New Guy Intro

[SurprisinglySquare]

Hey all,

Been lurking for a while but picked up my first Spyderco and decided I'd register and say hi.

Got a Lil Native over the weekend and have been messing around with it nonstop since it came in. I'm pretty jacked about it! I have a couple of Kershaws, shuffle (great knife) and entropy (crap), and a CRKT drifter (another great knife), but my son was just born and my wife decided to get the Lil Native for me for my first Father’s Day gift.

I love the ergonomics of the knife, and in my opinion the shorter blade with the finger choil is absolutely the way to go. If I need a stronger grip I can choke up with a 4 finger grip using my index finger on the choil, or if I’m doing something more detailed I like to use a 3 finger grip with my middle finger on the choil and index finger on the back of the blade.

The only downside is that I’m left handed and the compression lock is obviously better suited to a righty, though it’s still certainly usable one handed. It would be nice if there was a little bit of knurling or a fingernail nick on the pad of the comp lock to make one handed closing easier for us lefties, but no worries.

The other question I had is about sharpness. I’m new to this and don’t have any experience with steels other than 8CR13MOV, so bear with me if this is a dumb question. The knife was sharp when I took it out of the box, but I went ahead and gave it a few swipes on the fine stones of the sharpmaker which got it to shaving sharp. I cut up some fruit and broke down a couple of boxes and noticed that afterwards it was still sharp, but wouldn’t shave. Is this pretty par for the course for S30V? Will harder steels like ZDP-189/S110V/Maxamet hold a shaving sharp edge for any length of time, or is that level of acuteness just not going to last for long regardless of blade steel?

Thanks everyone!

-Eric

[embry386]

Hello and welcome to the Spyderco forums!

The Lil Native's a pretty cool knife although I don't have one, I went for the full-size Native myself (serrated black-coated version) when I was first getting into Spyderco and it's still my favorite knife so far. Larger knives are my jam, the full-size Native is about the smallest I like to carry before I start getting frustrated by the lack of blade length. I agree about the awesomeness of choils :) So convenient to be able to choke up on a knife and do real fine detail work on whatever you're cutting.

Doesn't the Lil Native come in a backlock version? That's ambidextrous, maybe look into one of those if you want something that's easier to close left-handed.

I don't know much about steel types, although from what I've seen, Maxamet will probably hold its shaving-sharp edge for longer than pretty much anything else.

[Mr Blonde]

Welcome to the forums! I also recently got a Lil' Native Backlock and I like it a lot. As a lefty, I can confirm that the backlock version is very lefty-friendly, much moreso than a compression lock in such a small folder.

[curlyhairedboy]

Hey all,

Been lurking for a while but picked up my first Spyderco and decided I'd register and say hi.

Got a Lil Native over the weekend and have been messing around with it nonstop since it came in. I'm pretty jacked about it! I have a couple of Kershaws, shuffle (great knife) and entropy (crap), and a CRKT drifter (another great knife), but my son was just born and my wife decided to get the Lil Native for me for my first Father’s Day gift.

I love the ergonomics of the knife, and in my opinion the shorter blade with the finger choil is absolutely the way to go. If I need a stronger grip I can choke up with a 4 finger grip using my index finger on the choil, or if I’m doing something more detailed I like to use a 3 finger grip with my middle finger on the choil and index finger on the back of the blade.

The only downside is that I’m left handed and the compression lock is obviously better suited to a righty, though it’s still certainly usable one handed. It would be nice if there was a little bit of knurling or a fingernail nick on the pad of the comp lock to make one handed closing easier for us lefties, but no worries.

The other question I had is about sharpness. I’m new to this and don’t have any experience with steels other than 8CR13MOV, so bear with me if this is a dumb question. The knife was sharp when I took it out of the box, but I went ahead and gave it a few swipes on the fine stones of the sharpmaker which got it to shaving sharp. I cut up some fruit and broke down a couple of boxes and noticed that afterwards it was still sharp, but wouldn’t shave. Is this pretty par for the course for S30V? Will harder steels like ZDP-189/S110V/Maxamet hold a shaving sharp edge for any length of time, or is that level of acuteness just not going to last for long regardless of blade steel?

Thanks everyone!

-Eric

Hi there!

The bolded activity is one of the biggest reasons why wear-resistant blade steels are so popular. Cardboard generally has a lot of abrasives in it, and most steels will lose their shaving edge rather quickly when cutting it. However, the more abrasion resistant steels will retain a sharp 'working' edge while less abrasion resistant steels will continue to dull. Something crazy like Maxamet may hold its shaving edge longer than most.

Different steels are designed for different applications. Fortunately, Spyderco gives us a wealth of different steels to try!

[attila]

Welcome, and congrats on the baby!

[MichaelScott]

Welcome. Congratulations on becoming a father. Nothing like it.

[SG89]

Welcome fellow lil native fan and new parent!

[Redman5006]

Welcome and congratulations on fatherhood.

[The Meat man]

Welcome to the forum Eric, and congratulations! My wife and I became new parents recently as well - baby boy. Coincidentally, his name is Eric too. :)


As far as your question about steels, my (limited) experience (FWIW) has been that no steel will hold a shaving sharp edge for very long when cutting things like cardboard.

This has been my experience with Maxamet as well as CPM S110V. They do hold a shaving edge longer, but not that much longer. It seems to me that where these steels really shine is in holding a just-under-shaving-sharp edge for a very long time.

I will add however that sharpening style and skill have a lot to do with edge holding, and while I can get my knives sharp I'm not a professional.

This has been my experience anyway; yours may vary considerably.

[renegador]

Welcome to you, fellow recent ex-lurker!

Compression lock should break in over time, at which point it should flip open pretty easily if you use your thumb to decompress the lock and flick the wrist (whether opening or closing). It takes some practice for those of us who carry on the left, but I hope you learn to love it as I have!

[Bloke]

Welcome to the forum! :)