How many people actually use balisongs?

B

BeardTamer

Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Messages
58
I'm just really curious. How many knife users actually use balisong type knives? And the reason for not posting this in the balisong section is because I was curious about the general consensus from everyone. I already have the presumption that there would be less bali owners than vise versa, mostly just because of different state laws

I for one, don't at all, I'm clumsy, stupid, and have already cut myself enough with simple folders to know that anything that involves flipping steel around my fingers would result in pain.
 
I would like to, but in Kalifornya, you can't carry a balisong with a blade length of over 2 inches. I don't even understand how you can flip one of those open.
 
used to all the time. but then i'm the philippines, where a good percentage of stabbing incidents are caused by fan knives. regarding deployment: it's usually the least of your problems. once opened, rest assured it will never close on your hand.
 
I'd love a 3" or so blade with a pocket clip. A Morpho from BM would be great. I carried one for a while as EDC, though I eventually sold it. If the funds were available, I snag a Morpho to replace it. 3 openings were all I used, windmill, horizontal, and vertical. No cuts, but I practiced them a lot and could tell without looking which handle was the bite handle. (Hint, on mine it was the one with the latch, some are different.)
 
My father, a lineman, carried a model 35 BM for about 6 years as his work knife. Don't know if he ever dropped it out of the bucket tho....:).

Afterthought : this knife was carried after a Buck 110 and right before he carried a fully serrated Spyderco Mariner...each about six years. He still has all three knives and you can tell he used them for real!
TC
 
I do. I'm much more of a user than a flipper. Can hardly flip at all, other than basic open and close tricks. Carry kimuras and bm 53 often. I find them to be prety good users. Plus its legal here where I am carried openly. With a ccw its legal concealed.

I switch which knife types I carry and use all the time.. Sometimes I carry modern one hand opening folders with locks. Sometimes slip joint traditionals. sometimes balis. Some times autos(leagal as well here carried). Sometimes just a fixed blade on my belt(also legal here). Its nice having choices. not to turn this into a legal thread, but its also nice living in a free state when it comes to knives.
 
At times I have carried my Bradley Mayhem. It's blade is great for a lot of edc chores. But I am NOT a bali flipper, and only open/close it with a flip. I have a BM62 on order that I might carry to see how it works.
 
If I owned one I would definitely use it, I can carry any knife I want. Unfortunately I haven't found one that I want and can afford.
 
CARRERA50 said:
Well, I wouldn't mind trying, but it's a felony here in the People's Republik of Kali.
Click to expand...

No it isn't. California penal code section 653k states that it's a misdemeanor to carry one on your person or in the passenger compartment of a vehicle in public. No restrictions on buying or owning them. Selling, trading, or manufacturing them is also illegal. The only way to get a felony is if you use one to commit a crime; the balisong bumps it up to a felony. Cold Steel claims it's a felony to own one in California, which is probably where a lot of people get that idea, but they're lying (or at least heavily misrepresenting in order to sell their faux-song).

I have a few. I don't really use them for a lot of knife things, but I do flip them around.
 
I carried a Spyderfly (I think that's what it's called) in 440C years ago. It's seen a fair amount of use but it's easier to use a conventional folder IMO.

Maybe I'll try and get a pic up of it.

-sh00ter
 
I do occasionally, though im going through a slipjoint phase atm so most other folders have been put on the bench, but when I did carry it would be a 42, Vg-10 Spydie, AF and ive been looking into getting a 53 on the cheap and modifying the handles for some more weight
 
I've got a small collection and I would definitely carry them if it weren't such a gray area legally. I don't need that kind of aggravation.

But I do see the balisong as an ideal EDC, sort of between a slipjoint and a locking folder, easy to get a good-sized blade on one, no problem with folding up while in use.

I've got an old BM 42, a S.W.A.T. black handle, a FHM dagger blade, and a Laci Szabo / Fred Perrin large scimitar.
 
I EDCed a balisong for years. Carried it because I wanted a one-handed folder and Spydercos were not widely available in the early to mid 1980s. Used it for all sorts of chores. Even used it as a throwing knife (until I broke it).
 
i have one in my EDC rotation, used to EDC a balisong for a few years straight. Had one everyday in Afghanistan, couldn't bring it out of the country so its with a terp now, probably still using it to butcher goats and cows.
 
I'm in California so it's not an option, but if it were, I'd carry a bali. I use the one I have at home and I think the design is perfect for EDC. A quality bali is a very useful design, two pivot pins, and the blade is completely safe when closed.. It's really a very practical design.. manipulations aside.. doesn't make a whole lot of sense considering that I can carry an assisted 4 inch folder that would probably deploy much faster .. but that's the law, and why I envy Arizonians.
 
I tried a Bradley Mayhem for a few days.

It was okay, I just couldn't get used to flipping it every time I wanted to use it. Plus you would have to close the lock after it was opened to make it so the handles wouldn't wiggle.

Other than that it worked pretty good.
 
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