Max Knives P53ES — Trainer balisong, 96 mm practice blade, stainless

Overview

The P53ES is a practice butterfly knife. Its 96 mm stainless steel blade is a trainer blade: it has no edge and finishes in a rounded end instead of a point. Everything else is a genuine balisong, with two stainless handles on two pivots, a latch, 123 mm in the closed position and 212 mm once the grip is rebuilt. The handles are heavily cut away in large ovals, an assertive skeletonising job that brings the whole knife down to 99 g.

A trainer blade, so you can learn without cutting yourself

This is the whole point of the model. Learning the balisong means dropping the knife dozens of times, closing a handle onto your fingers, catching a rotation half a beat late. with a live blade, each of those mistakes costs you something; with a trainer blade they cost nothing but a fresh start. There is no edge and the end is rounded, so the blade can neither cut nor pierce. That frees you to drill sequences in series, chase speed, and try passes you would not otherwise attempt. And because the dimensions, the mechanism and the weight are those of an ordinary balisong, the movement learned here transfers straight to a knife with a cutting blade.

Technical specifications

Trainer blade of 96 mm in stainless steel, 2.25 mm thick, rounded end, no cutting edge. Stainless handles heavily skeletonised with large ovals, 8.25 mm thick, silver finish. Closed length: 123 mm. Overall open length: 212 mm, the shortest of the batch. Weight: 99 g. Two rotation pivots and a latch, exactly as on the cutting-blade models of the series.

Care

A trainer gets used far more often than an ordinary knife, and its pivots know it: this is the model of the batch that asks for the most regular lubrication. A drop of thin oil on each pivot as soon as the rotation turns noisy or uneven, and a tightness check after every long session. The large ovals in the handles wipe clean in one pass, the openings being wide enough to fit a finger through. Dry the steel after each practice run.

Legal notice. Age-restricted item (18+). In France this knife is a Category D item: legal to sell but reserved for adults, with age verification at checkout. Balisong (butterfly) knives are restricted or prohibited in a number of countries — Germany, Canada and several US states among them — and customs will seize the parcel. Check the law that applies where the order is delivered before purchasing.