HEY, SPYDERCO! We need a sticky about the merits of FRN.

FRN does look cheap, but besides appearance the stuff works fairly well. Also, FRN Spydercos are very user friendy. Case in point--My Endura 3's pocket clip was getting loose. Halfway to the torx set, I realized that FRN doesn't utilize torx screws, but instead could be tightened with a mere nickel. Imagine that--any schmuck with some pocket change can modify a FRN clip, no other tool needed :)
 
It is strange that I looked back in my knife collecting/carrying history that spans only about 14 years, and after all the customs and high tech CF, AL and Ti scaled knives I have owned, I have carried a Spyderco FRN handled knife the most! Strange huh? In the beginning it was a price thing, and now it is because they are just awesome. I EDC a Gen 4 Delica now, and it is great and doesn't feel the least bit cheap.
 
Not strange at all. They look good for a long time, even after they wear a little.
Spyderco has definetly taken plastic handled knives to a whole new level!
 
FRN might not be the most elegant or best looking material, but a light-weight FRN folder is perfect for those long Carolina summers, where T-shirts and shorts are the dress of the day.

The smaller FRN folders (like the Delica, Salt 1, Calypso Jr, Merlin, Tasman Salt, and Native) all make great knives to carry while jogging or working out too.

When you need a mid-sized blade, a study lock, and a comfortable handled knife, and all with the very minimum of weight--FRN is your answer.

Allen.
 
From an old thread in about 2003, where someone claiming expertice in plastics was expressing their displeasure with FRN. From Mr. Glesser:

"I am not a Zytel expert, but I am considered somewhat of a knife expert. My company has put more than one million FRN folding knives in the field over the past 12 years. Our problems with the material have been;

1. Larger clips breaking when we made them integral. After 6 changes to the mold over a 9 year period to come up with the right combination, we finally went to a steel clip.

2. When the temperature drops below 40 degrees below 0 F., they become brittle.

3. In a great deal of direct flame, then have burned.

We have driven trucks over them. They have been retrieved from swamps (after 2 years). They have been retrieved from the stomaches of fish. We have been quite surprized at the ability of FRN to withstand and survive.

I will say that most of our FRN (90%) have not been the Dupont product. This is not to say that the Dupont product is inferior. I believe that our expert needs more information on modern FRN.

More than 20 years ago, we were marketing a spliceable nylon line (rope to the non sailors). The "experts" said that nylon line left in the sun for too long would deteriorate and become unsafe. I made a swing for my kids out of two lengths of nylon line. The line is still fine after 20 years. ???????

We break approximately one out of 200 pieces with computerized breaking equipment. Our Endura model generally breaks at about 80 -90 inch lbs (per inch of blade). On a 4 inch knife, that is in excess of 300 inch lbs.....consistently.

...I will stand behind our FRN knives to be everything that we say they are. If necessary, we send him one of our handles and I defy him to break it with his own two hands.

sal
 
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