Lockback
12-15-2005, 08:13 PM
As you may know, I recently won a contest here on the forum that Druid very generously conducted. I received a PE Native and a Spyderco sticker as my prize. Thanks again, Druid – the gift is very much appreciated!
When I received the package from Druid, I was very intrigued. This was the first time I’d ever picked up a Native – there aren’t any stores in my area that carry Spydercos, so most of my acquisitions come from online retailers. I had been very interested in getting a Native from Wal-Mart, but my local store did not have them in stock yet (and still doesn’t, to my knowledge).
This knife represented a couple of firsts for me – this was my first Spyderco made in Golden, and my first S30V blade. I was most impressed by the fit and finish of the knife. It has zero blade play, and feels very solid in my hand. It locks open with a solid ‘click’ closes with an authoritative ‘snick,’ more so than many of my other Spydercos. It was very tight out of the box, but loosened up with a couple of drops of CLP.
Ergonomically speaking, I really like the 50/50 choil. The knife just feels solid. The Native is, of course, comparable to the Delica in size, but they feel very different to me. The Native is noticeably thicker, which contributes to its solid feel. I have fairly large hands, and I like the way the Native fits me better than the Delica (with one exception, which I’ll discuss momentarily). The Native feels more comfortable to me in a variety of grip positions.
I test sharpness of new knives in a couple of traditional ways: paper-slicing and forearm hair-shaving. I was surprised that the Native seemed less sharp to me out of the box than I expected. Don’t get me wrong – it still sliced paper and shaved hair, but seemed to leave a slightly rougher cut on the paper than VG-10 knives do. However, after almost a month of daily carry, it has kept its edge very well. I have not yet attempted to touch it up on the Sharpmaker, as I have not noticed a dropoff in edge retention so far.
Overall, I really like the Native. My only nitpick is the way that the openening hole is partially covered by the handle when the blade is closed. I have large hands (and fat fingers :) ), and the Native is considerably more difficult for me to open due to the low placement of the hole. This is one area where I prefer the Delica’s ergonomics: it is very easy for me to open a Delica, due to the high hole placement. I suppose this is a tradeoff for the Native’s humpless profile.
All in all, I really like the Native, and have enjoyed playing around with the S30V steel. Once again, I owe a debt of gratitude to Druid for giving me this knife; it has become one of my favorites.
Lockback
When I received the package from Druid, I was very intrigued. This was the first time I’d ever picked up a Native – there aren’t any stores in my area that carry Spydercos, so most of my acquisitions come from online retailers. I had been very interested in getting a Native from Wal-Mart, but my local store did not have them in stock yet (and still doesn’t, to my knowledge).
This knife represented a couple of firsts for me – this was my first Spyderco made in Golden, and my first S30V blade. I was most impressed by the fit and finish of the knife. It has zero blade play, and feels very solid in my hand. It locks open with a solid ‘click’ closes with an authoritative ‘snick,’ more so than many of my other Spydercos. It was very tight out of the box, but loosened up with a couple of drops of CLP.
Ergonomically speaking, I really like the 50/50 choil. The knife just feels solid. The Native is, of course, comparable to the Delica in size, but they feel very different to me. The Native is noticeably thicker, which contributes to its solid feel. I have fairly large hands, and I like the way the Native fits me better than the Delica (with one exception, which I’ll discuss momentarily). The Native feels more comfortable to me in a variety of grip positions.
I test sharpness of new knives in a couple of traditional ways: paper-slicing and forearm hair-shaving. I was surprised that the Native seemed less sharp to me out of the box than I expected. Don’t get me wrong – it still sliced paper and shaved hair, but seemed to leave a slightly rougher cut on the paper than VG-10 knives do. However, after almost a month of daily carry, it has kept its edge very well. I have not yet attempted to touch it up on the Sharpmaker, as I have not noticed a dropoff in edge retention so far.
Overall, I really like the Native. My only nitpick is the way that the openening hole is partially covered by the handle when the blade is closed. I have large hands (and fat fingers :) ), and the Native is considerably more difficult for me to open due to the low placement of the hole. This is one area where I prefer the Delica’s ergonomics: it is very easy for me to open a Delica, due to the high hole placement. I suppose this is a tradeoff for the Native’s humpless profile.
All in all, I really like the Native, and have enjoyed playing around with the S30V steel. Once again, I owe a debt of gratitude to Druid for giving me this knife; it has become one of my favorites.
Lockback