My first Native!

[Nick Herrera]

Greetings all!

Thought Id post about my newly acquired Native!

Its none other than the limited 2015 forum Native, and I couldnt be happier!

The Native was a model that was always on my radar, and I had always considered purchasing a Native 4 in Pink. I held off as I had read somewhere that it would eventually be released with S35VN. I was patient, and had no plans on buying a Native until the Pink one in S35VN came out. That is until the Forum Native was announced! I had immediately decided that my patience had run out, and I had decided that this would not only be my first Native, but also my first knife in CPM S90V!

I'm very happy with this knife so far. It's very comfortable in hand, and fits well in the pocket. Im not sure if I'm suffering from a but of Honeymoon syndrome, but I'm really enjoying this knife so far. Ive had no experience with S90V in the past, so I'm excited to see how it holds up to my usual EDCs (Gayle Bradley in M4 and Military in Cruwear)

Like most, I truly feel like a knife is officially mine when it has a brand new edge on it. Dont get me wrong, this came razor sharp out of box, with clean and even bevels, but I when I had intially posted about this knife on some facebook groups, a few people said that S90V was a huge pain to sharpen. My curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to break out my diamond and whetstones and take S90V for a test drive.

Here are my results:





It wasnt much of a task for me, and I felt that I was able to sharpen it quite easily. Nothing compared to what the folks online had made it out to be.

Im excited to see how this Native will fit in the EDC line up, and dont worry, Ill still purchase the Pink one when it drops, buying this Native just enforces it.



Enjoy the photos folks! Thanks for reading.

[SG89]

Congrats! I got my forum native last week and I've been carrying it everyday since! I love it! Can I ask what sharpening stones you used?

[Nick Herrera]

Congrats! I got my forum native last week and I've been carrying it everyday since! I love it! Can I ask what sharpening stones you used?

Most certainly :)

To start, I like to use coarse diamonds all the way to fine then extra fine.

Once the factory edge scaring is gone, i switch to a 1000/6000 grit stone. The 1000 feels more closer to 800, which is nice, as I have a 1000 grit stone that feels much similar to that grit level.

Once the stage of 800-1000 is done, I go up to a 3K silicone carbide stone, then follow up with a 4K, 6K, 8K and 10K of the same material.

After that, I go swap to my "finishing" stones which happen to be the "fine" side of my Spyderco Double Stuff and my final few strokes are finished on a Spyderco Ultra Fine ceramic bench stone.

I finish it all up with my strop, loaded with 0.5 micron paste and thats how I do my edges.

I call them HerreraEdges as they end up being nicely convexed while still very mirror polished and reliable.

Thanks for asking! I hope that helps!

[farnorthdan]

Conga-rats Nick and that's a great looking edge you got on her.

[Liquid Cobra]

You've got talent but you already knew that

Nice job!

[Nick Herrera]

Thanks for the love folks.

I recently moved back into my old place with my folks, and I have a bunch of cardboard that needs cuttin'! That will be a fine test to see how well the edge will hold up.

[bearfacedkiller]

Congrats! What a great knife! I am happy with mine.

[Nate]

Those are a couple of the coolest edge reflection shots I've ever seen, thanks! Great little knife too.

[Donut]

Nice knife, congrats.

Are you a Hockey player? :p

[Nick Herrera]

Nice knife, congrats.

Are you a Hockey player? :p

haha, unfortunately no..just a huge fan of the home team!

Go Canucks Go!

[JD Spydo]

You can't go wrong with a NATIVE model Especially the fully serrated model which I use almost daily>> it's truly a wrecking bar of a folder and can take punishment beyond belief :cool:

High on my list of "Gotta Have" Spyders is the new S35V full SE Native. I'm going to semi-retire my 440V version so I can break in a new one.

But the plain edged Native is just a great dependable EDC blade that no one can go wrong with. it's not as sexy and jazzy as some of the more elegant models are but the Native is a highly functional blade. And for it's size it just can't be beat IMO.

[SpyderNut]

Beautiful edge, Nick. Looks like you've done nicely with your S90V "test drive." By the way, Roman would be proud to see another Native convert amongst us. :D

[endgame]

Free hand?if so you have skills.use them if you have a car go to good restaurants and ask chefs with there own knives to pay to get a hand ground edge.we will pay for skills like that.we dont give are knives to grinders.get youre rep up ypu will move out of parents house soon.im a chef and I use a wicked edge to get my grind if you came to me b4 I got it I would pay 40$ for that edge.

[Nick Herrera]

Free hand?if so you have skills.use them if you have a car go to good restaurants and ask chefs with there own knives to pay to get a hand ground edge.we will pay for skills like that.we dont give are knives to grinders.get youre rep up ypu will move out of parents house soon.im a chef and I use a wicked edge to get my grind if you came to me b4 I got it I would pay 40$ for that edge.

Wow! thank you for the kind words,

Yes, my edges are 100% free hand. I couldn't save up enough money to buy a Wicked Edge or Edge Pro (I have millions of other hobbies that take priority over knives haha..believe it or not!!)

I'll take that into consideration. I work at a knife store and offer these edges to customers through work. Many of "my" customers always tell me I should break off and do my own thing.

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

Great photos of your edges!
I got my first Native today (Native 5 lightweight in s35vn plain blade)
It's such a nice thing, fits my hand perfectly.
I had seen a you tube review where the guy "wasn't stoked" on the length of the handle but it works well for me

[SpeedHoles]

Beautiful edge on there!

Man... I wish I had a "local" knife store where I could go, let alone one where the employees were skilled with their hands like you appear to be! Props on that work! :)

[JAfromMN]

Nice edge.

I really really need to get one of these.

[dreadpirate]

Great choice!

[D-Roc]

Free hand?if so you have skills.use them if you have a car go to good restaurants and ask chefs with there own knives to pay to get a hand ground edge.we will pay for skills like that.we dont give are knives to grinders.get youre rep up ypu will move out of parents house soon.im a chef and I use a wicked edge to get my grind if you came to me b4 I got it I would pay 40$ for that edge.

Agreed. Ive been a journeyman tech (now in two trades) on all kinds of electrical and mechanical equipment for years and im good with my hands, but I still struggle to get things as sharp as I would like freehand. Thank goodness for the 204..
Some things just follow for certain people, I guess.

[aquaman67]

That is a really nice edge. More so that it was achieved old school.

I just have the regular lightweight Native 5 and I love it. People at work carry gas station knives and regularly ask me to cut things for them. Yesterday it was a plastic coffee can. If your knife can't cut a plastic coffee can, you need help.

Anyway congrats on your new knife.