GUys, I am not a BALI guy either.
But when I was a kid, I spent my Winters feeding cattle. For anybody, who does not knopw what this is like, you climb on top of a 5 tall stack og hay bales in the back of a pick up truck, and then drive over a single lane goat path to find cattle hell and gone (can I say that) from nowhere and then you feed the bales off the back by cutting the strings( they dont use wire anymore.) on the bale and dropping it off a flake at a time. Basically its like two guys standing on top of a 8 foot tall mound of JELLO while handling a knives, in sub zero weather.
Anyhow, the boss lady had seen a couple of knives in her garden ccataolg, she thought would be handy. SO we got to test them.
They were basically a BALI-type knife with plastic handles and a pretty stout puukko type blade.
ONce we used them on hay bales, we would not let them go.
Of course when we wnet home the knives stayed in the truck.
BUt I always wanted to have one, to toss in the day pack.
IN short, I will get one, regardless of the handle color. Try using one that is flash red sometime.
D2 oughta make a good blade. I dont know anything about Mr. Marlowe but I wonde rif his wife ever had one oif them dang ugle folding puuko's before?