Ideas for new MT balisong...

M

mgeoffriau

Joined
Apr 20, 2001
Messages
922
This idea just struck me, so if it's been mentioned already then please disregard it. I was thinking about the new MT balisong, and how it's blade will be rather easily replaceable. WHILE thinking about that, I was flipping by Jag with the tape on the blade, and all of a sudden it hit me: why not make a cheap, stainless steel blank blade for the MT. All if would have to be is cheap, preferably somewhat stainless (no reason for a high carbon steel), about the size and weight of a regular blade, and VERY VERY dull. Flat ground even. Just a blank, rounded off piece of steel about the size of a regular blade.
Wouldn't this be ten times better than having to tape up a nice blade? It'd be safer, and you wouldn't have to worry about damaging the nice blade (or your hands, shoulders, feet, etc) while doing aerials or other crazy stuff. Let me know what you think of this idea.
 
i second the motion!

aleX.


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sharp blades are friendlier than sharp tongues.
 
Just like a trainer. I like it.
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Exactly, and that would be the beauty of it. Trainers, because they're usually rather cheap, are not all that great. But if all you had to do was switch out the blade, then you could enjoy the nice handles and precision action of the MT.
 
Hi!

Making a trainer version, could maybe be nice for those living in legally challenged areas as well. After all, a trainer is not a knife is it?

And with interchangable blades, who knows what one might order later.....
biggrin.gif


NILS (lurks here now and then)
 
Actually, that's an interesting thought. If this MT bali is pretty much dismantle-able (new word), then they'll presumable sell replacement parts, not just blades, right? And there's certainly nothing wrong with buying one knife handle, another knife handle, and finally the blade and whatever pins, latches, etc you need. But it wouldn't be buying a knife, so they couldn't say you were breaking the law.
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by NILS:
Hi!

Making a trainer version, could maybe be nice for those living in legally challenged areas as well. After all, a trainer is not a knife is it?</font>
Click to expand...

That would make sense, but there's no law that says laws have to make sense. I think this story pretty well sums it up:

The appearance of impropriety is something to be concerned about, because hardly anyone cares to go any deeper than appearances. Several months ago, I flipped open a borrowed Gerber A/F Covert to open some packaging for a customer (couldn't find the store's box-cutter). He looked at me with panic-stricken eyes and said: "Holy S***!! That is SOOO illegal!!" I of course explained to him the applicable laws, and demonstrated quite clearly that it was not a "switchblade."

The moral of the story: Just because it doesn't have an edge doesn't mean you'll be free from any troubles, because at a glance, it will still look like it has one to most people. See also the "Busted" thread in General.

Also:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">But it wouldn't be buying a knife, so they couldn't say you were breaking the law.</font>
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I'm pretty certain you could get one to you that way, but again, once assembled, you get problems.

Not to be flaming or anything, just use caution when trying to get items that may be seen as legally shady.

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What's that? A bag of tricks?
No, it's a bag of knives!
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Making a trainer version, could maybe be nice for those living in legally challenged areas as well. After all, a trainer is not a knife is it?</font>
Click to expand...

In most states, a realistic-looking fake weapon is considered a weapon just the same. How different looking would the trainer blade have to be to be considered not a weapon? I'm no lawyer, but I suspect that the answer might be, "different enough so that a prosecutor could not convince a jury that a person standing twenty-one feet away could not mistake it for a live blade even if the blade was being moved around quickly or manipulated."

Last year, an Oregon man was acquitted in a case where he shot another man dressed entirely in black and wearing a mask who was tried to enter his house with a drawn gun. The shooter shoutted several times at the man, but he kept coming. It turned out that the intruder was a Japanese exchange student who spoke almost no english. He was going to a hallowen party. The gun was a plastic toy, part of his costume. He had the wrong address. The jury acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

Last year, a man was shot quite a number of times by police when he reached into his pocket a drew a gun. It turned out that it was actually his wallet that he was drawing. The shooting was ruled justified.

The point is that you need to be very careful with "look alike" things.


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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
In the eyes of the law a "knife " does not mean the blade has to be sharp or made of metal ,"knife" is a cutting tool ,police wont care if the blade is sharp or dull its still a knife !

TJ
 
Great idea!

/Colinz

BTW if you live in la-la land (or condition white) you do stupid mistakes like those mentioned above. One more thing, ALWAYS comply to what a LEO says. If he made something wrong, sue him/his department afterwards.
 
I've got it. The trainer should have no beveled edges and no points and should be powdercoated BRIGHT ORANGE. Just like the tips of toy guns now The powdercoat should hold up well and it would distinguish a trainer.
 
Sorry if I offended anyone......

I think the biggest potential legal problem with a trainer, might be that it could be seen as a knife if one could easily put an edge on one with say a bench grinder.

Anyway, a comb might be in the clear...

Even if Microtech doesn`t make a trainer or a comb, there are possibilities. If the blades are interchangable, crafty individuals could make plastic combs or blanks for safe shipping (real blade shipped separately). That might give the knives a larger market.

If you choose to aquire a balisong and live somewhere with unfavourable laws, it`s unwise to carry your knife or tell people about it.

NILS
 
Sorry, but why would anybody want a $200 trainer with a blunt blade, when they can simply have a standard model? Is tape that hard to do when you are practicing something with high exposure? Don't most of us work with live blades most of the time?
 
That's a good point, which is why my original idea was to simply offer a training blade seperately. We've all run that idea in different directions, but my original thought was that if you could buy a simple, safe "blade" that you didn't have to worry about scratching, dropping, bending, or cutting yourself with, for maybe $15 bucks, I'd rather do that than have to deal with taping and untaping a really nice blade (as I'm sure the MT will have). And let's face it, you have to tape up a blade really good, and then retape it every so often. And then if you wanted to use the knife, you get to untape and clean off the blade. Simply replacing (as we're being told it should be easy to do) the blade would be a lot cleaner, more elegant solution.
The thing that really made me think about this was that while I would love a nice BM or the new MT, I can't imagine just using it constantly (like I do my jag) for fear of damaging it. With a beater blade, you could practice with it and not worry about it.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Steve Harvey:
Sorry, but why would anybody want a $200 trainer with a blunt blade, when they can simply have a standard model? Is tape that hard to do when you are practicing something with high exposure? Don't most of us work with live blades most of the time?</font>
Click to expand...

 
Already in the works folks
wink.gif


Stay tuned
smile.gif


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Mike Turber
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I'm telling you, for the trainer you should just make a spoon "blade" : )... then i could toast my heroin in style j/k-
-Gibberish*
 
Mike: HAHAHA

You sure had 'em goin didnt you!!! you just waited for that 12th or so post in the debate, and showed eveybody who's right
wink.gif
 
Yep,

Mike certainly knows how to work with the forums as a marketing tool.

Which is good. Because (as Kottler states) the organization that best fills the need/wants/interests of the consumer will be the one that survives (or something like that).

And we who are interested in knives benefit from that.
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/Colinz
 
Hey, that's cool, Mike. Since I, um, came up with a good idea that you already thought of, um, don't you think I should get a pre-pro MT balisong for my contribution? After all, if I hadn't posted this idea, you would have, um, still gone ahead with your idea, and, um, done it anyway....*sigh* oh never mind.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Mike Turber:
Already in the works folks
wink.gif


Stay tuned
smile.gif


</font>
Click to expand...

 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Sorry, but why would anybody want a $200 trainer with a blunt blade, when they can simply have a standard model? Is tape that hard to do when you are practicing something with high exposure? Don't most of us work with live blades most of the time?</font>
Click to expand...

Trainers are not normally used for manipulation. As you say, tape is just fine for that. Unless Microtech is planning to use Velcro, I suspect that putting on and removing a strip of tape will prove a lot easier and more convenient than disassembling and reassembling the knife to change blades.

The nice thing about tape is that it doesn't dramatically change the shape, weight, or "feel" of the blade. A proper training blade is heavier than a live blade since it stays thicker (much thicker) at the edge and the point is round and blunt having considerably more material. Weight at the tip is a problem for balisong manipulation. It can really change the feel of the knife. If you have, as I have, manipulated a Benchmade 45 and a 44 back-to-back, even at the same time, you know what I mean. Everything about these two knives is the same except the blade. The 45 has the sleek Weehawk with its very light tip (even a swedge to further reduce the tip weight). The 44 has a chunky Tanto with lots of weight at the tip. The difference in manipulation is dramatic. So, unless the trainer is weighted exactly the same as the real blade, it's less useful.

Blunt trainers are used for combative training. In this case, tape does not give acceptible safety margin and subtle issues of blade weight are less important.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
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