EDC recommendation: Native 5 LW – S30V or SPY27?

[Skydog]

Hello – I’m new to the forum and looking for help with choosing a knife. I’ve narrowed it down to the Native 5 Light Weight, but I’m trying to decide between the S30V or the SPY27. This will be for EDC. I’ve always just carried really cheap knives and never paid much attention to the steel, so this is my first attempt at buying a more quality knife. It will also be my first Spyderco. I have little to no experience with maintaining or sharpening knives. Which of these two steels will be easier to maintain and sharpen? And is a Spyderco Sharpmaker a good sharpening system for this knife and for someone with little sharpening experience, or would you suggest something else.

Also, feel free to recommend another knife if this is not a good choice for my first Spyderco and my experience level.

Thank you!

[sal]

Hi Skydog,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Coastal]

Both S30V and SPY27 are excellent choices for EDC. If it were me I'd get the SPY, but that's because I have so much S30V already, I think it's cool to own a Spyderco proprietary steel, and I like the color of the scales.

The Sharpmaker is an excellent sharpening system, and very easy to use. In my limited experience with SPY 27, I've found it more friendly to sharpen than S30V, but neither pose much of a problem. If you are concerned with ease of sharpening, the Native 5 Salt is available in LC200N, which is much easier to sharpen and virtually rust-free.

[Sharp Guy]

They're both great IMO. Flip a coin. You might find SPY27 a little easier to sharpen but S30V is pretty easy to touch up on the Sharpmaker once you get the hang of it

[WilliamMunny]

Great choice for a first Spyderco. I would also recommend a similar knife, the Para 3 LE. Same size but a compression lock vs the back lock on the Native. Try not to get to caught up in choosing a knife as you will get a ton of suggestions but you will end up spending more time looking at all the options than just getting a knife.

I would go with the SPY27 over S30V. It is a slightly tougher steel, meaning less chance of chipping it. But in real use you probably could not tell the difference.

The Sharpmaker is IMO the best place to start sharpening your knives. The stones included will be enough to maintain the steels you mentioned. It is perfect to maintain a sharp knife but comes up a bit short if you need to repair or put a new bevel on a knife.

Good luck, just get out there get a Spyderco and have fun.

[R100]

They are both great steels but I'd definitely go with SPY27. It's quite a bit easier to sharpen, one of the best in this regard actually.

Dan

[Windward]

Ive really have been liking spy27. A really nice steel to sharpen, and its really nicely balanced. A sharpmaker will make easy work of it too. Theres nothing wrong with s30v, its good stuff. I just like spy27 better as a edc user steel. I have a manix in it, thats been getting the bulk of my weekend pocket time. The native is a great place to start. Not too big, solidly built, and good at a lot of things. If you end up like any of us, youll have a whole stable of spydercos before anyway. long haha.

[spydergoat]

Spy27 unless s30v is a lot cheaper.

[zhyla]

I would not pay extra for something other than S30V. It’s a great steel.

I far, far prefer the Chapparal LW to the Native 5.

[Skydog]

The SPY27 is about $18 more. I'm willing to pay that if it's worth it? But it looks like the SPY27 only comes with Cobalt Blue handles, and I'm not sure I'm crazy about that color. However, I think the biggest factor in my decision is ease of maintenance/sharpening. From the comments above it sounds like the SPY27 is easier to work with. Is this the concensus? If so, I think I can live with the blue handles. But if not, and if the S30V is just as easy, then I'd prefer black.

[Skydog]

I would not pay extra for something other than S30V. It’s a great steel.

I far, far prefer the Chapparal LW to the Native 5.

Why do you prefer the Chaparral?

I had initially narrowed my list down to these 4: Delica, Native, Sage and Chaparral. From there I narrowed it down to the Native. But I'm open to having my mind changed.

[Persian_Spyder]

I think if you want more edge retention go with s30v, but in general I prefer steels that are easier to sharpen and touch up, so I'd probably go with spy27 if I had to choose. It's really a matter of personal preference

[benben]

Welcome aboard, feel like this is carried over from Glocktalk? Lots of super nice, very knowledgeable guys here! Man you’re getting ready to jump down a rabbit hole there’s no coming back from!

If this is the guy from Glocktalk, I still stand by my recommendation, a VG-10 LeafJumper and a Sharpmaker, but a Native will definitely work!

[kriezek]

You DEFINITELY want a Sharpmaker. I have used mine enough that I have 2 for different parts of the house. I also have gotten them as Christmas gifts for family members who have knives but not a good sharpening system. Easy to use and will keep your knives sharp - the way they are meant to be.

[Wandering_About]

SPY27 is an excellent steel for a beginner at sharpening, and it's great in use also. If you're willing to spend a little extra on it, I do recommend going with SPY27 personally.

[RustyIron]

S30V and SPY27 aren't dramatically different in performance. However, one knife is black, and the other blue. What color do you think is cooler? That's the one you should go with.

[Fastidiotus]

For day to day use S30V is a fine steel. I don't have any issues sharpening S30V, but I'm also mainly using diamond abrasives. Given the choice though I'd go for Spy27. In my experience Spy27 is like aus8 and vg-10 in the way that it feels like the steel just wants to be sharp. If you're new to sharpening, Spy27 will probably yield a more positive, encouraging, and rewarding experience.

The Native 5 LW is a good first knife choice as it's incredibly easy to disassemble and reassemble for cleaning and maintenance. If you feel like a Native in S30v is good enough I'd also take hard look at the Sage 5 LW.

[Wallach]

Personally, I'd go for the SPY27 model of those two. That said, the Native 5 LW Salt is only a few more dollars compared to the SPY27 version and comes in MagnaCut, which I'd put above both of those choices. So, if you are already willing to spring for the SPY27 (which I think is about ~20 dollars more than the S30V one already), maybe also consider just going up to the Salt?

I personally just ordered my first Native 5 in the Salt version, since I had to send my Manix 2 Salt in immediately for warranty service and still wanted a new MagnaCut knife to use this month. So I can't really speak to how good of a choice the Native 5 itself is, but I can say that blade shape is pretty much identical to the Manix 2, which I can definitely say is a really nice blade for EDC purposes.

[CDEP]

The N5 LW in SPY27 is what I would recommend to friends as a first "real" EDC knife.

Get a Sharpmaker, too. Every knife in your house will thank you.

[Wartstein]

Welcome to the forum, Spydog!

- Since you carry cheaper knives already, I assume you will know that the general size of the Native is just right for you?
If so, I think you can´t go wrong with it as your first Spyderco. As you could not with the alternatives in roughly that size range, like Delica, Para 3, Sage, Chaparral.. a good share of people here (including me) would perhaps recommend one of those over the Native (while others will say the Native is best in that size) - but that is just due to personal preferences, developed by trying out several / many Spydies, which you haven´t yet. You got to start somewhere, and should you never want to try any other Spydie than the Native, you definitely have a great, reliable smaller EDC knife.

- Can´t talk about S30V vs Spy27, since I have not tried the latter. I figure though from all I know I probably could not tell much of a difference in real life, and S30V is a great steel imo. Just if you need super high corrosion resistance you could consider the LC200N or Magnacut Native.

- Definitely get a sharpmaker! It is easy to use and works great. In the standard configuration (brown and white rods) perfect for keeping knives sharp, should you have to sharpen superdull knives, want to reprofile or a very coarse edge you could additionally get the CBN or diamond rods.