Topo Gigio
by
Dennis Greenbaum

Everyone who saw this little balisong in progress thought that it resembled a little animal of some sort, perhaps a mouse, a happy little mouse with a big smile. It was Mr. Greenbaum's wife who finally named this piece Topo Gigio.

Topo Gigio, first a puppet and then a cartoon character, is a small Italian Mouse. He was created by Perego Maria and was originally voiced by Peppino Mazzullo.

He appeared first on TV in his native Italy in 1961. He made his American Debut in 1963 on the popular Ed Sullivan Show and quickly became a regular. In fact, the last installment of the Ed Sullivan Show closed with Topo Gigio. Later, Topo Gigio had his own show in the UK. Recently, he's been appearing in Japanese Anime.

No larger image available

I guess that there is a bit of resemblance.

Topo Gigio, is a scientist mouse from the future. A mysterious accident during a space mission sent him 400 year backward in time to join us. And now, this little genius uses his advanced scientific knowledge to benefit our world.

That fits too since this balisong, with its blue liners and screws, has a sort of futuristic look to it.

The liners are Titanium. The blue color comes from anodizing. Notice the excellent filework on the edges of the liners. There are two things to notice about this filework aside from its excellent quality. First, the liners are made of rather thin sheets of Titanium. Fileworking a very thin edge is very difficult. Second, the filework is absolutely symmetric from one liner to the other and, indeed, from handle-to-handle.

In this picture, you can just see the phosphor-bronze washers on each side of the blade.