My 2nd Knife ==> Utility Balisong

Frankly, I seldom visit this section of the Forum and now I came only because a forumite posted the link in the balisong section (many thanks dude).
Well, after I saw your knife, my jaw just hit the keyboard. Not only because of the outstanding craftsmanship but because this is so close to the way I think a balisong should be. In fact, when I tried to conceive a "correct" balisong myself, it turned out something pretty similar with yours:

Blade42.jpg


I guess this means I'm on the right track ;)
Congratulations on your outstanding knife and thanks for sharing. Please do continue!

Alex
 
I realy, realy like your balisong!
Seeing stuff like this stimulates me to spend more time on this hobby myself.

May I ask where you bought your Talonite?
 
You may want to think about protecting that design as it is by far the most usable balisong that I have ever seen. Seriously beautiful knife. One question- What are the studs for on the blade? I admit that I know little about balisongs but don't remember seeing those on others before. Please excuse any ignorance in the above question if I am missing something obvious.
 
Cynake: Wow, that feedback makes me speechless! Thank you very much!!!

Grim/Don: That's exactly correct!

dialex: First of all- thank you! Then yes, we both are trying to do something different from the traditional balisong design.

I think it's mainly 3 features which make it more ‘Utility’:

1.) The blade wider than traditional balisongs.
2.) The handle outline- more like a normal folder,
3.) The 2 halves of the handle not so obvious and when you hold it, it feels like one solid handle.

In any case- very nice design you have there! I like it!

Hengelo_77: Thank you! Go for it! You can buy Talonite, Titanium and lots of other stuff at http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/. Then www.knifekits.com has plenty of must have stuff- such as pivots barrels, screws etc.

TLR: Good idea- but I am not sure how to protect the design and how much it would cost me… Anyone? What you call studs- is what I call locking pins and actually of the most common design on balisongs. As far as I know the majority of the balisongs have these locking pins. I guess my pins are more visible since I use 3/16” and 1/4” diameters. :)

Thanks and Regards,

HV
 
Hi dialex,

That would be this one:

Jari_proto05.jpg


But after that one was done, I realized that a similar design was already around. :grumpy:
I probably should add that this one I made 2- 3 years ago.

Regards,

HV
 
Whoa! Very cool looking knife. Indeed, there are many LaGriffe style knives, but yours, just like your balisong, bear its own personality. I like the design a lot and the manufacturing is top notch. :thumbup:
Thank you for answering my request and I'm looking forward to seeing your future creations. :)
 
Thank you very much dialex! I must say that I have many knife design ideas- but so little time. So we shall see how it goes. Maybe the 3rd knife will be ready by Christmas or so…. :D

Regards,

HV
 
You're second knife is much better then mine! What method did you use to shape and finish the carbonfiber and what looks like g10?
Also how did you countersink and get the correct depth and angle with the dremel? I have a simmilar toolset, and I would appreciate any advice!
 
Hi physh,

On the first knife (the one with the finger hole) I shaped the G10 using my Dremel with a sanding band. The good thing is that it’s quick. The bad thing is that it gets messy and you have to be careful, since the sanding bands takes off material very fast.

So for my 2nd knife, the utility balisong, I just used sandpaper and shaped the carbon fiber handles by hand.

Then I used an End Mill in my mini-bench drill to countersink the holes for the screws- not the dremel. I hope that helps.

Regards,

HV
 
dialex said:
Whoa! Very cool looking knife. Indeed, there are many LaGriffe style knives, but yours, just like your balisong, bear its own personality. I like the design a lot and the manufacturing is top notch. :thumbup:
Thank you for answering my request and I'm looking forward to seeing your future creations. :)
Click to expand...

I do agree. Even the LaGriffe isn't the original incarnation of the knife style.
Nice work on both of them!
When is your next knife due to be done? :thumbup:
 
physh: I ended with 1000 grit. Or was it 600... Not sure now...

howiesatwork: Thank you very much! Next knife...? Good question! Difficult to say with a 14 days old son and a 22 months old daughter- taking most of my free time. :) But I am tempted to make a slightly smaller Utility Balisong. Then I have some other design ideas! But the first thing to probably do is to make a belt sander from our old vacuum cleaner or some other motor I can get hold on... Grinding Talonite blade by hand works fine, but takes time- about a total of 8 hours for the balisong blade. :)

Regards,

HV
 
TLR said:
You may want to think about protecting that design as it is by far the most usable balisong that I have ever seen. Seriously beautiful knife. One question- What are the studs for on the blade? I admit that I know little about balisongs but don't remember seeing those on others before. Please excuse any ignorance in the above question if I am missing something obvious.
Click to expand...

I am not sure about patenting the design as there are several curved handle balisongs on the market and the blade design is not something of a one of a kind nice as it is !!
 
That is probably the best balisong I've seen ages! It's hard to believe it's only your second knife!

As for patenting..... I would see if that latch design has been done before and then patent that, sell the rights to companies like Benchmade, and then make some cash off of the royalties they'd have to pay you.....
 
Congrats on your new addition to your family. Lots of years of happiness to you and yours.
 
Hi alejandrino, mmmotorcycle and howiesatwork!

Regarding patenting the design- I guess what’s new might be the way the handle looks like when the knife is open- like an ordinary folder. Then the way the latch works, which might be a new design… But since the design is already announced to the world, I guess it’s no idea to protect it. Just hope that people are honest if they want to use it and contact me first. We will soon find out… Maybe someone starts to offer this design soon. :) Anyway, I have lots of other ideas and when the real good ones com- I will protect them before announcement. ;)

Thank you mmmotorcycle! Yes, only my second knife. What has really helped me is my background as a “handyman” fixing and making things. But also the way I approach problems. Let me share that “little secret” with you. Basically I confirm the overall end-goal. In this case- to design and make a balisong knife which looks like an ordinary folder at the first glance, and then make it by using Talonite, titanium and carbon fiber. At this stage I just ignored the fact that it definitely looked like an overwhelming project and very difficult/impossible to do! Instead I did a breakdown of the project in “modules” and then solved the problems I faced in each “module”- not concerned and worried about other potential future problems. For example, when I drilled the holes in the Talonite I didn’t bother about how to, and if it was possible at all, to later on cut out the blade profile with my limited set of tools. I just focused on getting the holes drilled exact where I wanted them. Then I started to think about how the profile could be cut out. Basically what I am saying is that by breaking down the project in parts and solves each part one by one, suddenly the overall project which at the beginning looked overwhelming- became possible. Then I should probably add that I live in an apartment- but that didn’t stop me since I used the above mentioned approach. :)

Thank you howiesatwork! To have 2 small children definitely means lots of work and not much free time. But its fantastic and I love it!!! :thumbup:

Regards,

HV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top