Hi!

In this instructables I will be teaching you guys how to make a 100% functional popsicle stick butterfly knife (balisong). This project is very simple and takes around 30 minutes to complete, but the end result is a very durable wooden butterfly knife that can do all the tricks a real butterfly knife can. Since the blade itself is a dull popsicle stick, this "knife" is suitable for all ages and is completely harmless.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Step 1: Anatomy of a Butterfly Knife

This is a picture of a real butterfly knife that we will model our wooden popsicle knife off of. Although a butterfly knife seems pretty complicated, with all its moving parts and whatnot, its design is very simple. Allow me to explain the anatomy of the butterfly knife.

Parts and their functions (annotated in the picture):

Blade: for cutting things

Tang Pin: A short metal rod that holds the blade steady when in an open position.

Hinges: connects the blade to each individual handle. They allow the handle to rotate freely until it hits the tang pin or the handle.

Bite / Safe Handle: the part you hold when performing most tricks. Holding onto the bite handle while trying to close the knife will result in contact with the cutting edge of the blade, whereas the safe handle comes into contact with the spine of the blade.

Latch: Holds the knife closed for storage. The knife we are making in this tutorial will not have a latch.

Now that we are familiar with the parts of a butterfly knife and how it works, lets go build one!

Step 2: Materials and Tools

This project does not require many tools and can be done with common household tools that everyone probably has lying around somewhere. The materials required for this project is inexpensive and can be found anywhere.

Materials:

Popsicle sticks

gift card/ credit card

nuts/ or any similar shaped weights

nails or a thin metal rod

Tools:

Pliers

Scissors

Glue

A drill and some small sized bits (can be done with thumb tacks too)

binder clip/clamp (optional, but helps a lot!)

Step 3: Handling the Handle

First up, we are going to make the handle. We will start by taking four popsicle sticks and clamping them together and making sure they are all properly aligned with each other. Take a marker and draw a mark approximately 1/2 a centimeter down from the tip of the popsicle stick. Carefully drill through the four sticks on that mark with a drill bit that is a tiny bit smaller than the diameter of the nail you chose to use. We should now have four sticks with holes at the top.

Step 4: Handling the Handle Some More

Now for the second part of creating the handle! Take two popsicle sticks and chop off about 1 inch from both sides of the stick. I used pliers to do this step, but a saw can be used if you desire.

Step 5: Handle Successfully Handled

Using your adhesive of choice, glue the handle parts together making sure that the holes are aligned and everything is symmetrical. After this step, you should have two completed handle pieces!

Step 6: Optional Weights

This step is optional, but highly recommended. By gluing two nuts at the hole-less ends of the handle, the finished balisong will be a lot more balanced and overall have a nicer feel to it.

Step 7: Blade Hinges

Take your gift card or credit card and cut out two rectangles approximately .5 inches wide x 1 inch long. Clamp the two pieces together and drill two holes making sure that the distance between the holes is a tad bit wider than the popsicle sticks you are using.

Step 8: More Blade

Now for the actual "blade" of the popsicle stick balisong. Simply take a single popsicle stick and drill a hole near the tip, exactly what we did for the handle.

Step 9: Gluing the Blade

Take the plastic card piece and glue it right above the hole we drilled in the blade. Do the same for the other side.

*Make sure none of the holes are covered up, and are perfectly aligned to ensure maximum performance!*

Step 10: Pins

Now for the hinge pins that allow our handles to rotate. Take your nail and cut off 3 1.25 cm sections (make sure to discard the tip of the nail) using your pliers. Use two of the pins to secure each handle to the blade, and use the remaining pin as a tang pin. I do not recommend gluing the hinge pins, but the tang pin should definitely be secured using some glue so that it does not fly out during use.

Step 11: Completed!

We're all done!

Here are some pictures of the finished product.

Step 12: Tricks

Here are some simple beginner opening and closing tricks I recorded myself doing.

Hope you guys have enjoyed this instructable! If you did leave a favorite and if you aren't already following my channel, consider doing so that you can be notified of future projects like these!