We used to be able to comfortably describe the Boker Plus lineup as the Solingen, Germany’s company’s budget line. And while that’s still technically true, with each passing year the Plus models seem more diverse, embracing a wider spread of price points, mechanisms, and materials. The latest example in this trend is the Gemma Damascus, a flipper knife with not only a blade made from damascus steel, but a handle too.
As befits its uncommonly classy construction, the Gemma is a lightweight, elegant EDC folder at heart. It comes with a 2.5-inch drop point blade – mostly straight edge, but with a short span of belly as it moves tipwards. Hard work probably isn’t this knife’s calling, but there’s enough real estate here to get real work done, and overall too much knife to designate the Gemma as a true backup blade.
The damascus steel, of course, was chosen primarily for looks rather than performance, but it can acquit itself admirably enough in the gent’s folder-ish workload most would emply the Gemma for. It is, however, not stainless, so a little extra maintenance, even if the knife will be mostly relegated to the collection, is called for here.
On most knives a damascus blade would be the central talking point, but on the Gemma the real headlining feature is the fact that the entire chassis is made from the stuff: the knife’s slim, almost Kwaiken-ish scales (with a frame lock on the off-side) match the blade itself perfectly. The clip too is made from damascus, but the hardware from regular old stainless. The all-steel construction is mitigated in the weight department by virtue of the Gemma being a pretty small knife; it tips the scales at a feathery 1.4 oz.
The Boker Gemma is available now.
Knife in Featured Image: Boker Plus Gemma Damascus
