Home / Outdoors / Knives & Multi-Tools

A Beloved Spyderco EDC Knife Gets a Reissue Dripping with Heritage Craftsmanship

Built to celebrate the brand’s 50th anniversary, this pocket folder retains its iconic silhouette while adding major upgrades.

Close-up of a Spyderco CPM S90V folding knife blade and textured handle with spider logo engraving.Spyderco
Add Gear Patrol as a Preferred Source on Google

By Sean Tirman

Published

·

If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more

This year marks a major milestone for one of the world’s most significant knife brands. It’s Spyderco’s 50th anniversary.

As you might expect, the brand is celebrating in style with some killer launches throughout the year.

However, there’s one in particular, designed to honor this half-century birthday, that has just been unveiled: the Spyderco Native 5 50th Anniversary Amber Bone CPM S90V Sprint Run. And it is spectacular.

Knife blade marked "Spyderco CPM S90V" with a yellow-orange handle and patterned metal bolster.
While this knife maintains its silhouette and mechanisms, the materials get some significant upgrades.
Spyderco

50 years of Spyderco

As its name and silhouette suggest, this special-anniversary knife is based on the Native 5. While you may have expected a Para 3 or PM2, I think the Native 5 is actually the perfect platform for this release.

It’s already widely considered one of the best all-around EDC knives on the market, but it also comes with less baggage and fewer expectations, making a wild interpretation like this easier for folks to accept.

Folding pocket knife with a yellow handle, patterned metal bolster, and a metal clip with a spider logo.
The handle scales are amber bone with Damascus steel bolsters.
Spyderco

Of course, it also remains true to the original, measuring 6.95 inches with a 2.98-inch drop-point blade. Furthermore, it retains many of the original’s best elements, including a Round Hole manual deployment, back lock and tip-up, right-handed carry pocket clip.

However, the materials are where things take us all for a wild ride. Furthermore, they’re representative of the incredible amount of care and craft that went into building this pocket knife.

Close-up of a metal knife handle with engraved crab designs and two screws, attached to a textured orange grip.
The bolsters, with their checkerboard-like Spyderco logo pattern, are meticulously hand-forged over 1,200 hours.
Spyderco

1,200 hours of meticulous craftsmanship

The standard edition of the Native 5 comes with an S30V blade and a G-10 handle. Both of those elements have been swapped out on this special edition, however.

The blade steel is upgraded to S90V, providing better edge retention. Granted, that does mean it’s tougher to sharpen, but that’s a worthy price to pay, in my humble opinion.

But the real craft lies on the other side of the knife: the handle. The base scales are swapped for higher-end amber bone, which is stunning to behold and really elevates the knife’s overall vibe.

Close-up of a folding knife blade with a wooden handle and a visible screw.
For Spyderco, the amber bone handle scales are a bit unusual, but they’re nevertheless a great addition to this knife.
Spyderco

And the bolster is a masterwork of craft, requiring 1,200 hours of work from expert blacksmiths Ed Schempp and his son, Martin.

The pair has meticulously forged this stunning checkerboard logo-patterned Damascus steel from a combination of 1084 and 15N20 tool steel, which they forged, ground, water jet cut, welded, finished and more. Then, they precision-cut the steel to unveil the Spyderco “bug” logo pattern within.

It’s even dovetailed for a precision fit and acid-etched to maximize the pattern contrast. Even outlining it here doesn’t really do it justice.

Put plainly: this knife is an absolute masterwork any collector would be lucky to behold, let alone own.

Close-up of an orange-handled folding knife with a partially serrated blade and a metal clip featuring a spider logo.
The blade steel has also gotten a significant upgrade (from the standard edition) to S90V.
Spyderco

Availability and pricing

The Spyderco Native 5 50th Anniversary Amber Bone CPM S90V Sprint Run is coming soon for a retail price of $1,200. However, you can sign up for stock notifications right now at Blade HQ, where it’s slightly more affordable at $900.

About the Author: Sean Tirman is an associate editor at Gear Patrol who specializes in EDC, cannabis and outdoor gear.

Read More

Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases? Add Gear Patrol as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.

add as a preferred source on google
,