Question regarding the longevity of Suretouch compared with solid rubber

[David Mary]

I was asked once about the longevity of Suretouch. I wasn't sure what to say, because I have been working with it for less than four years, and have never owned and used any one knife with a Suretouch handle for more than one year. I wanted to see if I could provide a better answer regarding longevity, and from this article, my theory is this: Suretouch will last longer than straight rubber, because the stress is distributed between layers reinforced by G10, rather than having a solid mass of rubber which would propagate stress more uniformly. I believe only the exposed surface rubber in Suretouch will degrade from exposure to light and oxygen, allowing it to be maintained and restored through occasional light sanding as needed (which to this day I have never seen a need for, at least not in Suretouch handled knives I have owned for the short time of a year or less).

Do any of you have additional insights to offer in this regard? Have any of you used a given Suretouch handled knife for a long enough time to discern natural degradation in the rubber that would compromised the handle's function? Thanks!

 

[Scaniaman]

I find it does wear unfavourably at the front when used with a kydex sheath. Using some sort of bolster would help.

 

[David Mary]

Yes, I have noticed this also. I agree, a bolster will prevent the issue, as will leaving a G10 layer exposed at the front of the scale instead of rubber. Thank you for your reply.

 

[David Mary]

That being said the wear has always seemed so minimal as to be negligible, such as this nearly imperceptible bit of rubber that is poking out from the handle of my EDC knife. I think I’m okay with continuing to make full suretouch tapered scales.

 

[FOG2]

Over the past few months this has been on my belt daily, the scales may have darkened a bit. But I see NO wear.

 

[Chronovore]

Thanks for sharing these posts and I hope to see more. I was curious about this material and also where it would shine for my purposes. Some of this is practical but there is also some fantasy to explore...

Some knives, especially customs in nearly rust-proof steel, strike me as heirloom pieces regardless of the amount of use I'll give them. While I don't expect all my knives and EDC gear to last forever, or that my kids will embrace all of it, there are particular items that I imagine being kept or used by future generations long after I'm gone.

I also like the idea that if I mysteriously fell down a hole or something during my woodland excursions and get unearthed by archeologists in the far future, my skeleton might still be equipped with a mostly intact David Mary fixed blade in LC200N or MagnaCut.