hello sal, digi-cam FRN?

M

msierant

Joined
Feb 24, 2009
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greetings sal,
was wondering if a digi-cam FRN Endura/Delica would be possible or even feasible. really like my Military in digi-cam and my PM2. my foliage green Endura is another favorite. would that be something that you folks ever looked into or would it just not be a profitable endeavor? anyway, just a thought I had for awhile. thanks and best regards to all at Spyderco and the forum.
mike
 
Being injection molded, I'd imagine it's impossible to mold in the digicam pattern. It would have to be applied afterward, and I'm not sure how well that would look or wear over time.
 
I wonder if they could make digicam using texturing? Kind of like the bi-direction or volcano grips, but in a way that the light/shadows mimic digicam. A checkered pattern, but the squares cut at different levels/angles, or even have different texturing on those various levels to again reflect the light differently. Maybe I'm way out in left field here, but now you've got me thinking. Digicam 'texturing' is how I'd describe it.
 
vanslem6 said:
I wonder if they could make digicam using texturing? Kind of like the bi-direction or volcano grips, but in a way that the light/shadows mimic digicam. A checkered pattern, but the squares cut at different levels/angles, or even have different texturing on those various levels to again reflect the light differently. Maybe I'm way out in left field here, but now you've got me thinking. Digicam 'texturing' is how I'd describe it.
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You might be able to create a two-tone effect that way, doubt if you could create three or more shades.

Only way I can think digi-cam FRN might be possible would be using some sort of "shrink wrap" overlay. Even that would probably only work on a smooth flat FRN surface, so not really practical due to the need for an expensive new mold.
 
Woodland camo could be a possibility, and one I'd like to see more than digi pixels.

There was news of multicolored FRN protos called the Zome series at the recent Amsterdam meet.
 
Playing with my Delica here, I'm confident some sort of textured camo is doable. Even if the scales are a tad thicker.
 
vanslem6 said:
Playing with my Delica here, I'm confident some sort of textured camo is doable. Even if the scales are a tad thicker.
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Camo should be plenty doable, but maybe not in square "pixels". Don't think they'd be able to inject anything with much precision, and to have it keep a square edge within the pattern.




Edit, or maybe you're still talking about the alternating depth squares you mentioned above? That could look pretty cool. But would require them to make new FRN molds.
 
I originally was picturing something cnc/etched, where each 'level' could be given a different texture to emulate colors/shades (via shadowing). I realize that would in no way be cost effective, but just doing a bit of spitballing, here. I'm sure someone creative could take the idea and come up with something interesting. Injection molding certainly has its limitations, no doubt. Regardless, I'm just a big fan of the frn in general.


At least with digicam, it often has large blocks of color grouped together, so it wouldn't need to be as intricate as having individual squares/blocks. Obviously the pattern would not be unique to each knife.
 
Get in contact with Boomer52. He's easy to work with on ideas and great with cnc. Also does Delica scales in various shapes. Could even use a layered material with alternating colors, so the depth of the machining would reveal one of the 2 colors...
 
vanslem6 said:
I originally was picturing something cnc/etched, where each 'level' could be given a different texture to emulate colors/shades (via shadowing). I realize that would in no way be cost effective, but just doing a bit of spitballing, here. I'm sure someone creative could take the idea and come up with something interesting. Injection molding certainly has its limitations, no doubt. Regardless, I'm just a big fan of the frn in general.


At least with digicam, it often has large blocks of color grouped together, so it wouldn't need to be as intricate as having individual squares/blocks. Obviously the pattern would not be unique to each knife.
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The other problem with FRN is that it's not "machinable". Doesn't take much in the way of friction generated heat to soften it to the point where it becomes gummy. Even vigorous hand sanding can accomplish that.
 
I think frn made with multi colors would just end up looking like swirls of colors. The camo colors would be there but may look like a tie dyed pattern or swirled ice cream at best. Worst case would be doo doo brown after all the colors mix together during molding process.
 
JNewell said:
dcycleman said:
They could probly swing a woodland camo pattern
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I need to Google that. I have this faint memory that I've seen something like that. I could be mis-remembering...
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I know that Beretta did a camo FRN Airllight at one time, which may be what you're thinking of. My guess is that it was done using some type of "skin", rather than multi-color FRN.

I've seen straight nylon and FRN molded in two and three color random swirl patterns, but none of them looked like any camo pattern I've ever seen.
 
Sal Glesser said:
We might be able to do it with the new Zome (zoome) process we're testing.

sal
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Zome process hu? I like where this is going!
If you're in need of design ideas...Toss the Colorado flag pattern on the Zome program, I could use a knife with that in my life!
 
SpeedHoles said:
Woodland camo could be a possibility, and one I'd like to see more than digi pixels.

There was news of multicolored FRN protos called the Zome series at the recent Amsterdam meet.
Click to expand...

I asked a while back, either here or the Spyderco forum, since the Army is moving over to multicam, if we might see that pattern emerge within Spyderco at some point. The idea fell on deaf ears I think. But, admittedly I did ask inside another thread and did not create a thread specifically to ask for multicam.

I've never liked my digi uniforms, and never will. So I'd never buy a knife in digi pattern, no matter the colors. I do like the color Sage Green though, a lot.
 
I grew up in the age when kids toys were not so "safe" as they are now. We had toys where we had to inject or pour things into hot molds. We would often pour a bit of another color in spot on the mold and immediately pour in the rest of the base color. It turned out okay. I wonder if that sort of thing would work, here?
 
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