Shootist - long story and some trivia. The vendor committed to make the original liteweight Native was running 1-1/2 years behind plan. I had hoped to introduce the Stainless version as an "interim" offer to "save face" on the poor delivery of the original liteweight.
The Stainless version ended up even slower. The entire first run was rejected on lock strength and had to be remade with new engineering on the lock. The second run is less than 10% complete (probably Danelle's estimate is correct) and production seems to be "slowed to stopped?? at this time.
Many makers would like to make knives for Spyderco. It is a "feather in their cap" to be able to do this successfully. Unfortunately, Spyderco' quality standards are very strict and often makers lose money trying to please us. eventually they make the grade or we break off, both agreeing that "Spyderco's requirements are too far above what is normally done and is unreasonable to expect".
We can handle that. Solving the original problem of delivery must be done differently than planned. In the case of the original Native liteweight, we are making them in the Golden facility. In the case of the Stainless Native, at this time, we're not sure. Should know in the next month.
If your collecting Spydercos, my guess is that it will not be a large number production run and would probably end up difficult to find, if not rare. Hope this helps.
sal
