Description
Philippine ebony set into brass, with a slim mirror-polished D2 spear point between them. There is no engraving on this knife and no pattern in the steel. The whole of its character comes from a wood that is nearly black, dense enough to sink, and historically the correct material for a knife of this shape.
| Overall length | 9.1 inches |
| Blade length | 4.4 inches |
| Handle length | 4.7 inches |
| Steel | D2 tool steel |
| Handle | – Brass with Kamagong Wood Inserts |
Kamagong is the traditional choice, not a decorative one
Kamagong is Philippine ebony. It is dense enough to sink in water, runs dark brown to near-black, and is hard enough to take a pin without crushing around it. This is the wood the original Batangas knives were built with, so fitting it to a Filipino-pattern balisong is a return to the material the design was worked out around rather than an upgrade bolted on afterwards. The origins of the balisong covers that lineage properly.
How it pairs with brass
Dense hardwood and brass are closer in weight than most people expect, so this does not develop the handle-light feel that a balisong with soft wood inserts can have. Kamagong is also tight-grained enough to polish rather than absorb: sweat sits on the surface and wipes away instead of soaking in and leaving a darkened patch exactly where your fingers rest.
What $164 buys and what it does not
This sits above the horn and bone inserts in the same nine-inch line and below the deer horn pieces. The wood itself is the reason. It grows slowly, its trade is restricted at source, and it is priced accordingly. What you are not buying at this figure is engraving or ornamental bolster work; the brass is plain and polished and the value is concentrated in the material. The high carbon balisong with kamagong inserts is $240 if you want the same wood on a different steel.
The steel, and the thing to know about it
D2 is a tool steel with enough chromium to resist casual humidity and enough carbide to hold an edge far longer than a simple carbon blade. The catch arrives at the stone: those same carbides make it slow to resharpen, and a worn ceramic rod will skate off rather than cut. Diamond plates or silicon carbide, a shallow angle and patience will bring it straight back. Between sharpenings it needs almost nothing beyond a wipe.
Blade shape and finish
A narrow spear point, symmetrical from the spine, taken to a bright polish. It is a shape chosen for the way it looks closed between two dark handles as much as for anything it will cut, and the polish is unforgiving about fingerprints in exactly the way you would expect. A microfibre cloth in the same drawer solves it.
Sheath, legality and where it is built
A plain black leather belt pouch, snapped shut, is included. What you are permitted to own varies between jurisdictions, so look up your own position before placing the order. The frame, the pivots, the wood fitting and the edge are all done here in Memphis, under a lifetime warranty on how we built it.
Model: BMK-727
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.