Pivot and Body Screws - How do you source them?

[DC Kestrel]

One thing that has surprised me a bit after owning a bunch of knives at all different price-points is the variability in the quality of the pivot and body screws - i.e., Torx screws, not custom screws which I try to avoid. Some makers (CRK and Hinderer) will sell you extra screws, so no issue if the head gets worn. I've had one new knife where the body screws were so poor that I returned the knife, because they wouldn't last one disassembly and the manufacturer wouldn't sell me any extras. Particularly for the brands coming out of China (the higher-end brands like Kizer, Reate and WE), what do people do if your strip or badly wear a screw? Can you generally get spares if you contact the manufacturer, or do you have to send the knife in? I try to be careful, but I find most T6 body screws to be of uneven quality out of the box; not surprisingly, the bigger manufacturers seem to do better. Not as much an issue with pivot screws which tend to be T8 or larger.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Wowbagger]

I get basic Torx screws off Amazon. Mostly to put thicker scales on my modded knives. I've never asked for screws from a knife company. I asked to purchase a blue spacer from Benchmade once. One would think I was asking to buy their first born child.

I cut the screws to length if they don't stock the length I need. The nice precision pliers in the SAK Tinker are exceptionally handy to hold the screw to saw it shorter.
Page down at this Link>>>> until you see the pliers holding a screw.

 

[brando555]

I don't know why, but a lot of knives use oddball sizes. I tried just about everything on my PM2, 4-40, M3, M4, nothing standard fit. I'm guessing they have custom made hardware to help combat counterfeiting or something.