Since the reception of my Chief Native I have found that he was a sole survivor from a Xmas Mystery Box bought in Spyderco’s plant in Golden in December.
In that box were different items and a rare Sprint Run Second Factory which was destined to end in my pocket and considered by myself IMHO as the perfect realisation of Sal and Eric ideas about pocket knives. In fact I think it is my favorite Spyderco ever.
I have written a first review here.
And now it is time for a second approach of Hellboy which has succeeded in kicking other knives from my pocket and quench my thirst for novelty.

So why ?

First the Native family feature an absence of hump on the blade making them very slick and beautiful.

Even the Shaman benefits from that.

The Chief is on the left and the Shaman on the right.

As you can notice the design of the Native Chief is really close to one of my favorite design: the AFCK.
Sal Glesser was no stranger in the Benchmade BM800 AFCK back in the 90’s. He helped Les De Asis founder of Benchmade on it. They had both learned how to make Michael Walker’s linerlocks at Bob Terzuola shop.
Both company were accelerating on the tactical lane in close formation.

As you can notice, my AFCKs (Advanced Folding Combat Knife) which was also designed by Chris Caracci a former Navy SEaL have been used a lot. The first version got a Spydiehole and the second version got an oval hole and an axislock.
This design was one of my favorite for a big folding knife as EDC.
And back then I was really in love with concept of tool highspeed steel on a modern plateform.

The same happend with that special Native Chief which got a very special alloy for its blade: CPM-4V.
With that steel, the edge is strong and the thin blade is very solid.
It gives a lot of confidence when cutting on a plate made of ceramic of glass. No chipping can happen.
Hellboy has been used a lot for cutting pies and cake on glass plates and the edge behavior was not disappointing. When I have noticed a little shiny spot, some white ceramic was able to put everything back on line but it was really minor.

Now CPM4V is not stainless. It will form a patina or, worst, rust very quick and easily when used in acidic matters like cutting lemons and being used on a salad with vinegar.
DLC coating is really welcome for that kind of behavior. Back in the 90’s Benchmade was offering only PVD coating which is really inferior to Diamond Like Coating. So far the blade of my Chief is not marked and scar by it various cutting tasks even when cutting.
My previous Chief was a naked Rex45 blade and it was another story told here.

Even strawberries can darken the edge of CPM 4V.

But cheese is a great way to notice how DLC is making the surface of the blade less sticky but more stinky.

The Chief was not always used on gentle medium like wood.

It was also used on plate with vinegar salsa. Here it is basamic vinegar from Modena.

In the kitchen the knife is really behaving like an paring knife. It is really handy on fruits and vegetables. Its very pointy blade is great to carve.
.The mechanism has never suffered from being wet and rinsed under water. The knife was smooth through and through its various wet works.

Now I like to have chamfered and smooth handles and blade spine. The Chief is known to be very square everywhere. The G10 has been easy to smooth with sandpaper used wet to avoid toxical dust.
Now the blade spine is DLC coated and it was my esthetic choice to remove the coating on all the length of its spine.

I love the result.

It has been done with some diamond rods.
Now the spine is much more confortable for my thumb in case of push cuts.

CPM 4V on that Native Chief platform is really the bread and butter for a strong thin folder. I’m not afraid to use hard on wood and plastic.
And it is a must in the kitchen various missions.
It has been also test on different hard wood and compared (geometry speaking) with many other knives I got.
One of my champion is the Swayback in term of smooth pushcuts.
But also the Wolfspyder and the Yojimbo.

My Chief needed more convexing and thinning to go to the level I was expecting. Again diamonds has been used handfree to remove the shoulder of the edge.
CPM 4V keeps a very very crispy edge and bites in the wood very aggressively.

CPM M4 is a stunning alloy which is prefered on fixed blade but it is a gem on a long and thin folder. It makes it super solid with a very permissive edge.

Quoting Larrin Thomas Phd:

Some will argue that toughness is not important in folders or fine slicing knives and feel that only edge retention matters in that case because they don’t use their knives in aggressive ways which are likely to lead to chipping. However, broken tips are still common on small knives and kitchen knives. And with higher toughness, the knives are better able to handle thin, low angle edges without chipping. And they can be heat treated to higher hardness to help prevent edge rolling and deformation, while still maintaining good toughness. This means that, indirectly, higher toughness can lead to better cutting performance because of the possibility of thinner edges.

The good news is that CPM Magnacut has been copied on CPM 4V behavior.