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Civivi’s Most Beloved EDC Knife Gets a Dazzling Yet Still Affordable High-Performance Reissue

This model has been the brand’s best-seller for years, but this premium version elevates it to new heights.

Folding knife with a black blade and a handle featuring a red, white, and blue camouflage pattern on a textured dark surface.Civivi
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By Sean Tirman

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Civivi’s Elementum is among the brand’s best-selling knives of all time. In fact, if you add up all of the different versions, it’s also among the most iterated in the brand’s catalog.

Yet, the We Knife sister brand keeps finding new ways to interpret it. The latest is the Civivi Elementum Nebula FatCarbon S35VN, which takes the budget-friendly icon and gives it a high-performance material boost.

Folding knife with black blade and handle featuring red, white, and blue camouflage pattern on textured dark rock surface.
This knife gets an S35VN steel blade to match its unusual handle scales.
Civivi

Cut the fat

Let’s start with the most obvious change here: the handle. The Elementum has seen numerous handle treatments over the years, but the most common material has been G-10.

While G-10 is a great option, beloved for its strength-to-weight ratio and general durability, it’s also pretty commonplace. The material that replaces it, however, is rarer (although it is having a bit of a moment).

Crafted by a Lithuanian firm of the same name, FatCarbon is a high-performance carbon composite that is stunning to behold, incredibly lightweight and exceptionally strong and durable. It’s also resistant to chemicals, temperature changes and won’t corrode.

Folding knife with black blade and handle featuring a red, white, and blue distressed pattern on a textured black surface.
The FatCarbon scales feature a red, white, blue and black pattern called “Nebula.”
Civivi

This particular pattern is called Nebula. And while all of these Elementums will have the same red, white, blue and black colors, no two patterns are the same between knives or even scales on the same knife.

(It is worth noting that there was a previous Elementum that also had FatCarbon handle scales, although that one was a green camo pattern called “Jungle Work.” It does not appear to be in production any longer.)

But that’s not the only upgrade to be found here…

Folded pocket knife with a black clip and a multicolored handle featuring red, blue, and white patterns on a textured dark surface.
With its crossbar lock, thumb stud deployment and reversible pocket clip, this knife is fully ambidextrous.
Civivi

Slice of life

On the other side of the knife, there’s also an upgrade to be had. Although not exclusively, the majority of Elementums throughout the model’s history have come with either D2, Nitro-V or 14C28N steel.

While respectable, these steels all fall on the more budget-friendly side of the spectrum and, technically, that makes them lower-performing (although I’d argue most people won’t notice the difference in an EDC context). This version, however, gets S35VN. This higher-performance steel boasts a superior balance of high toughness, excellent edge retention and outstanding corrosion resistance.

Folded pocket knife with a black blade and a handle featuring a red, white, and blue camouflage pattern on a dark textured surface.
The layered carbon of the handle scales is visible along their edges, a nice little stylistic touch.
Civivi

What might be the most interesting part of this fairly significant upgrade package is that Civivi still managed to keep the pricing reasonable. It wouldn’t be too much to say a knife with these same specs could climb above $150, yet it sticks the landing at just $109, making it relatively affordable.

Other noteworthy elements include a strong and reliable crossbar lock, dual thumb stud deployment, a lanyard hole and a reversible pocket clip.

Black folding knife with a textured handle in red, white, and blue camouflage pattern on dark stone surface.
This is the second Elementum to get FatCarbon handle scales. The first had a green “Jungle Wear” camo pattern.
Civivi

Availability and pricing

The Civivi Elementum Nebula FatCarbon S35VN is expected to ship on April 29, but you can preorder it right now for $109.

About the Author: Sean Tirman is an associate editor at Gear Patrol who specializes in EDC, cannabis and outdoor gear.

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