24 Levels of Balisong Flipping: Easy to Complex

Hey, I am Corbin Lovins.

I am a Balisong Flipper,

I won the 2019 Bali Comp Championship

and today I've been challenged to do balisong tricks,

in 24 levels of increasing complexity.

[upbeat music]

Balisong flipping goes all the way back to the Philippines

where the balisong or Batangas knife,

was used in the traditional Filipino combative arts.

The openings that they created inspired the art form

of balisong flipping that you see today.

There are unlimited tricks

with different styles for each person

but this is my interpretation of the challenge.

To me, complexity is how smooth the tricks are,

the momentum that you need, the finger dexterity,

and how technical the trick is.

Before we get started, let's talk safety.

There are a couple of parts of a balisong

that you need to know.

The bite handle, the safe handle,

the spine of the blade, and the cutting edge.

I focus a lot on the safe handle,

keeps you from getting cut from the spine

of the blade touching your fingers.

The bite handle, you can not touch the blade whatsoever.

I am a trained professional,

I've been doing this for five years,

if you are learning new tricks,

it is always best to learn on a trainer.

The edge of the blade is actually thicker,

therefore it will not cut you and most of the time

the blade has been milled out.

Now that we got all that out of the way, let's begin.

Level one, Double Rollout.

So the Double Rollout is also known as the Basic Opening.

This is what you see in all the movies,

when you see somebody flip the balisong open.

The Double Rollout starts in a standard closed position

with both handles in your hand and the blade hidden.

Holding the safe handle, flip out the balisong

so the blade is up and handle is down.

Rotate it 180 degrees,

so that the handle is up and the blade is down.

Then scoop your hand in order to bring the handle up

and have the blade out.

So now you will be holding a standard open position.

To close this, it is the same movement.

Holding the safe handle again,

flip it out so that the handle is up and blade is down,

you will rotate the balisong 180 degrees,

to make it so the blade is up and handle is down,

and then you will scoop your hand again,

hiding the blade, catching the other handle in your hand.

In this trick, we used standard position.

In Balisong, we have three positions.

Standard, where you hold the handles

of the balisong with the blade facing out,

also called the open position,

pinch position, where you hold the balisong

between your thumb and the rest of your other fingers,

and then we have reverse standard position,

where you hold the balisong by the handles

with the blade facing down.

So the next level, we are increasing complexity

by learning to roll the balisong.

Level two, Rollovers.

Rollovers are used in nearly every trick.

You start to get a feel for timing

of moving the balisong around your finger.

The rollover I will be teaching you today

is the Thumb Rollover.

Start in a pinch position, safe handle out,

holding the bite handle.

Rotate your wrist down in a flick,

letting the safe handle go around your thumb.

You will then catch the safe handle as it comes around,

flicking the balisong back up into a standard position.

If you start with the bite handle out,

holding the safe handle

and you throw it in a horizontal position.

This is known as a Zen Rollover.

If you are holding in a vertical position

with the safe handle out holding the bite handle,

this is known as a Y2K.

So a lot of beginner mistakes go with timing.

If you do not catch the handle at the right time,

you can lose control and drop the knife

or if you go too soon,

you can miss the handle altogether.

In this next level

we are increasing complexity by learning to work

with balance and momentum.

Level three, Chaplin.

The Chaplin is another basic of balisong tricks.

By starting in the standard open position,

you will hold the safe handle

place the spine of the blade over your pointer finger,

rotate your pointer finger in clockwise motions,

starting with large circles, moving into smaller circles

as you get the momentum under control.

Going in a counterclockwise position,

this is known as a Reverse Chaplin

and if you have your finger pointing down,

where you are having to fight gravity

that is called a Zero Gravity Chaplin.

If you rotate your pointer finger too fast

you can actually cause the balisong

to get caught up with so much momentum

that it flies off of your finger.

If you move too slow

you can cause it to just fall off by not having the balance

and momentum to keep it onto your finger.

By going into this next level,

we are building up our finger dexterity.

Level four, Full Twirl.

Full twirls are only one form of twirling.

Most twirling is when you move the balisong

in between fingers without using Rollovers,

mostly using Chaplins.

So the Full Twirl starts in a standard open position.

We will be holding the safe handle again

as we'll be placing the spine of the blade

over our index finger.

You will be placing your middle finger

behind the safe handle.

You will then roll the balisong backwards,

letting go of your pointer finger,

and placing the safe handle between your middle finger

and your ring finger.

Reversing the movements that you have already done

gets you back to your original position.

Replacing your ring finger with your index finger

as you roll clockwise back into the standard position

doing a one rotation Chaplin,

once again, stopping with your middle finger

on the backside of the safe handle.

This trick is a loop, because your starting point

is also your ending point.

Meaning you can do it over and over again.

Moving on to the next level

we are going to cover our last basic trick.

Level five, Fans.

Fanning is another basic of Balisong flipping.

There are many variations of fans,

but I will be teaching the Standard Fan.

You will be holding the balisong

in standard open position,

holding only the safe handle between your thumb

and your index and middle finger

rotate your wrist in a counterclockwise position,

torquing your wrist the other direction

in a clockwise motion,

you will flick the handle letting go with your thumb,

but keeping a slight grip on the handle

in order to have more rotations.

For our next trick, we'll be increasing complexity

because we are moving out of the basics

and into an intermediate trick.

Level six, Behind the Eight Ball.

Behind the Eight Ball

is one of the first intermediate tricks most people learn,

you are incorporating Rollovers, Chaplins,

and overall a little bit of finger dexterity.

It's not that difficult,

but it's very flashy.

You will want to start by holding the balisong,

in a standard closed position with the safe handle.

It's extremely easy to get cut if you start

with the bite handle.

Flipping the balisong out horizontal with the blade

and the handle,

you will stick your pointer finger between the spine

of the blade in the safe handle.

Doing a Zero Gravity Chaplin,

do one rotation and touch the tip of your index finger

to the tip of your thumb.

Do one thumb roll over on the spine of the blade,

which sets you up for another thumb rollover

between the two handles.

You will then catch the bite handle

flipping the balisong back up into a standard open position.

You will also want to make sure

when you do the Zero Gravity Chaplin

you are only doing one role on your index finger.

This will make sure you're set up for

that Thumb Rollover.

So there's often a beginner mistake of losing control

of the balisong while you are moving

from the spine of the blade on your index finger,

to the spine of the blade on your thumb.

Make sure you touch the tip of your index finger

to the tip of your thumb, just like the OK position.

For our next level, we are learning a trick

that is commonly known as Behind the Eight Balls Brother,

because it's always learned directly

after Behind the Eight Ball.

Level seven, Helix.

For the Helix, you will be doing the same movement

that you do with Behind the Eight Ball

but instead of sticking your index finger,

between the spine of the blade and the handle

you will be starting with your index finger

between both of the handles.

With the blade passing underneath of your wrist,

touch the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb

just like we did in Behind the Eight Ball,

and then do a thumb roll over.

A common beginner mistake on the Helix

is as you throw the thumb roll over,

your timing is not correct,

and you end up dropping the blade completely

or catching a falling blade

which is something you should never do.

So for our next trick,

we are increasing our complexity by combining finger work,

timing, and momentum.

Level eight, Blender.

So the Blender is often known as the cousin,

to Behind the Eight Ball and the Helix

because most times it's learned directly after those.

Starting from a Closed Standard Position,

holding the bite handle, do a Reverse Index Rollover.

This is exactly like a Thumb Rollover

just on your index finger.

You will then go around your index finger,

grabbing the safe handle and throwing a Thumb Rollover

with the spine of the blade and the handle

around your thumb.

You will then throw another, Thumb Rollover

which will end the trick,

or it can lead you back into the trick

by doing a another Reverse Index Rollover.

In the upcoming trick we are increasing complexity,

tossing the balisong in the air,

and also increasing the danger.

Level nine: Aerials.

Aerials are any time the

balisong leaves your hand and is untouched.

There are several types of Aerials

but the starting three are the Standard Aerial,

the Ice Pick Aerial and the Helix Aerial.

For the Standard Aerial,

you will be holding the safe handle.

You will have the handle up and blade down.

Meaning the handle will be covering the blade.

You will be flicking your wrist up,

letting go of the balisong for it to rotate,

Rotating too fast,

means you get too many rotations

and you don't catch correctly.

Rotating too slow,

you completely lose control of the blade

either catching the blade

or having not enough rotations to catch

with both handles together in your hand.

Watch the balisong in the air

you want it to do one rotation.

An Ice Pick Ariel is exactly like a Standard Aerial,

but you are getting a half turn more.

On that half turn more you will scoop your hand,

grabbing one of the handles as they come around

and the other handle will fall into your hand.

You will then be in a reverse standard position.

The Helix Aerial is thrown on a flat horizontal plane

usually following a Thumb Rollover,

because it's easier to throw from there.

And once the blade passes,

and you see the next handle coming around

you'll grab the handle and throw a Thumb Rollover.

For the next level,

we'll be increasing complexity by doing a combo,

that includes an Ariel.

Level 10, Scissor.

The Scissor can be thrown from either handle.

Throwing a standard Aerial off of the safe handle

you will want to stick your middle finger

in between the two handles while your index finger,

goes between the handle and the blade.

Bringing the balisong back over

your index finger completes the Scissor.

How you get out of it is your choice.

The most common way,

is to do a full twirl.

Which we learned in a previous level.

For our next level, we will be increasing complexity

by using all of our fingers.

Level 11, Ladder.

The ladder can also be seen,

when you are doing pen spinning.

When someone moves the pen in between

each of their fingers back around,

that is basically a ladder.

For the ladder,

you will want to hold one handle between your pinky,

and middle finger.

Pull your ring finger towards you and push your pinky out,

and bring the handle completely off of your pinky

in between your middle finger and your ring.

You will then take your pointer finger,

push on the back of the handle to move it up,

around your pointer finger and into your hand.

From there you will do a simple thumb roll over

and finish the trick.

Not having enough strength in your fingers,

can cause the bali to fly in different directions.

Your pinky and your ring finger

are often not your strongest fingers

so you'll want to build up the strength.

Holding the bali too close to your body,

while doing the Ladder,

can also cause harm to your torso as you move the bali

from between your ring finger and pinky,

up to your ring finger and middle you want to be away

from your body so you don't hit your torso.

You might notice a lot of the ways

that these tricks go wrong,

is you get cut.

Again,

make sure you're using trainers when you are first learning

and then move on to a live blade.

For our next level we are increasing complexity,

because we are throwing an aerial with

an unnatural movement.

Level 12, Backhand Aerial.

It's a little bit more complex

because you are throwing an ariel

unnaturally behind your hand,

rather than naturally in a clockwise motion.

You will want to hold the balisong in a Pinch position.

Letting go of one of the handles, you will drop the handle

and once it reaches below your hand,

rotate your wrist letting go of the other handle.

This will cause enough momentum

for the balisong to turn,

and for you to catch the other handle

bringing down ready for your next trick.

This can go wrong,

if you do not move with the balisong as you throw.

The balisong's blade will be

coming around before the handles do.

This can cause you to catch the blade and surely be cut.

The good thing about the Backhand Aerial

is it's a handle switch.

If you have the bite handle out,

you will catch with the safe handle.

If you have the safe handle out,

you will catch with the bite handle.

What I like to do, is catch the bite handle

coming up into an Aerial Chaplin.

For this next trick although short,

it requires perfect timing and great finger dexterity.

Level thirteen, Shortstop.

Holding the safe handle in already open position,

as this is usually a finisher.

Do a Reverse Thumb Rollover,

where you roll the balisong backwards over your thumb,

catching the bite handle in between

your middle finger and ring finger,

pushing your ring finger out and middle finger in.

This will then rotate the balisong up,

as we did in the ladder,

and then both handles will be on your pointer

finger and your thumb.

You will then squeeze

those together into an Ice Pick Reverse standard position.

The shortstop requires very precise timing.

For this next level,

we are increasing complexity because we are

throwing an area where the balisong comes

very close to our face.

Level fourteen, Van Gogh and the Neck Catch.

The Van Gogh is inspired,

by Vincent Van Gogh the artist who lost his ear.

For the Van Gogh you are basically doing an Ice Pick Ariel,

but higher and with a slower rotation.

This slower rotation, will give you the ability

to watch what handle is coming around

and reach your hand behind your head, close to your ear,

catching both handles in the Ice Pick Position.

The Neck Catch,

is one of the only moves you will be actually

throwing the balisong at your neck.

For this you will be throwing once again

exactly like an Ice Pick Aerial,

catching between the crease of your neck and your shoulder.

As one handle hits,

you will clamp down with your shoulder and your neck

in order to stop the balisong in its rotation.

An easier way to do this

so you're not throwing the balisong directly at your neck

but almost like you're throwing an Ice Pick Aerial,

is you can step forward into the balisong

and then clamp down once you feel it touch your shoulder.

The next trick,

raises complexity because it requires

a lot of finger movement and is overall

the hardest trick we have learned so far.

Level fifteen, Choker Fan.

The Choker Fan was created a few years ago,

by a guy who goes by the name, Sir Horse Choker,

in the Instagram community.

Start just like you're doing a Double Rollout.

You will hold the safe handle

once you get it so the blade is facing away from you,

and the other handle is facing towards you.

You will torque your wrist in order to start the fan.

You will move the handle,

from between your middle finger and index finger

to between your middle and pointer finger

and then finally up into a Thumb Rollover.

You'd be hard-pressed to find any Combo

that does not use The Choker Fan in it today.

So far, every trick has been done with one hand.

For this next level, we are increasing complexity

because we are adding our other one and moving

the balisong in between them.

Level sixteen, Transfers.

There are an infinite number of transfers,

but today I will be showing you how to do a Slap Transfer.

Whichever hand is your dominant hand,

is the one you normally flip with.

Your off hand,

is the hand you do not flip with.

So holding in your dominant hand, the safe handle,

turn your offhand in the same way your main hand is facing.

And bring one of the handles of the balisong,

and you will turn your hand backwards

and slap that handle away.

From there you will rotate the balisong up,

while moving your hand over and above

your other hand like this,

and then flipping that other handle into your hand

grabbing that handle creating a transfer.

You will then rotate the balisong down,

placing your other hand above your offhand,

doing another transfer.

Our next trick incorporates

advanced movements in a reverse motion.

Level seventeen, Reverse Behind The Eight Ball.

Reverse Behind The Eight Ball,

is the exact same motions that you do,

in the Behind The Eight Ball,

just starting at the end first.

You will be holding the balisong

in a standard closed position

holding the safe handle rotate the balisong out,

to a standard open position

and then placing the spine of the blade over your thumb.

You will do a Reverse Thumb Chaplin,

rotate your wrist so that your thumb is facing down

do the OK symbol in order to move the balisong

from your thumb onto your pointer finger.

From there the balisong will go around

for a Zero G Chaplin in which you will stop,

with your middle finger.

The good thing about stopping this with your middle finger,

is that you can go directly into a full twirl

in order to get out of this trick.

For our next trick we'll be increasing complexity,

by using our wrist in a whole new way.

Level eighteen, Wrist Bump Transfer.

To do the Wrist Bump Transfer

you will be throwing a Helix Aerial, but instead of

throwing a Helix Aerial straight up,

you will throw it diagonal.

So you will throw it so that it is over top of your offhand.

From your offhand, you will bump it at the apex,

of the Helix Aerial, bringing it back to your other hand,

catching, and going into another trick.

The reason we bump at the apex,

is so that we do not fight gravity.

With most knives being titanium

bringing down hard metal onto your hand,

can often hurt.

You have to be very precise,

with where you bumped the balisong.

If you do not hit the balisong

on the back of your hand at the pivots,

or if you do not hit it at the center of your wrist,

you can cause it to go in different directions

oftentimes crashing to the floor.

For this next trick we are increasing complexity,

by doing a reverse trick with an Aerial.

Level nineteen: Aerial to Reverse Chaplin.

You are technically throwing the same way

that you do a Standard Aerial.

But once you throw the Standard Aerial

you want to throw it with a slower rotation.

This slower rotation

will let you be able to place your pointer finger,

between the spine of the blade and the safe handle

towards the tang of the blade.

This will then give you more control

over where you start the Chaplin,

and how you start the Chaplin.

A cool ending to this trick

could also be ending with the Shortstop.

For this next trick, we are increasing complexity

because we are throwing the balisong

over and behind our back blindly.

Level twenty, Modified Guillotine.

The Guillotine was invented by Edward Anthonis,

also known as Lucifer on Instagram.

This trick is a finisher,

but today I have modified it as a part of a Combo

that you can keep going from.

You hold the balisong with one handle

just like you're going to throw a Standard Aerial.

Bend down to roughly waist-height,

and throw the balisong over your back

seeing its rotation, find a handle you can grab

and throw a Thumb Rollover.

This will get you into your

next trick safely and without getting cut.

This has done best by keeping it

into one rotation or even a half rotation

to be a handle switch.

Practice many times by just bending down

and throwing it over you.

Not too long, so it gets out of your reach.

Not too short, so it hits your back,

but just so it's over your shoulders, able to be caught.

For this next level,

we are increasing complexity because we are throwing

two tricks with little to no control.

Level twenty one, Ladder Aerial to Reverse Chaplin.

So as this trick suggests, you will be throwing a Ladder,

an Aerial, and a Reverse Chaplin.

Starting the Ladder between your ring finger and your pinky,

you will move it up just like we did in the Ladder,

use the pointer finger to throw the Aerial

and get a half rotation to where you can place

your index finger in between the spine of the blade

and the safe handle.

Starting with a large circle, just like we did

in the Chaplin and the Aerial Reverse Chaplin,

you will then get to smaller circles,

depending on when you find the momentum in the balance.

This aerial is pretty difficult,

because you are throwing with two fingers

or just starting the rotation with your pointer finger.

Similar to the Ladder, this trick can go wrong,

by losing control of the balisong between your fingers

or placing your finger in the wrong spot on the Aerial.

For our next level we are increasing complexity,

by using a lot of the aerials that we have learned so far.

Level twenty two, Extended Combos.

It's not just these singular tricks.

You can put these tricks together

any way you want to into Combos.

This Combo that I'm doing, I have done in the 2021,

Blade Show Competition for the quarter finals.

I was trying to do as many aerials as possible

in the timeframe given in order to beat my opponent.

The hard thing about throwing a lot of aerials,

is you can lose control very easily.

A little bit more of a rotation,

makes you put in a different move and lose your flow

of what you're doing.

Combos can go on forever,

but since we've run out of tricks to add,

to raise our complexity,

let's just take away our sight.

Level twenty three, Blindfolded Flipping.

Blindfolded Flipping is all about muscle memory.

You completely lose your sight, so you are strictly going

with what your fingers feel, so make sure you're

careful with this one.

Practice, practice, practice.

So you know where the balisong lands.

You are solely relying on your hands.

For all of our levels up to this point,

we have had one blade in one hand.

For our last level, we are adding a second balisong.

Level 24: Doubles.

There are three styles of Doubles.

Mirrored, where both hands are doing the same tricks.

Staggered, where both hands are doing the same tricks,

where your offhand is slowly behind your main hand.

And Freestyle, where each hand is doing their own routine.

My preferred style of Doubles is Freestyle.

That way I can do a singular thing with my offhand

and a singular thing with my main hand,

as my main hand can do things that my offhand can't,

plus overall I just think it looks really cool.

Freestyle Doubles is really hard

because it's almost like you got to use

the left side of your brain for your left hand

and the right side of your brain for your right hand.

If you really don't know how to do Freestyle Doubles,

you can do the same tricks over and over

in your offhand as a loop,

while you do something else with your main hand.

For me personally, I do a Thumb Rollover

into a Half Twirl with my offhand,

and then I do everything else with my main hand.

It's kind of like a smoke and mirrors type thing.

Balisong flipping is always changing.

It's always getting harder,

as there's new tricks developed every day.

What I hope someone takes away from this video

is seeing that Balisong flipping can be really fun,

it can be therapeutic, it can be something that people

lean on, such as I have in the past.

It's something that you can do with your friends,

a community that you have on social media,

it's led me to some of my best friends that I've ever met.

Personally, I'm still learning stuff every day.

There are people out there who can throw things

that I would never even dream of.

And even more tricks are going to be thrown

in three years that we would have never thought of now.

Thanks, WIRED.