When I meet a newbie who wants to learn,I'll have them pick up an el-cheapo or two to start off with.One will be one of the long skinny balisongs,the other will be one of the heavier.These are always good to have around for learning new moves as well as learning the basics.I'll start them off on the skinny blade,to give them confidence and to start building the muscles in the hand.After all,the less weight in the hand,the longer they can practice.
Once they've learned the basics,I have them switch to the heavier to gain more strength.Once they can manipulate it well,they can move back to the skinny and see just how fast they've become.But I'll always have them practice with both types.
The reason for the cheapies? It's better to learn on the cheaps so that if they screw up,they're not going to ruin a good blade.
I also remember a common occurence back in the early '80's that kind of reinforces this idea.A lot of the guys were going to the local knife store and getting the Pacific Cutlery model 68.Several of the guys went thru several copies of this model,for the plain and simple fact that the tips would usually break off...and many times there wasn't enough force on the tip to break it.For $75 per knife back then,it wasn't good for learning at all.
That's why I'm glad I stuck with the cheaper ones to start with.I had several Valor 565's,and one of their 527 "Ninja" models.Those models usually outlasted the PC 68's...and i beat the hell out of those old cheapies.The Ninja was a decent model..nice and heavy enough to build the hand strength,and tough enough to chop tree limbs if you needed to (I learned from experience).I'd still take those models above a lot of the stuff I've seen in the stores these days.
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*The* Lunatic Puppy
It wasn't me...It was my *good* twin..
