Testament to the durability of FRN/VG10

[smcfalls13]

I know G-10 and S30V are the "favorites" when it comes to handle material and blade steel, but I feel that VG-10 and FRN are just as good, and often times better(in my opinion).

This morning when I walked into my store, to my surprise(I hate surprises first thing in the morning) the door to the walk in freezer at the rear of my store had iced over, and would not stay closed. This of course is a problem as it lowers the temp in the freezer below optimal, and costing more money to run, and possibly causing product to go bad. Basically, an extreme irritation first thing in the morning.

Now of course, such is the nature of my employment, that we have minimal tools on hand to handle this kind of stuff, we don't normally keep an ice pick around, and no one knows where the hammers or screwdrivers are. Also no one really seems to understand that it needs to be fixed before it gets worse, so naturally it falls to me (always does) to fix it, with no tools.

Enter the trusty Waved Endura as combination ice pick and hammer :D I know, I know, not something a knife is intended for, but it was the only thing nearby that would work. This ice was about 3 inches thick, so I couldn't just knock it off, I had to stab at it to loosen the ice (spearpoint on Waved Endura was excellent for this.) and than I used the rear of the handle to knock the pieces of ice loose. Did the whole door in less than 10 minutes. It actually took me longer to clean up the mess on the floor than it took to get the ice off.

Point of the story, when all was said and done, the VG-10 blade still sliced paper, there was no damage to the point, no chipping, and no scratching of the blade. The FRN handle had no scratching of any kind, it still looked brand new.

More testament to the excellent materials that :spyder: uses.

[DAYWALKER]

Aloha smcfalls13!

EXACTLY! That is why FRN is my handle material of choice, followed by G10. When I was REALLY into my knife SD *stuff*, I tell you the truth man, I beat the crap outta my Delica's and Endura's...even at work as a manager for a store, I did something similar being that I was in charge of the Frozen Foods along with three other departments. I think however, that my 1st Generation Dragonfly stood the test when I worked at the Sports Authority. I have told this story before, but I used to challenge a co-worker after hours during store clean up time throwing my D'Fly at a 3-D Buck, while he threw his Gerber EZ-Out Jr. Either *THUNK* or *TING*!!! Hearing "TING" meant we missed, and our knives hit the metal frames of the shelves! :o

ya know what? Aside from the edge being ruined by my inexperience at the time from trying to resharpen it with a diamond rod, that D'Fly still looks at about...95%. I think I have done everything possible to FRN to *prove* it's toughness...well, except it's ability to withstand heat to a certain degree before melting. :eek: I'll just take :spyder: 's word for it on that one!

God bless and thank you. :cool:

[vass]

scott !

thank´s for sharing !

frn rock´s !

vass

[Mr Blonde]

I occassionally clean the freezer-compartment in my fridge. The lid gets pushed open by ice build-up, which causes unnecessary energy consumption etc... An old ATS-55 FRN Delica is always used. I'm always amazed that afterwards it still slices paper. Good story, thanks for sharing.

Wouter

[Roger Blake]

Few would argue that FRN is not durable. It is and its cheaper to make knife handles too. That said, it feels cheap, plastic, compared to micarta and G10. Often knives from it are viewed as disposable.

[smcfalls13]

That may be why it sees so much action. If its viewed as disposable, its more likely to be put to serious work, unlike a G10 safe queen. G10 probably holds up just as well, but since the price of G10 knives is usually higher, I can't bring myself to try it :D

So yeah, I guess I do see FRN as disposable, but it won't be disposed of any time soon, this stuff will outlast me. :cool:

[jaislandboy]

Nice thread Scott! I've actually had a similar experience recently using my FRN Native III combo edge as an ice pick w/o problems....I still consider my Wave Endura as a new toy so I can't use it as an ice pick yet! :) Good to know it held up to the task though!

[mrd74]

FRN is my favourite handle material as well.One of my knifes(not Spyderco) has FRN handles with a G10 finish that feels and looks so much like G10 that unless told, most people (myself included) would be hard pressed to tell the difference. So why aren't more knife companys like Spyderco offering G10 finished FRN handles when it's a simple procedure of casting the pattern of G10 during the manufacture of the handles. The idea of looking like G10 with the toughness and cost of FRN seems like a win win situation to me. :confused:

[ghostrider]

I know I am one of the few who will say that I prefer the vocanic patern to that of the G-10. I think the G-10 tends to grip my pocket a little too much. It's nice that :spyder: offers several variations of both.

[Michael Cook]

:spyder: perhaps a new slogan? Spyderco; tougher than frozen water :p ok, I'll shut up now :o :spyder:

[spydutch]

I like FRN too. It's very tough. I only wish that Spyderco did someting to improve the finish of the FRN scales. Except for my NativeIII all the FRN knives I bought had rather much daylight between the scales and the lockbar(+ blade play) It just looks so cheap...

[Jim Malone]

i use a Executive Ice Scraper from Chaote. Best ice scraper available and has lots of other functions. It's the perfect "in the car "gadget! :D