Spyderco Forums

The designer initials/logo of the Native are conspicuously absent from the blade. This may be the case with other knives also. Is there a reason for this? Please, someone educate me. :D

I believe the designer was Sal, hes also designed a ton of knives he doesn't give himself credit for. Think it comes down to him being an amazingly humble man. Plus Eric and Sal signing blades seems to be a little more recent and the native is an old design.

I know the Lil’ Native has Eric’s signature, I thought he designed the Native as well.

Genotoxic wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:37 am

I believe the designer was Sal, hes also designed a ton of knives he doesn't give himself credit for. Think it comes down to him being an amazingly humble man. Plus Eric and Sal signing blades seems to be a little more recent and the native is an old design.

Yeah. Spydiewiki lists Sal as the designer. I couldn't agree more about Sal being a humble genius. The Military also quickly comes to mind with no sig.

In house designs did not start getting "maker's marks" until Eric joined the design team. His designs bore his mark and, from that point forward, so have Sal's. IIRC Eric's first was the Dodo, so any in house design prior to that probably won't have a mark.

I think that in the case of no maker's mark, we can pretty much assume the the bug is a stand-in for Sal's mark.

A big thanks to everyone who helped enlighten me. This forum never ceases to amaze me. :D

I thought I heard that Eric was the person behind the lock improvements of the Native 5. I'm not sure if that qualifies it as an EG/SAL design like the Para 2.

Donut wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 11, 2019 6:45 pm

I thought I heard that Eric was the person behind the lock improvements of the Native 5. I'm not sure if that qualifies it as an EG/SAL design like the Para 2.

I definitely remember reading a post by Sal from a couple of years ago where he credited Eric (& one or two other people whose names escape me at the moment) with the improvements seen in the Native 5 design. Whether that does qualify it as an "official" Sal/Eric design collaboration, I have no idea, but it is interesting to note that the new-ish Native Chief has both of their maker's marks on it (from what I've seen in pictures--haven't handled it personally).

Eric, Tom and Doug developed the Native lock along with some of the factory staff like Hristo (a mechnical genius).

We'll begin adding my tag on my designs.

sal

The "signature" marks are cool to see, but I appreciate the number of Spyderco pieces that are clearly the result of a lot of collaboration among team members. Sal might be the figurehead, but when I see the bug I know a lot of good people are standing behind it.