native salt!

[Pelagic]

Thank you, always interesting to hear the why behind a different perspective!

No problem. I'm not "The Old Man and the Sea" or anything, but I've put in the time offshore throughout my life, hence my name, "Pelagic". My opinions are not the law of the land when it comes to anything; they are just opinions based on experience like anyone else. But I do feel I offer a different perspective, similarly to SurfinGringo (which in his case, I feel he knows what is best and I certainly understand why he designed the Waterway. There's nothing dangerous for a fixed blade to get snagged on on a kayak).

Going back to the salt line though, I feel they are made a certain way for a reason. I'd personally rather see a stronger pivot, somewhat thick liners, and an incredible stop pin. Other than the toughness of the pivot (and I realize this is a knit-picky criticism), I think the salt knives are designed very well. Some spine thickness is good. A sheepsfoot style blade is good. The steel is perfect for your go-to knife, EVEN PE H1 on certain lines of work offshore (capable of withstanding damage). Of course LC200N is better overall, but if you keep sharpening supplies nearby, nothing wrong with H1, which will essentially never chip or fracture on you. Maybe spyderco simply wanted to appeal to the corrosion resistant crowd and not the boatman crowd. Of that, I am not certain. But people know what they're getting when they think of the Native. A short, stubby, strong blade that is still an OK slicer and fabulous ergonomics. I think a lot of those features fit the bill when it comes to life at sea.

The ocean is the reason I view knives differently. When someone asks "why would you need a folder that tough?" my answer in my mind is "if you only knew". When someone asks, if you need more toughness than this, you should be using a fixed blade" my answer is "it's not always that simple". I know spyderco is not a mariner's knife company. I'd like to see a LC200N wharnie/sheepsfoot blade spydie with a marlin spike on the back. That would be incredible. But I know it's not feasible because people like me are a very small minority of Spyderco's market. I do, however, run into many people in shipyards who are toting Spyderco's. They don't know much about sharpening and couldn't tell you what steel the blade is made of, they just like it. Most of these people had a Military.

[The Meat man]

I can see your viewpoint Pelagic. I certainly makes sense to want the beefiest, toughest kind of construction you could get. If I were in your place I'd think the same.

Different viewpoints like yours, coming from different life experiences, is one of the most interesting and valuable assets this forum has.

[Liquid Cobra]

I know spyderco is not a mariner's knife company. I'd like to see a LC200N wharnie/sheepsfoot blade spydie with a marlin spike on the back.

Sounds like you are describing the Tusk. Ever try it?

[Pelagic]

I can see your viewpoint Pelagic. I certainly makes sense to want the beefiest, toughest kind of construction I could get. If I were in your place I'd think the same.

Different viewpoints like yours, coming from different life experiences, is one of the most interesting and valuable assets this forum has.

Thank you. I fully understand why people don't understand some of my concerns/opinions without ample explanation. I can appreciate thin geometries just as much as anyone. In a perfect world, I'd have fun with extremely hard knives ground paper thin that cut like a laser. But while I'm at work a knife like that would be the opposite of fun.

[Pelagic]

I know spyderco is not a mariner's knife company. I'd like to see a LC200N wharnie/sheepsfoot blade spydie with a marlin spike on the back.

Sounds like you are describing the Tusk. Ever try it?

That's a great looking knife, I know of it but I've never used one. It seems incredibly well built, it's just expensive ($260 — knives can fall overboard) and has a small blade. I'd prefer a larger marlin spike as well (getting knots in larger diameter rope undone).

I used to own a slipjoint knife that was the exact same as US Navy issue (at some point in the 70's or 80's). Big, sheepsfoot blade, and large locking marlin spike . It was heavy duty. Great knife, but the steel was inferior (plenty tough, but some extra wear resistance wouldve been nice). At the end of the day, it was cheap stainless.

[Joey]

A friend of mine brought his N5 Salt PE over tonight and while messing with it he noticed it had some chips in the edge. There were 6-7 near the middle, and 1 still remains. I followed the factory bevel with a cbn rod, and found the majority of them (less deep than the remaining chip) disappeared in less than 10 strokes per side. I continued for a while with the cbn, then moved to brown pocket stone, eventually the fine stone. I didn’t spend much time on the stones, but the last chip will take some time.
I mentioned to him that the factory bevel will be brittle in comparison to the steel underneath, but he said that he didn’t cut more than cardboard and styrofoam. My guess is he used it for something more, and forgot about it. The cardboard didn’t have any staples in it, nor did it have any sort of hard retaining material. Anyone else experience similar experience?

[Joey]

Also, he took it apart at some point to clean it before bringing it over. He doesn’t have any oil (the Native was a gift but I will tell him he can use any mineral base oil and doesn’t need anything specific) and the knife was rough, action wise. I took it apart, cleaned it, oiled it, assembled it.
The action is still far more rough than my N5 salt, which admittedly hasn’t seen a fraction of the use his has. I have tried increasingly adjusting the pivot until I feel slight blade play, and the action still feels rough like it needs oil, even though oil is present. It also (unlike my personal N5 salt and I’m sure yours, too) has a slight slip joint “half stop” feel to it, but my spyder slip joints half stops are far more prevelant (for reference).

Any advice is appreciated :)
Edit: The scales don’t rub the blade upon opening/closing FYI

[ZrowsN1s]

Once I raised a big burr on lc200n and didn't deburr it properly, which led to the appearance of chipping (but it was just pieces of the burr coming loose. That was fixed easy enough. But didn't have any issues like that from the factory. It's always hard to tell when someone else has been using the knife. For all you know he was cutting cardboard on a marble counter top
As for the gritty action, if you took it apart and cleaned it, that usually does the trick. It IS a salt knife though, so since rust isn't a problem I'd clean it with soap and hot water, and open and close it several times under running water. See if that doesn't help.

[Joey]

Thats very true, and he admitted to that possibility. It’s no large mystery, I guess I was just seeing if anyone else had any chipping going on because my friends is definitely chipped, not a rolled burr or anything :)
It cuts well despite the remaining chip, and I was surprised at how easy it was to work with being that it’s much harder than H1.
The inside is free from debris, as we opened it up tonight to wipe it down again. It is oiled up, too.

[Jazz]

Did you oil the lock bar pivot. Seemed to help on mine, as well as on the polished tang area that runs along the lock bar while opening and closing. Mine was really hard to open until I did this.

[Joey]

Thanks Jazz! I’ll try that out. I did lube the part where the lock bar engages, but I didn’t think about the pivot on the lock bar.

[Jazz]

Thanks Jazz! I’ll try that out. I did lube the part where the lock bar engages, but I didn’t think about the pivot on the lock bar.

Yeah, mine was just weird until I did this. The Salt and my new S30V black handle. It was worse. Now they’re great.

[Joey]

Ah that’s good news.. It would be sad to have the knives stuck this way. The action feels terrible! I’ll report back tomorrow if I get a chance to meet my friend and borrow his native.
Thanks again for sharing your experiences!

[Enactive]

I've only had mine for a couple days. Really liking it so far.

[ladybug93]

i tend to prefer carrying my manix 2 lw (or yojimbo 2) paired with my pacific salt for edc. for the times when i can only carry one knife or need a smaller knife, i like the native salt as my compromise. when i go to the beach, i carry both, but typically only carry the pacific salt into the water for the spyderedge.

[ladybug93]

any chance we’ll see the native salt get a stealth treatment? all black would be great. even a dlc blade and hardware with yellow handles would be cool and people could dye it black if they wanted. it would be nice to see a combo edge option too. i don’t typically like combo edges, but this would be the perfect knife for one.

[ladybug93]

got another rust spot on my native salt. i think i might have figured out what’s going on though. based on what i’ve read about lc200n, it’s susceptible to corrosion when in contact with other metals. well, i recently touched up my native salt on the sharpmaker and took it for a swim in the pacific today. i think it must have picked up small filings from other knives that either corroded themselves or caused corrosion on the edge of the lc200n. i’m not sure if that’s the case, but it makes sense to me. what do you all think?

[THB]

Overall pretty happy with my Native Salt as a saltwater tool with better edge retenstion than a PE H1. Solid build quality with no blade play etc. Blade not ground all the way back to ricasso so had to add a sharpening choil. Contrary to my other Salts the Native Salt has a steel clip. Not sure what kind of steel clip but it's magnetic so not titanium.

[Jbaffoh]

I realize this thread has been dead for two years, but…

It’s great to see someone else who understands the needs of boaters. I learned about knives when I cut my teeth longlining for halibut and fishing for king crab in the Bering Sea 40 years ago, and now I’m just a sailor living on a sailboat in the tropics. LC200N is my go-to, and the Tusk is what introduced me to Spyderco. It is a perfect knife for working with everything up to about 5/8” line—and the shape of the spike is probably my favorite for daily splicing. It is a work of art!

About the Native 5 Salt. I just received mine, and the pocket clip creates 3 very sharp hotspots in the palm of my extra large hands. I can’t live with it. I need a replacement clip, but I also need a lanyard hole for all the reasons boaters are aware. I don’t care about deep pocket carry, but I do need to carry while also preserving the lanyard hole. Most importantly, I need to get that sharp monstrosity of a clip out of my palm. I have not moved the clip around, because it belongs where it is. It just needs to be less obtrusive and smoother.

Any suggestions?

[Wartstein]

I realize this thread has been dead for two years, but…

It’s great to see someone else who understands the needs of boaters. I learned about knives when I cut my teeth longlining for halibut and fishing for king crab in the Bering Sea 40 years ago, and now I’m just a sailor living on a sailboat in the tropics. LC200N is my go-to, and the Tusk is what introduced me to Spyderco. It is a perfect knife for working with everything up to about 5/8” line—and the shape of the spike is probably my favorite for daily splicing. It is a work of art!

About the Native 5 Salt. I just received mine, and the pocket clip creates 3 very sharp hotspots in the palm of my extra large hands. I can’t live with it. I need a replacement clip, but I also need a lanyard hole for all the reasons boaters are aware. I don’t care about deep pocket carry, but I do need to carry while also preserving the lanyard hole. Most importantly, I need to get that sharp monstrosity of a clip out of my palm. I have not moved the clip around, because it belongs where it is. It just needs to be less obtrusive and smoother.

Any suggestions?

Welcome to the forum! :)

I am afraid I can´t really help concerning aftermarket clips, since I am totally happy with the factory ones and don´t like deep carry at all (many aftermarket clips ARE deep carry)

You say "the clip belongs where it is": Does that mean you are like me and just vastly prefer tip up carry or do you just assume the knife was designed for this? If the latter: This is not the case, why not try the clip in tip down position?

- Other than that I could just point you to the Siren (LC200N and has a wire clip)
- or if you want a knife as small as the Native perhaps the Salt 2 ffg (also LC200N, but lighter, more cutting edge and in my experience better performing due to the thinner blade) and see if the clip feels better in your hand on this model (though I doubt this).
- or the longer Pacific or Atlantic Salts on which the clip certainly will hit your hand in a different place than on the smaller models.

Or