How are the delrin handle on the farm & field knives?

sogflash

sogflash

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Aug 28, 2011
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The farm & field knives from GEC look interesting, and I think I might buy one some day. I don't know what delrin is like, I do know how G10 and zytel is.

How does it wear over time?

Is it unreasonably light of heavy?

How does the nifebrite handles compare to delrin?

Last question, how does O1 compare to 1095?

If they made the farm & field knives with wooden handles I would buy them immediately.
 
Delrin feels like a very dense plastic, it is heavier than zytel or g-10 and it usually pretty smooth. I quite the material, especially when it is saw cut pattern like on old timers.
I have old knives with delrin covers that have worn very well, they have smoothed out some with carry and use much like bone does, but at a faster rate, delrin is kinda soft so it scuffs and scratches more easily than G-10 or Zytel, but it is very durable when it comes to shock forces like being dropped on concrete, one of the reasons I like it so much.
Being a mechanic with greasy hands, I have a tendency to drop tools on occasion and my bone handled folders make me nervous about cracking, not so with delrin.
 
Delrin is tough and wears well. I am much more fond of bone handles, but Delrin works well on a knife that rattles around in my pocket.
 
Feel is similar to old Case sodbuster handles; very pleasing and secure. It certainly is in line with the overall excellent quality of this working knife.

Tom
 
Delrin is pretty tough stuff. It's not exactly soft, nor is it particularly hard. It'll deform/ding if you drop it, it'll get scratched up from use, but it shouldn't break or crack. It's not entirely uncommon for delrin handled knives to have a crack at the center (spring) pin, since this is where it's the thinnest, but on the F&F tools, there's plenty of material there so it shouldn't crack unless you use the knife as a hammer.

The NifeBrite acrylic is harder and, from my understanding, stronger, which lets them use thinner slabs. This makes them lighter and more pocket friendly, but perhaps less comfortable in the hand with prolonged use. That isn't to say that the acrylic models are uncomfortably thin - far from it. They're just thinner than typical sodbuster style handles. Here's a couple pictures that show the difference:


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Bull Nose (Red Neck) on left, 2 blade Hayn' Helper NifeBrite acrylic on right.

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2 blade Hayn' Helper orange delrin, 2 blade Hayn' Helper NifeBrite acrylic, Bull Nose delrin, Hayn' Helper acrylic.

GEC's O-1 steel is a couple Rc points harder than their 1095. This, plus the addition of elements like chromium and vanadium give it longer edge retention than the 1095, but isn't quite as easy to sharpen (yet sharpens very easily to a razor edge). I love it. Like 1095 it'll patina if you let it and rust if you neglect it.
 
Delrin has been used for decades on knife handles.
It wears well and is dimensionally very stable.

Some plastics expand and contract with humidity and temperature. If a plastic prone to such dimensional instability were to be used as a cover, it could lead to gaps or warping. Delrin does not do that. One of the uses for Delrin is for fine plastic gears, an application in which dimensional change would be a disaster.

Delrin also accepts dye in a manner similar to bone. The various shades you get from machining through the Delrin is similar to those seen in bone. Codger64 did a fantastic writeup on this facet of Delrin about six years ago:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/439751-Dupont-Delrin-Staglon-Research
 
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