Presentation-grade Snakewood, of course.
Snakewood is one of the most difficult materials to work with. Vance said this was the most difficult project he's ever done. Even Mel Pardue got in on the act and helped out. Vance, who assembled ALL of the last-edition Benchmade customs and, therefore, knows them all quite well, said this was his favorite of the whole lot.
I'm not a big Tanto fan, but I have to say that Mr. Elishewitz's interpretation of the Tanto for this edition is a tanto that even I can like (hopefully, since I own three. Sorry(I don't think there's a smiley face for ducking incoming rotten fruit). (And, no, I am not going to post pictures of the other two because they're part of a set of four (ducking more rotten fruit) that all have identical handles, a special design that I came up with myself and have never before seen on any balisong and don't want copied. I did have on my site, for a while, but I think it's not linked in (I should fix that) a picture of just the four blades with the serial numbers visible since somebody accused me of not having that many of the final edition customs. Sorry, I do (ducking again). Now you know why I am, "
THE balisong collector himself"... dot com and everything.))
Most Tanto's strike me as very crude and very heavy and clunky. Mr. Elishewitz's tanto for these special Bali-Songs, however, are very energetic. They strike me as being in motion even when they're sitting on display (which, by the way, mine rarely do since I keep them in a bank vault).
If you had to ask me to pick the best balisong in my collection, this is one that would definitely be on the short list.
The funny thing is that I bought the blade and handles without picking an insert. It was the last blade and BM was actually having troubles finding a buyer for it. So, I scooped it up thinking I'd pick out some insert for it and eventually use it as trading fodder. Then, at the Oregon Knife Collector's Show, I found this wonderful piece of Snakewood. I'm not gonna tell you how much I paid for this chunk of Snakewood, but the seller said it was one of the finest pieces he has ever handled.
Vance took it from me at the show. Some time later, I got a call saying, "come and see this thing." I was floored. The only word to use is gorgeous.
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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
[This message has been edited by Gollnick (edited 12-20-2000).]
