Check out my latest Balisong

From what I have discovered the upper pin, which keeps the blade in the center, and keeps it from hitting the channel wall only sees abuse when the knife is closed. Even if it stored closed , what kind of wear does it see while it is closed? When the knife is being opened the lower pins gets more force exerted on it including the weight and inertia of the other handle. The larger pin has a greater surface area distrubiting the forces exerted on it more uniformly. I would assume that someone using a bali would want a tight lockup when the knife is opened, making it safer and more sturdy. When it is closed the handles only function is to hide the blade. I recently made a new latch for a customer's pacific cutlery balisong, the old one had been broken off. The small 1/8in tang pins had over the years dug themselves into the handles and the blade lockup was not tight, it had play both open and closed. A smaller pin exerts more force on a smalled surface area, making where it hits wear out faster. A larger pin will wear out slower. It is also more asthetic when opened, the small pin then leads up to the large pin and then the handles.
I'm glad that this topic is turning into a great discussion.
Chuck
 
Striper28: I guess you and I have different views of how the latchless bali's should be tang pinned. Since the lack of a latch negates one of the functions of the rear tang pin, namely to provide some form of torsional tension so that the latch doesn't slip off easily, because it is latchless, that tension is a disadvantage. Primary reason is that it contribute to user's fatigue of having to grip it that much tighter when in the open position. I've found on my latchless bali's that by filing down the tang pin so that it just barely provides resistance allows me to use that bali in the open position much more efficiently. Two reasons. 1) Less fatigue when holding it open. 2) the flats of the two handles does a better job of forming a handle than the two handles tensioned against the tang pin. So, in that regards, tang pin wearability is a non-issue with latchless bali's.

As for the front tang pin, some of my manipulation techniques require that I close the handles together by having the swinging handle impact the blade (which is now the job of your front tang pin) into the other handle. In that regards, the tang pin isn't just there to keep the handles from going too far, it actually is a intergral part of the manipulation process. And so requires some form of strength in the install. Since the bali is going to nybble, I'll get a chance to evaluate it when it is complete.

Edited to correct horrendeous typos.
 
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