Have you seen a ball bearing pivot fail?

sogflash

sogflash

Joined
Aug 28, 2011
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I see some people saying they don't like ball bearing pivots because it has more moving parts and whatnot, and they're worried it might fail.

So have any of you seen a ball bearing pivot break?
 
I've seen them score the handle scales & surely they can, themselves, wear. Of course, IMO, bearings are a solution where there was never a problem.
 
I've had several bearing driven knives and I've never had an issue. I've seen other people have them, but I never have.
 
I've only had one knife fail, a CRKT M16-12Z. The lock failed. I don't abuse my knives, and expect my knives will not have any pivot issues, bearing or washer. I've had grit get in the bearings of my Brous Bionic but it still functioned as expected until I cleaned it.
 
No, but cleaning, disassembly and reassembly are much more frustrating. Plus, while bearing pivots are smoother than washer pivots when clean, once little bits of grit and lint get into the bearings (which can happen within a week) they're often worse than a washer pivot.
 
archieblue said:
I've seen them score the handle scales & surely they can, themselves, wear. Of course, IMO, bearings are a solution where there was never a problem.
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Scoring or pitting is the only type of failure that anyone needs to be concerned about. The problem is that pitting essentially destroys the scales and is not repairable.

The bearings themselves are tough compared the scales their races are machined into. So, despite being the cheapest part of the system, they are the last thing to actually wear out.
 
Ive never had a failure of any of my spydercos that use the ballbearing lock. Ive have 3 failures with the arc lock SOG uses. I've had lock failure on 2 tridents and one flash 2 that left my right index finger no feeling mid way down. horrible lock up, on the more expensive models the arc lock works great from what I hear.
 
I know that heavy amounts of dust will affect the action of bearings. Once the dust makes its way into the tracks, the action feels very sluggish. This is with very large amounts of dust though, most people don't see that much dust under normal use.
 
I tried to pack an IKBS pivot with natural kitty litter (basically fine wood shavings and sawdust) and did not see any issues. Almost all of my knives have bearings, and I've never had any issues.

[video=youtube;8DK7MPK4Qac]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK7MPK4Qac[/video]
 
Leftytwogunz said:
I will say no as well.
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Why quote me at all?

Why not quote other people who also qualified their "No" with a statement about things getting in the pivot?

The added frustration of bearing pivots because of sensitivity to dust, dirt and other particles, as well as the inconvenience of disassembly and reassembly for pivots with loose bearings, are why I won't be purchasing another one. That doesn't mean I think bearing pivots are more likely to fail.
 
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I have never had any issues with my bearing pivots, and in response to them wearing out faster I don't really see this as a concern for a number of reasons. First you can simply tighten the pivot and you are good to go and if in your life-time it starts to wear into the handles the channel cut will cup the bearings more providing more surface area reducing the speed that the bearings would wear the material. Second makers seem to be recognizing this as a possibility and most new bearing knives have hardened steel races to protect the handle which would make wear a non-issue.

I will concede that just because I haven't had issues with my bearings getting gummed up doesn't mean it can't happen, but the testing done on IKBS bearings is pretty impressive and seems to prove they are pretty resistant to grit/debris. Caged bearings might be more sensitive but they negate any difficulty in cleaning because they are just as easy to take apart as a knife with washers. In fact in my opinion they are even simpler because pivot tension is much less of an issue since you just tighten it down all the way and you don't have to fiddle with it to get the action right.
 
I haven't had any issues with caged bearing knives as they are usually well sealed from debris. They're easy to disassemble and reassemble too. I would most likely not buy a loose bearing knife as it would be much more difficult to reassemble.
 
bpeezer said:
I tried to pack an IKBS pivot with natural kitty litter (basically fine wood shavings and sawdust) and did not see any issues. Almost all of my knives have bearings, and I've never had any issues.

[video=youtube;8DK7MPK4Qac]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK7MPK4Qac[/video]
Click to expand...

IMHO, this doesn't prove anything, it just shows one variable. Have you tried cutting hundreds of feet of rosin paper that's been covered in gypsum dust? I have, and I can tell you first hand that dust will affect a bearing system. Try cleaning a pivot that's been covered in gypsum without taking it apart... It won't happen. Lubrication will just turn the gypsum into a paste and further affect the action.

Dipping the knife in fibers and flipping it a couple times doesn't simulate a dusty work environment, it doesn't even allow time for the particulate to settle into the track; which is what will affect the action.
 
NEVER. I have seen little indentations from people over torquing the pivot. But never an actual failure that resulted in not being able to use the knife. And I have never had any debris get introduced into the pivot that could not be quickly flushed with a little lighter fluid and relubed. I have carried and used bearing flippers nearly exclusively for about 3 or 4 years and it started with the CRKT aluminum ripple. And I have had enough experience modifying and pimping them to where I have no problem tearing down an IKBS pivot knife with loose bearings. I learned and adapted.
 
I have never had one gum or lock up at all.

But I heard that Orange Juice and Orange Pulp can "F" them up pretty bad. :)
 
The Lone Gunmen said:
Ive never had a failure of any of my spydercos that use the ballbearing lock. Ive have 3 failures with the arc lock SOG uses. I've had lock failure on 2 tridents and one flash 2 that left my right index finger no feeling mid way down. horrible lock up, on the more expensive models the arc lock works great from what I hear.
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It should be noted that the SOG Trident and Flash II use what is called the Arc Actuator, which is a piston lock, and not the same as the Arc Lock. The Arc Lock is used only on the non-assisted knives.
 
No, never. Not one failure of a pivot that had ball bearings.

best

mqqn
 
Blues Bender said:
IMHO, this doesn't prove anything, it just shows one variable. Have you tried cutting hundreds of feet of rosin paper that's been covered in gypsum dust? I have, and I can tell you first hand that dust will affect a bearing system. Try cleaning a pivot that's been covered in gypsum without taking it apart... It won't happen. Lubrication will just turn the gypsum into a paste and further affect the action.

Dipping the knife in fibers and flipping it a couple times doesn't simulate a dusty work environment, it doesn't even allow time for the particulate to settle into the track; which is what will affect the action.
Click to expand...

This is just one test, but you should check out IKBS's website they really throw some impressive tests at it and have a bunch of great videos showing the reliability of the system.

I have seen plenty of tests that show the reliability of loose bearings and really no evidence that shows them jamming up. It seems like even in a worst case scenario the knife wouldn't freeze up it just would be a little slow which is the everyday reality of a knife with washers (obviously with some exceptions).
 
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