Butterfly knives

25 Mars 2017

Do you know butterfly knives ? Well I am pretty sure you have already seen this incredible...tool ? I do not know how I am supposed to call them, because in fact they are considered as weapons. But they are so much more than just weapons !

Let me introduce you to these objects I became obssessed with.

A butterfly knife, also known as the Balisong is a folding pocket knife. Its distinction is two handles counter-rotating around the tang such that, when closed, the blade is concealed within grooves in the handles. It was traditionally made in the Philippines as a self-defense and pocket utility knife. Although the butterfly knife was and is still a weapon because of its cutting and dangerous blade, its utilisation has been democratized and popularized in the 70s and 80s especially in the USA that started manufacturing balisongs. The reason of this popularization is the other use of the knife : most of the pople using the knife do manipulations, called "flipping" which are performed for art and amusement.

However, considered as deadly weapons, butterfly knives are now illegal or restricted in many countries, often under the same laws and for the same reasons that switchblades are restricted, and in their country of origin they are no longer as common in urban areas as they were. But, luckily, they are legal in France ! In fact, the country allows for detention but not as a thing you can walk in the street with. That is considered as illegal. But in fact, butterfly knives are like cannabis, they can't really make you being jailed if you use them. There are so many public demonstrations of flipping in the street and nobody, include the police cares about that !

The reason of this article is that I have been fascinated by butterfly knives for a long time, and I started to practice the beautiful knife dance one month ago. Do you know the "Kick-Ass" movies ? They are some of my favorite movies. I saw balisongs flipping for the first time in "Kick-Ass" 1 : Hit girl, a lovely little girl and part-time badass ass-bustin' hero does manipulate balisongs. You can watch at the end of the article the scene that made me fall in love with butterfly knives !

When people hear about balisongs, their first reaction is "oh my god, but it is so dangerous, you are going to cut yourself ! Why would you do that ?" And this reaction is understandable because as every martial art, it is difficult to understand why people would take the risk of hurting themselves to have fun. Why do you like what you like ? Because we love the aspect of this art, the pleasure of learning new techics which are hard to assimilate, and maybe because we love to take risks, I admit.. Imagine my parents's reaction when I told them about that.

But don't worry, blunt versions of these knives, called "trainers", are for sale to practice tricks without the risk of injury. My butterfly knife is a trainer, and I will practice with this one for a long time, I guess ! In addition, most of time people don't really seriously hurt themselves with butterfly knives, because they are made to be manipulated...Don't be afraid to do what you like, to try new things and activities...Don't let people judge your way of thinking, your way of looking at life...and your hobbies ! Explain to them in what it consist of, and show them !

But train and be careful anyway !

Savannah

PS : please watch the second video, and amire how good is this guy !