Again, if you want a specific number, sign up now.
Why are options somewhat limited?
Well, if you went to your Dodge dealer and said, "I really like that Dodge Viper. But I don't like the color." They would surely say, "No problem. Just sign here and we'll paint it whatever color you want." But, if you said, "I really like that Viper and I'd buy one if only it had four doors..." well, some things are not so easily changed.
I know a guy who works as an engineer for a company in Newberg, Oregon that does just that kind of modification on cars. Some models they do as "standard product." They've done these models before and they know exactly how to do it. But, if you ask 'em to do something different, they have to ask you to pay some substantial fees. Those fees cover the engineering work that they have to do to make sure that their finished product is safe and reliable. They get customers coming to them all the time with all kinds of crazy ideas. But, most of those customers walk away or settle for one of the "catalog" designs when they find out that the cost of the engineering work will well exceed the cost of the car. This is why they have those "catalog" designs. They'll make dozens of each of those. The cost of that engineering work is spread out over dozens of customers. Materials can be ordered in bulk. Setup and tooling costs can be spread out. Etc.
There's a lot of design and preparation work that goes into a knife too. A quality balisong is actually a fairly complicated knife to make. Everything has to fit just right. Mr. Ralph is a very careful and very technical maker too. He wants everything just right. So, he designs his knives on a CAD system and makes multiple prototypes before he starts in on a final product. That's a considerable investment.
When I started this project, you'll recall that I asked for a show of hands as to how many people might be interested. I needed to have 25 of you say yes. The costs of all of that upfront work are spread out over these 25 pieces.
This is why custom folding knives are expensive. Walk a knife show some time and you'll see that custom folders are often thousands of dollars. In fact, most "custom" folders begin with a pattern that the maker has used successfully in the past. The upfront costs of figuring out and perfecting a new design are huge. This is why most custom makers don't want to do balisongs. They know it's a complicated design and they know it'll take a lot of work upfront to get it right. They can't do that for one or two orders. The idea of doing a limited edition, twenty-five knives all following the same basic pattern, makes it practical.
Mr. Ralph does one-up custom knives. I'm sure he'd entertain your ideas. But, just be aware that you're going to have to pay the upfront costs yourself instead of sharing them with 24 of your friends.
Money talks. The question is: how loud do you want to shout?
The goal in this project is to give people the opportunity to own a true, handmade custom balisong from a major maker without having to raise their voice to much. In reaching for that goal, some compromises had to be made. Fixing some parts of the design was necessary.
Personally, I'm excited about the Apogee-based blade profile. It's new and exciting.
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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
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