Bear & Son Clip Point Butterfly Knife and GenPro Trainer Combo Pack Review

Bear & Son is a family company that has a rich tradition in knife making. They have a skilled and experienced work force capable of performing many of the extra hand operations that go into the making of their products. The Bear & Son Cutlery factory is unique. It is full self-contained. While some companies only assemble parts brought from various suppliers and put their names on the product, they do everything in-house, form building their own blanking dies to heat treating, grinding and assembly, and hand finishing their products. These steps ensure that Bear & Son Cutlery is of excellent quality and a real value for both the dealer and consumer.

This commitment to excellence has just improved due to rich family tradition in knife making craftsmanship not only by management, but also their experienced work force. Their customers and consumers can look for even more new and exciting products as a result. Their ongoing commitment is to make them in American and make them affordable. They want everyone to be able to afford what they are proud to make.

Today we will be talking about a combo pack that includes the Bear & Son Clip Point Butterfly knife and a GenPro Training knife.

 

The Clip Point Knife:

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of 440 stainless steel. 440 stainless steel is actually not a single steel; it is a series of steels that has three different formulas that you can get. 440A, 440B, and 440C. A is the least quality and C is the highest quality. Each of the three steels do vary slightly. It becomes tricky to identify which level of steel your blade is actually made out of though, because often times the steel manufacturer will only stamp the blade with a “440” and no indication whatsoever of what level it is. If it doesn’t specifically say 440C, you can assume that it is A or B, because C is a formula that most manufacturers are proud of. However, all three of the formulas are some of the most rust resistant steels for knives that you are going to find. And whether this blade is made out of A or B, it is going to be inexpensive, which helps to keep the cost of the overall knife down. Unfortunately, 440 steel, no matter which level it is, does not have good wear resistance or the ability to withstand hard force. This blade will be perfectly capable of taking on your day-to-day levels of wear, but this will not make a good survival or tactical knife.

The blade has been finished satin, which is one of the most traditional blade finishes that you are going to come across. Because this blade finish is so traditional, you won’t have to worry about an extreme look going out of style. This finish is created by repeatedly sanding the blade in one direction with an increasing level of a fine abrasive, usually done with sandpaper. The finer the sandpaper and the more even the lines, the cleaner the satin finish is going to look. And because this is a Bear & Son knife, you can expect the satin finish to look very clean. The satin finish is created to show off the bevels of the blade while also showcasing the fine lines in the steel.

The blade on this 114B butterfly knife has been carved into a clip point style blade. This style of blade is the second most popular blade style, falling only behind a drop point blade style. The clip point and drop point have much in common: they are perfect for tasks and they both sport lowered points, which gives the user extra control when using the knife. The shape of this knife is created by having the spine of the knife go from the handle to half-way up the blade. It stops its continuous curve at this point, and then turns down and curves to the point of the knife. This section of the blade is referred to as the clip and looks as if it has been clipped out, which is actually where the knife got its name from. The clip on this blade style creates a lowered tip, which is why you are going to have so much control when you are using this knife. The clip point blade style excels at stabbing, because the tip is controllable, very sharp, and thin. These characteristics are perfect for reducing drag during insertion and faster removal. This blade style is a great all-purpose knife because it does have such a large belly, which is ideal for slicing. And because the steel of this blade limits its abilities to mostly an everyday carry knife, slicing is going to be the majority of what you are performing. The clip point blade style does feature one major disadvantage though: because the tip is narrower than the rest of the knife, the clip point blade style is prone to breaking if used on hard materials.

 

The Handles:

The handles on this knife are made out of zinc that have then been epoxy powder coated. A powder coating is applied using the electrostatic principle. The handles are first given a negative charge and the powdered coat is given a positive charge and sprayed on. The dry coated parts are then baked in an oven where the powder melts and fuses into a hard, protective finish. Because the powder coating has been applied using the electrostatic principle, you can expect each spot of the handles to be coated completely and evenly.

The coating in the case of this knife is sleek black. Coatings offer plenty of benefits, from increasing the corrosion resistance of a handle, to protecting against scratches, to just plain old aesthetics, with handles that have been powder coated, you can expect their lifetime to be prolonged. The drawback with a powder coating is that it will scratch off eventually. This might happen because of hard use or just plain time, but you can expect the coating to scratch off eventually.

To cut down on weight, Bear & Son has skeletonized the handles by carving out five ovals going down the length of each handle. The closer to the butt of the handles the oval gets, the larger it gets. Not only does this cut down on weight, but this has also been done to give you the grip that you need for whatever task you are using this butterfly knife for.

Zinc is known for its capabilities of resisting rusting and corrosion. This is because when zin is exposed to the moisture and carbon dioxide that is present in our atmosphere, a protective layer of zinc carbonate forms on its surface, prohibiting the corrosion process that steel experiences. Zinc has also been known to “heal” itself, which just means that overtime the scratches and imperfections that were once present will almost completely disappear.

 

The Mechanism:

This is a butterfly, or balisong, knife. This is a style of pocket knife that has two handles that are attached to the tang of the blade. These handles are pinned in, so that they can rotate around the tang in a way that when the knife is closed, the handles are hugging the blade that is concealed in the grooves. This style of knife can and has been used for everything from self-defense, everyday carry knives, and even art when the user “flips” the knife.

This butterfly knife has been constructed using the pin method, which is also known as the sandwich construction. This style of butterfly knife is assembled in layers that have been pinned together. This allows the pivot pins to be adjusted more tightly without binding. And when the knife is closed, the blade rests between the layers of handles. Unfortunately, out of the two styles of construction, the pin construction is the weaker of the two.

 

The Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 4 inches long with handles that measure in at 5 inches long. When this butterfly knife is opened, it measures in at an overall length of 9 inches long.

 

The Trainer:

While a butterfly knife can be used for a variety of purposes, one of the most common uses in the modern world is for flipping or fanning. This style of manipulations is usually done for entertainment, but is also considered an art form.

To properly flip a butterfly knife, you hold the closed knife and the flick your wrist back. This motion is going to feel lie the opposite of casting a fishing line. When you do flip your wrist back, the knife is going to open and the handle of the sharp side will you between your thumb and forefinger. At this point you are going to flip the knife backward, which is done by flicking your wrist downward, which will close the knife again. Then open your thumb and flip the knife up again. Instead of letting the handle hit you, use your thumb and move it to the side. This will open and engage this knife.

Of course, this is a very simple way to flip a butterfly knife, but it still seems complicated and dangerous. This is where the trainer comes in. The blade portion of the flipper is completely dull, so learning how to flip is not dangerous. Once you feel confident on your ability to flip the trainer, you can move on to your new Bear & Son 114B.

 

The Materials:

The entire trainer is made out of stainless steel. This material provides excellent durability and resistance to corrosion, but it is not a lightweight knife material. In some ways, it is better to learn to flip on a heavier knife, because you know that you can adjust for any weight. However, always make sure that once you are using a sharpened knife, you are used to the weight before you do start your flipping’s to ensure that you do not get cut. Also, the weight is going to hurt when you are just learning how to flip, because it is going to hit your hands while you get used to the motions.

To cut down on the weight of the trainer, GenPro has carve out five ovals going down each of the handles. These holes also give you a little bit of grip.

On the blade portion of the handle, there have been thirteen small holes carved out to keep down on weight.

 

The Specs:

The handle on this trainer measures in at 4 7/8 inches long, with the “knife” measuring in at an overall 8 7/8 inches long. Because the entire thing is made out of stainless steel, this knife is going to be pretty heavy. However, because it is made entirely out of stainless steel, this trainer is also going to be extremely strong and durable while you get the hang of flipping.

 

Conclusion:

This special combo set includes an 114B Bear & Son Butterfly knife along with a Gen Pro Trainer butterfly knife so you can practice your flipping skills before you show them off with your 114B.
The beautiful butterfly knife from Bear & Son features a stainless steel clip point blade with black die cast skeletonized handles. It is 5 inches closed and has nice smooth action.

The Gen Pro Trainer butterfly knife features smooth action, a dull edge so you won’t cut yourself while practicing new tricks and is amazingly durable. This trainer balisong has a blade that cannot be sharpened. It has satin stainless steel handles, and a stainless steel blade (dull). We took one of these and beat it against some steel pipes in an effort to see how strong and durable they are and they are incredibly durable. It is built with pin construction and should give you years of great practice. Pick up this pack of knives at BladeOps.