I am assembling the Typhoon kit. I actually decided to buy one while I was waiting for another unreleased knife kit. This knife seems incredibly heavy. I am taking material off the trainer blade to bring it down to the weight of the actual blade (my first balisong so I thought I would practice while keeping my fingers intact). I am skeletonizing the handles. Is part of the function of skeletonizing to reduce the weight of the knife or are all balisongs heavy? I'll try to remember to post a picture when I am done.

Thank you all for the training videos. That is actually what persuaded me to tinker with one of these balisongs.

Craig

The skeletonizing does help to reduce the weight. The Typhoon is heavier than a lot of other balisongs due to the stainless steel handles when many of the current (production) balis are using either titanium or aluminum. I don't think it's excessively heavy, but if you're not used to an SS bali it may seem like it is. Also, it's a training blade, but my training blade still cut me a little due to the sharp corners and those horns pinch pretty bad if your finger gets caught there.

Welcome to the world of balisong--I look forward to seeing the finished product.

welcome graig!!i've been playing with some typhoons the past couple weeks "and having a blast doing so i must say".skeletonizing it will really reduce the weight quite a bit,and give you better grip.as zen said "those horn's will bite you good" to avoid that just round them off even slightly,i've found that works great!ill post pics of a blade im in the process of doing once its finished.

Thanks for the help and encouragement. I am puttering through this in my spare time and will post a picture when it is done. I am going to dull the point of the training blade so not only will I not slice myself I will not impale myself either.

Hiya Craigos :).., and welcome. Of course we want to see the finished product.., and I think you'll find the weight helpful in building inter-digital strength, and smoothing out many manipulations....

Good luck with it.., and stop by often...

I also posted this in the the kits forum but maybe everyone doesn't look over there. I think it turned out well. There are a few things I know if I do it again, like the back of the tip of the blade just touches the backstop. It's not hindering anything but it is short of perfect :)
http://craigrolinger.home.mchsi.com/images/typhoon04.jpg
http://craigrolinger.home.mchsi.com/images/typhoon02.jpg

Cool knife, and nice pics!

Looks very clean. :)

:101 ..Whoa! Nice job.., looks like you did a great job on that.., nice pictures also....