Overview
Fred Perrin has been designing knives for Max Knives for years — the Griffe range, push daggers, Bowies — and the butterfly knife is the shape he had not yet taken on for the brand. He takes it on with a short, numbered run in fine materials, which he presents himself. The FPBBK measures 158 mm open and weighs 56 g. Its 72 mm blade is in VG10 steel, 3 mm thick, engraved with the designer's signature on one side and the Max Knives logo on the other. The 85 mm handles are built in titanium along their full length, with black antique micarta scales held by Torx screws, and a latch running along one of them.
The model comes in three shades of antique micarta: the black one shown here, the blue FPBBL and the brown FPBGY. Fred Perrin's whole body of work for the brand is presented on the Fred Perrin x MaxKnives page.
First shown at the SICAC by Fred Perrin
The FPBBK is shown for the first time by Fred Perrin at the SICAC, the international art and collector knife show, on 18 and 19 September 2026 at the Espace Charenton in Paris. That is where the First Run is unveiled, ahead of its release.
VG10, a stainless steel that holds its edge
VG10 is a high-carbon stainless steel with added chromium, vanadium and cobalt. Its reputation comes from that balance: it keeps an edge longer than common stainless steels without demanding the vigilance a tool steel needs around moisture. In practice you sharpen it less often, and a damp hand or a blade put away wet is not a concern.
The blade is 3 mm at the spine for 72 mm of length. That thick-and-short ratio gives it a clear stiffness — the kind you want on a butterfly knife, where the blade is constantly turning between two handles. The outline is spare: straight spine, straight edge, and one long straight clip running down to the point.
Titanium under the micarta
The 56 g figure comes from the titanium. The handles are built in that metal along their full length rather than being steel with a covering: for the same volume, titanium weighs about half as much as stainless steel and does not corrode. On a butterfly knife, where both handles are handled constantly, the difference is felt straight away.
Over that come antique micarta scales. Micarta is a cloth — cotton, linen or paper — impregnated with resin and pressed: the texture you see at the surface is the weave itself, held within the material. The antique finish leaves that weave visible and gives it a matt, slightly grainy look that grips the hand and takes on a patina with use rather than wearing away. The handle is 11 mm thick.
The latch and the screws
A latch is fitted along one handle, pivoting at its end. It is the part that holds the two handles together, and the first thing anyone who knows butterfly knives looks at. All the hardware is Torx, on dark titanium liners: pivots and scales alike come apart and tighten with a single tool.
A First Run of 300 pieces
This first series is produced in 300 pieces, and each knife carries its number engraved on the flat of the blade, next to the brand's logo. It is the usual shape of a collaboration launch at Max Knives: an identified first production, then the normal life of the model. The number is what sets a piece from this series apart from those that follow.
Who it is for
At 158 mm open, the FPBBK falls into the least crowded bracket of the range: among the butterfly knives in the catalogue with a stated overall length, 46 measure between 200 and 250 mm and only 3 come in under 200 mm. This format will suit someone looking for a butterfly knife to handle rather than a large model, and who cares about materials — titanium, VG10, micarta — as much as about the mechanism.
Care
VG10 is stainless: wiping it after use is enough, and oil is only useful at the pivots, a drop now and then. Micarta cleans with a cloth and warm water; avoid solvents, which attack the surface resin and blur the weave. Titanium asks for nothing. Check the Torx screws of the scales, pivots and latch from time to time: on a butterfly knife, those are what work.
Information for buyers outside France. Butterfly knives are restricted or prohibited in several countries; please check the rules that apply where the order is delivered before purchasing.
