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Famous personalities in the History of the balisong
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Perfecto De Leon
(Philippines)
Filipino character of the beginning of the XXth century, who would
be at the origin of the balisong...
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Jeff Imada
(California - USA)
Author of the famous, Balisong Manual, and the Advanced
Balisong Manual, Jeff Imada is an expert in Filipino Martial Arts,
balisong manipulation, and a known stunt choreographer in Hollywood
film industry. |
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Les De Asis
(Oregon - USA)
Founder of Bali-Song, Pacific Cutlery & now leader of Benchmade.
We owed him the best quality balisong ever made.
[related]
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Jody Samson
(California - USA)
Famous blades-maker, Jody Samson is at the origin of the first high-quality
balisong ("Bali-Song"). Now Jody Samson works for the
movie industry, in Los Angeles, and creates swords and knives of
a very particular style.
Anyway, we owe him A LOT.
[related]
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Victor Anselmo
(California - USA)
American knife-maker who made the first balisongs of Les De Asis that lead him to start balisong business.
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Dieter Knüttel
(Germany)
German Arnis expert who realized the first 2 videos about balisong
distributed in Europe.
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Fred Perrin
(France)
French knife-maker who wrote the first articles about balisong in
the specialized French press. Specialist of "Tactical Knives",
he created his famous "Griffe" knive. He is known as a very
good balisong practitionner.
[related]
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Darrel Ralph
(USA)
American knife-maker, Darrel Ralph recently launched a small production
of custom balisongs, in collaboration with Chuck Gollnick (see below).
The name of the project is Gemini.
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Scott Brennan
(Friday Harbor, Washington - USA)
Scott Brennan is a Kali/JKD expert, certified under Marangal Guro
Teodoro Lucaylucay. He works as a sergeant for the San Juan County
Sheriff's Department, and even teaches "Defensive Tactics"
to the Police Enforcement. And mostly, he is the author of a 3 videos
serie about balisong!
[related]
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Specialists of the balisong on the web
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Chuck Gollnick
(Oregon - USA)
Founder of [www.balisongcollector.com],
Chuck Gollnick knows many many things about the world of balisong,
the market, the different models, the cutlery terminology, ... well
everything about collection !
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Clay Groskranz
(New Jersey - USA)
Founder of [www.balisongxtreme.com],
Clay Groskranz is an expert of balisong manipulations.
"My first glimpse of a Balisong was in a movie. I'll never
forget the rush of excitement I felt seeing that quick opening.
Not long after, I found one, bought it, and stabbed myself in the
leg trying to open it while driving home. Not the best way to start
a relationship, but from that very moment I was hooked. That was
16+ years ago, and the obsession continues to this day. I learned
everything I know using trial and error, and literally hundreds,
(if not thousands) of hours of my life. Why so long? Well, after
finding out there were no Balisong teachers listed in the phone
book, I decided to let "Natural progression" take its course...
and so it has. Now the mission has expanded to sharing my obsession,
and inspiring others through my website BalisongXtreme.com."
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Josh Zilla
(Massachusetts - USA)
Founder of [www.knifezilla.com],
Josh Zilla launched this special website, where you can purchase
many balisong models online, in 1998. Josh has always wanted to
do "a just for balisong knives site". Indeed Josh
has a strong souvenir of a balisong story :
"I got in a fight in Jr High school 1984ish - there was a guy
punching me in the face and 3 bigger guys moving in on me - it was
outside after dark in a parking lot behind the school and I was
cornered wearing tight cloths. I whipped out my china made 3" skinny
handle butterfly and they backed right off and began to inventory
their group for similar weapons to continue the battle - giving
me enough time to move into a safe area and burn sneaker :) ".
From that period, Josh Zilla has never left his balisong !
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SniperBOY
aka [Gunther Engel] or Johnny Holiday
(Pennsylvania - USA)
Founder of Urban-Legends website [www.rejectionist.com/balisong/
balisong.html], SniperBOY has lived in the Philippines for most
of her life where balisong are "very common and everyone
has one as a toy".
"My first balisong was the 2.00 china cheapie in the Imada
Manual, and a FHM... it rusted and I threw it out cause I got tired
of the one opening I figured out and was stuck with. People knew
that I liked weapons when I came to the USA to study. One day after
an exam I went with friends to the local knife shop that I always
go to but never bought anything from. Someone dared me to play with
a balisong - and gawked when I easily manipulated the BM48 I eventually
bought and still have and love. (...) In my spare time I try to
hunt down balisongs for other people looking for balisongs. (...)
One of the great feelings I get out of being a bounty hunter is
being able to admire balisongs that go thru my hands before i pass
them on to others. Making people happy by finding the blade of their
dreams is also a plus."
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John "Payback"
(USA)
Founder of [www.clubbalisong.net],
John explains: "As a kid, my dad and I watched a lot of martial
arts movies. I was always intrigued by the different weapons used,
but what caught my interest the most was the balisong. When I was
17, I saw another movie that had a balisong in it and I had to go
buy one. From the minute I got it, I could not put it down. (...)
A couple of years later, (...) I found www.balisongxtreme.com, www.balisongcollector.com
and www.rejectionist.com. I spent most of my spare time reading
about and researching the balisong as well as practicing the techniques
from balisongxtreme. I soon purchased my first Benchmade Bali-Song
and as my love for this art grew, I later decided to create Club
Balisong."
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