What are the practical uses of a balisong? Besides the amazing tricks and sleight of hand that can be achieved with a balisong if one is proficient, what advantages and disadvantages does it have to knife or a switchblade? Is it that useful?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “what is a balisong knife“
The advantage of a Balisong is convenient one-hand opening/closing and they cut. If you need to slice through a rope and you’ve only one free hand, it comes in handy. Good steel holds an edge for a very long time and Balisongs are easy to sharpen on an Edgepro or Lansky clamp system.
I am not a skilled practitioner of all the neat flip tricks I have witnessed some people do, but I do appreciate the ease of opening. The disadvantage in this design is slamming your knuckles between the handles. I’m sure every newbie has experienced their fair share of bruises. I’m a pianist and play the violin so flipping Balisongs to the point of becoming an expert would be impractical for me. To sacrifice my music for a sore hand is not worth it for me; I’ll leave the art of the graceful blade manipulations to you experts.
For my husband and myself, Balisongs are very addictive, just as every knife in our collection is. We have some beautiful works of custom art in our collection, including this Damascus/fossil Bali by Patrick Famin as well as factory manufactured blades such as this model by Benchmade. We appreciate the art of the forge and are most definitely steel junkies!
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Aside from the flashy flip tricks, i don’t see it being too practical compared to other knives. Here’s why.
Drawing – Based on other answers, it takes skill to draw it. That’s very bad for self defense. The most practical knives are easy and quick to deploy.
The design – The knife looks poorly designed in my eyes. I don’t see the practical use of having a safe handle and a latch. Based on what i read, the knife takes alot of skill to use or you’ll cut yourself. Why would you put yourself at risk with your own knife when your life depends on it? To me, it makes no sense. You’re better off using a standard knife with a safe handle and more reach.
Cutting/thrusting power – The balisong doesn’t do alot of damage compared to knives like the Jim Wagner reality based blade. It’s got a serrated edge. That creates huge slashes.
In short, i don’t really see the balisong having too many advantages or disadvantages compared to say a switchblade. I think people just like it because they can do these flippy-floppy sequences. You’re safer using conventional knives for self defense. Check my video and subscribe.
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I have a student who required major surgery in his fingers. After the operation, he did balisong openings/closings to help him regain flexibility in his fingers.
After a hard workout with sticks, students can cool down by doing balisong openings/closings. Hence, they don’t lose time in training.
I require my students to learn balisong openings/closings using their non-dominant hand. It helps develop both hands to the same level of skill.
I use the balisong as a training tool for my students. A switchblade cannot be used as a training tool.
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I cannot compare the balisong to switchblades because switchblades never interested me.
But I will share some the many reasons I love balisongs.
Primarily Fun, no other blade is as fun to play with and consistently offer a challenge at the same time, it is truly an ever evolving platform for performance art of the highest skill level. From what I have seen, it is only just reaching it’s peak in potential for all possible moves.
The range of ways to open the knife make it perfect for every type of use imaginable. working in a factory, your friends tie gets stuck in a roller and you have to draw and cut the tie, (tang down bite handle forward tang grip kydex sheath) allows for a fast back hand cut keeping the blade next to your own body so as not to risk cutting anything else. (this actually happened but it is not my story)
There is currently no finite number of ways to open the blade into 8 different types of grip from any sheath position actually. But there are certain sheath systems which favour different techniques relating to the grip you prefer to use.
Without opening
It can be used as something of a prybar depending on the tang protrusion distance, it can open a paint tin but that is about it.
It can be used as something of a hammer for small panel type nails but it will damage the handle.
If you can lock the head of a nail between the spine and a hole in both sides of a handle you can use it as a nail puller surprisingly successfully.
You use the technique like the above example to grip wire sheath and use it as a wire stripper if you just ring the sheath with the blade first of course.
With a tiny grinding mod you can mod the lock to be used as a bottle opener (mostly on older T locks rather than the finer or more decorative looking spring variety.
You can still add a hook to the spine of the blade to open a bottle, but it will lose blade integrity to do so.
The balisong can be used more proficiently for dexterity and finger strength exercises then any other type of knife because of the squared edges fully enclosing the blade, the almost perfect balance created makes it much more versatile in the range of potential exercises.
It can be used as a self defense weapon without deploying the blade using the techniques of the kubaton. I will highlight a few immediate emergency uses here to demonstrate. Breaking up a fight in a bar, from behind wrapping your arms around the head, lock the balisong under the nose to pull up, or on top of the nose to pull down, grab with the other hand and pull back with force. The level of pain here is incredibly intense and non lethal but it can break the nose and permanently damage the sinuses. If the attacker is bigger there is significant risk of him turning on you if there aren’t people to back you up but it is going to stop the initial fight.
You can use this technique also with a larger multitool but even the multitools are typically too short to gain sufficient grip.
As a blunt impact tool to cause lethal or non lethal harm. Striking the head with the tang is incredibly painful but not debilitating unless it hits weaker spots and thus cracking the skull or the centre of the joints of the four top skull plates. There are of course many other pressure points that can do significant damage to an attacker but most of them are only a viable option if used in a surprise attack.
There are many many ways to use the kubaton to lock up and apply additional pain for the purposes of restraint attacking fingers, joints and areas with little meat on them. for example dropping down with hands each side of the unit and grinding down the front shin bone with the squared edges, bring the body up into the waist and pulling up from the ankle will bring an opponent to the ground without permanent harm but they will find walking and standing difficult and very painful, if you do cause fractures to the shin they could be in hospital for weeks. But with any fight there is risk and you expose the top of your own spine with this technique.
These are just a couple of powerful techniques out of hundreds of possibilities as I just wanted to point out the potential.
I have designed various balisongs over the years that the market has never seen but one of them is designed as a bushcraft and survival tool and employs things such as strong spear construction system as well as self aligning sharpening system that works no matter what sharpening stone you carry. I did once ask the community to help me bring the tool to market but at the time they were too closed minded to realise the potential.
But it highlights the many potential uses the self enclosing concept has over nearly every other folding knife design out there.
It has already been mentioned that this in itself is a major benefit because you can use double edged blades though I do not find double edged blades very practical and pragmatic for utility purposes.
One of the other responses claims to be from a proficient flipper but still describes the many steps and long time it takes to open the knife for use. That is utter nonsense.
First off If you want to quick draw the knife then you have to carry a knife designed for it in a sheath designed for it this is a simple fact.
Nor is it necessary to lock the knife with either a second hand or even the hand holding the blade in order to use it effectively either in self defense or utility.
I have been fortunate in the past to work in an environment with a decent boss who didn’t mind me carrying and using it despite the uk having the strictest balisong laws. So during three years I spent an average 2-3 hours a day on a sewing machine, every single time I needed to cut the thread I used the balisong in a quick deploy, cut and resheath manor. this total process took about 2 seconds by the end of three years. That means, removing from the sheath, opening to clasp closed, cut the thread, closing and resheathing. If I did need to lock and keep the blade open that process took about 1.5 seconds because I also had to rotate the handles laterally.
In a different quick draw method I can have the blade unsheathed and open in .6 seconds, This was measured using frame rates on video capture so it’s not fully accurate and the opening arial itself took a mere .33 seconds. The opening technique is a simple arial. The resulting form is blade up regular grip (a favourite of knife fighters)
Two very different sheaths for two very different drawing techniques. Now I was in my prime one of the fastest flippers on the internet. I can do an 8 ball so quick you wouldn’t even recognise it, well, not any more.
In fact I have many older videos where I don’t even know what I was doing. But my style and knife choice is the prime reason I could get that fast to begin with. Point is. Fast is easily attainable with practice and the right tool.
In terms of practical over other folding knives there are some obvious limitations, such as slimmer blades, you can put a mora style blade in a balisong frame but you wont put a baton suitable blade in there or a cleaver style but I hardly think a cleaver is beneficial in most urban cases.
Personally I think the drop or clip bowie is the most utility suitable design, with a 3/4 flat grind profile tapering to a stone polished convex microbevel.
A tanto profile is a great idea for a tougher blade but if you want to keep that sturdy blade you are going to compromise flipping ability but in certain fast draws you will actually get a faster draw which can help if the purpose is knife defense techniques.
It has already been mentioned that the lock is practically a fixed blade, it is true but with a few exceptions. Lateral twist strength and blade based pry bar bend strength is considerably weaker than other locking mechanisms. And it is dependent on which locking method you choose. Zen pins aren’t the same as a double offset tang pin design.
The design highlight isn’t just a strong lock though, if you take equal money for any other folding knife design on the market and compare it to a balisong designed and built well the balisong will survive 100 times the destructive life time of the other folder. It is the most dropped knife on the planet and this is practically part of it’s function. Other folding knives can be designed tough but every balisong is designed by the very nature of it’s design tougher.
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I’m not really a practitioner, but for self-defense purposes, i think that the Butterfly knife should be use in a flash, as a “startler”(makes your would-be attacker startled from the sudden action). Because really… you want to show him how you can play the knife while he brings out his gun after the knife show…right?
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I like Balisong because they often preclude the need for a fight. Like nunchaku, they five the wielder almost a mythical status. Once you start whipping that thing around, many people lose the will to fight you. If you must engage however, it is as good as any other knife I have ever practiced with. But there is no special kind of practicality unique to a Balisong in my experience.
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it doesn’t have any advantages or disadvantages over other knives. just keep in mind that each knife has its own purpose.
a balisong can be used just like a switch blade, and basic openings actually take very little skill and have low risk
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I’ve owned balis for 45 years. They are among the most practical folding knives ever developed. They are simple, rugged, open very quickly, have the strongest lock on the market, and can have blade shapes that would be impractical with other designs (double-edged, for example).
The downsides are that they are restricted by law in many jurisdictions and that they require some skill to open quickly. The good news is that legals restrictions have been easing in recent years. While they were once treated as switchblades throughout much of the US, those restrictions have been eased in many places. Know the law in your area before dropping one in you pocket.
The one shown above is identical to my current favorite. Because the handles are milled stainless steel, they’re kind of heavy, but these models move like lightning. I wish the blades weren’t made out of 440C, but that was the hot steel back in the 1970s — and they’re usually heat-treated properly, so they avoid some of the issues with 440-series stainless.
And while the ones we know today originated in the Philippines, other cultures have come up with the same design over the ages. The ones above were imported from the Philippines in the 1970s by Gutman Cutlery. They’re lightweight (their handles are made of folded sheets of brass) and feature heavy, hollow-ground carbon-steel blades. They don’t move quite as easily as models with more sophisticated construction.
I used to carry one of these everywhere I went: The Benchmade Morpho. Then some sleaze scotched it from a bag of tools. These are extremely lightweight, featuring laminated handles of titanium and G-10 (circuit board material). But because the blades are thinner than most Benchmades, they handle-to-bl…
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