Does Spyderco's FRN material have a smell to it?

J

James0723

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Mar 25, 2009
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I am very sensitive to plastic/chemical type smells, and for this reason all the knives I have are either with stainless steel or titanium handles. I have never handled a Spyderco FRN before, but am now thinking about buying one of the new flat ground Delicas with FRN handles.

My question is, does the FRN material Spyderco uses have a smell at all?

I have handled G10 knives before and haven't noticed any bothersome smell, however, I did buy an ESEE knife and the canvas micarta smell bothered me. So using that as a reference do you think the FRN handles will bother me?
 
I must admit, I've never sniffed my knives until now. No smell to report on the FRN Delica 4 that I have. I've never noticed a smell to them. It's a very hard and durable material, so it's not like those soft plastics that give off a plastic smell. It's a very good material, you should give it a try!
 
I took a whiff of mine just for you, buddy, and it smells like pocket lint. I didn't notice any smell to the FRN whatsoever.
 
In theory, any newly produced nylon item might have a slight residual odor but I can't say I've ever noticed it with FRN. Micarta is different, at least the "old school" types that use phenolic resin. Even years later it will give off a faint, definite and distinctive, odor if you drag your fingernail across it.
 
I sniff just about everything just to get more intel (and because I'm moderately colorblind), but I don't get any data from sniffing Spyderco FRN.
 
I just received two and no smell . But I know what you mean about plastic smell . You will get that plastic smell with China made plastic stuff . Like the place where you get dollar stuff.
 
bean_sips said:
I took a whiff of mine just for you, buddy, and it smells like pocket lint. I didn't notice any smell to the FRN whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha. Bean , your post cracked me up.

I practically inhaled my Delica and I have no scent whatsoever to report.
 
Deacon is right about micarta - the phenols in the resin used in this material are pretty volatile before they set up and cure. You can smell it more strongly when it is new. But cutting into micarta even after years on the shelf produces are pretty acrid odor. My wife says the shop smells like "cat pee" when I'm working with it. :barf:

TedP
 
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