Not mine, but I thought you guys would be most interested in this. Gerry Jean is a longtime toolmaker from East Windsor CT, and shows his wares in local NCCA events. I saw this on his table yesterday, and asked to pull it away for some pics. Excuse the poor quality, and chandelier lighting in a small knife show is as bad as it gets!

All-titanium frame and engraving by Frank Conroy from NH. It was a bit stiff to open and would be a tough one to swing, I would think. (I can't do any fancy opening yet). Maybe it needed adjustment. (He was asking around $500 for it, BTW.) Anyway here's for the visuals:

http://www.fototime.com/ADA0212BEF7379E/orig.jpg

Here's a link to another crazy knife he made that now I own: Boxcutter-style knife (http://www.ckdforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1562&highlight=gerry+jean)

Coop

That one looks really good.

I have one from Gerry as well. I did ask him to make me one with two tang pins and no latch, and he got very confused as to why I would want to do that. :)

Too bad, the way he uses the tag pins as the lock tab, prevents it from being a really good flipper.

I'll give him another call.

OMG, that's beautiful! Wish I had a half-a-grand, I'd snatch that up! Nice art/showpiece.

Thanks coop - that's really nice. Has an especially nice profile closed. Very nice work that Gerry does.

That is very cool!

Who do I need to see about getting some images posted of some high-dollar collector bali's? I think we've all seen the basic production bali's out in the world, but I'd like to have a photo archive thread (or even a sub-board) that is dedicated to the designer bali.

I've seen a few really killer ones at shows, but you just don't see the variation in materials and embellishment that you do in other areas of knife making. I think one of my main goals with this is to show makers what is possible with a balisong, to legitimize the custom bali and to bring out the big guns within this segment of the industry.

Who'd like to see a black lip inlayed, 18kt gold embellished killer bali? That's the kind of ultimate result I'd like to see happening here over time, that the best makers take a shot at a custom bali and pull out all the stops in the design.

I want to see one that is so high-dollar that a crowd goes quiet when someone twirls it ... :)

I guess that what I'm saying is that it's time to take the balisong to a new collector/designer level. We're just the group that can do that and I think the market is there for the design in the end.

Anyone else want to see some real collector art-type work in this segment?

Alex

Originally posted by tonyccw
I have one from Gerry as well.

Yeah thanks to Tony.., I have one of Gerry's too.., pretty little guy with Elephant Ivory slabs.

Coop.., that's a beauty! Thanks for the pictures. It cracks me up when you apologize for a "poor picture"..., simply because your bad ones are better than my good ones...lol.

Gorgeous Coop, just gorgeous!

Well Tony and Pete, i'm waiting for pics!!:D

Anyone else want to see some real collector art-type work in this segment?

Yes, Please!

Alex, Paul Jarvis makes engraved, sculpted and bejeweled Bali's He does the NY shows, Talk Coop into taking some pictures next weekend!

Yes.., I've seen some of Paul's Balisong.., incredibly ornate, and very well executed. A little too fancy for me (and expensive!)..., but they are beautiful pieces of art.

I had the opportunity to handle a couple of Paul's at Blade a couple years ago, quite nice indeed! A whole other world though, a bit ornate, not to mention too expensive for me as well.