Polished FRN?

[Mushroom]

That is a result of the bug logo being polished in the molds that are used to make the handles.

[KnifusMaximus]

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.

It would not be difficult at all. They make shiny textured plastic toys all the time. Have you ever heard of legos? Legos have a very similar texture to the Bi-directional texture, and they make billions of those things all day long. It's not a difficult process at all.

[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.

It would not be difficult at all. They make shiny textured plastic toys all the time. Have you ever heard of legos? Legos have a very similar texture to the Bi-directional texture, and they make billions of those things all day long. It's not a difficult process at all.

Yeah, I'm well aware of the process. Thanks.

Believe it or not, the tolerances Lego is able to achieve with their blocks actually is extremely difficult at their level of production. They are masters of injection molding, it's actually quite impressive. Not a good comparison, in my opinion.

Also, which legos have a very similar texture to the bi-drectional texture? Just curious.

[Airlsee]

But Legos are small and for children...so they must be simple to produce!

[yablanowitz]

While comparing the handle of my Ramco to the Micarta scales on my C44 Dyad, it suddenly occurred to me that I have a very smooth and shiny rifle stock that I've had for over half a century. My Remington Nylon 66 has a stock of DuPont Zytel fiberglass reinforced nylon. Slick except where checkering is molded in, still shiny after all these years, it pretty well proves that FRN can be manufactured shiny if that was the original question. Whether you can polish it after manufacture to make it shiny is another question. It should be possible if you are determined and have lots and lots of free time to invest.

[Doc Dan]

While comparing the handle of my Ramco to the Micarta scales on my C44 Dyad, it suddenly occurred to me that I have a very smooth and shiny rifle stock that I've had for over half a century. My Remington Nylon 66 has a stock of DuPont Zytel fiberglass reinforced nylon. Slick except where checkering is molded in, still shiny after all these years, it pretty well proves that FRN can be manufactured shiny if that was the original question. Whether you can polish it after manufacture to make it shiny is another question. It should be possible if you are determined and have lots and lots of free time to invest.

I had forgotten about the Remington Nylon 66. Those things were very shiny and nearly indestructible.

[KnifusMaximus]

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.

It would not be difficult at all. They make shiny textured plastic toys all the time. Have you ever heard of legos? Legos have a very similar texture to the Bi-directional texture, and they make billions of those things all day long. It's not a difficult process at all.

Yeah, I'm well aware of the process. Thanks.

Believe it or not, the tolerances Lego is able to achieve with their blocks actually is extremely difficult at their level of production. They are masters of injection molding, it's actually quite impressive. Not a good comparison, in my opinion.

Also, which legos have a very similar texture to the bi-drectional texture? Just curious.

Have you ever seen a lego?

[Bill1170]

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.

It would not be difficult at all. They make shiny textured plastic toys all the time. Have you ever heard of legos? Legos have a very similar texture to the Bi-directional texture, and they make billions of those things all day long. It's not a difficult process at all.

Yeah, I'm well aware of the process. Thanks.

Believe it or not, the tolerances Lego is able to achieve with their blocks actually is extremely difficult at their level of production. They are masters of injection molding, it's actually quite impressive. Not a good comparison, in my opinion.

Also, which legos have a very similar texture to the bi-drectional texture? Just curious.

Have you ever seen a lego?

Cylinders in neat rows arising from a flat plain are rather different from the continuous angled wedges arranged in arcs on a bidirectional texture. This is especially so with regard to polishing the molds. The handle texture is far more complicated.

[KnifusMaximus]

It would not be difficult at all. They make shiny textured plastic toys all the time. Have you ever heard of legos? Legos have a very similar texture to the Bi-directional texture, and they make billions of those things all day long. It's not a difficult process at all.

Yeah, I'm well aware of the process. Thanks.

Believe it or not, the tolerances Lego is able to achieve with their blocks actually is extremely difficult at their level of production. They are masters of injection molding, it's actually quite impressive. Not a good comparison, in my opinion.

Also, which legos have a very similar texture to the bi-drectional texture? Just curious.

Have you ever seen a lego?

Cylinders in neat rows arising from a flat plain are rather different from the continuous angled wedges arranged in arcs on a bidirectional texture. This is especially so with regard to polishing the molds. The handle texture is far more complicated.

Nah, It's not difficult at all. I get it that you want to pretend that spyderco knives are some super complicated thing to make, but in reality, it's just a blade, a few screws, and some plastic. There is nothing technologically advanced, and nothing any toy company can't produce...

[N. Brian Huegel]

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.

To the best of my knowledge, I believe that the Ramco/Laguiole handles are injection molded ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene). They do not appear to be buffed but reflect the mirror polished mold they came from. As most of the handles have shrunken far more than typical Micarta (exposing the brass lines edges) on the examples that I have seen, sold, or that are in our collection, ABS or a similar plastic seems to be what they are made of. I cannot see any layers or laminate texture that would indicate Micarta (linen or paper) is the handle material.

It would be rather difficult to buff FRN due to the fiberglass content.

[Mushroom]

Yeah, I'm well aware of the process. Thanks.

Believe it or not, the tolerances Lego is able to achieve with their blocks actually is extremely difficult at their level of production. They are masters of injection molding, it's actually quite impressive. Not a good comparison, in my opinion.

Also, which legos have a very similar texture to the bi-drectional texture? Just curious.

Have you ever seen a lego?

Cylinders in neat rows arising from a flat plain are rather different from the continuous angled wedges arranged in arcs on a bidirectional texture. This is especially so with regard to polishing the molds. The handle texture is far more complicated.

Nah, It's not difficult at all. I get it that you want to pretend that spyderco knives are some super complicated thing to make, but in reality, it's just a blade, a few screws, and some plastic. There is nothing technologically advanced, and nothing any toy company can't produce...

It genuinely appears as though you do not have a true understanding of the injection molding process involved. Had you shown the ability to communicate like an adult, I would attempt to continue this discussion but it's obvious that you just feel like arguing about this like a child.

[KnifusMaximus]

Have you ever seen a lego?

Cylinders in neat rows arising from a flat plain are rather different from the continuous angled wedges arranged in arcs on a bidirectional texture. This is especially so with regard to polishing the molds. The handle texture is far more complicated.

Nah, It's not difficult at all. I get it that you want to pretend that spyderco knives are some super complicated thing to make, but in reality, it's just a blade, a few screws, and some plastic. There is nothing technologically advanced, and nothing any toy company can't produce...

It genuinely appears as though you do not have a true understanding of the injection molding process involved. Had you shown the ability to communicate like an adult, I would attempt to continue this discussion but it's obvious that you just feel like arguing about this like a child.

I used to work at a fabrication company using injection molds on a daily basis. I made prototype parts and molds for those parts. I know more about injection molds than anyone in this forum.

Have a nice day, kiddo.

[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.

To the best of my knowledge, I believe that the Ramco/Laguiole handles are injection molded ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene). They do not appear to be buffed but reflect the mirror polished mold they came from. As most of the handles have shrunken far more than typical Micarta (exposing the brass lines edges) on the examples that I have seen, sold, or that are in our collection, ABS or a similar plastic seems to be what they are made of. I cannot see any layers or laminate texture that would indicate Micarta (linen or paper) is the handle material.

It would be rather difficult to buff FRN due to the fiberglass content.

I would agree on the Ramco handle material. Magnified examination shows no hint of laminated material typically seen in Micarta. FRN is only one of the possible materials.

[Toucan]

The edges of the Para 3 are "glassy" feeling frn compared to the "gritty" feeling frn from Seki, so polishing seems very possible. But I think it would also depend on the specific formula and ratio of nylon and fiberglass. I'm assuming fiberglass is much harder than nylon and is somewhat harder than the surrounding nylon. It would probably be more difficult to buff a composite where the components have very different properties.

[Woodpuppy]

I used to work at a fabrication company using injection molds on a daily basis. I made prototype parts and molds for those parts. I know more about injection molds than anyone in this forum.

Have a nice day, kiddo.

OK, now that you’ve said that I’ll believe everything you say

Maybe if you treated people with respect and demonstrated your knowledge without trying to put others down you’d get a warmer reception. Instead you’ve chosen to act like a troll.

I’ll suggest you review the following post by Sal Glesser, the forum’s authority on injection molding:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28093

Clean up your attitude or take it elsewhere.

[KnifusMaximus]

I used to work at a fabrication company using injection molds on a daily basis. I made prototype parts and molds for those parts. I know more about injection molds than anyone in this forum.

Have a nice day, kiddo.

OK, now that you’ve said that I’ll believe everything you say

Maybe if you treated people with respect and demonstrated your knowledge without trying to put others down you’d get a warmer reception. Instead you’ve chosen to act like a troll.

I’ll suggest you review the following post by Sal Glesser, the forum’s authority on injection molding:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28093

Clean up your attitude or take it elsewhere.

Maybe you should stop stubbornly pretending like everything spyderco does is the most technologically advanced thing on the planet.

Clean up your attitude or take it elsewhere.