How tough is the Native 5 LW?

D

DocT

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Mar 25, 2012
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Has anybody legitimately used a Native 5 LW hard, as in work hard? It is a roofing, dirt digging, bale opening, rough use knife? Or is it strictly light use? I have a friend who bought a farm (something I know a little about) and needs a hard working knife. I thought of the G10 version, and that may be the answer, but the LW is, well, light.
 
Plenty tough enough. I honestly can't think of any real world circumstances where the G10 version would hold up, but the lightweight would break. FRN is far from flimsy (I love alliteration) and, as far as stainless goes, S35VN is tough stuff. They've also improved the lock, so I'd say it will hold up fine.
 
I have the CF/s110v and do construction.. It takes some abuse!
Love the feel of it and does great work! I like the weight of it too.
Diamond SM rods, straight to the strop.
The LW has metal liners, atleast the Delica and Endura do.. I assume the LW Native will too.
 
winnerone23 said:
The LW has metal liners, atleast the Delica and Endura do.. I assume the LW Native will too.
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The Native LW does not have metal liners. I believe it has small metal inset pieces for the clip screws to engage, but those do not provide any reenforcement of the handle.
 
i could think of better knifes!for farm-use,but in general this is a vary strong little folder for what it is,i mean it size!its lock is solid,i have dropped mine on bricks and never shows damage like a G10 would!i was vary surprised how tuff the FRN really is.
 
I don't have a farm, but I do keep chickens, have an extensive vegetable garden and some acreage of hay and pasture. I don't know what that qualifies me for (not much!), but FWIW I would not hesitate to use my Native 5 Lightweight for any task one could reasonably expect of a compact folding knife. So far mine still looks and performs like new. For chopping, batoning, splitting of wood, etc, I would use a machete rather than any folder. I tried the G10 Native and pretty as that knife is, I much prefer the lighter weight and plainer appearance of the FRN version.
 
It is strong enough to do anything a knife is supposed to do.

It has no liners.

I have not seen a broken one.
 
Its tough as hell. I carried mine for two years straight at a manual labor job where I used it to regularly cut through industrial grade hoses, car ties etc. It is small though, the Endura 4 is just as tough but with nearly a 4" blade, Id go with the Endura all day.
 
oxman198 said:
Its tough as hell. I carried mine for two years straight at a manual labor job where I used it to regularly cut through industrial grade hoses, car ties etc. It is small though, the Endura 4 is just as tough but with nearly a 4" blade, Id go with the Endura all day.
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Good point. The Endura is a good all around work knife with a size that makes it more useful in some situations.
 
I've been using the crap outta my N5 LW. I've even opened several coconuts with it which is pretty tough work.
 
archieblue said:
I've been using the crap outta my N5 LW. I've even opened several coconuts with it which is pretty tough work.
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Good to see ya dude.

I have to agree with folks in this thread. There is no way you'll be breaking a Native 5 LW anytime soon. I have one and it's probably the best lock-back I own. Amazing knife. Strong as well as smooth. Fits my hand like a glove.

I use mine to do stuff that I may not want to do with my other knives. Cutting through tough material that may scratch the blade. Cutting plastic ties. Actually I use my ZDP-189 Delica for that too. Great knives.
 
The Native 5 LW is tough enough for most knife-related tasks, and works well as a smaller EDC knife.

It quickly runs out of cutting edge length though. Sometimes the choil gets in the way, like when cutting open bubble wrapped items or food, because of the short cutting length. The handle is somewhat blocky and is short - not a problem for light use, but it becomes uncomfortable during extended cutting tasks, like breaking down heavy boxes for more than a few minutes.

For a farm/outdoors/work knife I would choose a longer blade with a full handle that is glove friendly, like a Military.
 
oxman198 said:
Its tough as hell. I carried mine for two years straight at a manual labor job where I used it to regularly cut through industrial grade hoses, car ties etc. It is small though, the Endura 4 is just as tough but with nearly a 4" blade, Id go with the Endura all day.
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I'd suggest the Endura or Delica over the native as well. The blade shape is more useful.
 
[youtube]owOZd3G0DBM[/youtube]
No liners but it has "internal (metal) threads inserted from backside" like the upcoming 40th anniv knife - jump to 03:20 in video.
 
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