Description
A Damascus tanto balisong with deep blue resin handles and a fitted leather pouch. Modern in every choice it makes, traditional only in the mechanism.
| Overall length | 9.1 inches |
| Blade length | 4.4 inches |
| Handle length | 4.7 inches |
| Steel | 1095 + 15N20 Damascus |
| Hardness | 58–60 HRC, oil tempered |
| Handle | – Blue Resin |
Chosen by: flippers who want a knife they can carry, drop and keep flipping. Resin does what bone and wood cannot, which is shrug off a bad session.
Resin instead of a natural material
The handles are cast resin, colored through the whole thickness rather than surface dyed. That means a scratch shows as a scuff in the same blue rather than a pale line, and it means a chipped corner can be sanded and buffed back rather than replaced. Resin does not swell, does not shrink, does not care about humidity and does not absorb sweat. It also has no depth of grain, no warmth in the hand on a cold day, and no story. Whether that is a gain depends entirely on why you bought a handmade knife.
The tanto point on a balisong
A tanto puts a thick, well supported point at the end of a straight edge, with the transition making a second working corner. On a flipping knife that geometry has one clear advantage: the tip is far stronger than a fine spear point, which matters because balisongs land tip first on hard floors. The disadvantage is that a tanto slices poorly. There is no belly to draw through material, so as a cutting tool it lags well behind the traditional upswept profiles.
What blue does over time
Pigmented resin is stable indoors and less so in a sunlit window. Blue is among the more fugitive pigment families, and a knife displayed in direct summer sun for a year can lose some saturation at the exposed face while the underside stays true. Keep it in the pouch or out of the sun and it will not move. This is a real limit, not a theoretical one.
Looking after the blade
Two carbon steels folded together give you the pattern and none of the corrosion resistance. Get the flats dry once you have finished with it, then leave a thin film of oil across them, especially if the knife is going back into the leather, because leather holds moisture and the tanning chemistry is mildly acidic. Store the knife beside the pouch rather than inside it for anything longer than a day. Whether Damascus rusts gives the full answer.
Straight questions
How do I know the pattern is real? Telling real Damascus from a printed pattern shows you what to look for at the edge and the spine.
Can the resin crack? It can chip on an edge from a hard fall. It will not split down the middle the way bone does.
Is there a version without resin? A classic Damascus balisong keeps this steel and returns to a natural handle.
Model: BMK-728B
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