FRN Delica--one tough little knife (better than Native)

S

Shadow Hunter

Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
4
I just came out of the field the other day from a 3-day survival/evasion exercise. I took three knives with me, my EK Commando Custom Bowie (given to me by my wife after I finished Free-fall jump school), my EDC FRN Delica, and my FRN Native. The intent was to use my EDC as much as possible during the exercise, compare it to the Native, but also have my trusty EK just in case I broke the Delica.

During that time I used the Delica with batoning to cut 2-3" limbs to make a shelter, used it to split wood in preparing animal traps, cut parachute panels for signaling and shelter, cut up a parachute harness to improvise a pack, litter, etc. Later, I found some pitch and used the Delica to split the hardened wood, used the back of the knife to scrap together a combustible pile (kind of a real-world version of a spine whack), then again used the back of the knife on some rocks to create a spark--had a pretty good fire going in no time. The knife was used to harvest edible plants as well as cut wire (from the chute harness) to build squirrel traps. Thanks to the Delica, I dined on squirrels (skinned and quartered with the Delica) and vegetables that evening before the evasion portion of the exercise started the next night.

But, what about the Native? :confused: I actually started the survival portion of the mini-exercise using the Native, but several times during batoning to collect limbs for shelter, the lock gave way and the knife closed. I again used the back of the Native's blade when striking rocks to create a spark to ignite the pitch shavings, but the lock failed again. I think that the softer lever spring used in the Native has a lot to do with this. Just to be sure, I took both the Delica and the Native and spine whacked them both against the tree next to shelter. The Native would take about 3 solid whacks and snap shut! The Delica never flinched at such treatment. Hell, I must have whacked the little knife about a dozen times!

When I came out of the field, it took about 20 minutes to sharpen the knife (Didn't sharpen the Native because it will never be carried by me again) and get a few nicks out of the blade. Now it looks no worst for the wear.

Great Job Sal! I can't wait for the Delica 4!
 
I'm surprised that the Native behaved like that--I think you should send it to Golden--but I'm not surprised that the Delica came through.

It's one of those knives that make the rest of your collection unnecessary, if you think about it too much.
 
I've never tested a Native, but I have been unable to get my Delica to fail. Send the Native back to Spyderco.
 
i 've beat the crap out of my delica as well. i 'waved' mine at home and then put it in a vice to make sure that 'waving' it didn't create a weak spot. after some pretty good lateral pressure, i decided that the pivot would break before the blade, and that it would take quite bit to do even that. i've pried, scraped, cut, dug and stabbed mine and the lockup is still rock solid.
 
The Native was the FRN Sv-30 blade (i think that's the proper designation for the steel). I've had it about a year and never really beat it up. So this was it's first occasion to see what it's made of. I'm the type that usually severly tests anything that I carry, especially if it's going on an operation with me--I want to have complete trust in the damn thing! Anyway, I would send it back, but now I'll have to convince one of my troops to do that. I gave it to him today with directions to leave it in the gear locker the next time we head to the field!
 
You probably just have a defective native. The native has S30V, better ergonomics, looks, was made in America and it even cost less now.

I suspect that if everyone tested their lockbacks tomorrow, there would be a lot of surprises.
 
:thumbdn: When you spine wack the back of a knife, if it fails once, don't expect the lock to be able to do its job again. It it fails, it is because something broke in the lock. And it may not be visible to the eye.

Expecting it to resist after it failed once is naive.:rolleyes:

As to send it back to Spyderco, I'm sure they could have it repaired upon a small fee...

Simon
 
I've had the Native(G-2/Gin-1 blade) fail on me several times. Each time it was from cutting plastic banding. Taking a guess, I'd say it failed because I twisted the knife slightly while cutting. I think that the lever of the lock just disengages too easily. Don't get me wrong, the Native is a nice little knife (especially now that it comes in $30V), but I've been using a old Delica(AUS8A) ever since with no problems at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top