a word about thrust bearings aka washers....

by former hater of plastic, Monday, June 25, 2018, 16:24 (2280 days ago) @ bj

something else for folk to obsess and argue over. Rick uses nylon/teflon, others do, and then others use phosphor bronze.

The plastic is slicker, very low compressibility, while bronze adds friction, and lasts longer. Both can be swapped for other, with zero problem, and easily found.

And in machinery, BOTH are considered consumables to be replaced periodically. To me, arguing over them is akin to arguing over trash, and whose trash takes longer to hit the trash can.

Use whatever pleases you. I was a fan of bronze, until I saw how frictionless this knife is, with MY set-up just enough detent pressure to hold blade closed, but can be shaken open with a flip, and normal opening simply boosting blade open with flipper and finishing with a light flip, and blade falls closed when lock disengaged. And all frictionless.

And Rick sells an $8 package of what I assumed was a set of washers and clip screws, but which turned out to hold circa 4pr of them, and about a dozen small clip screws, none ever actually counted. And original installed washers holding up fine. If I were low crawling anymore, it would be different, I am sure.

Rick's handy $75 field tool a great gadget, as it has the non-marring perfect fit pivot spanner, and equally perfect slotted bit for pivot cap, along with a proper hex drive for handle screws. You need more than than for total teardown (such as a 0.050 hex for stabilizer and #1 phillips for clip), but for field cleaning, an excellent gadget.

I have yet to find a single problem with the washer choice, and have yet to find a single thing not perfectly executed on the knife. The Ti scale a late addition, and is perfection when installed as for spacers circumference inside knife the same paper thickness from scale edge on either scale, screws install seamlessly but without marring sides of screws, lanyard holes precisely aligned. THIS is modern manufacturing.