benchmade/balisong

missaman · Post by **missaman** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 12:46 am

this may be a dumb question, but i have a benchmade model 9700 auto tanto, the blade is etched balisong. when i was growing up a balisong was a butterfly knife. was this a generic term. how do the two relate?
thanks missaman

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 3:27 am

Benchmade owns the trademark "Balisong" [with the butterfly]. Their most recent production has "Benchmade" over the butterfly [at least on some models].

Razor_54 · Post by **Razor_54** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 5:03 am

If i remember correctly the butterfly logo started on the Pacific Cutlery balis before changing there name to Benchmade.Was it Benchmade that took over Pacific, can't remember, but i think they are one and the same company.

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 7:53 am

I believe you're right Pacific evolved into Bencmade.

FivePointOh · Post by **FivePointOh** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 2:16 pm

This is right from Benchmade's Bali-Song Support Team on the Benchmade Forum.

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Yes the Butterfly logo came from the Bali-Songs (aka butterfly knives). Lester's first company was Bali-Song USA, which became Pacific Cutlery Corp. which then turned into Benchmade USA.

Sal and Les go waaaay back. Back in the day when Sal only sold his sharpening system he used to attract people to his table by flipping Bali-Song USA balis made by Les. Sal prefers latchless balis and has quite a collection of custom latchless bali-songs.

It's always amazed me how well most of the knife manufacturer's owners know each other and how much history they have with each other.

The debut of the AFCK was an exciting time. It was a great knife and a break through in production folders. At the time most production folders were still lock-backs and the available liner-locks usually featured stainless liners with aluminum or some type of injection-molded handle. The AFCK and the 970 CQC7 (an Emerson design that debuted at the same time) both featured dual titanium liners, premium ATS-34 steel (the S30V of the early 90's), and textured G-10 handles. Both knives quickly became classics.

I know that's only a small sliver of BMK's history but I hope it answers your question.
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Benchmade Forums

Ronin · Post by **Ronin** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 4:09 am

Thanks for the history lesson, very educational.