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BRK Natives
- Thread starter u812
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2001
- Messages
- 1,794
Ahhh! Since you asked, I guess I'll answer! 
I ordered six of them from Discount Knives and got them about a week ago. Two SE and four PE. I had heard of these from the Spyderco forum on their website.
This is the FRN handle with reversible silver clip. The blade is 440A and is marked as such on the left side. There is also an etch (or lazer writing) on the blade:
1st GENERATION
BRK
which someone on the Spyderco site said stood for "Blue Ridge Knives."
On the reverse side it says:
Golden, Colorado
U.S.A.
The good news is they only cost just over $22.00, and they are quite serviceable pocketknives. All locked solidly, worked fairly smoothly, were sharp out of the box, and had from very very little to only slight verticle and side play. None of them failed hard spine whacks into my palm. Well worth the $$, IMO.
Now for the not so good news:
The fit and finish are not what I was expecting from a Spydie. Apparently, these were assembled by Camillus in New York! They came bagged only (no boxes) and had an instruction sheet which said if there were any problems, send them back to Camillus...
I'm guessing Camillus took the handles, springs, and blades and did the final finish on the blades and assembled them. On the insides of the locking/pivoting areas, you can tell there are wavy inconsistencies on the metal surfaces, unlike my GIN-1 and 440V Natives. The thumb grooves near the top tang go from pretty well done to very shallow and inconsistant. There are nine of them, instead of my GIN-1's six. Some knives had the FRN ground down to match the lockbar height. All the springs looked good quality (exactly the same as on my GIN-1) without any of those aforementioned "inconsistancies." The metal parts around the locking area/tang look thinner than my other Natives, but I think that's just because they are well rounded off instead of squared off.
The blade serrations were done deeper than my GIN-1, took up the same blade length, but had an (extra) large serration at the tang end. (My GIN-1 begins with the two small serrations at the tang end.)
The clips have the patent number on them, whereas none of my FRN or Blue Natives do.
My guess is from appearances of the metal (waviness), the holes were stamped out rather than machined.
The grind of the swedge is slightly different.
Finally, the pivot area has a smaller diameter, with a correspondingly deeper lockbar at the tang end. The joint between tang and lockbar is not even and has a larger gap than any of my Spydies (or for that matter, my old Buck Scoutlite which happens to be sitting here).
If you want a cheap Native for a beater, or for giving out to folks, these are not bad. They work well and have most of the nice handling characteristics of the "standard Spyderco" Natives. Only one was a bit stiff of blade swing, and that's the one I'm keeping (SE).
If you collect Natives, or Spydercos, IMO you should get one of these to show the "bottom end" of the line.
Maybe Sal or Carlos or someone else can tell a more complete story on these versions of the Native, or correct any of my "guesses."
I was gonna post all this earlier, but I got busy fixing cars...
Karl
BTW, I got six thinking I'd keep one SE and one PE. Turns out I sold five of them to co-workers within the week! I was going to charge $26, but when I inspected them, I lowered it to $23. Paid my postage, anyway.
I ordered six of them from Discount Knives and got them about a week ago. Two SE and four PE. I had heard of these from the Spyderco forum on their website.
This is the FRN handle with reversible silver clip. The blade is 440A and is marked as such on the left side. There is also an etch (or lazer writing) on the blade:
1st GENERATION
BRK
which someone on the Spyderco site said stood for "Blue Ridge Knives."
On the reverse side it says:
Golden, Colorado
U.S.A.
The good news is they only cost just over $22.00, and they are quite serviceable pocketknives. All locked solidly, worked fairly smoothly, were sharp out of the box, and had from very very little to only slight verticle and side play. None of them failed hard spine whacks into my palm. Well worth the $$, IMO.
Now for the not so good news:
The fit and finish are not what I was expecting from a Spydie. Apparently, these were assembled by Camillus in New York! They came bagged only (no boxes) and had an instruction sheet which said if there were any problems, send them back to Camillus...
I'm guessing Camillus took the handles, springs, and blades and did the final finish on the blades and assembled them. On the insides of the locking/pivoting areas, you can tell there are wavy inconsistencies on the metal surfaces, unlike my GIN-1 and 440V Natives. The thumb grooves near the top tang go from pretty well done to very shallow and inconsistant. There are nine of them, instead of my GIN-1's six. Some knives had the FRN ground down to match the lockbar height. All the springs looked good quality (exactly the same as on my GIN-1) without any of those aforementioned "inconsistancies." The metal parts around the locking area/tang look thinner than my other Natives, but I think that's just because they are well rounded off instead of squared off.
The blade serrations were done deeper than my GIN-1, took up the same blade length, but had an (extra) large serration at the tang end. (My GIN-1 begins with the two small serrations at the tang end.)
The clips have the patent number on them, whereas none of my FRN or Blue Natives do.
My guess is from appearances of the metal (waviness), the holes were stamped out rather than machined.
The grind of the swedge is slightly different.
Finally, the pivot area has a smaller diameter, with a correspondingly deeper lockbar at the tang end. The joint between tang and lockbar is not even and has a larger gap than any of my Spydies (or for that matter, my old Buck Scoutlite which happens to be sitting here).
If you want a cheap Native for a beater, or for giving out to folks, these are not bad. They work well and have most of the nice handling characteristics of the "standard Spyderco" Natives. Only one was a bit stiff of blade swing, and that's the one I'm keeping (SE).
If you collect Natives, or Spydercos, IMO you should get one of these to show the "bottom end" of the line.
Maybe Sal or Carlos or someone else can tell a more complete story on these versions of the Native, or correct any of my "guesses."
I was gonna post all this earlier, but I got busy fixing cars...
Karl
BTW, I got six thinking I'd keep one SE and one PE. Turns out I sold five of them to co-workers within the week! I was going to charge $26, but when I inspected them, I lowered it to $23. Paid my postage, anyway.
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2002
- Messages
- 1,369
Can u get them in Canada?? I will like to have one as a beater for a while, and when it dulls, it can be a drone to my frn 440v native.
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2001
- Messages
- 1,794
I'd still like to know the story behind these knives. Are they old production which has been put away a while? Are they recently put together? Did Camillus assemble any other Spydies?
I bet I'm not the only knifeknut who wants to know!
Karl
I bet I'm not the only knifeknut who wants to know!
Karl
u812
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2002
- Messages
- 13,439
www.eknifeworks.com was them for 21.95
Sal Glesser
Moderator
- Joined
- Dec 27, 1998
- Messages
- 11,704
Hi. I've heard your requests for the "story" behind the BRK Natives. Apologies on my end for being slow. Lots going on at this time. I'm impressed that you would be interested, thanx.
When the Native was first designed, oit was scheduled to be made by Camillus in New York as a subcontractor. The plan was for 440A. The Native was to be a less expensive offering than the Delica at the same size.
Camillus made a large number of blades out of 440A. They were very nicely made blades. For a variety of reasons, Camillus could not produce for us at the time, so we brought the mold (that Camillus made) into Golden and produced the GIN-1 version for years. Then we changed the blade steel to CPM-440V, the price jumped, and will probably stay with the exotic steels in the near future.
Blue Ridge Knives, a long time and very good distributor for Spyderco knives put together a plan to use the perfectly good
Camillus made blades, Camillus would make the locks and springs, Spyderco would provide the Native handles and Camillus would assemble them in New York. This made it possible to make the less expensive offering. All in all, it's a nicely made USA made piece, and as mentioned, for the price, its hard to beat.
Blue Ridge Knives had the plan and made it possible. So BRK has exclusive rights to the distribution of the model.
Hope that helps.
We'll still be making the Native in Golden from CPM steels. There is also a Seki-City variation variation coming out later this year.
sal
When the Native was first designed, oit was scheduled to be made by Camillus in New York as a subcontractor. The plan was for 440A. The Native was to be a less expensive offering than the Delica at the same size.
Camillus made a large number of blades out of 440A. They were very nicely made blades. For a variety of reasons, Camillus could not produce for us at the time, so we brought the mold (that Camillus made) into Golden and produced the GIN-1 version for years. Then we changed the blade steel to CPM-440V, the price jumped, and will probably stay with the exotic steels in the near future.
Blue Ridge Knives, a long time and very good distributor for Spyderco knives put together a plan to use the perfectly good
Camillus made blades, Camillus would make the locks and springs, Spyderco would provide the Native handles and Camillus would assemble them in New York. This made it possible to make the less expensive offering. All in all, it's a nicely made USA made piece, and as mentioned, for the price, its hard to beat.
Blue Ridge Knives had the plan and made it possible. So BRK has exclusive rights to the distribution of the model.
Hope that helps.
We'll still be making the Native in Golden from CPM steels. There is also a Seki-City variation variation coming out later this year.
sal
calyth
#!/bin/sh of a man
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2002
- Messages
- 3,574
Thanks sal for the input.
I was hoping that I could get the Gin-1 version, but that might be interesting to get.
I thought there's a version in Gin-1 without the swedge on the top. If you did get the mold from Camillus, then why does these ones seems to have a swedge?
I was hoping that I could get the Gin-1 version, but that might be interesting to get.
I thought there's a version in Gin-1 without the swedge on the top. If you did get the mold from Camillus, then why does these ones seems to have a swedge?
I received one PE and one SE of these knives. The PE seemed to be put together very well, the SE had so much side/side blade play I would have been ashamed to carry it and afraid to use it! I decided to return them for exchange (for a different product).
Sal Glesser
Moderator
- Joined
- Dec 27, 1998
- Messages
- 11,704
Hi Chinook. The concept of location is a question that I would like to explore. I love truth. This was a major question in the original project, and I think it might be valuable to "peel back the onion" a bit. So let's measure three times and cut twice (Chinook will explain?)
I appreciate the considerate re-consideration, but I think your original thought was valid.
I understand that there are many products that are made in one place and the origin stamped or location added is the home loation of the company. The concept of origin has real (?) value where a country is involved...to make something in one country and stamp another is technically illegal. This is not the subject. The subject of subcontracted parts within a country is the one I would like to explore.
If some or all parts are made in the home location of the company, all within the same country (in this case USA), what should be stamped on the product?
sal
I appreciate the considerate re-consideration, but I think your original thought was valid.
I understand that there are many products that are made in one place and the origin stamped or location added is the home loation of the company. The concept of origin has real (?) value where a country is involved...to make something in one country and stamp another is technically illegal. This is not the subject. The subject of subcontracted parts within a country is the one I would like to explore.
If some or all parts are made in the home location of the company, all within the same country (in this case USA), what should be stamped on the product?
sal
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2001
- Messages
- 1,068
Sal
I think we have to accept that, in many cases, parts of Spyderco knives (or whole knives) are manufactured by companies other than Spyderco. This is easily identified with the knives manufactured (and stamped as so) in Seki City, Japan. The thing which has been confusing everyone is that this seems to be the first case of a knife marked which "Golden Colorado USA" which did not have a blade actually manufactured in Spyderco's own Colorado facility. The story behind these knives, while understandable, has just suprised us.
Just out of curiosity
are there any other models marked "Golden Colorado USA" which aren't manufactured there?
And no, I don't have any perfect answer to suggest for your question regarding how the knives should be stamped - maybe just USA instead of including the city and state.
Thanks for the feedback!
David
I think we have to accept that, in many cases, parts of Spyderco knives (or whole knives) are manufactured by companies other than Spyderco. This is easily identified with the knives manufactured (and stamped as so) in Seki City, Japan. The thing which has been confusing everyone is that this seems to be the first case of a knife marked which "Golden Colorado USA" which did not have a blade actually manufactured in Spyderco's own Colorado facility. The story behind these knives, while understandable, has just suprised us.
Just out of curiosity
are there any other models marked "Golden Colorado USA" which aren't manufactured there?And no, I don't have any perfect answer to suggest for your question regarding how the knives should be stamped - maybe just USA instead of including the city and state.
Thanks for the feedback!
David
Sal Glesser
Moderator
- Joined
- Dec 27, 1998
- Messages
- 11,704
Hi 4 ster. The BRK Natives are the only pieces thus far marked Golden, that were not made in Golden. We do have a small number of Golden Blades that are ground elsewhere at this time.
sal
sal