The Balisong Gallery

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Here's a fine example of the late Ron Miller's work.

Mr. Miller's balisongs typically have Aluminum or Titanium handles with a black finish and inserts on three sides of each handle. The inserts in this piece are pink synthetic marble (perhaps DuPont Corian).

Notice the very dramatic blade profile and also the slightly pointed tang. Mr. Miller's blade includes a pronounced choil that makes sharpening much easier.

Notice that Mr. Miller's design lacks any horns on the tang. This certainly makes sheathing the closed balisong easier. The owner of this piece also has a very nice leather sheath by Walter Erikson for this fine balisong. What an exceptional pair!

You'll want to take a good look at the larger version of this picture as you can see Miller's tang stamp, just barely. On every example of Mr. Miller's balisongs, the tang stamp is so very light that it's difficult to photograph.

Notice also the nicely fileworked screws for the pivot pins. With the help of a hex driver, this balisong can be completely disassembled for cleaning and to change the latch configuration. Here's another Ron Miller Balisong shown partially disassembled.

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Ron Miller's balisongs operate very smoothly and are very precisely built because he was a fine machinest (which is what it takes to make a good balisong). Before starting to build balisongs, he first created specific tools and dies just for the purpose.

Those tools are now in the collection of noted custom knife maker Reese Weiland . One of his associates, David Brunner , has recently been reviving that tooling and making new custom balisongs in this style. He's just in the beginning stages of this project. He expects to prices to start at about $450.

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