Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe Knife Review

The Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife is a custom version of the popular Lil Native. It has a DLC finish, orange handles, and a CTS-XHP blade. Read on!

---

Official Specs

Here’s a link to the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife.

Versions

Plenty of versions of the Spyderco Lil Native exist. This Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife is still available, and on Spyderco’s site, at least four other versions are available: plain and SpyderEdge, and DLC and no DLC. Different steels are available (S45VN, CMP 15V, etc). Different blade shapes are available (Wharncliffe, “leaf shape” (drop point)).

Price

The Lil Native ranges in price from around $152 to over $250. The Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife specifically retails for $250 but seems to be consistently on sale at $149 (which is what I paid).

---

Package and Manual

There is no manual.

What’s Included

Many of the items above are directly from Cutlery Shoppe. The items below are what I presume come with the knife from Spyderco.

• Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife
• Spyderco sticker
• Warranty card, etc.

Here are scans of those documents you see above.

Look

This colorway is a Cutlery Shoppe exclusive. Most (or all that I see) exclusives from Cutlery Shoppe involve orange, and many of those are specifically orange and black.

It’s the best colorway, obviously. This is a great iteration of that colorway, too – the Lil Native looks great in black and orange!

The blade is a “leaf shape” drop point style (or at least “modified” drop point). It’s a small knife too, which I love!

Orange is very hard to properly white balance, so these photos aren’t the best. However, rest assured that the orange G10 used on the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife is the right orange. 

There’s not a ton of branding, but the blade does state where the (and all, I think) Lil Native is made: Golden, Colorado.

Open / Close / Lock

The main way to open the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife is by engaging with this SpyderHole. I use my thumb, but there are plenty of options. Some even throw a zip tie around this area and make a quick-opening option right out of the pocket.

The thumbhole is fine for opening the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife. This Spyderco, just like every Spyderco I have ever had, is not a flick-open knife. That’s not to say the action is bad; it’s just not the kind of knife they are (for me).

Holding (and using) the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife is great. There are a couple of grip options. First is the more rearward option.

But you can also choke way up. This feels very natural, and given that the blade has a very large choil and there’s a bit of jimping right where your thumb lands, this is probably the intended way to hold this knife.

The Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife uses a compression lock. I should say this Lil Native uses a compression lock. Lockback versions are available, too.

I like the compression lock quite a bit. And I would say the lock release being where it is (on the back of the knife!) should keep my fingers well out of the pathway of the blade. But that isn’t the case – while unlocking this knife, I cut my finger! That’s because it’s a two-hand action (for me!), and when moving the knife around in my hand, I swiped right across the tip of the blade. So don’t do that, but also that’s pretty easy to avoid.

Build and Feel

The build quality is great. It’s not an inexpensive knife, though, so it should be great. The blade is well centered.

The pivot is adjustable on both sides with a TORX driver.

The G10 scales have full metal liners. The knife is overall light anyway, even with these liners. There’s a lightweight version of the Lil Native, too. It’s something like 44g vs 71g for this knife.

I really like the jimping here. There’s definitely not too much, but it’s sufficient for grip if you need more grip than the G10 provides.

Size

Blade Length: 2.45″ (62 mm)
Length Open: 5.92″ (150 mm)
Length Closed: 3.47″ (88 mm)
Blade Thickness: .125″ (3.18 mm)
Hole Diameter: .5″ (13 mm)
Weight: 2.5 oz. (71 g)

Above, you can see the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife with the Civivi Elementum in orange G10. I use that knife so much! I haven’t talked about it much yet, but that Spyderco Lil Native is going to be my “nicer” knife size standard (in the same way that I use a Convoy S2+ and Hanko Machine Works Trident as flashlight size references).

Here’s the knife in hand:

Below you can see the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a brass Convoy S2+.

In the photo above, you may note that the SRM (standard reference material) flashlight for comparison has changed! I used a TorchLAB BOSS 35 for ages. Now, what you can see as the 18350 SRM is the Hanko Machine Works Trident. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast next to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, which also makes a great standard reference material.

Steel / Cut / Oats

The steel used for the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife is CTS-XHP. And this version is DLC coated (black).

Niagara Specialty Metals says that CTS-XHP “stainless knife steel offers high hardness, corrosion resistance, and performance comparable to 440C and D2.”

As far as I can tell, this Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe version is the only one to use CTS-XHP steel.

Officially, the blade shape is “leaf-shape.” From this Coltellimania.com image, the leaf shape is probably most related to clip or drop point. Either way, it’s a very nice blade shape, particularly with the full flat grind.

Also notably, the blade spine is very flat and thick at 3.18mm. It’s not sharp, but the edges are just broken – you could strike a flint with this if you wanted to.

Retention

The pocket clip is a paperclip style. It provides a reasonably deep carry and matches the colorway nicely.

I don’t love paperclip-style clips. This one is fine, in the same way that they’re all fine. It’s possibly a bit stiffer than many, which is an improvement.

It’s a great clip. Just one screw holds it in place.

The clip can be moved to the other side, but it is always tip-up carry.

Summary and Conclusion

I love the look of the Spyderco Lil Native Cutlery Shoppe knife, and I’ve gotten much better at using it (which is to say I only cut myself the one time). It’s a great small knife and honestly reasonably priced at $150. I like the blade shape, and I love the full flat grind. What’s more is that if this colorway, steel, blade shape, locking mechanism, or price don’t suit you, there are many other options. And they’re all worth considering!

Notes

• This knife was provided by me for review (I bought this knife!). I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
• Please use my Amazon.com referral link to help support zeroair.org!
• Please support me on Patreon! I deeply appreciate your support!