Alex K Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 Hey guys! During a recent training session I was working out with my 3.5, which I purchased last year. I noticed that the knurling is quite pleasant, despite being on the smooth side. Avoiding slippage with chalk was pretty easy. Without chalk is another story though. I have a few lineups of older CoCs from the 2009-2014 batches, where the knurling is extremely sharp. Almost no chalk needed at all. Here‘s an example pic of such a CoC and a modern one: This got me wondering: did IronMind change the knurling on purpose to be less aggressive but still have decent hold, or was it some manufacturer change or something unrelated that caused the change What do you guys think? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 14 minutes ago, Alex K said: This got me wondering: did IronMind change the knurling on purpose to be less aggressive but still have decent hold, or was it some manufacturer change or something unrelated that caused the change I feel it has been getting more smooth over the years. There could be 100 zillion reasons for this including that it’s just my perception. The #4 you’re having converted to a choker has the best knurling I’ve seen on IM since…well, since the 2009-2014 stuff you reference. Noticeably sharp. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devinhoo Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 I definitely noticed a change over time. The older gripper's I've bought second hand paradoxically have sharper knurling than the ones I bought new in the past few years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex K Posted July 26, 2023 Author Share Posted July 26, 2023 (edited) I haven‘t ever encountered a really intensely knurled modern IM, so I‘m really curious about this #4! As for the typical knurling, I do feel like the modern pattern still has decent hold when chalk is used. I find it quite comfortable to set, since it bites the skin way less than the aggressively knurled older generations (which has more hold though). A theory I had was that CoC tried to aim for the general public more, where a milder knurling might be the preference. The pattern is quite interesting though. It is not just a softly knurled „net“ pattern like on some chinese grippers, but it has some special shape to it. Maybe that‘s been done on purpose It‘s bot a triangular pattern, but rather a trapezoid with a small indent in the middle of each „tooth“. Small comparison to the old sharp knurling: Edited July 26, 2023 by Alex K 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 6 hours ago, Alex K said: The pattern is quite interesting though. It is not just a softly knurled „net“ pattern like on some chinese grippers, but it has some special shape to it. Say more about this. It does look like normal formed knurling to me. It’s hard to form it up to perfect points. You have to push way too hard with the tool and it doesn’t track well. Anything short of that is some level of what you see in your photo. Meaning for each of the knurling diamonds, if a perfect point looked like Mt. Fuji they end up looking like Mt. Vesuvius instead with no top and a little crater. IM knurling might even go down to something like Mt. Saint Helens.. bigger crater for each diamond. This does add texture which will not necessarily be felt as sharpness and I think that might be what you’re noticing that it feels “grippy.” 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 7 hours ago, Alex K said: It‘s bot a triangular pattern, but rather a trapezoid with a small indent in the middle of each „tooth“. Now I see where you said this. This is normal for formed knurling. Standard knurling has the same indent despite feeling sharper. It’s just Vesuvius versus St. Helens. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busa Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 (edited) It might be as simple as wear to the tooling over time and they have not replaced it. The other option is they have changed the process slightly maybe a different company making them. I have noticed that they are getting less sharp year on year. Edited July 26, 2023 by Busa typo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C8Myotome Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 Maybe it is possible that #4's being sold today were made several years ago and have been just sitting around waiting to be sold compared to the lower difficulty CoC's which I would imagine have an exponentially higher selling rate, so that they have no reason to sit in storage. Just one theory as to why a #4 today could be sharper and look like an older generation. Imagine how many trainers, 1's, 2's etc get sold compared to how many people actually purchase a #4, or more than 1 #4 as well 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeferin Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 clear difference between IM knurling 2012 and 2021 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fist of Fury Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 I've said this before and I say it again. The quality of their grippers is just getting worse and worse. Sorry but I will continue to whine about this until it gets better. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeferin Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 10 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said: Я говорил это раньше и говорю это снова. Качество их захватов становится все хуже и хуже. Извините, но я буду продолжать ныть по этому поводу, пока не станет лучше. the photo shows how there used to be sharp peramides, but now they are cut off at the sharpest point 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane.warrior Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 18 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said: I've said this before and I say it again. The quality of their grippers is just getting worse and worse. Sorry but I will continue to whine about this until it gets better. We need to create a petition to Ironmind and get lots of people to sign it if we want to be heard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fist of Fury Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Zeferin said: the photo shows how there used to be sharp peramides, but now they are cut off at the sharpest point The knurling issue has been going on for a long time. What bothers me the most nowdays is that the handle mounting is quite frequently off on their grippers. This basically never happend before. I've had around 80 different COC's and I never had a single one of them like this before. But now the last two I bought had off set mounting on the handles. I bought them from completely different places as well, so I doubt this is just bad luck from my side. Considering it was almost impossible to get one like this before. Bad knurling is of course not good but I can still live with that. However getting off set mounted handles is way worse, that's something I would expect from cheaper brands to be honest. Edited April 23 by Fist of Fury 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilBB Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Seems like it's getting better again, at least the latest batch that CPW received is better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeferin Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 36 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said: Проблема с накаткой существует уже давно. Что меня больше всего беспокоит в настоящее время, так это то, что на их захватах довольно часто отсоединяется крепление ручки. Такого, по сути, никогда раньше не случалось. У меня было около 80 различных КОК, и ни один из них не был таким раньше. Но теперь у двух последних, которые я купил, на ручках были смещены крепления. Я их тоже покупал совершенно в разных местах, так что сомневаюсь, что это просто невезение с моей стороны. Учитывая, что раньше получить такой было практически невозможно. Плохая накатка, конечно, нехорошо, но я еще могу с этим жить. Однако снять установленные ручки намного хуже, этого я, честно говоря, ожидал от более дешевых брендов. I also have this problem on coc 1.5! I had to re-glue the handles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtwpg Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 3 hours ago, Fist of Fury said: The knurling issue has been going on for a long time. What bothers me the most nowdays is that the handle mounting is quite frequently off on their grippers. This basically never happend before. I've had around 80 different COC's and I never had a single one of them like this before. But now the last two I bought had off set mounting on the handles. I bought them from completely different places as well, so I doubt this is just bad luck from my side. Considering it was almost impossible to get one like this before. Bad knurling is of course not good but I can still live with that. However getting off set mounted handles is way worse, that's something I would expect from cheaper brands to be honest. My #1 is terrible for this. Handles just very askew. Takes a right handed gripper and makes it super right handed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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