Butterfly knife or balisong is a compact and very beautiful knife. The popularity of this knife was brought by the way it was opened. Due to the design, there are a large number of ways to open the knife, which makes this process attractive.

Before the advent of karambit, the butterfly knife could often be seen in films and games. The knife has excellent versatility, due to which it is actively used by tourists and hunters. There is also a whole subculture of “flipping”, where various methods of twisting the knife are used.

How balisongs or butterfly knives appeared

There is no exact version of the origin of the butterfly knife.

According to the Philippine version, this knife appeared in the 8th century and was a family heirloom that was passed down by family members for generations. According to one version, the design of the knife symbolized the sky, earth and water. But archaeological excavations in the area did not allow to confirm this version.

The butterfly knife also has the name "balisong", which translates as "broken horn" and "thundering horn". Scientists have confirmed that the first Philippine knife handles were made using the horns of various animals.

this year the first documentary mention of balisongs was found

In the same year, the first butterfly knives were made in the Philippine city of Batangas, which are very similar to modern balisongs.

The document mentions that the first knife was made by the blacksmith Perfect de Leon. The knife was made using noble metals and had a total length of the handle and blade - 29 cm.

In the European version, the butterfly knife was widely used in the 18th century and combined a ruler designed on the handle and a blade. According to this version, the knife is a direct descendant of the conventional folding knife. A version is also being discussed that the Europeans simply modified the knife of an exotic design previously found in the Philippines.

Butterfly weapon

There is another version according to which the Americans created and brought this knife after the Second World War to the Philippine Islands. At that time, there were clashes between the Japanese and American armies on the islands. After that, the butterfly knife began to be used by local residents.

Butterfly knife design

Butterfly knife - folding. When opened, the blade of the butterfly knife emerges along an arc path from the handle into which it hides. The handle is a combination of two plates in which there is a place under the blade.

Each half of the handle has a connection with the blade of the knife, which allows, when opening the knife, to make a turn of 180 ° in the opposite direction from the blade. When fully opened, the blade is exposed and the two hilts fold to form a single piece.

Also, when fully opened, you can fix the handle. It cannot be said that the butterfly knife lies comfortably in the hand. This is not true. The handles of other knives are much more ergonomic than the balisong.

Butterfly knife details

The design of a standard balisong includes the following elements:

• blade;
• latch;
• 2 pins;
• handle divided into 2 parts;
• 2 hinge pins.

In the modern world, such a knife is sometimes called a "steel butterfly". In general, the design is made of various metals, the blade consists of high-quality metal, and the handle is made of cheaper and lighter.

Is a butterfly knife a melee weapon?

Balisong is not a melee weapon. A butterfly knife was often used at the end of the last century by criminals in cinema, which accompanied the promotion of the version that it was one of the types of edged weapons.

At the present time, this knife is more often used in household, tourist and hunting activities. The law allows the use of a butterfly knife if the blade length does not exceed 9 centimeters.

In some countries, such as Germany and Australia, the law prohibits the free wearing of balisongs. In Europe, a butterfly knife is a cold weapon.

Varieties of butterfly knives

On sale you can find many types of balisongs, which consist of various metals and have a large selection of blade and handle models. Given the entire range of modern products, you can divide all the knives into several types.

The main types of butterfly knives:

1. ultra-small - blade length less than 90 mm;
2. small - blade length up to 190 mm;
3. medium - blade length up to 240 mm;
4. large - blade length up to 290 mm.

Additional:

• exotic knives;
• training knives.

Butterfly knife with wavy blade

How to do it yourself

The butterfly knife has a simple design, which allows you to make this knife yourself at home. For manufacturing, you will need some material, tools and a drawing of a bolisonga, which can be found on the Internet. Required Tools

• Bulgarian;
• grinding and cutting wheels;
• vise;
• drill;
• a set of nozzles for metal carving;
• punch;
• hammer;
• screws;
• round and flat file;
• sandpaper.

Drawings of bolisongs differ only in design. The mechanism for opening the blade is the same for all.

Butterfly Knife Drawing
Butterfly knife scheme

Next, draw or find and print a sketch of the knife. For the manufacture of the blade, stainless steel is best suited, with a thickness of 2 to 4 mm. You can also use an old circular saw blade or an old knife. During the manufacture of the handle, it is best to use soft metals up to 3 mm.

Manufacturing process

1. The first step is to transfer the sketch of the drawing to a metal blank.
2. After marking, fix and process the workpiece, cutting the metal as close as possible to the markup. During the manufacture of the handle, which consists of 2 parts, you will need to make 4 blanks, 2 for each part. Then process the resulting parts with a file and a grinder. The width of one plate should not exceed 14 mm.
3. After processing, holes should be drilled in the plates. The part of the plate that will be attached to the handle with a hinge should be drilled with drills of various sizes. Then, using hinges, fasten the handle plates. After fixing, drill a hole up to 2.5 mm on one part of the plate, drill two holes on the other part, 3 and 5.5 mm. Two plates form one part of the knife handle. Perform the same operation with other plates.
4. Having drilled the plates, the handle should be sanded and riveted. In places for riveting there should be holes of about 3 mm. After grinding all the parts, you should take 1 part of the handle and assemble it from two halves, screwing them together with screws into 3 mm holes. Perform the same operation with the other part of the knife.
5. Next, you should make a latch that will securely fix the knife handles in the open position. We drill a hole of 2.5 - 3 mm in one prefabricated handle, a retainer will be attached to this hole with a rivet. For the fixative, it is best to use a piece of lead. You can shape the future retainer using a flat file. Lead is a soft metal that can be easily worked. After giving the desired shape, a hole should be drilled in the latch, similar to the hole in the handle and fixed with riveting.
6. After the work with the handle of the future knife, you need to start drilling and turning the blade. The work is done using a file and a grinder. Having received the blade of the desired shape, you need to drill 3 holes: 2 - 3 mm each and 1 - up to 5 mm, then grind the metal. The sharp part of the blade should be on the handle with the lock.
7. The final stage is the assembly of all parts. The first step is to make a riveting in the blade of the blade with a central hole of 5 mm, this will be a latch that helps to extend the blade when opening one part of the knife.
   Then, pulling the hinges out of the handle, attach 4 parts to the blade, attaching 2 parts to one side of the blade, where the hole is 3 mm, and made a riveting on both sides. Perform the same operation on the other side. After assembly, check the knife for opening and closing.

There is still no consensus on why a butterfly knife is needed. Balisongs cannot be called comfortable in everyday life. A review of the butterfly knife showed that it is used as a decorative or collectible item. Criminals use it for psychological pressure on the victim during a robbery. Among young people, he established himself as an element of subculture.

The balisong knife, popularly called the "butterfly", is the world's most recognizable frame-type hinged knife. Butterfly knife became the only knife in the world, because of which a whole subculture of “flipping” has developed. It builds on various types of balisong spins and includes tricks with a butterfly knife.

A real butterfly knife became widespread immediately after the end of the Second World War. American soldiers really liked the traditional Filipino knives, and they massively imported them to their homeland. Shortly thereafter, Hollywood cinema in its action films began to hand balisongs into the hands of street gangsters without exception. Thanks to this, the spectacular folding knife has gained worldwide love and recognition.

The reason for the popularity of this type of knives was not only the simplicity and reliability of this design. The movies led to every street thug trying to get a few of these butterfly knives, and they used them for more than just "flipping".

The special design of the knife allows you to quickly open it with either hand, in addition, it is equally convenient for both right-handed and left-handed people. The masterful rotation of these knives in both hands had a bewitching effect on passers-by, and they resignedly gave their wallets to the street bandits, knowing that they would not hesitate to put the knives into action.

How Butterfly Knives Came to Be

Now it is not known exactly about the origin of balisong knives. There are many versions, but two are the most popular: Filipino and European.

The Philippine version is very poetic, like all local legends. According to her, balisong appeared in the eighth century. Being a family shrine, it was passed down from father to eldest son through the centuries. The divorced halves of the handle and the blade symbolized the earth, sky and water. However, research has failed to confirm this legend. During excavations, such knives have never been found, and in the tales of the Filipino peoples, the traditional “Bolo” knife is usually found, and there is not a single word about the butterfly knife.

The name "balisong" itself can be translated as "thundering horn" or "broken horn". The handles of the first Philippine knives were made from buffalo horn.

The first documented references to these knives date back to 1905. It was then that the first butterfly knives began to be made in the city of Batangas. Their blade, together with the handle, was 29 centimeters long. The first to make a knife, which is practically no different from modern analogues, is the local blacksmith Perfecto de Leon.

The Western version of the appearance of knives of this type is more prosaic. If you follow her logic, it turns out that the balisong is a direct descendant of the folding European line, combined with a knife. Knives of a similar design appeared in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century.

Most likely, the European model of a working folding knife was simply modified by a local blacksmith, who made a formidable weapon out of a household item.

Butterfly knife design elements

The classic butterfly knife consists of the following elements:

1. Blade;
2. Two-piece handle;
3. Latch;
4. two pins;
5. Two hinge pins.

There are grooves in the halves of the handle, such a scheme allows the blade to hide correctly between the two halves of the handle. Sometimes the shank of the knife has protrusions in front of the handle, which act as a limiter and prevent the hand from slipping onto the blade.

Types of balisongs

Now on sale you can find many models of balisongs. They are both classic and with an unusual blade shape. The famous master of knife fighting Jeff Imada divides them into four groups, we will add two more:

1. Large balisongs up to 29 centimeters long;
2. Medium length up to 24 centimeters;
3. Small under 19;
4. Ultra-small, the length of which does not exceed 9 centimeters;
5. Butterfly training knife, it can be either with a blunt blade or with a comb-shaped blade;
6. Knives with exotic blades.

The last item should be considered as collectible knives, although there are also quite working combat options.

KNOX Shikari Butterfly Knife Review

This balisong model from the Russian manufacturer Knox is positioned as an additional hunter's knife. It can be immediately noted that balisongs are loved by city hooligans, but have never been hunting knives.

The build quality of this model is excellent. There are minor flaws, such as poor fitting linings or small gaps. This does not affect functionality.

The handle in the hand lies quite comfortably, due to the plastic lining. The stops on the blade are processed and do not dig into the hand. What steel was used to make the blade is not specified.

An interesting feature of this knife, which allowed the manufacturer to classify it as a hunting one, is the presence of an extractor for extracting cartridge cases from a gun.

Butterfly knife cold weapon?

In the 90s, a legend appeared that all butterfly knives are edged weapons. This happened due to the fact that the bandits often used balisongs in their showdowns. The law also interprets that knives of this design are edged weapons, provided that their blade length is more than 90 millimeters. Most butterfly knives in our country do not fall under the category of edged weapons for this very reason.

Abroad, for example, in Germany, balisongs are prohibited; in Australia, you need a special permit to wear them.

Is it possible to make a balisong yourself using a drawing

The design of the butterfly knife is quite simple, so for its manufacture you will need a drawing and materials for the knife. The drawing can be found on the Internet, and materials can be purchased at special knife stores or you can carve all the elements of the knife yourself. The easiest way would be to take a Chinese “donor” and replace the blade and handle lock with it. So we get a quality knife that is not inferior in quality to branded counterparts.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

I am fond of martial arts with weapons, historical fencing. I write about weapons and military equipment because it is interesting and familiar to me. I often learn a lot of new things and want to share these facts with people who are not indifferent to military topics.

The butterfly knife, or balisong as it is called in the Philippines, has become very popular with people who are attracted by the beauty of the weapon. It is very convenient, light, compact, quickly put into working position with a simple movement of the hand, safe for transportation. Many people dream of such a knife, someone is thinking of buying it, and those who want to make such a knife on their own, for example, like a butterfly knife from cs go or a Gradient butterfly knife from a game known to many, can get acquainted with useful tips.

To make a simple butterfly knife, we need some tools - a grinder, cutting and grinding wheels, a bench vise, a drill with a set of drill bits for metal, a caliper, a center punch, a hammer, sandpaper, an M3 tap for metal, a round needle file.

Next, choose knife sketch, the easiest way is to find it on the Internet and print it on a printer in full size. It won't be too difficult. You can look at the drawing of the butterfly knife, which is presented below.

blade material

The blade is made of durable tool, structural, but best of all stainless steel with a thickness of 2-4 mm. Steel close to the required hardness can be found in many places. An old circular saw blade, a worn flat file or a garden hoe will work, one of the best options is a piece of a knife of a suitable length.

Handle material

The handle for a butterfly knife is made of mild steel sheet with a thickness of about 3mm, stainless steel or brass. These materials are easy to process and quite durable.

• fasteners
• The blade hinges are made of M3 screws, preferably with a turnkey internal hexagon. You can buy them at the hardware store.
• Nails 70-80 mm and 3 mm in diameter.
• The latch of the halves of the handle can be made from an M6 bolt about 20 mm long.

Manufacturing

1. We mark the workpiece. Having taken a sketch or drawing of the details of the future knife, we transfer them to the surface of the material, the handles to soft sheet metal, which one - we look above, and to stronger steel - a sketch of the blade.
2. Locksmith processing. Using a grinder and a cutting disc, we cut out rough blanks from the material. To begin with, let's make handles, each handle consists of 2 halves of sheet metal. Such halves will require 4 pcs. the same size. Rough workpieces are clamped in a vice and processed, using a grinder and a file, each to the desired size indicated on the drawing. With a file, chamfer or round off sharp edges. The width of the plate should be 12-14 mm.
3. We drill holes. Next, we retreat from the edge of the ends of each plate by 5 mm and mark the recesses for the future hole with a center punch. The part of the plates that will be attached to the handle with a hinge needs to be drilled in different sizes, we need 3 drills with a diameter of 2.5, 3 and 5.5 mm. We split the plates into pairs. A pair of plates is one part of the knife handle. They need to be fastened through a hinge with a blade using screws. We drill one plate at the mark with a 2.5 mm drill and cut the M3 thread with a tap. On the second plate we drill a hole with a diameter of 3 mm and in the same hole with a 5.5 mm drill we make a recess half the thickness of the plate. This is the socket for fixing the screw head. Do the same with the other two plates.
4. We grind and glue. We remove the burrs and grind with a petal disc using a grinder. We carry out a test assembly of the halves of the handles using M3 screws. Next, we take one of the knife handles and disassemble it, from the opposite end of one plate you also need to drill and cut the M3 thread, and in the other plate there is a 3mm hole and a recess for the screw head 5.5 mm. This screw will secure the latch for the butterfly knife. In the other handle, using a rivet from a nail, you can fix a remote washer for fastening the halves of the handle, but in order for the latch to go into the groove between the plates, the washer must be fixed, stepping back from the edge of the end of the handle 5 mm. Distance washers should be 1 mm thicker than the knife blade and the same width as the handle plates or less, fastened with two rivets through drilled holes with a diameter of 3 mm. Distance washers are installed in both handles in front of the latch, but so that they do not interfere with its operation.
5. Fixture manufacturing. We take the M6 ​​bolt and with a file we give it a square shape in cross section slightly less than the distance washer, and the head - the shape of a fungus for fixing in the grooves of the handle, we drill a 3 mm hole from one end, the distance from the fixing axis of the latch (hole) to the step of the fungus is 1 ,5 * S where S is the maximum width of the handle plate in mm. We assemble the handles, rivet the spacers, check the operation of the latch. It should fit into the groove between the handle plates without jamming. You can lighten the knife by drilling holes in the handle symmetrically, it will also be a good solution in decor, as shown in the photo of the butterfly knife.
6. The blade is the base of the knife. Now about the knife blade: the steel for the blade is much stronger and harder than on the handles, therefore, it is more difficult to process it with tools - to drill and grind. Next, you should transfer the sketch of the blade to the metal and perform a metalwork with a grinder and a file, roughly cut it out, shape the blade so that it fits in the cavity of the handle and does not interfere with the closing of the latch. The blade should be with one-sided sharpening, as a rule, from the side of the fastening of the latch. We mark on the blade with a center punch the places for drilling 2 holes with a diameter of 3 mm for attaching hinges. The distance between the centers of the holes is equal to the maximum width of the handle plate. You should also drill two holes to fix the pins in them, preventing the blade from swinging on the hinges in the working position.
7. Fixing pins. The length of these pins will be slightly less than the total thickness of the knife handle assembly. Only 2 pins are located in the holes located symmetrically with respect to the holes for the hinges at a distance of 14-15mm from the centers. We install the pins with a hammer into the blade with an interference fit, for this they must be 0.05 mm larger than the hole diameter.
8. We collect, we customize, we paint. We assemble everything together according to the drawing of a knife blade with two halves-handles using M3 screws, the length of the screws should be the thickness of the knife. Between the handle and the blade in the hinge we put on each side a washer made of brass or bronze with a hole of 3 mm, in total 4 such washers are needed. 0.5 mm thick. They will facilitate the opening of the butterfly knife and remove the gaps between the blade and handles. The pins rest against the handle, do not allow them to close completely. To get rid of this, we take a round file and file the handle on each side, where the pins rest, until depressions are formed by half the diameter of the pins, making sure that everything is done correctly. The halves of the handle of the butterfly knife must be completely closed in the part of the latch, both in the working position and in the position for transport.

Be able to trade or just buy with your own money. But what if you don't feel like spending your money? That's right, you can print yourself a knife using the drawings.
Naturally, this knife will not be in the game, but at least somehow you can rejoice.

Drawings of knives

If you want to print a knife, and then draw it in high quality or make a knife out of corrugated cardboard, then we have attached screenshots for this, and with the help of them you can first print the knives, and then do what you want. I will say right away that making a real copy of a knife is not so easy, so set yourself up for the fact that you will sweat well. Having made a knife, throw links to photos in the comments and I will publish the best ones in the article.

Butterfly knife drawing

This knife will be the hardest to make. Therefore, I advise you to first make some simple knife, for example, a hunting knife. Butterfly will be the most difficult to make, because you will need to come up with something in order for it to spin. And to do this will not be so easy.

The screenshot is made in real size, so that you do not look for unnecessary sizes. By printing the knife, you yourself can measure what you need.

Hunting knife CS:GO

The drawing of a hunting knife is simpler, so it will be easier to make it. However, you will have to sweat a little with the handle and, ideally, make it out of wood.

Bayonet knife CS:GO

It is also not very difficult to make it, so in a couple of hours you can make beauty that you can admire for days.

Karambit knife drawing

By the way, this knife is very simple to make, although it might seem otherwise. In 2-3 hours of work, you can make it and paint it in the desired color.

Bayonet knife M9 blueprint

Just as easy to make as karambit.

I could not place the actual dimensions of the drawings due to the large weight. Therefore, I uploaded all the drawings to Yandex Disk, from which you will download pictures in a few minutes.

If you really make some kind of knife according to these drawings, then be sure to drop the links in the comments.

Knife with hook blade

The drawing of this knife is shown below.

Bonded knives

You can also print this drawing and make it from plywood.

Falchion

The drawing for the falchion, by the way, is also quite complicated.
Photos are small in size so that you can easily view them from your mobile phone. To view and print the actual dimensions of the drawings, you need to download the archive from Yandex Disk.

Hello everyone, in this instruction I will tell you how to make the legendary Butterfly knife. We all often see such a knife in various films, this is a tool beloved by all hooligans. And this is not without reason, this knife is very convenient, has a chic appearance and is durable due to its simple design.

In the manufacture of the knife, the author used quite serious equipment, but this does not mean at all that it cannot be made with common tools, the only question is how long you will make it. The most difficult is the manufacture of grooves in the handles into which the blade will go. In principle, handles are made of aluminum, and this metal is quite easy to process.
There is also a lot of grinding work to be done, here it would be useful to have a belt sander. However, its absence is also not an obstacle, as many craftsmen prove by making wonderful knives with hand tools.

Materials and tools used

List of materials:
- (if you need a good knife);
- aluminum bar (for the manufacture of handles);
- screws;
- washers;
- spring.

List of tools:
- Bulgarian;
- vice;
- ;
- ;
- clamps;
- hammer;
- marker and more.

Knife making process:

Step one. Starting with the blade
We start with the manufacture of the blade, here you will need high-carbon steel, only this type of steel can be hardened. Today you can easily buy a blank for making a knife. Also, similar steel can be found in some saw blades and other tools. Usually good steel has spring characteristics.

We apply a template, circle it with a marker and drill holes. The blade is made according to the standard scheme, the peculiarity is that the blade has a special “bracket” to which the handles are pivotally attached.

At the end, you will have to form the bevels on the blade, as well as install the pin. It is most convenient to make bevels on a belt grinder, setting the blade on a bar. As for the pin, it must be pressed into the blade and ground to the desired size.

If you want to get a really high-quality blade, you will definitely have to temper it. To do this, we heat the blade to a yellowish glow and cool it in oil. To accurately determine the hardening temperature, bring a magnet to the hot metal, it should not react to the steel.

In extreme cases, water is also suitable for cooling, but in it the blade may crack or lead due to too intense cooling.
After hardening, heat the blade in a household oven at 250 degrees Celsius for an hour or two, and then let it cool down gradually. Now your blade will no longer be fragile, it will spring under heavy loads.

At the end of work with the blade, sand it with fine sandpaper dipped in water. Well, then the blade can be polished on the machine to a mirror finish.

Step two. Let's start making a pen
To make a handle, you will need two aluminum bars. First of all, we mark the places for the holes and drill. Most of them are for decorative purposes. The author used a varied number of machines to make pens, but everything can be done by hand.

The most difficult thing will be to cut the grooves for the blade, for this the author needed a machine with a special “thick” disk. If you really try, all this can be done with a grinder and a grinding disc.

Finally, the handle is ground on a belt grinder to the desired profile. We do the final processing manually, using sandpaper.

Step three. Handle lock
The latch can be machined on a lathe or simply in the chuck of a conventional drill. Suitable material is aluminum or steel. We form a profile as in the photo and drill a hole for fastening.

Step four. Collecting a knife!
To assemble the knife, you will need screws, they are wrapped in a thread that is cut into the handles. The screws must be shortened to the correct length. After tightening the screws, both halves should rotate easily relative to the blade. When the knife is open, the handles fix the blade on the axis that is installed in it.