Spyderco Forums

abbazaba wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 8:23 am

Hard to disagree. To quote myself from 2017: viewtopic.php?p=1170615#p1170615

"The Native 5 could easily be described as the perfect knife by many standards. It is utility and elegance, practicality and performance. Many versions of the Native 5 exist, but Spyderco took it to a nearly unthinkable level when they created the work of art that is the fluted titanium model. This is not only one of my favorite knives to use, it is also one of my favorite knives to admire. For me, this is the pinnacle of knife design. Thank you Spyderco!"



Funny that it was designed for sale at Walmart lol.

sal wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 18, 2017 7:29 am

The dragonfly was designed to fill a space between the Delica and the Ladybug. The Native was designed to a request to design a knife for Walmart.

The Caly was a refinement of the Calypso.

sal

Mushroom wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 8:26 am

The title instantly caught my attention...

Best Spyderco?

Thats easy - Perrin PPT Black.

benben wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 03, 2025 9:04 pm

Just kidding, maybe just a little argument, some constructive arguing can be a good thing!

Here’s the question….what’s your best Spyderco? Not your favorite, not your prettiest, not your oldest, most sentimental Spyderco, your best built, most solid, the one that for years has made you say, man what a tank!

Gotta start with this, I’m a Manix fan, period! My Knifeworks Green 204P and my Crucarta Manix are, and will always be two of my favorite knives, they’re just fantastic all the way around!

But, to answer my own question….my G-10 S35VN Native 5 has got to be my best made Spyderco! I bought it new probably 12/13 years ago? It’s still as tight, and audibly locks up as loud as the day I bought it. To break this knife, you’d have to purposely be trying to break it for some dumb reason?

Some of my personal honorable mentions…..

My old plain Jane S30V Yojimbo.
My old hollow grind 154CM Manix that I shipped to Belgium to our friend Apollo here.
Both of my Gayle Bradley 1’s.
My Superleaf.
My Chinook 3.

All of these are just tanks, as solid and as well made as knives get!

But, and here’s the argument my G-10 S35VN Native is the best knife that Sal has ever built, so flame on fellas. Just came in from the garage, touched it up, blew it out and wiped it down, so admiring it is fresh on my mind.
IMG_4267.jpegIMG_4268.jpeg

TkoK83Spy wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 7:33 am

For folders, anything with a backlock and G10 is definitely a reliable tank. Love that lockup and sound of it.

But, for me, for the knives I've kept after going on a selling spree the last couple years of 20 or so knives...the Shaman with micarta scales has stuck around for that role. I swapped the blade with Rex45 from Cruwear, but regardless of what steel this knife has...it's solid. Solid lock up, great ergos, great materials, nice and thick blade stock. This knife loves to work!

zenith2 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 9:12 am

Danke wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 9:43 am

Well the one I reach for the most is my Spidiechef. Vanishes in a pocket & has Titanium scales.

Evil D wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 10:17 am

Danke wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 9:43 am

Well the one I reach for the most is my Spidiechef. Vanishes in a pocket & has Titanium scales.

Lighter info please?

Danke wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 11:03 am

Evil D wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 10:17 am

Danke wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 9:43 am

Well the one I reach for the most is my Spidiechef. Vanishes in a pocket & has Titanium scales.

Lighter info please?

Not responsible for any damage to your savings account.

https://countycomm.com/collections/view ... dbf9&_ss=c

kobold wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 9:43 am

The poor man's Sebenza

apollo wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 11:11 am

The old C95 is king here in my house aswel. Lucky enough to have 3 of them.


This is my main user. Mostly dual carry with his smaller Original Brother.




But for dear BenBen i can not help but post a picture of our shared Manix aswel.

xceptnl wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 11:59 am

Interesting topic and one I will try to be as objective as possible in answering.

Much like the OP, the Manix 2 was one of those knives I first opened and immediately knew "this thing is solid". That love and confidence is why I still love this model but if I review my pocket time, I haven't carried one in a long time.

So, what has seen pocket time? Those knives that really inspire confidence and reliability. I don't know that I can narrow it down to a single model, but I can say that in 2013, the Forum Native was my first Native with full liners and that first lockup was undeniably memorable. Of my collection, the midlock is more predominant and perhaps I have subconsciously gravitate to that design.

For me the blade length to lock feel ratio is what seems to help me quantify strength.
Winner: Native 5

Basically a tie for these as runner up:
Native Chief (edc for the last year or more)
Chinook
Police 3 & 4 G10
JD Smith
Calypso
Stainless Rescue
Schempp Tuff

As an aside, the strength and confidence that the Military offer make it a contender. That little liner lock has never given me reason to questions it's viability as the strongest.

benben wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 5:51 am

Red Leader wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 03, 2025 9:19 pm

Hmm, this is a really interesting question. I assume you are just talking about a particular example of a knife that we have.

I don't own the best Spyderco in the house, my son does. It is a Para 3 15V that as soon as I tried it out in the store, I bought it on the spot. Perfect centering, hydraulic action, no play anywhere, tight lockup, early lockup, just butter. Built by '1739', which is the box code for the builder, and the guys at the shop were telling me that this builder frequently gets awards almost every month for how good of a job they do.

Now, the catch here is that I believe that detent based knives are more susceptible to feeling 'out' than other knives, especially knives like the Manix and Native. Reason being, detent balls can be misadjusted, misaligned, worn, not seated nor centered properly, pivots can wear, locks can wear, and there are a lot of mating surfaces in these knives that are far more tactile than something like a backlock. For example, you almost hardly ever feel pivot lash with a CBBL or a Native/backlock, because with something constantly pushing against the pivot like that, you won't notice it, even if it is there.

The most consistently smooth knives I've felt tend to be the in the Manix family, with the roughest ones I've tried in the Native family (perhaps they smooth out over years of use?).

To me, nothing beats the feel of a properly adjusted detent-based compression lock, but it is harder to get everything right, and they can fall out of adjustment far easier or quicker than other knife locking systems (IMO).


All that said, I'm happy to hear a great report of a well-used Native - since there tends to be discussion of lock-rock with these and other backlocks, which I assume could or would increase over the years.

That's a very interesting, detailed read, especially about builder '1739' which I've never heard this story before. And yes, I should have specified folders, I see a couple of guys have already jumped in here with their fixed blades...

benben wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 11:45 am

apollo wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 04, 2025 11:11 am

The old C95 is king here in my house aswel. Lucky enough to have 3 of them.

This is my main user. Mostly dual carry with his smaller Original Brother.

But for dear BenBen i can not help but post a picture of our shared Manix aswel.

Nice Apollo!! Yeah, pretty sure the C95 is gonna be the winner of this fight, maybe even reaching Bully status!

But, hang on....I haven't seen a Chinook 1 or Chinook 2 show up in the ring yet!