Polished FRN?

[Doc Dan]

Is it possible to polish up FRN like G10 or Micarta can be polished? If so, would it be too soft and scratch easily? What what would be the downsides?

I was thinking that some knives would look mighty fine with polished white FRN or other colors, giving a more dressy appearance, and FRN seems to be cheaper than the other materials (of course polishing would add to the cost).

[Sharp Guy]

I don't see why FRN couldn't be polished. I'm pretty sure the moulds could be polished so the material is fairly smooth to begin with

[Wartstein]

If you look at the chamfering many FRN Spydies (especially the Seki ones) have: The chamfered areas actually DO look close to polished, don´t they? I see no reason why the smooth surface those chamfered areas have could not be extended to the whole handle.

And I agree: While I really like the bidirectional texturing of Spydercos FRN handles, many models would not need it practically speaking (depending on use scenarios a bit of course) and would look pretty cool if the handles were "smooth and polished" and perhaps would be even more comfortable in "lighter" use.

[Evil D]

You'd have to work it very slow and may not be able to buff it the way you can G10 because it can melt.

[The Deacon]

Given that the N in FRN stands for Nylon, that toothbrushes with handles made of Nylon have been around for over 70 years, and that most I've seen have been shiny, I don't see why FRN couldn't. How well it the finish would hold up is another matter because, compared to pocket knives, toothbrush handles generally lead a rather sheltered life.

[Airlsee]

Given that the N in FRN stands for Nylon, that toothbrushes with handles made of Nylon have been around for over 70 years, and that most I've seen have been shiny, I don't see why FRN couldn't. How well it the finish would hold up is another matter because, compared to pocket knives, toothbrush handles generally lead a rather sheltered life.

This entire post made me smile.

[Airlsee]

Is it possible to polish up FRN like G10 or Micarta can be polished? If so, would it be too soft and scratch easily? What what would be the downsides?

I imagine it would weather similar to a SAK.

[JD Spydo]

I'm sure a polished FRN handle would be nice for the eyeballs>> but anything slick like that kind of bothers me in terms of overall function. Just like with the stainless steel handles having a problem of being slick when wet. That's the main reason that G-10 has become my favorite handle material over the years is because of the very confident grip I have with G-10 handles. And G-10 is not subject to wet environments or any harsh weather conditions.

Also the FRN handle material is mostly featured on Spyderco's "budget" models. I would think that an additional manufacturing step would only raise the price of the item which would in turn would defeat the intent of FRN handles being more affordable.

[yablanowitz]

I seem to recall Sal once mentioning the handle on the Ramco/Laguiole being FRN (the only way they could get the desired shape was by injection molding) which would seem to answer the question.

[Senfkarte]

Roughtly speaking, the finish of the mold is the finish of the product.
So if you would polish the mould, you could achieve a polished, very smooth handle. You still would need to deform the handle without scratching it but I am pretty sure Spyderco knows how to deform propperly.
But polishing the mould is expensive. Especally the bidirectional texturing would be very, very expensive.
I know, that something like laser polishing exists but I do not know, what materials you can polish to wich finish, so I don't know, if this technology can be used here. And polishing the old way takes a lot of time and therefore is expensive. But you can polish to a degree, that the resulting product really is very, very clear.

If you want to polish a handle, that already exists, I assume you could do tha,t but you would need to keep the surface cool. So always make sure, that your sanding/polishing paper is wet or take the whole thin in a bath of water. That should prevent white scratches and deliver a nice , shiny surface. Have not tried this with Spydercos FRN but on many other plastics this works. So might be worth a try.

[Notsurewhy]

I would like to see what a polished centofante would look like. No bidirectional texture to make it difficult and already a gents folder kind of design.

[steelcity16]

Maybe throwing the scales in a vibratory tumbler with progressively finer polishing media would do it? I like roughness and texture though, so to me this is sacrilegious.

[Doc Dan]

I seem to recall Sal once mentioning the handle on the Ramco/Laguiole being FRN (the only way they could get the desired shape was by injection molding) which would seem to answer the question.

Spydiewiki says it is micarta. Does Spydiewiki have the wrong information? That is always possible.

[Mushroom]

It probably could be polished with sand paper and steel wool but post processing of FRN is not efficient in a production setting. This type of texture would be machined into the molds for FRN. The molds would need to be polished smooth to produce a smooth injection molded part.

It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to produce a polished bidirectional texturing.

[yablanowitz]

I seem to recall Sal once mentioning the handle on the Ramco/Laguiole being FRN (the only way they could get the desired shape was by injection molding) which would seem to answer the question.

Spydiewiki says it is micarta. Does Spydiewiki have the wrong information? That is always possible.

It looks like Micarta, but I don't think that Micarta can be injection molded. Sal did say that the molds for the Laguoile were destroyed when the maker went under, so there was no way to do a Sprint Run.

I could be off-base, I'm going off my memories of several posts in different threads scattered over a number of years.

[Airlsee]

The following text from posts by Sal and Joyce certainly indicates to me that they consider the Laguiole to be "a Spyderco" and that Spyderco had much more than just a marketing role.


**************************
Spyderco Laguiole

Spyderco produced a Laguiole "style" knife about 8 years ago. It was a front lock folder designed by Dennis LeMaire. We produced it in Seki. Steel was GIN-1. We designed our own "bee" for the traditional look. Quality was excellent. Came in Plain or serrated. Custom made leather sheath also had the "bee" embossed on the sheath.

It was/is IMO the best quality Laguiole ever to hit the market. We actually lost quite a bit of $ in the project.

Dealer support wasn't there and the model was dropped. One of the Spyderco crew just purchased one of the remaining pcs at the last Spyderco "Crew sale" last week.

They were, however, quite expensive. As I remember, Over $130 retail + sheath.

sal

***********************

Denis Lemaire was an creative French Canadian cutlery designer, maker, and friend of Spyderco. In the early '90s Spyderco made a French-style Laguiole model which Denis had engineered and designed. He was adept at producing innovative concepts and was well-acquainted with French influenced cutlery designs. A folder named the AKMA was one of his inventions and is produced today by Florinox Cutlery of Thiers, France.

The Spyderco Laguiole debuted as a high-tech version of a time-honored design. It featured:

~ A front lock (developed by Al Mar and Harvey McBurnette), the first ever lock-back Laguiole
~ A handle of black Micarta with brass liners
~ Blade steel was G-2
~ The traditional Laguiole "bee" found its' appearance underwent a subtle, buggy make-over
~ Notably absent were the Spyderco round hole and a pocket clip
~ Notably present, Spyderco serrations
~ It came with a tooled leather belt sheath
~ Spyderco's French design was manufactured under the Ramco label in Seki City, Japan
The Laguiole was discontinued in 1995-1996 and the MSRP at that time was $119.95, the sheath $19.95.

Strange knife, a French design, Americanized with serrations and made in Japan....

Joyce

A lot of good info in this old thread...

[yablanowitz]

Every source I've seen except my personal collection says the first generation Police Model is hollow ground, yet none of mine are. Published information isn't always correct. The handle is black and shiny, it does have brass liners, and Sal said in the thread linked above that they had to injection mold the handle. Can you do that with Micarta? I honestly don't know, but my understanding of what Micarta actually is indicates it isn't likely.

[gibs0n]

I’m not sure about polishing a handle you already have in FRN to a nice polish, but the Roadie has smooth FRN and the Spyderco emblem has a shiny polished look and feel.

[TomAiello]

The Roadie handle ought to be pretty easy to polish. Shouldn't it?

[Doc Dan]

Yeah. I hadn't thought of the Roadie. Odd because I really like the little knife. It is a good example of polishing FRN on the logo.