Cracked FRN on new Golden Models? Old news or something new.

[Crowly]

... Specially I couldn't find the 2 with the magnacut manix lw one of them cracked 'in box', I did see them though. If I see them pop back up I will sceen shot for you.

Saw this one on the Spyderco Official FB page.
manix_salt_cracked_frn_radu_florin_photo_04.jpg

manix_salt_cracked_frn_radu_florin_photo_02.jpg

Sadly I have the same exact crack on my Salt Manix LW which came 2 weeks ago. Will take pictures tomorrow. I guess there is no point returning it, rather scale swap to aluminum. Knife was purchased from https://www.coutellerie-tourangelle.com/, which is a reputable shop.

[Crowly]

... Specially I couldn't find the 2 with the magnacut manix lw one of them cracked 'in box', I did see them though. If I see them pop back up I will sceen shot for you.

Saw this one on the Spyderco Official FB page.
manix_salt_cracked_frn_radu_florin_photo_04.jpg

manix_salt_cracked_frn_radu_florin_photo_02.jpg

Have the eaxct same crack on a new LW Magnacut Manix. Will take pictures tomorrow.

edit: added picture

[Mini2white]

I dropped one 30m down a cliff onto rock and barely a mark.

[ZenL]

I had two factory seconds Manix LW come with cracked FRCP near the pivot, like this.

I didn't even notice it at first because I haven't had any problems with cracking on my LWs before.

[StuntZombie]

It's FRCP though, I've seen these posts and it was always a Manix LW.

Are all the Manix 2 FRCP? I thought some were FRN.

FRCP sucks IMO.

I'm with you there. I can't stand FRCP. The Golden lightweight models always felt so cheap because of that stuff, whereas the Seki FRN actually feels "nicer".

This isn't the first time I've seen a Manix 2 with cracked handles. The last one was a BladeHQ exclusive that was dropped, and a chunk of the handle near the pivot broke off. Seems like that might be a weak spot in the design.

[James Y]

This might be a silly thought, but I wonder if the FRN scales (I can't speak for FRCP) that have cracked had some preexisting manufacturing flaws that occurred while in the mold? Like possibly tiny air bubbles inside of the FRN? Probably not, but just a thought.

Jim

[StuntZombie]

This might be a silly thought, but I wonder if the FRN scales (I can't speak for FRCP) that have cracked had some preexisting manufacturing flaws that occurred while in the mold? Like possibly tiny air bubbles inside of the FRN? Probably not, but just a thought.

Jim

I think it's the difference in composition between Golden FRN, FRCP, and Seki FRN. For some reason, the FRN from Golden is much harder, and I imagine that would make it more brittle, whereas Seki FRN has more flex. It also doesn't help that the linerless lightweight model handles aren't solid. Looking at some of these pivot pics, there isn't much meat at all in those handles, especially around the pivot, which is probably the area of the knife where you need the most support and strength.

Not having solid handles on these models never made any sense to me. Is it a cost saving measure since you'll be using less FRN/FRCP per handle? I think it was mentioned before that it was to save weight, but come on. How much lighter do these knives really need to be?

[James Y]

This might be a silly thought, but I wonder if the FRN scales (I can't speak for FRCP) that have cracked had some preexisting manufacturing flaws that occurred while in the mold? Like possibly tiny air bubbles inside of the FRN? Probably not, but just a thought.

Jim

I think it's the difference in composition between Golden FRN, FRCP, and Seki FRN. For some reason, the FRN from Golden is much harder, and I imagine that would make it more brittle, whereas Seki FRN has more flex. It also doesn't help that the linerless lightweight model handles aren't solid. Looking at some of these pivot pics, there isn't much meat at all in those handles, especially around the pivot, which is probably the area of the knife where you need the most support and strength.

Not having solid handles on these models never made any sense to me. Is it a cost saving measure since you'll be using less FRN/FRCP per handle? I think it was mentioned before that it was to save weight, but come on. How much lighter do these knives really need to be?

Makes sense, Chris. I only have 2 Golden FRN knives, a Native 5 LWT and my UKPK Salt. I have noticed that Golden's FRN is harder than Seki's, and I like Seki's FRN better. I haven't seen my Native 5 LWT in a long time, so I don't remember if it was linered or not; and if it was linerless, if it had the checkering pattern on the inside to lighten the weight or not.

At least I do know that the UKPK Salt's FRN scales are flat on the inside, and I've had no problems with it.

I do prefer linerless FRN without the inside checkering (or waffle?) pattern; I prefer the scales to be flat and solid inside, like the original Spyderco lightweight models and the original Salts.

Jim