What is a Butterfly Knife? What is a Balisong? - Introduction to Butterfly Knives

A Butterfly knife (otherwise known as a balisong) are knives with two handles which counter rotate around the tang, the blade is concealed in the handle. Even a beginning knife flipper can get the blade out from the center in a couple of seconds. You can find a wide variety of butterfly knives across blade stores and a nice selection online.

 They come in all sizes and shapes. Beginners usually start with a light and dull blade, if not a training blade. If you aren't experienced its not hard to cut your hand, or get your fingers stuck in between the handles. I never used a training knife, but they either have a completely dull blade, or a tool such as a bottle opener. I find these completely unnecessary, although some people appreciate it.  

Butterfly knives are a lot of fun. Once you get the hang of it, you can start with some more advanced tricks. Many tricks have names, some don't have any name at all. Once you get competent with your knife (which usually doesn't take long,) you can start making up your own tricks.

Getting started with your Butterfly knife - The Simplest Open/Close Technique

This video demonstrates the easiest open and close technique. The process is simple, flip once in between your fingers and thumb. Then flip out past your fingers. This should only take a couple minutes to get down. Once you have this you should graduate to a slightly more complex technique for opening/closing which is the rollover. I wouldn't suggest sticking with this move for long, as it isn't fluent and much messier than most techniques. Here is a simple video explaining the open/close technique of a balisong. Remember that opening the knife is the exact same as closing, just repeat the process.