Where it all Started
The v1 AEON marked the beginning of our journey into balisong making. It was a significant undertaking, and while we worked diligently to bring it to market, we faced challenges due to our inexperience and the absence of in-house manufacturing capabilities. Our ambition to create a highly modular and customizable experience led to an overall design that was quite complex, making it difficult to support effectively.
Despite these setbacks, the v1 AEON provided invaluable lessons that informed our development process. We learned from our mistakes and used that knowledge to create the v2 AEON, which features a much more streamlined design while still retaining many of the modular options that made the original appealing. The v2 AEON reflects our commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in balisong design. For more information, please check out the v2 AEON by clicking the button below.
The following section provides a timeline that outlines our intentions with the v1 AEON and how events unfolded. We hope this offers valuable insights for anyone curious about the v1 or its journey as a whole.
Design and Strategy
Design for the v1 AEON began in mid-2024, following Andrew's decision to leave his job and dedicate himself full-time to AMKW. The primary objective was to create a highly customizable platform that blended CNC machined handle parts with hand-finishing and hand-ground blades, catering to various performance and aesthetic preferences. Creating a modern design centered around personalization, Andrew drew inspiration from the JK Litetech’s double scale setup, which effectively doubled the number of scales and allowed for extensive customization in finishing, color, materials, and texture. He also looked to the BRS Replicant and its vibrant aftermarket community, which empowered countless modders to create unique versions.
Our goal was to capture this spirit of innovation in-house, providing robust support for both our product and our customers. By implementing this strategy, we aimed to sell the balisong at a lower initial price while ensuring profitability through the sale of additional components. The extensive range of customization options not only enhanced the product's value but also extended its lifespan in terms of ongoing revenue, making the AEON a truly versatile and sustainable offering in the balisong market.
Price
The original price range we aimed for was $400 to $600. However, after exploring various machine shops for prototype production, we quickly realized that our target price was significantly lower than what we needed. Consequently, we turned to overseas manufacturing and were surprised to find that, despite the reduced cost associated with the 15 components per AEON (excluding hardware), the expenses were still substantial. Each unit would cost around $450 just for the parts to be milled.
In addition to that, we would need to purchase hardware, which added approximately $50 per AEON, along with costs for finishing handles, hand-grinding blades, assembly, packaging, and not to mention consumable expenses like grinding belts. Ultimately, we decided to set the AEON's base price at $750, still aiming to offer it at a lower upfront cost, with the expectation that potential sales of additional components could offset the difference in production costs.
Manufacturing
Prototyping played a crucial role in our development process, as the initial version of the v1 AEON had several shortcomings. It was too long, too heavy, uncomfortable, and not user-friendly. After making significant revisions and reducing the weight, we finally achieved an acceptable design. However, we soon realized that we needed to find a different shop to produce our blade blanks, as the ones we received were plagued by warping issues and inconsistent handle gaps.
Instead of continuing with overseas manufacturing, we decided to reach out to local balisong makers for assistance. Franken Forge accepted our project, and although his pricing was about double what we had anticipated from overseas suppliers, we recognized that the blade was a critical component that needed to be executed perfectly. Impressed by his prototypes, we ultimately chose Franken Forge to produce the full batch of blades.
With costs calculated, we proceeded to order components for 60 v1 AEONs in late 2024, aiming to have a batch ready for sale at the Blade Show in Atlanta in June 2025, along with drops in the following months. However, the handle components took significantly longer to arrive than the initially quoted three months, primarily due to the Chinese New Year. Ultimately, we received our parts about two months before the Blade Show, giving us ample time to prepare for the launch.
Release
In anticipation of the parts arriving, we took preorders for 15 v1 AEONs from a select list of interested customers, all of which were to be completed before the Blade Show. Most of these preorders were highly customized, showcasing the AEON's potential and generating significant excitement for its public release in Atlanta. We brought around 30 v1s to the Blade Show, and they were all sold within the first two days, indicating a strong reception.
One of our biggest takeaways from the show was the demand for more components, which presented a challenge since we were not producing them ourselves and couldn't easily experiment with new materials or scale designs. Our Chinese machine shop was unwilling to manufacture anything in carbon fiber, and the G10 components were expensive—nearly on par with titanium prices due to ordering low quantity—while the quality of the material seemed subpar.
Following the show, we promptly ordered another batch of titanium handle components, anticipating a three-month wait for delivery. We also reached out to see if anyone was interested in making our handle components in different materials, but most declined, citing the stress of producing such complex parts in less rigid materials. Ultimately, we decided to invest nearly all our resources into purchasing our own CNC mill, which would allow us to manufacture the components ourselves and reduce our dependency on outsourcing.
Sustainability and Design Flaws
Over the following months, we took on more preorders using what remained of the original batch of parts. We chose this approach to ensure customers received exactly what they wanted, but it quickly became problematic. The chaotic nature of the orders, with a wide variety of finishing options and blade shapes, complicated fulfillment and slowed down production.
Once our new CNC machine was delivered, we began learning to operate it, starting with G10 spacers. With no prior machining experience, this was a significant challenge. We mistakenly thought producing scales would be easier, but the underside milling required precise material flipping, which proved difficult due to our lack of experience in building a fixture plate. The scales had a 0.020" thick wall on either side, so even minor inaccuracies caused breakage or them being off center.
As we grappled with these challenges, our new batch of handles arrived, but we were struggling financially. The lengthy wait for handle components was not sustainable; we were spending too much upfront without income and couldn't sell extra components because we were not yet proficient in manufacturing them ourselves. This left us in a precarious situation.
Surface Grinding
Now that we had our own mill, we could produce our own blades, which turned out to be fairly straightforward after a few attempts, as it was similar to making spacers, just in steel instead of composite. With the arrival of our new batch of handles, we needed 60 more blades. We ordered S35VN steel and cut them all out, but we still required someone to handle the heat treatment and surface grinding.
After reaching out to other makers, we found that their prices were nearly as high as what we paid for complete production previously. Instead, we looked outside the balisong community and discovered a local shop down the street. While their pricing was still high, it was more reasonable, so we entrusted them with our blades. Unfortunately, they were busy and sent the blades to another shop, which lost the desired tolerances in the transfer. When we received the blades back, only about 25% were usable, and even those needed to be ground down a few thousandths to work properly.
We attempted to get reimbursed, but the shop only wanted to run the job again on more blades, which we were not willing to do without assurance of better results. Instead, we had them fix the salvageable blades, which we used for builds for Blade Show West, while the rest were scrapped. Learning from this experience, we decided to produce a much smaller batch of blades using a less expensive Nitro V steel and utilized a balisong maker for the surface grinding.
