Custom Balisong #25
by
Terry Guinn

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Terry Guinn of Seymour, Texas has been making knives since the early 1980s and selling them professionally since 1990. Mr. Guinn's father was a master machinist and he also has an extensive background as a professional machinist, so it's not surprising to see Terry make innovative, complex knives with precision and quality. Lately, he's been quite busy making some of today's best custom balisongs.

Here's is Custom Balisong #25:

This great custom balisong features beautiful Mastodon Ivory scales and lots of polished metal.

The blade is ATS-34 steel. It would not surprise me at all if it was cut from the same piece used to make Mr. Guinn's Custom Balisong #24. So, I was a bit surprised when I measured the blade stock.

Balisong #24 uses 3/16 inch (0.188 inch or 4.8mm) ATS-34 Stainless Steel blade stock, which is very common for knife making. The blade on #25 measures just 11/64 inch (0.172 inch or 4.4mm). 11/64 is not a common thickness. You'd either have to custom order it or cut it yourself. What actually happened here is that the blade got polished to a mirror finish. In the process of polishing, 16/1000th of an inch (0.4mm) of material got removed. That's significant, but that is what is necessary to achieve such a high polish.

Like #24, this is a thick knife overall:

It's about 0.85 inches (22mm) thick.

Weight: 9.5 ounces
Length closed: 5.8 inches (14.7cm)
AKTI Blade Length: 4.2 inches (10.7cm)
Overall open: 9.4 inches (23.9cm)

This Terry Guinn Custom Balisong uses Mr. Guinn's exclusive magnetic latch. Two powerful magnets are mounted in the handles which keep the knife closed or open. When the knife is in use, the user's grip is really what keeps the knife locked open.

Mirror polishing removes a lot of material and polishing is done after grinding. So, knives with mirror-polished blades very often have grind lines which are rounded over, blurred. But, Mr. Guinn had displayed his mastery of knife making processes by keeping his grind lines crisp even on a mirror-polished blade.

Click on the finger icon below to return to Gallery G and look at more fine Terry Guinn custom balisongs.