soft, heavy and warm, which is a good trio for a handle. It dents rather than cracks when a knife hits a floor, it shifts the balance rearward, and it takes on a deepening gold cast as the years go by. The ram horn inserts run tan through chocolate with pale striations, pinned flush into the channel walls. No two sets match. Together the brass and horn account for most of the knife’s weight and all of its warmth.

What the length changes

Longer handles slow the rotation, which sounds like a disadvantage and is not. There is more time inside each move to correct a grip, and the latch arrives with a heavy, definite sound. The trade is reach: this knife needs more clearance than a compact model, and it is not a discreet thing to have in a pocket.

Care. Keep the pivots dry and the blade oiled. Brass tarnishes on contact with skin acid, so expect it to darken; if you want it bright again use a proper brass polish on a cotton bud and keep the compound off the etched steel, which will lighten wherever polish touches it. Wipe the horn with a dry cloth only. Do not store the knife closed and damp for long stretches, because the moisture caught between blade and channel is where the rust starts.

Buyer questions

Why brass instead of steel channels? Weight and feel. The construction types are laid out in balisong construction explained.

Where does the layered steel come from? Folded, welded and drawn out; see how Damascus steel is made.

Is there one with wood instead of horn? The DB-25 in brass and rosewood is the same idea in a different material.

Model: BMK-DB-02