FRN Vesuvius

Dexter Ewing

Dexter Ewing

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
Messages
4,670
I received a FRN handled Vesuvius last week and eagerly took it out of the box but soon my new-knife happiness was very short lived. I'm not sure of others who have received the same knife feel this way but I am not happy with this one. My disappointment mainly lies with the quality of the FRN itself:

[*] The inlay does not sit flush with the surface of the scale. On top of this, there is a little bit of flashing around the perimeter of the hole for the inlay.

[*] On the ends of the scales, there's some flashing left over from the molding process. Also, on the second set of exposed screw holes, there is some flashing around the holes.

[*] Out of the box, there is some side to side blade play which.....

[*] ....in turn causes the blade to rub against the liner upon opening. I know this is no big deal and I can fix it easily and very quickly by breaking out my Torx wrenches and tightening the pivot but that's beside the point. A $90 knife should come out of the box ready to use, without having to fiddle with it to bring it up to your standards.

I'm not sure whether I'm being too critical or not but my first impressions of this particular sample I have is not good at all.

Not wanting to end this post on a sour note, I would like to point out the good things I noticed right away:

[*] Tight lock up. A while back Spyderco let me borrow a G-10 handled prototype of this knife to write an article, while lockup was great on the proto, this one is even better. The lockbar has more tension

[*] Even grinds on the blade, cutting edge is usual top quality fromo Spyderco. Shaving sharp!

Sal, when I see you next week at the show I will give this knife back to you. Any other folks have quality problems of the FRN scales, or am I the only one?

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Proud member: AKTI, NCCKG, NCKK, and SCAK

NC Knife Knuts @ Table 18-B at the Blade Show

Living life on the edge
 
Hi Dexter. thanx for the comments. I'll see you at the Blade show.

and yes, yours is the first compaint I've heard.

sal
 
Dexter,

Your comments caused me to get my Vesuvius out and take a closer look. Here are my observations:

--The top of the inlay is slightly lower than the FRN itself but parallel (at least as far as my eye can detect). I assumed that this was deliberate to protect the inlay and I'm satisfied with it.

--I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "flashing" in this context as I know little about molding FRN. I'm mainly familiar with flashing in the context of how it might be used for roofing. Thus I interpret flashing here to be something like a thin relic of material from the molding process. I don't notice anything like this around the inlay or holes for scales and the clip.

--At the end of the scales opposite the pivot end there are extremely small nubs of FRN that appear to be a relic of the molding process. They don't really bother me.

--No blade play out of the box.

--The same good things you noted are present on mine (tight lock-up, even grinds, etc.).

Overall, I'm very pleased with this piece. I'm also a bit perplexed that we don't see more discussion of the Vesuvius on the forums as it is a both a great value and it has a great feel in my hand. Cheers! -Alan
 
FRN ain't G10
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Wayne.
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Alan_B wrote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Thus I interpret flashing here to be something like a thin relic of material from the molding process</font>
Click to expand...

Alan - you are correct! Kinda like when you build those plastic model car kits and you have to break off the plastic parts from the "web" and you some flashing that gets broken off with the part. Though, not THAT severe but enough where you can see and feel it too. When I check out knives, I "look" as much with my fingers as I do with my eyes
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Proud member: AKTI, NCCKG, NCKK, and SCAK

NC Knife Knuts @ Table 18-B at the Blade Show

Living life on the edge
 

Thanks for the info on flashing Dexter!

There is no doubt that nearly all of us here probably favor G10 over FRN. I also presume that FRN allows for a lower price point than G10, especially on a piece like the Vesuvius with the inlay and nested liners (molded in FRN, machined for G10?). I applaud Spyderco for pioneering what appears to be rather complex molding of scales to keep the price down. I wonder how much higher the MSRP would need to be if done in G10. -Alan

 
"My" Vesuvius is the latest case of my wife stealing my Spydercos for herself. She played with it for about thirty seconds before telling me that I wasn't going to get it back. Now I'm trying to figure out how I can afford to buy another one for myself!

I love G-10, but I don't have any complaints about my FRN Spydies (blue Delica and blue Ladybug). They seem well made and plenty tough. Now I want an Endura in blue.

--Bob Q
 
I would like to say that my Vesuvius came with an excellent finish, no blade wobble, and razor sharp. I'm sure that Dexter just got the occasional "bad apple". The folks at Spyderco are human and will produce a defective product every once and a while.
 
Personally, I believe that accountability isn't used enough in the manufacturing world. It is only rarely that I buy something that somewhere in the article/packaging/whatever is a little slip of paper saying "Inspected by # so-and-so."

I think it might, all by itself, improve the QC process. Even if it didn't, if the products being returned for manufacturing problms could be identified as issuing from specific QC employees, it would be easy to pinpoint any individuals with significantly higher or lower return rates. Some sort of reward for the inspector with the lowest return rate could also be a strong motivator.

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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
I got my Vesuvius about 3 weeks ago, and overall I think it's a great knife. Functionally it is perfect. The FRN handles don't bother me, since my main objection to FRN is that it doesn't seem as sturdy, and this knife is very sturdy. The double inset steel liners are basically the full length and breadth of the handle, and provide a degree of rigidity I haven't seen on my other 3 Spyderco FRN knives (not that the others are bad, just more lightweight).

However, I did notice some small QC issues related to the inlay. The only one that bothers me is that one side of the inlay is below (inset) the handle, and the other side is slightly higher (sticks out). I'm worried that something will catch the inlay that sticks out and crack or rip a piece off. It doesn't stick up very far, so cracking a small piece off is the more likely possibility.

I'm not *really* worried, though, it just means I'll be (have been) very careful carrying it. Which I probably would have been anyway. The inlay looks quite nice, very dressy.

I'm now up to 16 Spydercos; the Vesuvius was #15.

Rich
 
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