FRN Scales (?)

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TomAiello
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#41

Post by TomAiello »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly. It has a slightly different shape to distinguish it from regular Mule Teams. If the demand is there, we will more than likely make an FRN mold with our bi-directional texture so parts can be available. Maybe even with colors?
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
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Bolster
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#42

Post by Bolster »

RustyIron wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 11:18 am
Bolster wrote:
Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:49 pm
Does such a thing as flat sheets of 1/8 or 1/4" FRN or FRCP or other similar lighweight material exist?
If I needed something, my first stop would be McMaster-Carr. They have everything under the sun. Their prices aren't the cheapest, but they're a no-nonsense company that's been around forever. I just did a quick search, and found many flavors of nylon, delrin, copolymer, monopolymer, glass-filled, kevlar filled, carbon fiber, etc. Just a tip... McMaster caters to the professional who knows what he wants. If you need to ask questions, they might not be for you. But their online catalog should be able to get you started.

Now you have me curious. Browsing around, I found G10 sheets in a couple colors. It's CHEAP. Also, there's some stuff called vulcanized fiber, made out of cotton fabric.

My first stop too! McM-C will get me an order next day, it's amazing. I spent a considerable amount of time looking through the McM-C offerings online before asking the question, but didn't find a product I thought was similar to FRN--but I may have overlooked something worthy, like your vulcanized fiber:

"Vulcanized fibre or red fibre is a laminated plastic composed of only cellulose. The material is a tough, resilient, hornlike material that is lighter than aluminium, tougher than leather, and stiffer than most thermoplastics...[it] will swell slightly with exposure to water... until the development of modern plastics from the 1930s, fibre was the standard electrical insulating material for many small components...The final product is a homogeneous nearly 100%-cellulose mass free from any artificial glues, resins, or binders." It was apparently an upgrade to Bakelite!
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Bolster
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#43

Post by Bolster »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly. It has a slightly different shape to distinguish it from regular Mule Teams. If the demand is there, we will more than likely make an FRN mold with our bi-directional texture so parts can be available. Maybe even with colors?

What a great idea...Thanks, Sal!

Really appreciate that Spyderco caters to the do-it-yourself modifier types...!
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Cl1ff
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#44

Post by Cl1ff »

I like every bit of that news!
The future is hard to prepare for, but a Spyderco knife always helps.
:p
rex121 is the king of steel, but nature’s teeth have been cutting for hundreds of millions of years and counting :cool:
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ladybug93
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#45

Post by ladybug93 »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
Hi Frederick,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for your input.

To those that been following our company for a while know that we've been moving more and more to injection molded handles and scales. There are several advantages to FRN: Lower cost, not counting tooling. Very tough material, Intricate texturing. etc.

As Jack mentioned, the Mule Team is not part of the normal "business" model so plans deviate. At any given time, we may have 5 or 6 molds being made somewhere. If the demand is there, it will certainly be considered. Right now we're trying to stabilize the volume to make. The Mule Team project has certainly become more popular recently. We disco'd the project a few years ago due to lack of interest so we must watch closely.

Currently we're trying to sort the volume to make of each steel in the future. The way to distribute Larrin's new MagnaCut, which will not doubt be high in demand. The way to get product to our overseas customers with interest. That in addition to negotiating with foundries to make small runs of steel that they generally don't keep in stock.

We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly. It has a slightly different shape to distinguish it from regular Mule Teams. If the demand is there, we will more than likely make an FRN mold with our bi-directional texture so parts can be available. Maybe even with colors?

CQI (Constand Quality Improvement) demands that we pay attention. For example, we tooled up for the "Enuff" model scales. The Enuff with the shorter thicker blade has not been popular enough to maintain inventory (except in the serrated H1 version). We've retooled a blade to fit the current scales. 4" long and thinner blade stock with a new FRN sheath also being tooled. As the market develops and our particular market grows, The future is always challenging for which to prepare.


sal
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Zive
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#46

Post by Zive »

Sal, you are a saint!
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#47

Post by mattman »

Cool!!
I've been asking for a "standard" Mule for a while... I always assumed it would be VG-10, or S30V... Great news!
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#48

Post by yablanowitz »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm

Currently we're trying to sort the volume to make of each steel in the future. The way to distribute Larrin's new MagnaCut, which will not doubt be high in demand. The way to get product to our overseas customers with interest. That in addition to negotiating with foundries to make small runs of steel that they generally don't keep in stock.

sal
That has to be like talking Frito Lay into making one bag of Habenero mustard potato chips so you can repackage them for individual sale to test the market. You have to be one smooth-talking devil.
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sal
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#49

Post by sal »

Hi Jack,

I think that they know that if the steel is well received, they might be able to sell more steel. I also believed that we have earned some degree of trust.

sal
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#50

Post by sbdude »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
Hi Frederick,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for your input.

To those that been following our company for a while know that we've been moving more and more to injection molded handles and scales. There are several advantages to FRN: Lower cost, not counting tooling. Very tough material, Intricate texturing. etc.

As Jack mentioned, the Mule Team is not part of the normal "business" model so plans deviate. At any given time, we may have 5 or 6 molds being made somewhere. If the demand is there, it will certainly be considered. Right now we're trying to stabilize the volume to make. The Mule Team project has certainly become more popular recently. We disco'd the project a few years ago due to lack of interest so we must watch closely.

Currently we're trying to sort the volume to make of each steel in the future. The way to distribute Larrin's new MagnaCut, which will not doubt be high in demand. The way to get product to our overseas customers with interest. That in addition to negotiating with foundries to make small runs of steel that they generally don't keep in stock.

We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly. It has a slightly different shape to distinguish it from regular Mule Teams. If the demand is there, we will more than likely make an FRN mold with our bi-directional texture so parts can be available. Maybe even with colors?

CQI (Constand Quality Improvement) demands that we pay attention. For example, we tooled up for the "Enuff" model scales. The Enuff with the shorter thicker blade has not been popular enough to maintain inventory (except in the serrated H1 version). We've retooled a blade to fit the current scales. 4" long and thinner blade stock with a new FRN sheath also being tooled. As the market develops and our particular market grows, The future is always challenging for which to prepare.

sal
Glad to hear there will be a Standard "Mule Team" SPY27 knife. I missed out on the original one and would certainly pick up the standard one, depending upon the new design. Thanks for doing this!!!
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Artvitel
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#51

Post by Artvitel »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
...
Currently we're trying to sort the volume to make of each steel in the future. The way to distribute Larrin's new MagnaCut, which will not doubt be high in demand. The way to get product to our overseas customers with interest. That in addition to negotiating with foundries to make small runs of steel that they generally don't keep in stock.

We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly. It has a slightly different shape to distinguish it from regular Mule Teams. If the demand is there, we will more than likely make an FRN mold with our bi-directional texture so parts can be available. Maybe even with colors?

CQI (Constand Quality Improvement) demands that we pay attention. For example, we tooled up for the "Enuff" model scales. The Enuff with the shorter thicker blade has not been popular enough to maintain inventory (except in the serrated H1 version). We've retooled a blade to fit the current scales. 4" long and thinner blade stock with a new FRN sheath also being tooled. As the market develops and our particular market grows, The future is always challenging for which to prepare.

sal
I once again make sure that Spyderco is not just a company working for profit, and Sal is not a mercantile person.
:spyder: Spyderco is the Great Company, which always in touch with their costumers.
Thank you Sal for this approach!
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#52

Post by yablanowitz »

sal wrote:
Tue Apr 13, 2021 3:07 pm
Hi Jack,

I think that they know that if the steel is well received, they might be able to sell more steel. I also believed that we have earned some degree of trust.

sal
I'm certain of both those things. I was just thinking about scale. I wonder if all the steel used by all the knife makers in the world in a year would add up to what one car maker uses in a day. Getting a foundry to run off half a ton of an exotic when they are cranking out hundreds of thousands of tons of mild steel for automotive and structural iron is quite an acheivement. Or maybe they are from different foundries, I don't know. My mind wanders, and sometimes I follow it around to see where it's going.
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gibs0n
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#53

Post by gibs0n »

sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
...

We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly.

...

sal
Am I reading this right that there’s going to be more Spy27 mules coming?
Zive
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#54

Post by Zive »

gibs0n wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:06 pm
sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
...

We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly.

...

sal
Am I reading this right that there’s going to be more Spy27 mules coming?
Yes and no: The plan appears to be for more SPY27 blades, but they won’t be the exact shape of the standard mule design. I don’t know exactly how they will differ, but they will be distinguishable from the original run of SPY27 mules.

Hope that helps.
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gibs0n
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#55

Post by gibs0n »

Deleted. Double post.
Last edited by gibs0n on Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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gibs0n
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#56

Post by gibs0n »

gibs0n wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:43 pm
Zive wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:21 pm
gibs0n wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:06 pm
sal wrote:
Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:22 pm
...

We are planning to make a steady run of Mule Team 2 pieces of SPY27 as a standard to be available regularly.

...

sal
Am I reading this right that there’s going to be more Spy27 mules coming?
Yes and no: The plan appears to be for more SPY27 blades, but they won’t be the exact shape of the standard mule design. I don’t know exactly how they will differ, but they will be distinguishable from the original run of SPY27 mules.

Hope that helps.
It sure does! Thanks!
yablanowitz
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#57

Post by yablanowitz »

For what it's worth, I believe the handle will be the same, so current scales should work on it. Just the blade shape will be different is my understanding.
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sal
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Re: FRN Scales (?)

#58

Post by sal »

Correct. A slight straight spine.

sal
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