"Gatilyo"
If I were to build a balisong of my own, It would be most likely to be this one, This 29cm balisong design is created to fit my personal preference for a balisong that I would keep for myself as a cutting tool and a toy in some sort of way.
The name it carries meaning "trigger" has a very interesting reason to it, as I was flicking a fidget spinner one afternoon, I realized it somehow relieves my boredom much like what flipping a balisong makes us feel, It led me to the idea of adding this protrusion near the tang where you can flick it with a finger to serve as an added leverage much like a flipper in some folding knives to flip open the blade, the gatilyo part may also be used as an impact tool and a weapon of course in a skilled person's hands.
However, you must be extremely cautious as the "gatilyo" was intentionally placed along with the bite handle for its primary purpose wherein you can flick it with a finger to aid you when doing a quick vertical opening which is my favorite way of flipping open a balisong, a functional bottle opener near the tang is another very useful feature of this design that will surely come in handy whenever you need to open a cold beer while relaxing or having a blade conversation with a fellow bali brother.
The blade is 5160 steel, oil quenched and tempered, the handle is a recreation of what I did on a previous kitchen knife build "Maharlika kitchen knives" where I used a combination of kamagong, brass, bone, and hybrid resin for the scales held in place with solid brass pins, the housing and latch are also made out of brass.
so here they are blade brethren, My 5th balisong design, the Gatilyo.
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