Everyone's first Balisong?

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niceguy2
Posts: 676
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:53 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by niceguy2 »

i got mine from the local pipe & tobacco shop.....early 70s :D
linos
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 5:46 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by linos »

i got my 48,44,45 mail order catalogs early mid 90s allots of CCC from flee markets..
champ
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:51 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by champ »

My first one I got at the county fair sometime in middle school. It was a cheap, brass handled thing, super loose, but I loved it. Don't know where it went off to.
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hanuman3
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:44 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by hanuman3 »

Jaguar Classic with partial serrated blade, I still have it!
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polaria
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:36 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by polaria »

The first balisong I've handled was a Hackman one when I was just a kid. I think it was my dads or some carpenter working on our house back then. Mind you, it could not be flipped, because the molded plastic handles were fitted so snugly to the blade, but it was a great tool for a carpenter.

The first one I actually owned was a cheap-ass spanish Andujar (bought from tobacco shop, naturally). The blade was really, really good for the price (I still have it), but the handles was a terrible contraption of soft pot-metal and had so much play that it made the knife useless for anything but flipping it.
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Viking45
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:07 am

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by Viking45 »

polaria wrote:The first balisong I've handled was a Hackman one when I was just a kid. I think it was my dads or some carpenter working on our house back then. Mind you, it could not be flipped, because the molded plastic handles were fitted so snugly to the blade, but it was a great tool for a carpenter.

The first one I actually owned was a cheap-ass spanish Andujar (bought from tobacco shop, naturally). The blade was really, really good for the price (I still have it), but the handles was a terrible contraption of soft pot-metal and had so much play that it made the knife useless for anything but flipping it.
Welcome to the forum.
That's a good story. In many cases the stories are better than the knives themselves.

I do not own a Balisong(Butterfly) knife but still hope to find a nice,inexpensive bali to play around with.
The original Jaguar has been mentioned as a good quality "cheap" knife. Kind of like to find a nice one some day.
But at this point any Bali (of some decent quality) would be fun.
polaria
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:36 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by polaria »

I've carried a knife around in my daily work for last 20 years so there are a lot of stories.

About balisongs... I've owned at least half a dozen of cheap ones which I use purely for flipping. As far as I can tell the real issue with this type of knife is that in order to get one which both flips nice and is solid enough for any decent use you typically have to pay two to three times the price of fixed blade or liner-lock of same quality. I've been recently testing several balis for day-to-day carry and use as tool. I'll post a review of the one I'm testing now once I got a few more days with it. :)
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Viking45
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Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by Viking45 »

polaria wrote:I've carried a knife around in my daily work for last 20 years so there are a lot of stories.

About balisongs... I've owned at least half a dozen of cheap ones which I use purely for flipping. As far as I can tell the real issue with this type of knife is that in order to get one which both flips nice and is solid enough for any decent use you typically have to pay two to three times the price of fixed blade or liner-lock of same quality. I've been recently testing several balis for day-to-day carry and use as tool. I'll post a review of the one I'm testing now once I got a few more days with it. :)
I agree that not only butterfly knives but most modern folders are way overpriced these days. However the "novelty" factor seems to be higher for butterflies than even autos.
My reason for saying this is that a nice Benchmade Bali can cost 300 or more and a nice Microtech auto can still be had in the 150 range.

I have carried knives since childhood but for work I still choose to use an inexpensive knife for work. For many years I carried a Case Sod Buster,then carried a German made Boker Trapper with carbon steel blades(it was an old knife to begin with) and of course the list includes both a Shcrade LB7(looks like the Buck 110) and the Buck 110.
I have three tool boxes and all have at least one cheap Chinese job for nasty cutting chores.
My 110 from the 70's held a better edge than the one I got in the early 80's. Not sure if they changed the steel or what :?:

But back to the Bali- I like them but not enough to spend big bucks on. I might go as much as 40 for a decent one but that's it...and even then I can think of a half dozen knives in that price range I would rather have.

Looking forward to seeing your review. This Balisong section doesn't get many hits as most members are lazy and require a button to open their knife :lol: (I know,I'm one of them) 8)
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wazu013
Posts: 332
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by wazu013 »

My first Bali came in a trade with my Brother in Law. I'm 60 years old and have been collecting knives for 35 years but I had never even remotely thought of buying a Butterfly knife. Then I started to see the frenzy going on over the BM42. That's when my 65 tear old Brother in Law was at my house looking at my knife collection and mentioned that he has carried a Benchmade Bali since the 80's. I asked him what it looked like and he described a short version of the BM42. I offered to trade a Buck 110 auto for it and he took the deal. It turned out to be a BM30 made very early on. I have since sent it to Matt Cook for a make over where he said the grind was one of their first. So now I have a ton of money invested in my first Butterfly knife that I will never sell.
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polaria
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Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:36 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by polaria »

Thats one seriously nice piece. Don't know how much you originally paid for the Buck 110, but I'd say you made a very good deal.
Austinaftermath
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 1:05 am
Location: california

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by Austinaftermath »

Mine was an old Jaguar balisong i got at a flea market in 1996; I asked my grandpa to buy it for me. I ended up losing it somehow.
plaguemouse
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Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:02 am

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by plaguemouse »

Spiderco Spiderfly, when I was about 16. It was a gift from someone who was dead set on having someone to bond with over balisongs. Before that, he even gave me a pen that was styled like a butterfly knife to teach me the movements before giving me a knife so I didn't slice myself. :D
Chris Aldren
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2014 4:32 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by Chris Aldren »

First i've got was the butterfly one...in fact i don't know how to used it, i just learn from a friend of mine. :D :wink:
Zazu
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:59 pm

Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by Zazu »

I remember back when I was about 10 I was totally obsessed with switchblades and balisong, but especially balisong. Back then, there weren't as many trainers and there were like no entry level priced trainers to speak of. It was just under 20 years ago our local auction site was new (back in this time NO ONE from ebay would ship to our country) and like a miracle I saw a Jeff Imada book combined with a balisong. Auction was starting at $30. I immediately bid.

Now I'd always loved knives and my parents let me have them. But I started doing bad at school, I was always in trouble. One day my mum packed all my bb guns, knives, knuckle dusters, swords, daggers etc in a box and stashed them after I got in trouble for supposedly punching a kid with knuckle dusters. Honestly you'd think I'd just done a columbine the way the principal and his goons treated the situation. The real story was we were playing that jynx game, you know "Personal jynx 1! 2! 3!" when you say the same thing as another guy and every time he speaks you punch him in the arm until someone says his full name and "releases" him. Anyway, I had found this big metal bbq tongs that had a wide finger part. I'd broken that off and it sorta looped around your hand. It hurt you worse then the guy you hit ffs! anyway I punched him in the arm with them and that was that. A few weeks later, I get called up and it was a huge ordeal. So away go my knives and my knife and gun trust is down the toilet.

Now I slooooowly brought up the auction and how I wanted it but the answer was an immediate no. I kept trying and trying. But at the time I was too young to be able to just pay for it myself so I'd need to give my mum cash and have her pay. So basically no way to buy it without their consent. It eventually reached $100 and by this point my parents had expressly forbidden me from buying it and I had gone over my budget ages ago but I couldn't let it go. Eventually I lost it but the fact I came SO close yet it slipped had me bloody obsessed. I thought about it night and day. I remember a kid at school off handedly mentioning he had a set of toys (the type that comes with a plastic rifle, a plastic knife, a little badge and maybe a pistol) he got when he was a kid and the knife was a toy balisong. I couldn't believe it. I practically demanded he dig it out for me to get. He did and it was fun for a while. It was my first flipping experience. I LOVED it. I played with it ALL day at school. I had to shave some of the plastic off though to get it to move. Anyway this only fanned the flames.

I got an idea: See my dad's always been supportive of my entrepreneurialism and so I came up with this great plan. "Hey dad, lend me $xx so I can buy some knives and I'll sell them on the local auction site (the very one where the Imada book and bali eluded me) for a great profit. Being a dumb young kid I didn't bother to think about the fact that balisongs are illegal to import without a permit. Which until a few years ago I never knew was possible. I just ordered 13 cheap as hell "black dragon" balisongs. They were like $6US a piece. I got half silver and half gold. Then I got also one that was similar looking but much heavier. Still don't know the brand. Which I still had it. It was basically a skeletonized bali in silver but much heavier then a black dragon, which are very thin. I ended up swapping for mere change at the peak of my heroin addiction. I regret it SO bad. It was a symbol of my youth.

Anyway, I listed the knives on the site, shamelessly marked up. Like the shitters I got for $6US I was selling for $90 post not included. BUT people paid it, happily! My dad was keeping an eye making sure I couldn't end up keeping them all but he lost track and I embezzled a gold skeletonized black dragon and that heavy silver one. I carried them every day for YEAAARS. I always had them on me and was always practicing. I remember my first twirl open and close and how proud I was. Good times.
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big_slim
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Re: Everyone's first Balisong?

Post by big_slim »

I got my first balisong when I was about 13, I definitely had it at that age because I remember taking it to school and showing it to a friend of mine. I remember being really secretive about it though, I knew they'd take it away in a second. My parents were antique dealers so I was always going to flea markets with them looking for knives and old toys. That was were I got my first balisong, they had a bucket full of them, 5 bucks each. It was a brass handled Pakistan knife, cheapo steel blade, but not the worst thing ever. I knew it was kind of a piece but I like many kids in the early 80's was obsessed with anything switchblade/balisong/ninja/nunchuks related. It's only been in the past year that I started thinking about balisongs again, the first one I bought was a really unusual parker gypsy with jigged bone handles, I've only seen one other one like it. The next one I bought was a cheap Pakistan knife like the one I had when I was a kid. It has stainless handles but otherwise is exactly like it, bayo blade and all. I got it for super cheap on the internet but it's really surprising how hard those old Pakistan butterflies are to find. Seems like you could get them at any flea market anywhere back in the early 80's.
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