Interesting observation about linerless FRN construction

[Evil D]

I was fiddling with my Calypso Jr and I was just looking over the construction and I noticed the handle is recessed around the blade opening arc which prevents the blade from getting scratched up by not rubbing against the FRN during opening.


If you look here you can see the FRN flares out towards the left of the end of the handle and moves further away from the blade.





And here we see, after who knows how many openings in the last 20 years, no scratches along the side of the tang.




By comparison we can look at the Dragonfly, also made in Seki, that doesn't have this relief cut and the blade tang sits flush on the inside of the FRN.





And because of that, the side of the tang is scratched up from rubbing the FRN during opening.



Keep in mind the Dragonfly 2 went into production around 10 years after that Calypso 2 did.


Fast forward to late 2014 when the first FRN Native 5 came out, and instead of a relief/bevel cut along the inside of the FRN, we have "washers" molded into the inside of the FRN itself that act to move the blade away from the FRN and the blade itself is thinner than the lock bar which adds a bit if gap and achieves the same effect.






And...no tang scratches.







Anyway, just an interesting observation. I wonder why all linerless FRN (or even all FRN models) don't use some kind of method to create a gap between the tang and FRN? Maybe with the Dragonfly it needs to sit flush on the FRN to strengthen the pivot or something? I don't have any other modern FRN models that I could compare to this to see if other methods are used so if anyone does and wants to add to this it would be interesting to see.

[JakeXman]

I’ve experienced this too. Come to think of it, almost all my unlinered FRN knives (UKPK salt, Tasman Salt 2, K390 Ladybug) rub in one way or another. Only my jester is scratch-free.

I often find grit pressed into the FRN on that lip on the handle which I’m sure scratches up the blade. I wonder if the FRN composition has any role in how they gather crud and scratch the blade?

[JRinFL]

I think they could change the mold on the Seki FRN handles, but that will be costly and so unlikely to happen until they refresh the line, if ever. I once looked at several of my older Spydercos and it looks like some had a relief sanded into the handles where those scratches normally appear. So, at one point, the maker was doing extra hand work to alleviate the issue.
It used to bother me and now doesn't. Signs if use are not a negative. After all, I will have a lot more than a few scratches on me when they put me in the ground.

[James Y]

Could that Dragonfly Salt be showing scratching to that degree partly because H1 scratches so easily? In my observation, H1 scratches far more quickly and easily than any other blade steel I’ve ever used.

Jim

[nerdlock]

Interesting, D. I checked my Dragonfly DLT Cruwear exclusive with the Ti CN coating and sure enough, FRN really took a beating on the Ti CN. There's a "swivel" mark on it.

[Evil D]

Could that Dragonfly Salt be showing scratching to that degree partly because H1 scratches so easily? In my observation, H1 scratches far more quickly and easily than any other blade steel I’ve ever used.

Jim

Oh I'm sure that makes it worse, a stiff breeze will scratch H1.



This was really less of a complaint than an observation on how they made the reliefs in the old Calypso. It just seemed odd to me that they had the idea and were doing it 10 years prior but never did it on other models.

[Ramonade]

Interesting observation.
As Jim said, I don't think FRN would scratch Maxamet easily ! But you never know what could get trapped between the FRN and the blade, a bit of space to avoid rubbing it into the blade is nice.