Ha! I hadn’t seen your post. But it’s cool. I love this knife. Great action. It’s stays decently sharp. And I love the tanto blade shape. My only issue with it has to do with the aftermarket scales I put on it. It’s not easy to get your thumb to the release when closing the blade
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I’ve been tempted to buy an Elementum ever since it came out and there have been some good offers but I just haven’t bought one. And now with the Gemini, I’m just not interested.
While I’ve owned a bunch of Elementums, they just don’t get carried. Looking back, I carried one of my Elementums one time in 2024. It was a special edition and also upgraded to Flytanium scales and Skiff bearings. (It was the BladeHQ Tanto I mentioned previously. It is my favorite of the Elementums I’ve tried but still, so rarely carried.) I’ve often wondered if the premium WE version with its rounded edges would be more up my alley but I just haven’t gotten around to trying it.
The Gemini though… I carried every one I owned more than once. I picked up another one for mods and carried that. I honestly felt like I didn’t carry them enough. (Yeah, I rotate through a lot of knives and participate in silly theme days, but the Gemini has been a persistent part of that rotation for several years now.)
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Scale-swapped Civivi Bo and a tiny TwoSun.
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RockJumper!
Another little Fuente Friday with this little Begleiter.
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Just did an inlay swap and installed Skiff bearings on this WE Smooth Sentinel. Such a good little knife. I love modern flippers with thin blades.
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It took me some time to learn just how invaluable good geometry is, regardless of steel and HRC… I used to want tanky, sharpened prybars in my pocket.
Which tells me I wasn’t using my knives enough for cutting. Now, I very much prefer a thinly ground or hollow-ground blade in a quality “tough” steel like 14C28N or Nitro-V so my hand doesn’t have to do quite so much “work” while cutting.
But, I do still like my tanky knives, lol - just my style, I guess.
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I know that there are places where you need a slip joint knife to be legal. But those things are just flat dangerous. I have the scars to prove it…
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There are no knives I’m more paranoid about when using them than my slipjoints… Lightest of light-duty knives, or when discretion is required.
I won’t ever tear down a box with one or even consider one should I have to try and defend myself with a knife.
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I don’t consider them inherently dangerous, but inherently limited in the ways they can be safely used. Caution is definitely warranted if trying to do a piercing cut.
I’ve got a few decades worth of slipjoint use, and no scars resulting from unintended closure. I’ve got no qualms about slip joints in a light duty knife like a Swiss Army Knife or even a Leatherman in exchange for keeping the overall design small and simple compared to the number of tools offered.
It is a bit odd seeing an Elementum in a slip joint version, though. Not living in an area where locking knives are restricted, I’m really not sure any scenario in which I’d pick that over the regular liner lock version.
It’s definitely more of an aesthetic choice. I think the knife looks super clean with no flipper, no thumbstuds and the back spring filling in the back of the handle.
It’s also in 14C28N and the hollow grind is very thin - this is probably the thinnest knife I have behind the edge…
But, the OG is certainly a great choice!
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Places where only slipjoint knives are allowed, are fixed-blade knives verboten or allowed?
Absolutely! I sometimes enjoy carrying chunky blades but mostly just for fun. The overwhelming majority of my EDC stuff benefits considerably from a thinner blade. It’s most apparent when slicing through something, wherein everything behind the edge is getting dragged behind the cut. Thicker blades are just more obtuse wedges in that case.
When people talk about the “strength” of thicker blades, the argument rarely applies to folders. Whenever calculating the sorts of force wherein a 0.10" or 0.125" blade fails but a 0.15" or thicker blade does not; other parts of the folder will probably fail first.
I always like to ask, is there anything you do that actually benefits from a thicker blade? I’m not a bushcraft guy but maybe feather-sticking?
Some cheap, Chinese, SOG knockoff. It’s not bad. The action is smooth. But the tension isn’t right. It doesn’t flick open like it should. Out close quite like it should. But hey… It’s a $5 knife. These kinda things are expected.
No benefit at all, really… Most use is cutting up cardboard for recycling & thinner blade stock is much better for that.
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