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The Spyderco SpyderFly Butterfly Bali Flipper

Today we are going to take an in depth look at the Spyderco SpyderFly Butterfly Bali. Is it a good flipper? Would I recommend it to a friend? Also, we will look at the overall quality of the balisong itself.

Spyderco SpyderFly Butterfly Bali Flipper Steel

Let’s look at some of the features that come with this balisong. This is an Eric Glesser design made right here in the USA. Mr. Glesser did a really good job at incorporating a lot of Spydercos famous qualities into this knife. The first thing that you might notice is the big round holes in the handles that Spyderco uses on their blades. The holes in the handles make it fun when flipping and ensures full rotations and momentum out of this knife.

Not only is the pocket clip able to switch handles, but the spring loaded latch can as well. With the latch being spring loaded, I wish that they would have placed a larger spring in it. I have came across a lot of horror stories of the latch spring breaking on people due to it being weak. However, it is very easy to switch from handle to handle (along with the pocket clip). The latch does not lock the handles in the open position.

Next, let’s look at the blade. The blade is made of VG-10 steel which is a very good Japanese steel. It also features a hollow-grind that is sharpened on just one side with a false edge on the other side. With the hollow grind that was put on this it makes the blade very well balanced, as if this knife couldn’t get any smoother!

Now let’s look at a few of the things that I would change with this knife. The first thing I would change is the weight. It weighs in at 6 oz. When it comes to expert flippers, they seem to like a lighter balisong for faster flipping. However, there are perks to the weight on this Butterfly Bali. Since it is a slow flipper, I find that it helps you perfect the flips that you are doing. You get to see exactly what the knife is doing and makes it really easy to predict where handles are going to be landing. Another thing that I would change is the spring for the latch. It just isn’t reliable enough for my liking. Though it does seem to hold up fairly well.

Another cool feature of this model of balisong is that you can get it in a “combo pack” which includes a trainer and a real blade.

Spyderco SpyderFly Butterfly Bali Flipper Black          Spyderco SpyderFly Butterfly Bali Flipper Red

This is a really cool feature of this knife. If you are a beginner or if you are advanced and need to learn new flips and tricks but don’t dare to use a sharpened knife quite yet, the combo pack comes with a trainer to help you build that confidence. When you feel like you can handle a real blade, switch out the trainer and put in the sharpened blade. 

Overview:

If you are looking for a really smooth balisong, you can’t go wrong with the SpyderFly. I would suggest it, more specifically, if you are more advanced and are looking to perfect your style and learn new tricks. Since it is slow moving and rotates so smoothly, it will help you out a lot. I would recommend this knife to anyone.  It is a solid knife that is very fair for the price.  They are a lot harder to come by now-a-days, so if you find one and have any slight interest, buy it.

Specifications:
Overall Length: 9.75″
Blade Length: 4.125″
Blade Material: VG-10
Closed Length: 6″
Handle Length: 5.6″
Weight: 6 oz.
Lock Type: Spring Latch

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