History-

    The knife is one of the most ancient tools known to man. In it's earliest form, it consisted of a piece of wood, stone or bone, with a jagged edge. Human creativity soon led to chippin, rubbing or flaking the material to produce a crude cutting implement. This was the first product of human ingenuity dating back millions of years, and an act that led to man's dominance over animals.

     The balisong, or Filipino butterfly knife, is one of the ancient weapons of Kali, the ancestral art of all the Malaya-Polynesian fighting systems. This mystic art is considered to be the deadliest fighting system in the world. Kali's domain was rooted in the Malay archipelago, but its scope of influence reached far beyond its territorial sphere. In some parts of the Asia, as well as Africa, the Pacific Islands, Central and South America, Kali, was and still is considered the art of arts.

     The knife's ancestry dates back to the latter part of the T'ang dynasty, around 800 A.D. An ancient Filipino legend recalls the story of one warrior trained in the Filipino martial arts who dispatched 29 enemies with a folding knife. The folder, the forerunner of today's balisong, is referred to by native Filipinos as the "Veintinueve", which means 29 in memory of that feat.

     The orignal knife took its name from the small barrio called Balisong, in the Batangas region of the Philippines.

     Literally translated, "bali" means to break, and "sung" means horn. The early handles were carved out of animal horns. This was the "Broken horn knife".

 

     Th ealry butterfly knives were made from available materials, and were rather crude when compared to Japanese blades. But unlike Japanese blades, the balisongs weren't meant to pierce through feudal armor. In the heat of the tropics, the target of a balisong was usually a nearly nude human body. For that purpose, they were more than adequate.

    The first butterfly knives were introduced to the United States by early Filipino immigrant farm laborers, and by returning GI's who brought them back as war souvenirs. The soldiers referred to them as "click-click" knives because of thier fancy but noisy action. For the same reason the Filipino-American kids of that era called them "bali-songs"-"bali" means to break and "song" for the song of the blade. In the Filipino communities like Stockton, California, the balisong was as common as baseball to American kids. Every-5 year old knew how to open one, even though they might not know how to use it.

    The balisong disappeared in the 50's because of the unsavory reputation attached to the switchblade, flick knives and motorcycle gangs of the period. Remember Marlon Brando in "The Wild One", James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" and "The Blackboard Jungle"? All the knives were considered dangerous weapons in the hands of criminals, delinquents and motorcycle gang members. The Balisong appeared in Jackie Chan's "The Big Brawl" and in 1981, Burt Reynolds film "Sharkey's Machine" and Cheech and Chong film showed a balisong used to open a bottle of wine-other films featuring the balisong, "Silent Rage" "Ten to Midnight" and "Outsiders"