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Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Sell me on the FRN handles..
- Thread starter jeepin
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2002
- Messages
- 433
I have several spydercos. For rough and tough work I have a few a old endura with frn handles. They are my work knives around the property. I got 1 combo edge and 2 plain edges. I mostly carry the plain edge cause it gets used for plumbing and electircal stuff . Its clip is broken but thats ok cause I carry it in my jeans pocket or in my tool bag. It cuts sagebrush right down to the stalk, no problem. Handle sits well in hand, no hard spots ( especially with the clip broken off and smoothed)
Let me tell you sagebrush is hard to cut. You need a sharp knife and lots of muscle.
I got a alum handle CRKT and its heavy. Its sits in my dresser drawer.
Thats the big plus for FRN It stong yet light and feels right.
I been using spydercos since about 78 or 79 (lost a few) ( broken a couple , my fault )
Hey, tell you a story....I used a endura ( combo edged ) to cut the edge off a few roofing shingles a few weeks ago. dulled the dickens out of it also messed up the serrated edge a little bit, but a little time on the sharpeners fixed it right up ( I was too lazy to get off the roof and down the ladder to get a razor knife ) .
( DONT RECOMEND CUTTING SHINGLES WITH KNIVES )
But these spydercos , they are tough.
Good luck good knife hunting
Jack
Let me tell you sagebrush is hard to cut. You need a sharp knife and lots of muscle.
I got a alum handle CRKT and its heavy. Its sits in my dresser drawer.
Thats the big plus for FRN It stong yet light and feels right.
I been using spydercos since about 78 or 79 (lost a few) ( broken a couple , my fault )
Hey, tell you a story....I used a endura ( combo edged ) to cut the edge off a few roofing shingles a few weeks ago. dulled the dickens out of it also messed up the serrated edge a little bit, but a little time on the sharpeners fixed it right up ( I was too lazy to get off the roof and down the ladder to get a razor knife ) .
( DONT RECOMEND CUTTING SHINGLES WITH KNIVES )
But these spydercos , they are tough.
Good luck good knife hunting
Jack
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
- Messages
- 1,480
Spyderco's FRN handled knives are light weight,non-corrosive,practically unbreakable,offer great grip purchase,are lefty friendly(I don't have that problem but some do),thin enought that you'll almost forget it's in your pocket till you need it,and in my opinion very asthetically pleasing.tom. 
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2003
- Messages
- 3,154
Here's my take on FRN. It may flex just a little, but it won't break. Since it won't break, ultimately it won't let you down.
Not long ago a guy on this forum was bending his Native blade back and forth to try to loosen the action. He broke the blade right above the tang. The FRN handle was intact. That's the kind of material FRN is -- you'll break your blade before you break the FRN.
I've got some nice steel/G-10 handle models that I carry and use a lot, but when I travel light (bicycling for example) I take my Delica.
Not long ago a guy on this forum was bending his Native blade back and forth to try to loosen the action. He broke the blade right above the tang. The FRN handle was intact. That's the kind of material FRN is -- you'll break your blade before you break the FRN.
I've got some nice steel/G-10 handle models that I carry and use a lot, but when I travel light (bicycling for example) I take my Delica.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 1999
- Messages
- 5,094
I think FRN is great. It is light and tough, furthermore, it doesn't scratch. Some handles like titanium and aluminum scratch like crazy when they come in contact with keys. FRN never shows any evidence of a scratch.
I got spyderco knives with FRN, G-10, steel, CF.
FRN works well but looks ugly. No one will ever say FRN looks nice beside steel, G-10 or CF.
FRN is light, and FRN spydies are strong and reliable.
The steel spydies are the same price as FRN, but you must really get the most recent steel ones. The earlier steel ones gave me some probs, with the mating between lock-bar and blade. I have not had this problem with the more recent steel ones.
Steel is strong but slippery. It also scratches up easy. The steel spydies don't have VG-10 or ATS-55 for the endura and delica. They use softer steel.
Also the serration pattern for the earlier steel ones has the serrations going right up to the tip, weakening it. The later ones corrected this.
To me, steel looks better than FRN.
The spydie locks with FRN are probably the best out there. For FRN, I ONLY use spydies. No other brand I trust for FRN. Other brands I use the high-end ones, but for low-cost FRN, I ONLY TRUST spydie.
FRN works well but looks ugly. No one will ever say FRN looks nice beside steel, G-10 or CF.
FRN is light, and FRN spydies are strong and reliable.
The steel spydies are the same price as FRN, but you must really get the most recent steel ones. The earlier steel ones gave me some probs, with the mating between lock-bar and blade. I have not had this problem with the more recent steel ones.
Steel is strong but slippery. It also scratches up easy. The steel spydies don't have VG-10 or ATS-55 for the endura and delica. They use softer steel.
Also the serration pattern for the earlier steel ones has the serrations going right up to the tip, weakening it. The later ones corrected this.
To me, steel looks better than FRN.
The spydie locks with FRN are probably the best out there. For FRN, I ONLY use spydies. No other brand I trust for FRN. Other brands I use the high-end ones, but for low-cost FRN, I ONLY TRUST spydie.
From Sal Glesser in a previous post on this subject:
....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...
...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...
....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...
...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...
Not much to add here, the FRN spydies are light, strong and comfy.
They are also grippy, and not slippery smooth like other companies' Zytel/FRN. the matter of 'lack of soul' in FRN spydies is ofcourse subjective, but I would propose that the newer breed of FRN is far from 'soulles'. Take the d'allara rescue or my favorite FRN model the Native III. I find plenty soul there!
Wouter
They are also grippy, and not slippery smooth like other companies' Zytel/FRN. the matter of 'lack of soul' in FRN spydies is ofcourse subjective, but I would propose that the newer breed of FRN is far from 'soulles'. Take the d'allara rescue or my favorite FRN model the Native III. I find plenty soul there!
Wouter
- Joined
- Feb 4, 1999
- Messages
- 5,786
FRN: hate the look, hate the feel, but works great. Of all my Spydies only one has FRN handles, an old Endura, and that's the one that gets used the most! I hate the plastic, but it is tough stuff and I have no complaints other than aesthetics. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a working knife from Spyderco with FRN handles, although they aren't real purty. 
Tough, easy to clean and.... light as a feather. Really appreciate the FRN on my Delica which makes carrying this action-packed blade such a breeze. Not to mention that it keeps the cost of this blade relatively low that I won't really feel heart-broken should I lose it. Though highly replaceable, the FRN doesn't make me feel that the knife is cheap and it still get my full passion to treat it like a jewel.