Spyderco Native 5 Signature Knife with 2.95" CPM S30V Steel Blade and Black G-10 Handle - PlainEdge - C41GP5

This knife is bringing my knife-collecting hobby to a premature end.It has everything I need and want in an EDC pocketknife, which makes it very difficult to justify getting any more knives.Construction - 5/5 - Solid. Everything is bolted down tight, almost no flex or give anywhere. There's very slight left-right blade play, but it's negligible.Aesthetics, Fit and Finish - 4.5/5 - Excellent. Clearly a lot of attention to detail that's shown off well. For example, the back lock, rear spacer and steel liners look and feel like a single unbroken block of metal, until you look closer and notice that the back lock and spacer are made of a slightly darker steel.Overall, I find this knife aesthetically pleasing, but this is very subjective. The color of the G10 scales is described as "blurple". I suspect this puts off a lot of prospective buyers. In reality, they are more of a translucent indigo or royal blue. If you have ever looked at a clear sky through a pair of polarized sunglasses and tilted your head to make the sky go as dark as possible, that shade is comparable. I find it quite beautiful, but again this is subjective.There are some very very minor flaws. The gimping on the blade doesn't quite match the gimping on the back lock, so the transition is noticeable. On my copy, the first quarter of the left side of the blade seems to have been ground to an ever so slightly shallower angle than the rest of the blade, so it reflects light at a slightly different angle. The left side of the blade edge also seems to have been ground at a slightly different angle at the very tip. Blade centering was slightly off, but it corrected itself after some use. These are nitpicks. Fit and finish is flawless otherwise.Cutting performance - 5/5 - This comes shaving sharp right out of the box. The full flat grind on the blade makes it a great slicer, and the thickness of the spine suggests it can step up to handle smaller bushcraft tasks if necessary. The blade is on the short side, but I've not found myself wanting a longer blade for any of the everyday tasks I've put it to. By all accounts, S110V loses its razor sharpness at the same rate as any other steel, but holds a usable edge practically indefinitely. I haven't really put this to the test though. S110V is also reportedly not the toughest steel, but in a pocketknife this is fine.Ergonomics - 5/5 - Very, very comfortable in the hand, especially in the choked-up position. Some reviewers have reported problems backing off and gripping the handle alone, but I have no issues with this (it's slightly less comfortable though). The gimping on the spine of the blade makes for a very grippy hold for my thumb, giving excellent control. The textured G10 scales are grippy enough too, and the pocket clip doesn't get in the way.Operation - 5/5 - A back lock is one of the strongest, but it makes for a knife that isn't that fun to play with. Having said that, it opens and closes easily one-handed with no issues. A few weeks of playing with this knife has made it quite smooth.One genius element of the design shines through here. Gripping the handle and operating the back lock makes the blade choil fall onto your index finger, not the blade edge. This is very safe, as there's little risk of the blade edge meeting your fingers (unlike most liner locks). I've found that the kind of grip necessary for the blade edge to fall onto your fingers also makes it very uncomfortable to operate the back lock, so this is unlikely to happen by accident.Ease of Carry - 5/5 - Slim and small enough that I can slip it into a tight jeans pocket and forget it's there. I find myself having to feel for it to check if it's still in my pocket. A real danger with this knife could be forgetting it's on me and going to the airport.In terms of weight, it's hefty enough to inspire confidence, but not so heavy that it weighs down my pocket. I'm having trouble understanding why an even lighter FRN version of this knife needs to exist (apart from the cheaper price). The detent on the blade is positive and strong, so there's no question of it falling open in my pocket. The clip is functional, deep enough and can be re-positioned 4 ways. I've replaced it with a deep carry clip so that nothing sticks over the lip of my pocket, but this wasn't really necessary.I would not consider this a gentleman's knife. However, since it is a relatively small knife that doesn't have any aggressive angles or serrations, it looks more like a tool than a weapon, which is less likely to cause panic or get you arrested.Maintenance - 4/5 - Sharpening this knife will require fairly specialized equipment and lots of elbow grease, but that is what you get with S110V steel. Regular whetstones and stropping compounds will not work on it. I've found that the SpyderCo Sharpmaker works fine, and it can be brought to a mirror finish by stropping with diamond paste. Sharpening is not quite as tedious as I was led to expect, but it definitely is a lot more work than most other steels. An interesting thing I've noticed is that the Sharpmaker, from the same company, is set up for only two angles - 30 and 40 degrees inclusive, whereas the factory edge on this knife was somewhere in the middle. The 30 degree setting is therefore too shallow, whereas the 40 degree setting will start creating a secondary bevel that isn't quite as aggressive as the factory edge. This doesn't really bother me much, but it is something to consider.I haven't taken it apart yet as the screws seem to be well secured with Loctite. That said, I haven't had a reason to as it hasn't accumulated much dust or lint.Overall - 4.5/5 - A well-constructed, very pretty knife with an intelligent design that performs all my EDC blade tasks with no fuss and which I can take almost everywhere. This ticks all the boxes and frankly makes it hard for me to justify buying any more pocket knives.

It's unfortunate, but it's a fact; if you want to read about the new breed of belt and pocket carry knives, you have to learn some words that no one has ever heard before. The choil, for instance - the thick part at the base of the knife blade, where it fits to the hinge. Not sharp, it's a load-bearing part of the knife. The Native5 design has little nubbins - "jimping" - both on the top, where your thumb can rest; and also below, where along with the hinge area the choil forms a curved, jimped area where your index fingertip or first knuckle can rest. Gripped this way, the knife offers great control and a great feel - it's fun to hold and use this knife. And I learned a few new words to bore my friends with!I hadn't carried a knife for 20 years or so; Dad's old made-in-USA Buck Stockman still serves but I wanted to see what else was out there. And it turns out that, like everything else, the technology has advanced substantially. Single-hand open, for example, used to be a novelty that might get your knife banned or taken away by a lawman; since 2009, though, that's been a non-issue for assisted-open (non-springloaded) knives like the Native. You put your thumb in the round hole; you apply slight pressure; the knife swivels open like greased lightning and 'snicks' into place with the firmest, lowest-tolerance, no-rattle lock I could imagine in a knife. Single hand closure is also possible - press the spring loaded spine into the handle detent and press the lightly-swaged back of the blade against your jeans - it pops loose and swivels closed fast and sure.And I do recommend single-hand operation, because this knife's spear point is menacing. Like Sauron's gaze, it "pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh." It's poked holes in several shirts - after the point gets through, the ultrasharp edge cuts thread - and when I've tried double-hand closure, I've often gotten a painful stab wound for my trouble. I thought OK, I'll just dull the point by scraping some grit out of a groove in a steel can lid - no dice. The lid was sliced; the edge was left intact.See, there's this new steel technology. I don't understand it but it has to do with metal powder and weird alloys and the name is CPM35VN. It's chrome-moly, like my old bike, but also vanadium - like my dad's 1947 journeyman carpentry hammer, tough yet resilient - and niobium, which is a fairly rare transition metal. I have been trying to dull this blade for the month I've owned it and no dice. I can't dull it; I can't chip it or roll it or make it any less efficient for cutting. I'm not using it to cut nails or do things to intentionally break it; but in daily use it just hasn't changed a bit. Its surly gray-iridescent gleam seems to challenge me. Try me on something, it says. See whether I cut it or not.Amazing when you have a knife clipped into your pocket how you find things to do with it. I've been keeping this in my Levi's 501 'fifth pocket' where it's a perfect fit. I changed the clip to suit my preference - using a Torx you can move the clip to any of 4 orientations. The clip is a little tight but I guess I could bend it to lessen that; I haven't bothered. Anyway, now that the knife is always close to hand, I use it about 2-3 times an hour. It's always nice to have it and there's always that little moment of surprise when it cuts cleanly and quickly and that annoying task that was going to take a moment is now completely solved.If you haven't guessed, I love this thing. I love the G-10 nubbly rubberized grip, I love the practical shape and length of the blade, I love the silly Spyderco makers' marks, and if someone took this knife away from me - doubtful, it'd make a great personal defense weapon - but if they did I'd have to go get another one immediately!

I purchased the version with the S110V blade. Some have described this as the ultimate EDC (everyday carry) knife, and a strong case can be made for that position. The fit and finish are flawless, the back of the knife looks as if it could be a single piece of steel and the blade is on-center when the knife is closed. The solid click the lock makes when opening is complete inspires confidence. I found the color pleasant and the jibbing sufficient without interfering with the knife's aesthetics. It is a solid knife that feels good in the hand and has absolutely no blade play. I have never seen a knife cut like this one; it arrived extremely sharp. The forward choil, along with the knife's exceptionally solid construction and S110V steel, make for very efficient cutting. One can bring a lot of force to bear on a cut with this knife.If I had to find faults: it would be that the cutting edge is a tiny bit shorter than my other Native; it was a little stiff out of the box, and the ergonomics, although good, were not outstanding for my hand (which may be smaller than most knife users). However, this is nitpicking; the solid feel and cutting ability of this knife are the best I've ever seen; it deserves five stars.I've had a Native with a FRN handle and S30V blade for at least a couple of years. It's a fine knife and I never regretted not getting the G10 handle and steel liners. It depends on what you want, and if you're not sure, think about it so you will be happy with your choice, because either knife will last a long time. Good Luck!

Fast delivery. A well made every day carry knife that fits easily in your pocket. Sharp and sharp looking