Has Anyone Tested FRN Handles to Breaking?

redsquid2

redsquid2

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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So I encounter a post or video review sometimes where they say "this thing will break" or "it just feels cheap."

I carried a Ladybug (or some such small Spyderco) back in the 90's and I never gave breakability a thought. I never gave "cheapness" a thought because I just never doubted the design sense of any Spyderco knife. I loved that knife.

So is anybody here familiar with the testing that FRN knives go through before being release into the market? Does anybody do independent testing of actual FRN handled knives, to determine how much pressure it takes to break one?

I also understand that trusting a knife is a psychological thing. You don't want it breaking at the wrong moment, and if it "feels cheap" you hesitate to push the limits of it. However, me personally - I have never used any of my nicer knives for prying or digging. That's my personal take on what knives are for.

Anyway, just looking for answers to these basic questions.

Andy
 
i never have. really dont know how one would break it without really trying. using as a cutting tool should never break.

some even have steel liners.
 
I also had a Gerber FRN knife in the 90's. I think Gerbers were higher quality back then, but I never doubted the durability of that one either.
 
If I recall correctly, Super Steel Steve did some prying tests to failure with a bailout, an emerson, and a strider. The premise of his video was to determine the overall toughness of the knife compared to some other benchmarks, and of course it did not hold up as well as the others. That being said, I think the video might have unintentionally highlighted how decently the bailout holds up as a 2 oz knife with thin partial liners and .08" blade stock, as it only broke once he hammered the tip .5" into a pine board and pried with it to failure.
 
IDK about testing, but if using a knife as a knife, I have no worries about the resiliency of my FRN Spydercos

Isn’t FRN the same stuff they use in Glocks, Springfield XD’s etc?
 
Nothing systematic, but I have broken a Spyderco Manix 2 FRN scale - not with knife in use but intentionally, because I wanted the blade and didn't care for the scale too much.

It's very tough and quite elastic (a good thing when it comes to breaking), a little more so than G10, which is more elastic than CF; I doubt you'll manage to break FRN in a real situation, in particular with a small knife like the Ladybug. I feel you could probably drive a car over it without damaging it mechanically. Not sure how the Ladybug looks internally, the FRN Manix 2 has some steel re-inforcement around the Pivot, which makes it even tougher as a whole.

Roland.
 
It's important to remember, as good of people as they are, not every internet expert really knows their hind end from a sinkhole. The FRN flexes because it's designed to be able to, not because it's cheap. You'd have to bend it so hard that you break the fiberglass inside the nylon, which is no easy task considering how strong fiberglass is. There's no doubt in my mind that you'd have to be making a deliberate attempt to break it before you had a FRN failure.

I've never tried breaking FRN, but when I tried to break some scrap G10 with a pipe and vice the exact words out of my mouth were "That was way more effort than it was worth".
 
It might "just break", but I am not sure how. I have a RAT1 that I bought years ago as a work knife after reading the glowing reviews here. It deserved all the praise. The FRN scales help up to nearly 3 years of daily carry and use on a construction site.

I never went easy on that knife as it was cheap enough I really pushed it. It has fallen off roofs and scaffolds onto concrete, been dropped, knocked off sawhorses, and I clean the adhesives and sealants off the scales with charcoal lighter fluid. Never had any real damage, only some dents and hard scuffs on the scales.

The only thing bad I could say about the FRN scales is that they are polished now from pocket carry/use, nearly no texture left. Still solid though.

Robert
 
I vaguely recall seeing a video on YouTube where someone intentionally breaks FRN scales to see how much abuse they could take. The scales took more force to break than I expected.

I just checked and can't find it now.
 
ferider said:
Nothing systematic, but I have broken a Spyderco Manix 2 FRN scale - not with knife in use but intentionally, because I wanted the blade and didn't care for the scale too much.

It's very tough and quite elastic (a good thing when it comes to breaking), a little more so than G10, which is more elastic than CF; I doubt you'll manage to break FRN in a real situation, in particular with a small knife like the Ladybug. I feel you could probably drive a car over it without damaging it mechanically. Not sure how the Ladybug looks internally, the FRN Manix 2 has some steel re-inforcement around the Pivot, which makes it even tougher as a whole.

Roland.
Click to expand...

I believe the Manix 2 is FRCP not FRN. Still good stuff but I think it's a little more brittle than FRN.
 
If there were durability issues, believe me, there would be a LOT more threads about it.;):rolleyes:
But I have whacked a trashed Endura with a hammer and it didn't break.
Good enough for me.
 
Eli Chaps said:
I believe the Manix 2 is FRCP not FRN. Still good stuff but I think it's a little more brittle than FRN.
Click to expand...

How do you know ? Even Spyderco appears confused :)

From https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=878:

"Manix™ 2 FRCP Dark Blue CPM S110V
: : :
The handle of this knife is injection molded from tough fiberglass-reinforced nylon (FRN) and features Spyderco’s distinctive Bi-Directional Texturing™ ..."

I understand there should be a difference, but the two lightweights (a Manix 2 and a Stretch) that I have feel the same to me ....
 
ferider said:
How do you know ? Even Spyderco appears confused :)

From https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=878:

"Manix™ 2 FRCP Dark Blue CPM S110V
: : :
The handle of this knife is injection molded from tough fiberglass-reinforced nylon (FRN) and features Spyderco’s distinctive Bi-Directional Texturing™ ..."

I understand there should be a difference, but the two lightweights (a Manix 2 and a Stretch) that I have feel the same to me ....
Click to expand...

You can go on the Spyderco Forum and do a search. Lots of hits on it.
 
I was reluctantly volunteered once to be the person to steer a stripped race car up the ramp and onto the top of an open walled double-decker semi-trailer while someone pulled me with a cable on the ground with a tractor. :( ---cue Darwin awards..

Once I was pulled to the top and was rolling towards the front of the trailer (at a great rate of speed, down hill) I realized I was going over!

Being a stripped chases, it had no brakes. I jammed my trusty Spyderco Rescue frn into an emergency brake mechanism on the transmission hump and pulled!
The car came to a screeching halt and I didn't roll off the trailer. I know it doesn't seem very high, but when you're up there...:eek:

I cranked on that Spyderco pretty hard that day....it served me well.
wOENyLGm.jpg
 
Cold Steel makes their non metallic knives from a version of FRN . Can't really sharpen , but plenty tough stuff !

FF to ~6:20 minutes .

 
marrenmiller said:
If I recall correctly, Super Steel Steve did some prying tests to failure with a bailout, an emerson, and a strider. The premise of his video was to determine the overall toughness of the knife compared to some other benchmarks, and of course it did not hold up as well as the others. That being said, I think the video might have unintentionally highlighted how decently the bailout holds up as a 2 oz knife with thin partial liners and .08" blade stock, as it only broke once he hammered the tip .5" into a pine board and pried with it to failure.
Click to expand...

Do you remember the name of the video? I'm having a hard time picturing a use scenario where the handle breaks before the hardened blade.
 
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