Damascus Balisong Butterfly Knife Original Traditional Filipino Butterfly Batanga Knife with Handmade Brass and Wooden Handle Black Mamba Knives USA | DB-16

Description

Brass ferrules at each end of the handles, a narrow strip of dark timber running between them, pierced brass detail behind the pivots, and a forged blade whose figure opens into rings and swirls. The DB-16 is 6.2 inches open and 5.6 ounces, and it is the lightest knife on this page.

Light for its class

On a frame this short, that little mass produces a genuinely quick knife. Rotation starts and stops with very little wrist behind it, and the whole thing feels eager in a way the bigger builds simply cannot. People arriving from a heavy eight-inch flipper tend to overshoot everything for the first evening and then find the timing somewhere in the second. The other side of that coin is feedback: a light balisong tells you less about where the handles actually are during a swing, and that matters most when you are working behind your hand and cannot see them at all.

The timber is grip, not decoration

Brass frames with wood set down the middle. On a handle only 3.2 inches long there is no room for a display panel, so what you get is a narrow strip of grain rather than a showpiece. The benefit is friction. Bare brass turns slick as soon as your hands warm up and start to damp, and a strip of timber gives your fingers something to sit against. That is why Filipino makers in Batangas used it long before anyone treated it as a styling decision, and it is still the reason we do.

Two metals to keep an eye on

Brass will darken on its own schedule and there is nothing you can do about it beyond a wipe, which most owners come to like. The blade is a different proposition and wants drying after every session plus a film of oil before it goes away. Keep brass polish well clear of the etched face, because polish is an abrasive and it will lift the pattern off the steel far faster than you would believe. If you want to bring the handles back to bright yellow, do it with the knife closed and the blade masked off.

If you want the shine without the strip

We do build an all-brass handle with no insert for anyone who prefers the uninterrupted metal look and does not mind the grip that comes with it. At the far end of the range, the 11.4-inch DB-12 is the same steel and the same construction philosophy at nearly double the length, which is a completely different knife to hold.

Made in Memphis

Forged, ground, etched, fitted and finished at our own bench in Tennessee, then opened and closed on the bench before it goes in a box. Where these knives are legal is a local question, so look up your own state or country first.

Model: BMK-DB-16