The Leek has always been A/O, as far as I know.
The blend of 2 steels is called Composite Blade (CB) by Kershaw.
I don't own any CB, but they do look cool. 
Having spent well over a decade with nothing but A/O knives in my pocket, I feel like I have a reasonable understanding of them. Like I said, I feel liberated in having moved on from that. Even with a “ton of frequent short uses”, using my knives a lot in concert with other tasks, or just fidgeting with those knives for fun; a good manual action feels better to me. The clean break from a crisp detent, the smooth and consistent travel out over bearings, and the clean drop to close without needing to overcome spring tension all feel wonderful to me.
I think the historical context is important. During the time that I was carrying A/O, brands like Kershaw and CRKT made good budget knives for the time. Great manual actions and features like bearings were either more rare or more expensive. Things are different now. Now we also see the best steels in budget knives coming with the best actions in budget knives and they aren’t assisted.
Yes, “CB”. CPM-D2, 1660CB. There’s a few composite blades offered by Kershaw. The Dividend 1812OLCB is also composite with a more aggressive delineation between the two steels. I’m really curious how they make these blades… and if the line is more of a decorative thing (not necessarily denoting an exact distinction of where the two steels meet).
I do like the full control of the manual open. It’s one thing to fidget, but another if you just want to gently open your blade, without sudden moves. With A/O, after the blade extends beyond a certain point, “whoosh” and it’s quickly deployed the rest of the way. Still, I could see having one for variety.
You can open an A/O manually.
I sometimes do that when I don't want to draw attention to myself.
Speaking of good manual action, I just upgraded my PF818.
If you don't know, the Petrified Fish 818 "Trident" is a decent $30 knife. The action on mine was very good out of the box and even better once I cleaned and lubed the bearings. Well, I've hung on to this little guy for longer than I had expected. While being D2 limits it for summer carry, it has maintained a "recurring role" in my EDC rotation since 2019. In fact, it's now the only D2 knife in my EDC rotation. The only previous mod I'd made is smoothing up some of the scale edges.
Well, I finally decided to check out Skiff Bearings. I got a bunch in what seems like the most common size for Chinese knives. So far, it's been a perfect fit in all three of the knives I've tried. This was no exception. The results were less pronounced in the Civivi Naja or the Sencut Snap. However, the change here from 10 average balls of steel in plastic to 11 precision balls of ceramic in phosphor bronze made a significant difference. The action has gone from great to fantastic!
I only like AOs and flippers. Hate thumb-studs and cutouts. AOs are nice to play with, but my only grex would be having to push past the spring when closing ’em, whereas a flipper practically drops closed with little to no effort.
And that little go,comma PF clone is one of my funnest flippers to play with. Snaps open like an AO with a finger-flick, and drops closed as soon as you unlock it.
Just as a beater, I leave that cheepcheepcheep little chicken S&W stonewash knife for opening mail, cutting boxes, etc. Thumb-stud with horrible horrible action, necessarily a 2-hander, so I just leave it open all the time and don’t even bother closing it.
Exactly!
Civivi Mini Elementum in copper. Super small, next to a AAA light for size comparison.
1 Thank
I really hope these will come in lightweight scales….copper and brass are not my taste.
And I do not like knives with “presentation” sides with a scale, and a back side without one, feels to me as if the scale is missing. I know it is a solution to using a frame lock, but to me it is an unfinished design.
I don’t like the aesthetic either. Give me symmetry or give me death!
Vero Engineering Mini Synapse from second-hand market
Finally bitten by the Vero hyped-train 
Looks great! I have a Vero Axon and it is fantastic. Enjoy!!
Real Steel Bushcraft III Convex:
First knife I ever got that shaves right out of the box!
Thanks buddy
Before this I was wondering what is this hype all about?
Until a friend of mine lent me his Gen2
Lacking a “like” button here, I wholeheartedly agree. Dissimilar scales on a frame lock always look to me like one scale fell off to expose the working parts on one side.
I can appreciate that from the leftie perspective. It must be REALLY annoying for the presentation side to be facing away from you.
I don’t mind a mix of sides. Grip wise, the fingers do most of it anyway. But aesthetically, yeah… would be preferable to have micarta on both sides rather than one. I’m still a fan of the Squid with micarta, though.
That is too good looking. Man… I have to expect this is a $200+ knife, so that would knock it out of wishlist for me.
Thanks man!
For $200+, the Axon Mini can be had for that, but it’s the table price.
Axon Mini
Due to the limited run of Vero’s knife, it’s very hard to get it in the second-hand market at their table price
Yeah, with small sought-after brands like this you have to keep an eagle-eye on releases to jump in moments upon a new release. When I’m back to a more flush knife budget, I’ll likely keep an eye out on Vero. In terms of blade action, what other brands you own would you say are on par with Vero?