Damascus Balisong Butterfly Knife with Beautiful Brass and Stag Handle Rain Drop Pattern Handmade Original Traditional Filipino Butterfly Batanga Knife Black Mamba Knives USA | DB-22

Description

A nine-inch balisong dressed in stag antler and raindrop-patterned steel is not a subtle object, and the DB-22 does not pretend otherwise. This is a collector’s piece first and a flipper’s centerpiece second: forged in our Memphis shop from a billet of alternating 1095 and 15N20, ground, quenched in oil, etched, then fitted into brass channels with antler panels pinned down their length. If you already own a plain working flipper and want the one that comes out of the drawer when somebody asks what you collect, this is that knife.

How a raindrop pattern is actually made

Raindrop is not a surface treatment. The billet is drilled or dimpled part-way into its face before it is forged flat again, and closing those depressions deforms the layers beneath them into concentric rings. The etch then brings those rings up as circles scattered across the flat of the blade. It is one of the harder patterns to keep even, because a hole taken too deep breaks through the layer stack and shows as a blemish instead of a ring — one of several things worth knowing before you buy any patterned blade, alongside the tells in spotting a fake pattern. These are set by hand, so spacing varies blade to blade.

Stag on a busy knife

Stag antler is the grippiest natural material fitted in this range. Its surface is ridged and pitted in its natural state, and it holds a damp palm far better than polished brass, bone or smoothed horn will. It is also the most irregular in color of anything used here: the panels on the knife photographed for this listing read charcoal and slate, with pale ridges standing proud of the dark valleys, while another antler can run cream through to caramel instead. Set that against a raindrop blade and you have a great deal of visual information in one object, so be honest with yourself about whether you want that.

Where the weight sits

7.2 ounces is at the heavy end for a 9.4-inch balisong, and the mass is in the brass, meaning it sits in the handles rather than out at the tip. Handle-heavy is the right way round: the knife rotates predictably and settles quickly. The construction explainer covers how handle mass and pivot placement change the feel. For the same brass-and-stag handle without the raindrop work, there is the plain-pattern version at $200.

Living with a carbon-steel blade

Neither alloy in this billet is stainless, and antler would rather not sit in a damp drawer. Keep the routine short. Dry the flats whenever the knife has been handled, work a fingertip of light oil across them every few weeks or whenever the etch begins to look thirsty, and leave the antler completely alone, because it asks for nothing. Store it flat, out of a sealed case, somewhere air moves. Do that much and the pattern stays crisp for as long as you own it.

Cut, fitted and finished in Memphis

Every stage described above happens under one roof in Tennessee: the forge welding, the grinding, the heat treat, the etch bath, the antler fitting, and the last pass on the edge. Pin heads are dressed by hand rather than machined level, which is why the two sides of this knife are never quite twins. It ships in a protective box with our lifetime warranty behind it. Balisong ownership rules differ from one state to the next, so please confirm yours before ordering.

Model: BMK-DB-22