How well does FRN age?

[GarageBoy]

How well does FRN age and wear in, especially the lighter colors?

I know the fine matte texture will wear down and get shiny, but will it yellow, and does it retain dirt? Curious how the yellow/green/teal/white colors hold up.

Thanks

[Wartstein]

Did not see any change in color even in the lighter colored FRN knives I have and had (burnt orange, yellow, lighter blue, green, gray.. perhaps forgetting one or two).

They do get dirty though of course, but if "retain dirt" means dirt that could not be cleaned off any more: Really don´t think so.

[cabfrank]

I haven't noticed wear on even my old, volcano textured Salts. The clip shows wear almost instantly, and the H1 blades scratch easily, but the FRN doesn't seem to age much at all.

[metaphoricalsimile]

Most durable polymers these days include an anti-oxidant in the mix that will do a pretty great job of keeping it functional for a *very* long time.

[Ramonade]

I've seen yellow FRN knives really really dirty, always cleaned to "new".
As for the shiny parts it is something that would happen on a daily used knife over the years.
Since this is FRN, I guess it would polish itself over time, but that would need a pretty long time of contact, and only on the most touched/rubbed surfaces imo.

[VooDooChild]

It retains dirt, but it can be cleaned easily.

The lighter colors absolutely will fade with enough U.V. exposure. We had a thread on faded salts. I cant remember the name of the thread, but it can happen. With that said it takes a lot of U.V. exposure. Our yellow handled knives seemed to fade to white, I would assume the other colors will do the same, so... I dont think its going to "yellow" on you.

It can chip/dent if you drop the knife enough. Battle scars.

With all this said it still holds up really well.

[K1500]

I’ve got an orange Endura that is a few years old and the portion that pokes above my pocket is faded.

[kennethsime]

It's good stuff. I've used 20-year-old FRN knives and they still work great. The colors may fade with UV exposure.

[GarageBoy]

Thanks, I'm used to plastics turning yellow (especially clear polycarbonate) so I was wondering if the white or teal would eventually yellow.

I hate soft rubber because it turns sticky on you, curious how kraton does

[JD Spydo]

I've found that FRN holds up really well over the years. However when I got one of the very first TASMAN models from the Salt Series back around 2005-06 I had one of the Yellow handles fade on me in about a 3 year time period. I haven't had that happen since that one incident so hopefully they got that problem resolved.

Overall I've had much better luck with G-10 handles but I've never had any of the FRN handles ever go bad other than the one time the color slightly faded on me. I think FRN is pretty durable stuff for the most part even though G-10 is my personal fav.

[The Deacon]

Folks who have left them in direct sunlight for prolonged periods, or purchased knives that have been display models stored in a case that exposed them to it, have noticed fading, put probably no worse than any other handle material similarly mistreated would experience. Beyond that, it becomes a question of how long the specific type of nylon used to make FRN will last before it breaks down. Celluloid was good for about 100 years so, if I had to guess, I say nylon will outlive us all.

[Wartstein]

Really surprised about the reports of fading colors on FRN.
I would not mind that at all, but as said and honestly: Never happened with any of my FRN folders and I carry FRN knives all the time, in every kind of weather, and don't like deep carry at all so at least the handle end is exposed to the elements (including sun) a lot.

[yablanowitz]

I made the mistake of buying white FRN once, but only once.

[wrdwrght]

I made the mistake of buying white FRN once, but only once.

I made the same one-time mistake with ivory FRN.

[James Y]

FRN will get dings in it if you drop it on a hard or rough surface, but it won’t break. Otherwise, how it ages depends on how it’s used. If it’s really abused, it’s going to show its age a lot faster. Otherwise, the FRN itself may not show much aging at all, except that the matte areas wear smoother with handling over time.

With FRN, my favorite color is black, simply because of the fact that other colors can fade over time. Although I haven’t personally experienced any fading in my yellow ones.

Jim

[cycleguy]

From what I can tell - it is aging better than I am!

CG

[Wartstein]

I made the mistake of buying white FRN once, but only once.

...

At least the color did not actually fade...

[GarageBoy]

That's what I was worried about with the ivory/white/light teal frn - does it clean up?

[S-3 ranch]

I still edc a 1993 clipit delica, it’s very interesting how FRN ages extremely well

[Nuh Nups]

Really surprised about the reports of fading colors on FRN.
I would not mind that at all, but as said and honestly: Never happened with any of my FRN folders and I carry FRN knives all the time, in every kind of weather, and don't like deep carry at all so at least the handle end is exposed to the elements (including sun) a lot.

This has been my experience as well. I work outside and almost all of my hobbies involve being outside. I’ve never had an issue. I just inspected a couple of my FRN handles. The area by the pocket clip that sticks out of my pocket and is exposed to light the most doesn’t appear to be a different shade than the rest of the handle.

As far as it retaining dirt, I use my Pac Salt 2 daily during our growing season for cutting up fresh produce for our free-range chickens. The knife gets covered in all kinds of juice from fruits and veggies and often set down in the dirt. I give it a quick wipe on my pant leg and back in my pocket it goes. I rinse the knife with soap and water occasionally and scrub it with a brush. It has never stained our retained any dirt. I would even say the handle looks like new actually.