Can anyone ID this old mini balisong?

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Mario
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:33 am

Can anyone ID this old mini balisong?

Post by Mario »

Found this one at an antique shop. Appears to be handmade with brass handles and bone inlays (a piece of which is broken off). It was missing the center stop pin when I got it so I made one for it out of a nail. There are no markings. Could this be a Filipino? Or maybe Japanese?
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knife7knut
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Re: Can anyone ID this old mini balisong?

Post by knife7knut »

It appears to be a post WWII model from the Phillippines.Are the bolsters horn or plastic? The early ones were made of horn.The size is a bit uncommon and it looks like a nice one.The bone should be an easy fix.
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Mario
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:33 am

Re: Can anyone ID this old mini balisong?

Post by Mario »

knife7knut wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 3:28 am It appears to be a post WWII model from the Phillippines.Are the bolsters horn or plastic? The early ones were made of horn.The size is a bit uncommon and it looks like a nice one.The bone should be an easy fix.
While the handles appear to be made of brass, it doesn’t actually have bolsters. That’s just the bare handles. Maybe it did at one point and they came off and somebody re-pinned it. It was a nice find though. Been wanting to find a Philippines one for a while. Maybe I’ll come up with a fix for the missing bone at some point.
knife7knut
Posts: 10068
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:02 pm
Location: Tecumseh,Michigan

Re: Can anyone ID this old mini balisong?

Post by knife7knut »

Mario wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:11 pm

While the handles appear to be made of brass, it doesn’t actually have bolsters. That’s just the bare handles. Maybe it did at one point and they came off and somebody re-pinned it. It was a nice find though. Been wanting to find a Philippines one for a while. Maybe I’ll come up with a fix for the missing bone at some point.
Now that I look at the pictures again I can see that there are no bolsters. My computer's brightness isn't the greatest in the world.It may possibly have been made without bolsters although most of the early Phillippine balisongs had either horn or aluminum bolsters;sometimes decorated with small plastic discs.Here are a couple that I have to show what they look like.The bolsters on these are brass;aluminum;bone, and horn.The first one is also marked,"Phillippines" which is not common. The blade is also a spear point rather than the normal clip point.
Attachments
PhillippinesBalisong.JPG
UnmarkedPhillippineBalisong1Handle.JPG
UnmarkedPhillippineBalisong3Handle..JPG
UnmarkedPhillippineBalisong5Handle.JPG
UnmarkedPhillippineBalisong6Handle.JPG
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
Mario
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:33 am

Re: Can anyone ID this old mini balisong?

Post by Mario »

knife7knut wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:50 pm
Mario wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:11 pm

While the handles appear to be made of brass, it doesn’t actually have bolsters. That’s just the bare handles. Maybe it did at one point and they came off and somebody re-pinned it. It was a nice find though. Been wanting to find a Philippines one for a while. Maybe I’ll come up with a fix for the missing bone at some point.
Now that I look at the pictures again I can see that there are no bolsters. My computer's brightness isn't the greatest in the world.It may possibly have been made without bolsters although most of the early Phillippine balisongs had either horn or aluminum bolsters;sometimes decorated with small plastic discs.Here are a couple that I have to show what they look like.The bolsters on these are brass;aluminum;bone, and horn.The first one is also marked,"Phillippines" which is not common. The blade is also a spear point rather than the normal clip point.
Those are some nice ones, knife7knut! Thanks for sharing!
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