FRN And No Liners - Hard Use?

M

Mike88

Joined
Jul 17, 2010
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5
Hi guys...

I'm new here but have lurked a lot. Great site.

I'm sure that my question has been addressed in detail somewhere, just hoping that someone can point me in the right direction. I remember reading a thread a long time ago in which Mr. Glesser stated that Delicas and Enduras (made at the time without steel liners...just FRN and pin construction) could be considered hard use knives. Can anyone recall that discussion, or one like it? If so, could you tell me where to find it?

The reason I ask is that I have a Native (CPM S30V, plain edge) on the way and I'd like to know what can reasonably be expected of it in terms of standing up to hard work in the field. I'm not a knife abuser, and won't subject it to some of the inane things that I read about here sometimes. I just plan to use it for normal EDC and woods bumming tasks.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Pete1977

Pete1977

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Apr 15, 2002
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3,349
It will work just fine. I used to carry a serrated Endura 3 (FRN, linerless pinned construction) and a plain edged Atlantic Salt (also FRN, linerless pinned construction) commercial fishing and as a merchant mariner and subjected them to what some would constitute abuse. They held up just fine. You won't have a problem, they are tougher knives than their light weight lets on.
 
Pete1977

Pete1977

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Apr 15, 2002
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The Native is a good solid lightweight work knife. My father is not a knife guy and carried a FRN Endura with the molded clip and a FRN Rescue as a police detective from the mid '90's until he retired in 2000, and carries a FRN Dragonfly these days. He recently loaned me his FRN Atlantic Salt after I lost my Byrd Rescue. All of these knives are linerless and pinned construction, and aside from him losing the Endura, the rest are as sturdy today as they were since he got them.

Edited to add: My brother bought a SE Delica back when the clips were integral with the Zytel handle scales. He used it when he worked at a Staples stocking shelves, then when he started working on charter fishing boats. He gave it to my girlfriend about 7 years ago when she worked on charter boats. I carried it in between as an EDC. It still locks up as solid as the day we got it. It was a serrated model and was only retired when I could not repair the damage to the serrations. We did everything with that knife. I even used it to saw a hole in the girl's door jamb to install a deadbolt when she lived alone.
 
moonwilson

moonwilson

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Aug 10, 2006
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The linerless, FRN Spydercos will hold up to plenty of hard use. Many, many people have carried and used such knives for years and years, no problem. I think the addition of liners to more recent knives may have had more to do with ease of assembly/ disassembly and clip options than with any perceived weakness of the linerless FRN scales. I've never heard of a FRN Spyderco handle breaking. Certainly not under "normal", hard, non-abusive use.
 
Pete1977

Pete1977

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moonwilson said:
The linerless, FRN Spydercos will hold up to plenty of hard use. Many, many people have carried and used such knives for years and years, no problem. I think the addition of liners to more recent knives may have had more to do with ease of assembly/ disassembly and clip options than with any perceived weakness of the linerless FRN scales. I've never heard of a FRN Spyderco handle breaking. Certainly not under "normal", hard, non-abusive use.
Click to expand...

David Lowry had a Salt 1 that was run over by a Bobcat. That is the only time that I have seen a broken FRN handle.

edited with link: http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35715&highlight=bobcat
 
Last edited:
D1omedes

D1omedes

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May 3, 2009
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1,125
Thanks for the link, Pete. Definitely an interesting read.

I've EDC'ed my Salt 1 for some time and have never felt that I would damage the knife under extensive use. I even cut up a whole roomful of old carpet with it and I don't recall feeling any handle flex or any other concern.

The only thing that worried me was if the tip was going to snap off (it was given a full flat grind by Tom Krein). That wasn't an issue either because all I did was slice with it. Definitely a pocket lightsaber. :D
 
G

goodeyesniper

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Aug 31, 2009
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You'll damage just about any knife blade before you damage the FRN handles on these bad boys. Unless you are using it closed like a hammer or something...

They will "flex" but this probably just adds to strength, though it might seem flimsy.

Trust me, any digging/prying/chopping will warp your blade or cause your tip to snap off and your handle will still be like new. (I'm just saying this in general, not implying the native blade is weaker than other knives)
 
J

jekostas

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May 10, 2010
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You should be more than fine with the Native. FRN is an extremely, extremely tough material - as goodeyesniper's stated, you're much more likely to break the tip off the blade than break the handle.

Where FRN can fall down is that it generally doesn't have the grip afforded by G-10. I think Spyderco's done an excellent job dealing with this particular problem with their volcano grip.
 
R

Ronindan

Joined
Apr 30, 2010
Messages
144
I had a delica 3 (plain edge) for 5 years and it was my edc blade during that time. And it is a hard use knife, I used it cut open heavy boxes, carpet, heavy plastic packaging strap etc ( I was working at a warehouse at that time: college years). And it even survived being thrown at folded card board since me and my co-workers were bored.

I will still have that delica 3, if I have not lost it in a trip to Europe.
 
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