pure batangas balisongs

J

jericho_c

Joined
Dec 7, 2005
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37
hey guys. I'm not so sure about how to intriduce myself...so i won't really go into that...but i will go into the fact that i'm relatively new to knives, martial arts and anything pretty much in this forum...i recently got really interested in balisongs for no particular reason at all. So my dad showed my an old 5 inch or so bali he had from philippines. Though it's not sharp, it's still a bali. Horn handles and all. My question is, for all the filipinos or whoever has their hands on a philippine-made bali, where did you get them? as far as i know, to get good balis, you have to have connections with people who know families who produce them. Is this true? Thank you.


edit: I'm sorry. i thought I was in the knife section of this forum. MY apologies.
 
Hand made balis like you describe are a cottage industry in the Philippines. A lot of these are (or at least were) sold at tourist shops.

Back in the '70s local department stores like Tesoro's which specialized in Philippine handicrafts sold balis of all sorts, in different sizes as well. As such, it wasn't necessary to be "connected" in order to buy a balisong. All you had to do was go the store and buy one.
 
i see...but NOW where would i get them? Obviously times have changed and i don't remember going to places like Robsinson's or SM and seeing balisongs. Where do you think i can find some decent balis? I have friends who told me that tale anyways.


thanks for your help
 
I'm not sure what a "good" balisong is like, since my frame of reference would be comparing them to American tactical folders, but balisongs were available when I was in the Philippines in 1999. When in Manila I saw them being sold in malls and on stands in the street. They are made from carbon steel and while some may open smoothly others were too tight to flip open.

One thing to be aware of is that with the people I spoke with, "balisong" wasn't the common word for the knife. "Batangas knife" and "fan knife" were more common. Of course if you see someone selling them and you tell him you want to buy it he'll know what you mean.
 
that's odd. my folks called it balisong when i told them about it.

when i go to the islands this summer. I'll try to get my hands on some.
 
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