Dude, that is super cool!Vamais wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:58 pmI prefer FRN to G10, hands down. The bi-directional FRN handles have better grip, and textured G10 wears smooth over time.
To understand the difference between them, you need to know a little bit about composites.
Both G10 and FRN are composites of plastic and fiberglass. FRN stands for "fiberglass reinforced nylon", or "fiber reinforced nylon". Basically it's nylon (a thermoplastic) with short fiberglass fibers mixed it. It can be injection molded if the fibers aren't too long, which makes it possible to make shaped handles for not very much money.
G10, I believe, is sheets of fiberglass cloth impregnated/glued together with epoxy (a thermoset plastic). Because the fibers are continuous, you can get more strength/stiffness out of G10 FOR A GIVEN GEOMETRY. However, the epoxy is not super tough, and if you impact the edge of a G10 slab hard enough, you can get delamination of the fiberglass layers (It happened to me when I dropped a manix 2 xl on concrete). The nylon thermoplasic in FRN is much tougher, just not as stiff It is more likely to deform than crack. The difference in stiffness doesn't make too much difference if the knife has steel liners.
About the texture on G10:
The texture you see on G10 scales is from something called "peel-ply". When the layers of fiberglass are glued together, they are put on a flat surface (such as a sheet of glass or metal) and compressed to remove as much air/voids as possible (voids in the matrix--the epoxy in this case--make the composite weaker). To keep the G10 from being glued to the flat surface, a layer of fabric called peel-ply is used as a barrier. The epoxy doesn't really stick to the peel ply. The texture of the peel-ply weave gets pressed into the epoxy on the surface, and that's where you get the texture from. Use a peel-ply with a different weave, and you will get a different texture.
FRN
Re: FRN
- Richard