someone please tell me what the s110v manix handle made of

[PayneTrain]

Pardon my acronyms, but wtf? I don't recall seeing FRCP mentioned anywhere during the build up and subsequent purchase of my "Spyderco Manix 2 Dark Blue FRN CPM-S110V"(quoted from my email from GP), which I have been calling FRN this entire time!!!! Seriously, I have contributed to the misinformation that gives the internet a bad name. Oh god...what have I done?!

Now I gotta know, what about the new Native whose handle looks awfully similar to this Manix. Is it FRN or FRCP?

And while I'm demanding answers, what is the CP anyway? ABS? I know that is sometimes glass filled.

[senorsquare]

And while I'm demanding answers, what is the CP anyway? ABS? I know that is sometimes glass filled.

Fiber Reinforced Co-Polymer is what the google say.

[Donut]

From what I remember of the BD-1 Manix lightweight that I had, it had a smoother finish to it. I wonder how, if they're using the same mold... that they get the different finish on the knives.

I doubt that the handle is sand blasted.

[Ignaz]

And while I'm demanding answers, what is the CP anyway? ABS? I know that is sometimes glass filled.

Fiber Reinforced Co-Polymer is what the google say.

It's polyester.

[DougC-3]

I'm guessing that FRCP may be a form of polypropylene copolymer. If this is true, it could be one of several different grades and brands of this which have been "taylored" with "specific molecular properties and additives during manufacture." These different materials can differ in impact strength, toughness, Rockwell hardness, stress crack resistance, durability, "flexural strength," etc.... so, it may be possible that different grades could have been used with the S110V and BD-1 knives. No, I'm not an expert on this. All I know is what I read and this is all conjecture, so please take it with a grain of salt. :)

Edit: Ignaz, I wasn't meaning to contradict you, I wrote this before I saw your post. I'll look into polyester. This is beginning to sound like organic chemistry class, haha :D

[PayneTrain]

I'm just curious because I'm actually working on something that's led me to investigate various plastics, and I've noticed that the two that keep coming up as commonly being glass-filled are nylon and ABS. FRCP, while vague, is certainly preferable to FRABS for a couple of reasons, if that is indeed what it is. It just begs to be pronounced as a word that hardly seems flattering. I hope it's an acronym that never makes it beyond this thread. In fact, I'm not even sure I should post this. No, I should, it's funny and I'm too tired to consider the possible implications.

[DougC-3]

I think fiberglass reinforced ABS copolymer would be pretty good stuff, but I think we're drifting away from the intent of Gringo's question and possibly sniffing around important proprietary information. Although I'm always curious (maybe in more ways than one :p ) I think I'm pretty much satisfied to know that the Seki City FRN knives, UKPK, squeak, etc, have fiberglass reinforced nylon and the light weight Manixes have fiberglass reinforced copolymer of some kind, maybe with the exact composition proprietary... but that may still leave the question of whether the light weight Native 5 is FRCP or FRN as listed. Since it's a new mold I think it seems less likely that there would be any confusion about it.

[The Deacon]

I'm guessing that FRCP may be a form of polypropylene copolymer. If this is true, it could be one of several different grades and brands of this which have been "taylored" with "specific molecular properties and additives during manufacture." These different materials can differ in impact strength, toughness, Rockwell hardness, stress crack resistance, durability, "flexural strength," etc.... so, it may be possible that different grades could have been used with the S110V and BD-1 knives. No, I'm not an expert on this. All I know is what I read and this is all conjecture, so please take it with a grain of salt. :)

Edit: Ignaz, I wasn't meaning to contradict you, I wrote this before I saw your post. I'll look into polyester. This is beginning to sound like organic chemistry class, haha :D

The dimensions of the finished handle slabs are very important, so I'd question how much the composition of the co-polymer could be altered without affecting how much it contracted when cool. I'd be more inclined to think that, like FRN, any "tailoring" would be achieved by changing either the amount of fiberglass flock per pound of co-polymer by changing the length of the flock fibers, or some combination of those two. I'm sure there's a "balance" involved. In a perfect world longer fibers give more strength, but in the real world, they probably don't flow as well through the injection molding machinery, may be more difficult to mix to a consistently, or create some other problem.

[Bill1170]

They're all FRCP.

So a slight change in formulation and/or pigment and they go from translucent blue to opaque blue?

I was amazed at the clarity exhibited by the translucent models in the first place. We can be forgiven for assuming that all FRCP handles would look that way. They look cool, but I actually prefer the look of the opaque handles. Being opaque gives Spyderco a lot more latitude to tailor the practical attributes of those handles than they would have if they stuck with the see-through look.