Spyderco Forums

Matus wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 12:41 am

Are those Seki and Golden FRN (finishes?) really so different? Could anyone post a few close-ups of say a Delica and a Para 3?

Worm wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 1:35 am

Here you go: PacSalt 2 vs Native 5 LW
...

As many mentioned, same experience here:
all my Seki FRNs have slightly more grip (or higher friction) than my Golden FRNs.

40mm wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 8:47 pm

yep yep. Spyderedge and FRN is all I care to carry. 8 months straight with this guy...
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prndltech wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:05 am

40mm wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 8:47 pm

yep yep. Spyderedge and FRN is all I care to carry. 8 months straight with this guy...
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I need some of those purple “caps”…. What are they? Where did you find them?

40mm wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 8:27 am

prndltech wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:05 am

40mm wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 8:47 pm

yep yep. Spyderedge and FRN is all I care to carry. 8 months straight with this guy...
thumbnail.jpg

I need some of those purple “caps”…. What are they? Where did you find them?

Those are the rubberized end caps that came with the sharpener. Had one before this with green caps. I believe it’s a Lansky multi sharpener. I sold my sharpmaker a while back and got this as a more minimal and portable setup. Since my only carry knife is that Dragonfly it’s working out just fine.

sal wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 3:36 pm

We try to offer enough variety that all of your preferences are available. However, we have found that G-10, with or without liners, has a "cost" tipping point. We've usually made a slab version of a new design to "test" market reception before tooling up for FRN.

However, lately, we've noticed that the G-10 "pilot test" fall short of giving us the information sought because the higher price significantly reduces sales.

We have recently gone straight to FRN tooling in models like the "Rock Jumper" because of the needed to hear more reaction on the handle forward concept.

This is far more complicated because of the artificially inexpensive value of the Chinese Yuan. We are competing with high tech knife manufacturing companies in China that have all of the equipment and technology, but they can offer their products with 1/6th the cost and make more profit even with lower price. Most of the American knife companies are heavily involved with Chinese production to be able to compete with price.

Making models in FRN gives us a better opportunity to compete. It does beg the question about American made products in the future?

sal

Nate wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:59 am

Guess I’m in the “all good, just different” camp on scale materials as well as steels.

One anecdote though is that for years I lusted over a g10 UKPK as an upgrade over my many frn examples. Was super excited about the HH version when it was announced. It arrived and met or exceeds expectations in every way... and largely sits in the box while the frns end up clipped iwb most of the time. Go figure.

Evil D wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 2:54 am

I keep thinking about the shape of these molds and how they deliberately chose to make blocky square handles. It really baffles me. I wonder if rounded and contoured molds are more expensive? Why wouldn't you just add more radius to the corners on that Native 5? I understand not adding palm swells and such, I get that so many people (inexplicably) prefer flat wafer thin handles, but even those can be smoothed over and made more ergonomic. With G10 I understand it more because it's an additional machining step to contour everything, like with the Shaman scales I'm sure that adds to cost and production time but with FRN molds there has to be a reason beyond cost. Older Salt models are rounder and have softer handles, so why not current models too?

Notsurewhy wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:20 am

So I grabbed a couple of knives out of the drawer to compare frn. My ukpk has edges kinda in between the native 5 lw and the endura I used for comparison. Not quite as square as the native or as rounded as the endura. Perhaps that's why you like the frn ukpk better than the g10?

It should be noted that I can't tell the difference in the handle edges unless I'm paying attention, so I may be less sensitive to subtle chamfering than others? I did notice that the sharpest thing on any of the handles, to my hands, is the jimping on the endura. None of it bothers me, but I can see that the edges on the native might be a problem during prolonged cutting into something hard (whittling maybe?) but I don't generally do that.

Nate wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 8:35 am

Notsurewhy wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:20 am

So I grabbed a couple of knives out of the drawer to compare frn. My ukpk has edges kinda in between the native 5 lw and the endura I used for comparison. Not quite as square as the native or as rounded as the endura. Perhaps that's why you like the frn ukpk better than the g10?

It should be noted that I can't tell the difference in the handle edges unless I'm paying attention, so I may be less sensitive to subtle chamfering than others? I did notice that the sharpest thing on any of the handles, to my hands, is the jimping on the endura. None of it bothers me, but I can see that the edges on the native might be a problem during prolonged cutting into something hard (whittling maybe?) but I don't generally do that.

I’m out of town right now so I can’t do a direct comparison, but would say it’s a mix of the g10 being a little blockier and heavier. Peel-ply is also coarser then the texturing on the UKPK frn. The differences are all pretty minor/subtle, but they add up to make a difference to me, especially in the warmer months when I’m likely to carry iwb in gym shorts most of the time.

I like both though and am definitely not looking to dump my HH UKPK. Just funny how things change, as initially I would only buy g10 and carbon fiber, but now many of my faves are frn.

Wartstein wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:17 pm

samdasnake wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:48 pm

I'd be perfectly happy if Spydercoused nothing but FRN going forward. Don't think that'll happen but I like FRN so much more than any other handle material. I don't understand people saying FRN is more abrasive than G10 the way Spyderco textures them. The G10 is usually like sandpaper that tears up my pockets (with a few notable exceptions).

This.
In my experience Spydercos FRN knives are a lot "nicer" to the pocket than their G10 ones.
As said, this will probably be to a large part due to the smooth logo on the FRN, where the clip lands on.

ladybug93 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 09, 2021 8:42 am

my pacific salt is definitely more comfortable iwb than my native salt. however, if i hadn't had both to compare, i wouldn't have given it a second thought when i clipped my native iwb. the other day i carried my caribbean iwb and it was more comfortable than the native, but it was also heavier, so it was more noticeable too. i guess what i'm trying to say is the pacific salt is king iwb, but it's not really an issue to carry the blockiest frn folder or even a heavy g10 knife iwb.