Book Review: Advanced Balisong, Filipino Butterfly Knife by Edgar Sulite

Smoke

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This companion piece to "Secrets of Arnis, Escrima, and Kali" and "Masters of
Arnis, Escrima, and Kali" covers the balisong and knife fighting in general with
photos of full size thick balisongs and the village of Balisong in the Batangas
province of the Philippines.

At 160 pgs and fourteen chapters, this book gives a clearer review of ineffective and effective blocking from "Secrets" along w/ stick calisthetics, footwork, balisong grips, and concealing/carrying the balisong.
This time knife vs knife is covered (13+ sequences) with knife counters to joint locks in good detail as well countering a kick with a knife. There is also countering the counter, hands vs the knife w/ one ground
situation. One chapter is dedicated to "commando techniques", knife vs knife quick kills.

There is also use of the closed balisong, remember however, a closed balisong is larger than some open folders. A bit shorter than "Secrets", it's the perfect companion to any of the Sulite books and vids and a step up from the Inosanto text. This is for knife folk, balisong freaks, int and adv level FMA stylists.

The only criticism I have is the smaller size of the photos as compared to 'Secrets' which is crucial if you're covering joint locks. Unfortunately, this book is still out of print.Let's hope it doesn’t stay that way.

 
Smoke,
The book sounds great! Do you know if Sulite has any tapes that cover the same material that is in his books. It will be great if he has a tape on advanced Balisong.
 
Donna, there is no pure knife tape. The techniques might not be new to some, I just think it's good to have a reference of techniques. "Secrets" is a good companion to any of the tapes as its' content provides a good introduction to each area (double sticks, espada y daga, improvised weapons).
 
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