Other than cost and high skill required of manufacturing, what are the downsides to pivot bushings? Admittingly, I am a Chris Reeve sebenza fanboy. The upsides of the pivot bushing setup are huge:
1) Ability to use a "big" "pivot screw", but still use a small pivot fastener that then matches with the other small fasteners on the handle, making them interchangable. When you use a pivot bushing, then the actual pivot size is not just the fastener, but the bushing itself, since that entire diameter of the bushing is what the knife rides on. Having a few completely interchangable fasteners on a knife is better than having dedicated ones for different parts. Also means one tool breaks down the entire knife for cleaning.
2) Ability to crank down the fasteners to reasonable tight tension, and a perfectly functioning knife without the need for locktite nor risk of the fasteners backing out because you had to loosen the pivot screw to make the opening be smooth.
3) Smoothness in opening/closing.
4) Centered blade perfection. The bushing is sandwiched between the handle slabs, which means it's not possible for a properly built knife to have an off centered knife blade. If the bushing is sandwiched by the handle slabs, then the knife can only fit over the bushing in a perfectly centered way. With non-bushing knives, you have to tighten handle screws at different times to get it to reassemble centered.
There's probably more upsides than I listed. Feel free to add them to the conversation as well. I struggle to think of downsides other than cost due to labor requirements to ensure exacting tolerances. Also, some people on the CRK subforum seem to prefer the non-Bushing CRK folders like the Inkosi and 25, because they prefer using loc-tite on the pivot and being able to adjust the pivot tension to their desire.
I listed the reverse of this as a "pro" for me but I can respect the opinion of someone who is willing to put in extra maintenance effort to get something that's marginally different to their desire - if you want a really tight or really loose pivot for example, you can control that in a non-bushing system.
What else are the negative sides of pivot bushing builds? Knife enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars on knives, so higher cost of manufacture doesn't seem like a good enough reason that so few places build bushing knives other than CRK. Mokuti is an expensive material but lots of places are using it, because it looks cool and is in high demand. So either the free market of knife owners doesn't value the pivot bushing, or there's other negatives that I am missing.
1) Ability to use a "big" "pivot screw", but still use a small pivot fastener that then matches with the other small fasteners on the handle, making them interchangable. When you use a pivot bushing, then the actual pivot size is not just the fastener, but the bushing itself, since that entire diameter of the bushing is what the knife rides on. Having a few completely interchangable fasteners on a knife is better than having dedicated ones for different parts. Also means one tool breaks down the entire knife for cleaning.
2) Ability to crank down the fasteners to reasonable tight tension, and a perfectly functioning knife without the need for locktite nor risk of the fasteners backing out because you had to loosen the pivot screw to make the opening be smooth.
3) Smoothness in opening/closing.
4) Centered blade perfection. The bushing is sandwiched between the handle slabs, which means it's not possible for a properly built knife to have an off centered knife blade. If the bushing is sandwiched by the handle slabs, then the knife can only fit over the bushing in a perfectly centered way. With non-bushing knives, you have to tighten handle screws at different times to get it to reassemble centered.
There's probably more upsides than I listed. Feel free to add them to the conversation as well. I struggle to think of downsides other than cost due to labor requirements to ensure exacting tolerances. Also, some people on the CRK subforum seem to prefer the non-Bushing CRK folders like the Inkosi and 25, because they prefer using loc-tite on the pivot and being able to adjust the pivot tension to their desire.
I listed the reverse of this as a "pro" for me but I can respect the opinion of someone who is willing to put in extra maintenance effort to get something that's marginally different to their desire - if you want a really tight or really loose pivot for example, you can control that in a non-bushing system.
What else are the negative sides of pivot bushing builds? Knife enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars on knives, so higher cost of manufacture doesn't seem like a good enough reason that so few places build bushing knives other than CRK. Mokuti is an expensive material but lots of places are using it, because it looks cool and is in high demand. So either the free market of knife owners doesn't value the pivot bushing, or there's other negatives that I am missing.
