I've been carrying the Native in S30V for a while now, and meant to write an evaluation, but its been a hectic time for me lately and haven't got around to it. Quit my job at Walmart(no matter what I did to try and improve the work quality for my guys was shot down, and there are freakin limits............). Started working on knives full time, plus setting up this new computer/printer/copier....learnin'how to use this new fangled digital camera........sort of jumped into the 21st century with a big splash. Hopefully I'll learn how to build a website and/or show some of my knives here. Been moderating this site for close to 4 years now and no one has ever seen my knives exckcept in a couple of e-mails way back which my old MAC refused to do after a while. May it rest in peace...lasted 6 years without a bit of hardware problems. Now running Windows XP, and still getting used to that. Anyway, the Native is a really nice little knife. Not only does the s-30V hold a sharp edge for a good while, the egronomics of the design make it really comfortable to use. The spear point is what they call hollow ground, although it resembles a flat ground blade with an arch to me...hollow ground usually meaning a segment of a circle which this ain't. Suits me. The blade hole is large enough to allow me to open it one handed using gloves. Closing it one hand requires some manual dexterity/practice. I hold it and the back of the handle with my forefinger resting in the front of the handle fingergroove and snap it down, and then finish closing with with my third finger. Managed to bring the blade down on my fingers(which cut) until I learned how to do that. I used mine constantly in the kitchen.......nice little kitchen knife, at work and hunting(small game) and after about 9 days the blade was stilll sharp; not shaving sharp(hate that phrase), but still sharp. I finally spent about 3 hours at work using it to cut cardboard boxe, instead of using my box cutter, and that dulled it enough so it needed re-sharpening. That was back around the beginning of December. Its on it's second sharpening, I sharpened it as soon as I took it out of the box, and its still going strong but will need a touch up soon. Not the strongest design in the world since the only metal on the knife is the blade and backspring. The handle is from what seems to be molded zytel with no metal liners, but hey, its a pocket knife not one of them indestructable tanks so beloved by the tactical set. It is the most comfortable small handled knife I've carried, but it's still a trifle small for my hands to feel comfortable using it on a deer........although I'm sure it would do a good job. Its become my constant companion. The one problem I found with it is that the clip isn't the tightest in the world. I carry it in my front pocket, clipped to the inside. Worked fine with the loose carpenters jeans I wore at work, or my loose hunting trousers(although I start carrying it inside the pocket of those). When wearing a pair of regular jeans which were snug, but not overly so, I had the blade slip out and fall into the snow when I got out of my truck. Luckily that happened in my driveway(if a sea of mud and snow is a driveway), and the tip of the handle was visible. Same thing happened when I carried it in my back pocket. Really can't see a way to tighten that clip much against the handle, so I've learned to be "conscious"of it when I'm getting in and out of the truck and wearing snug trousers. Outside of that, I think it's a great little knife. There. Be interesting to see what James has to say.
