The One Last Chance Challenge!

[tonijedi]

Ok, now that I've been carrying the Native for 5 days straight I can add something positive to the overall opinion of this knife.
I like the handle material, the black coating, the overall blade shape, the weight and how nicely it carries in the pocket. I also like how it looks, I think it's a beautiful design.
As my problem with it is mainly due to the choil, I know I won't be carrying it much because of how it feels in the hand, but I know I can count on it whenever I carry it.
These last few days also showed me that a fully serrated edge is good for my daily cutting tasks, which include more sandwich making than wood carving :)

[Surfingringo]

Interesting to see the dogpiling on the Native since it's always seemed like such a popular model. :p

I have several but don't carry them a ton because I favor blades like the Urban, UKPK/Calys, and Chaparral for my smaller edcs. Still, figured I could make a couple of counter-points since it isn't getting a lot of love here.

Not that there's any right or wrong when it comes to preference, but similar to the other models mentioned, I always thought of the Native as a "choil grip" knife. I can choke back if needed, but it isn't something I do with any regularity and it wouldn't be my preferred grip on any of them. I don't love the grip behind the choil on the Native, but I never held that against it any more than I would on the UKPK, etc.

The relatively hard use whittling bamboo is an interesting use test, but I wonder how much better other similarly-sized folders would really fare in terms of comfort doing this task. Given the choice, I imagine I'd prefer pretty much any fixed blade handle over any folder handle for cutting like that, so I'm not sure how relevant a data point it is to me.

I think the points and criticisms made about the Native here are all fair enough, but depending on your use and preferences I think it's got a lot going for it too. I do find the Native handle very comfortable in the choil grip for my standard, typically light-duty edc tasks. I like the size and weight, and the lack of a thumb tamp is a nice change of pace for me sometimes. On the other hand, I never warmed up to the Delica and sold mine, didn't feel great in my hands, go figure. That's one I've thought about buying again, to give it one last chance. :)

Good question. That hill is right behind my house so I’ll try to walk up there this week with a Delica and pm3 and see if they are any more comfortable in use. I’d agree that it would be easier to find a comfortable fixed blade but the Native is a pretty stout little design that I think lends itself to being capable of fairly hard use. The only point of cutting bamboo was to do some work that required some pressure and force to see how comfortable the knife was to use for heavier work. I will check a couple of other smaller designs to see if it’s more about the design or the size though. I have my suspicions but I’ll try not to be biased.

[Nate]

Cool, I look forward to hear what you think. Someone asked me a few weeks ago how the Sliverax did in hard whittling, so I did some and didn't love it for that application, which influenced my comments above. I might try to do some comparisons with a few other folders and fixed blades over the long weekend and see if anything really stands out to me.

[tonijedi]

My week is over, I carried the SE Native 5 for an entire week.
I'll carry the Delica tomorrow so I feel the difference and after I'll comment again. My impressions are the same from my last post: although I like many isolated characteristics of the Native the overall feeling in the hand isn't so good.

[clovisc]

I have always been fond of how handy, maneuverable, lightweight, and useful the Native is, especially in SE. I carried and used one frequently back when I was in the Peace Corps 10 years ago. A SE H1 Native Salt would be a top carry piece, for sure.

[xceptnl]

Alright Lance, I gave it a go and you were right, I had overlooked one of the best Spydies in my collection. That being said, as soon as I pulled it from my pocket to give it a rest, my hand immediately reached for my Caly Jr. again. Now thinking about it, the blades and feel in hand are similar for me and perhaps this is why I had overlooked the Dragonfly 2 for so long. I can't get rid of my Dragonfly models and more than I could get rid of my Caly Jrs.

[tonijedi]

My week is over, I carried the SE Native 5 for an entire week.
I'll carry the Delica tomorrow so I feel the difference and after I'll comment again. My impressions are the same from my last post: although I like many isolated characteristics of the Native the overall feeling in the hand isn't so good.

Oh man, gotta love the Delica :)
By the way, what happened to Lance? I hope he wasn't under-knifed on his ventures into the jungle ahahahha

[Surfingringo]

Interesting to see the dogpiling on the Native since it's always seemed like such a popular model. :p

I have several but don't carry them a ton because I favor blades like the Urban, UKPK/Calys, and Chaparral for my smaller edcs. Still, figured I could make a couple of counter-points since it isn't getting a lot of love here.

Not that there's any right or wrong when it comes to preference, but similar to the other models mentioned, I always thought of the Native as a "choil grip" knife. I can choke back if needed, but it isn't something I do with any regularity and it wouldn't be my preferred grip on any of them. I don't love the grip behind the choil on the Native, but I never held that against it any more than I would on the UKPK, etc.

The relatively hard use whittling bamboo is an interesting use test, but I wonder how much better other similarly-sized folders would really fare in terms of comfort doing this task. Given the choice, I imagine I'd prefer pretty much any fixed blade handle over any folder handle for cutting like that, so I'm not sure how relevant a data point it is to me.

I think the points and criticisms made about the Native here are all fair enough, but depending on your use and preferences I think it's got a lot going for it too. I do find the Native handle very comfortable in the choil grip for my standard, typically light-duty edc tasks. I like the size and weight, and the lack of a thumb tamp is a nice change of pace for me sometimes. On the other hand, I never warmed up to the Delica and sold mine, didn't feel great in my hands, go figure. That's one I've thought about buying again, to give it one last chance. :)

Good question. That hill is right behind my house so I’ll try to walk up there this week with a Delica and pm3 and see if they are any more comfortable in use. I’d agree that it would be easier to find a comfortable fixed blade but the Native is a pretty stout little design that I think lends itself to being capable of fairly hard use. The only point of cutting bamboo was to do some work that required some pressure and force to see how comfortable the knife was to use for heavier work. I will check a couple of other smaller designs to see if it’s more about the design or the size though. I have my suspicions but I’ll try not to be biased.

Hey Nate, sorry for the late reply but it took me a lot longer to get back up that hill than I thought it would. I finally made it up there last week though and I had a hap40 Delica with me and was able to find the exact same piece of bamboo. I did the same cutting/whittling work with the Delica that I did with the Native to get an idea if one was any more comfortable to use than the other in hard cutting.

What I learned is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand I was able to confirm that I am marginally happier using the Delica for heavy cutting. I think the main difference is (like you pointed out) I have to use a choil grip to get a comfortable 4 finger grip on the Native. That changes where my hand is in relation to the pivot in a way that makes the knife less comfortable to use. When whittling, I will often put my left thumb on the spine and kind of rotate the knife back and forth around the pivot in kind of a horizontal see saw motion. (Hope that makes sense). With the Native, my right hand is so far forward that that type of rocking motion seems awkward and less balanced. I also fount that I liked having the thumb ramp to help make the thumb a stationary pivot area for that same type of cut.

All that said, by the time I had done the same amount of cutting I had just as many hot spots and was just as sore from the Delica as I was from the Native. I guess I would have to agree with you that most small folders are going to be less than ideal for that type of cutting but depending on cutting technique some might feel better or more effective to use even if they are not really much more comfortable.

[Nate]

Thanks for the follow up Lance! I had thought about doing some comparative cutting myself, but have been busy with work and family, not to mention that recent temps hovering in the teens and single digits have curbed my enthusiasm for doing anything outside at all. :p