APOC Butterfly Swords: Performance After Some Fine Tuning

All right, I'm impressed. A few minor modifications went a long way to making these feel better in hand and cut and thrust surprisingly well, including with both swords held together in one hand. (After I made this video, I used the knives to prep myself a chicken stir fry, so yes, they do function as knives.)
I honed the edges, took a 3M scuff pad to the sides of the blade to reduce drag on the flats, then ground and polished 1/16" bevels to remove the sharp corners on the front and back edges of the grips and top and bottom edges of the hooks, staining the exposed bare steel with Birchwood Casey Super Blue. Finished with a little smoothing of the corners of G10 scales. Much less than I thought I'd have to do, but the results were profound. It's making me consider what I might be able to do with other APOC products.

[@johncramer6305]

I really appreciate how thoroughly and honestly you review these. And I'm really impressed that you can make improvements to the problems you identified with them. In the future I'd love to see you show the process of modifying and sharping as well. I'm also a big Wing Chun fan, so I really love all the butterfly sword reviews

[@powerplay4real174]

Sounds like they really a proper set of Butterfly Knives now , very good touch up job Mike , that's a real improvement on those-knives/swords ⚔️💰⚔️

[@theweaponscollectiveedge863]

It looks like it made some improvements. They still look tight on the hand but now they won't bite you all the time. 901 subscribers you are doing great, you will soon be there!!!

[@kamaeq]

Thanks, liked your first video on these, but wasn't too impressed with your delivery, but that appears to be your style. Great follow up video and thanks again. Butterflies are not in my wheelhouse, but I was looking at APOC products and you made these attractive.

[@wesdiezy]

Love your reviews! A lot of great points.

[@michaelrizzo5523]

Thanks!

[@CaveMan72]

In hung gar those are used in what's called the double dragon saber form

[@chineseboxer108]

In my Hung Gar lineage its called Mother and Son form.

[@clayweaver2066]

Those turned out really well! I would be interested to see how carrying them diagonally at belt level works out. You probably wouldn't be able to twist the scabbard to the side, but it would tuck them in quite a bit, almost like a Kindjal. Playing with edge up vs edge down could be fun as well in that carry. Great work as usual!! :)

[@flashforce699]

I really like the APOC Trench Bowie and the Wayward Camper , especially if you dont mind minor touch ups . Also I found a company called Traditional Filipino Weapons that hand makes everything , I have the Celtic sword and it is awesom . They use a curious steel , its a 5160 / D2 blend . My sword actually sings and the song is beautifully deadly .

[@DurzoBlint178]

First!!! also, how's that 1849 rifleman's knife treating you?

[@michaelrizzo5523]

It's a handy beast!

[@nathanwillis3339]

Thinking about getting a pair, how did you round the edges? Could it be done with a hand tool?

[@michaelrizzo5523]

I used a combination of hand files for the G10 and fine details, and power tools for the larger metal reduction. The tempering has the blades rating just below 55HRC but the hilts are between 40-45, so they are hard but workable with files, it'll just be a struggle.

[@lorddemonoss3945]

I was wondering if i should buy these 🤔

[@michaelrizzo5523]

Once I rounded all those sharp grip corners I've come to like them a lot. Not pretty, but tough, quick and they really take an edge.

[@orbiterminor]

Hi Mike, I like your practical review style - just subscribed. Also saw the everything wingchun vs murasame and you seemed to favor the murasame. Curious where you fall between the apoc and the murasame? Also a question on sharp vs blunt weapon training: How about training sharp with anti-cut sleeves? Anyone else have any opinions on this topic? In a finance perfect world, I'd get a blunt one for practice and a sharp one for potential use, but that's not my reality. Safety is obviously a concern, but would also hate to have to ask for a timeout so I could go sharpen the weapon if an occassion called for sharp ones. Anyway, thanks!

[@michaelrizzo5523]

The Murasame are just more comfortable and grippy in my hands and move a bit better for my style than the EWC, but I train with them both. However, the Apoc are an awesome affordable option. After a little reshaping of the grips, I pick the Apocs up and work with them as or more frequently than the others, and I don't have to worry about damaging them. Also, I can grip them in one hand joined together. They are quite a bit stabbier though, and I've snagged myself a few times. Protective clothing is definitely a good idea. I did pick up a pair of plastic trainers cheap on Amazon, but they don't weigh or move the same. Okay for partner or wooden dummy practice I suppose. Haven't been willing to spent the money on blunt steel trainers.

[@kurtkrill5300]

like to see some hard use tests as by name APOC would suggest suitable for such and i have only seen one such review for APOC line .and that was on the yataghan.

[@michaelrizzo5523]

Despite how hard I beat on my other Apoc products (see my other reviews) I wouldn't recommend hard target chopping with these. I tried it, and those half-grips really punish your hands. Add in the one-sided blade bevel and they twist out of alignment under impact. Making them fit flush together wasn't the best idea functionally. The hooks also get in the way of batoning and other field use tasks.

[@kurtkrill5300]

Ty my friend.@@michaelrizzo5523

[@backoff5060]

Easy fix... tape the edges.

[@erichusayn]

Heard lots of pros and cons of that series of swords.

[@erichusayn]

Notice you're not wearing your wrist brace. Progress!

[@michaelrizzo5523]

@@erichusayn Yes, things are improving with training!

[@erichusayn]

@@michaelrizzo5523 very nkce