Please explain the Hinderer pivot design

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LarryG

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Mar 6, 2023
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Hi All: I really like Hinderer's designs. I have a ZT 0562 and I borrowed a friend's XM-18 for a couple weeks. The handling and ergo's work just right for me. But I can't understand the pivot design on the XM-18 and other Hinderer knives. Why is the slot interrupted by the nub of the screw so that you need a spanner to hold the nut? That extra nub doesn't do anything as far as I can tell. If it terminated 1/4" shorter then you could use a plain slotted screwdriver to hold the screw. I know there must be a reason but I can't figure it out.
 
Several high end production companies use proprietary or non-standard tools to assemble their knives. Shirogorov and Microtech come to mind in addition to Hinderer. I can think of only 2 defendable (probably a stretch) reasons to do this.

1. You do not want your customer's fiddling with the product and creating issues you will need to fix later. So you make it more difficult to take apart the knife with special hardware.
2. You want to use the custom hardware as part of the exclusivity of the product. To make it look more "custom" in order to increase perceived value in the product. To add a visual design feature that is unique to your product either as part of the visual trademark/patent or just to differentiate your product from the competition. This is the most likely in my opinion. Though with Hinderer's robust aftermarket support and the amount of hardware and scale options they offer directly, you would think they would be more willing to make their knives easier to work on. The pocket clip is just a phillips-head screw for pete's sake.

small edit for grammar
 
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LarryG said:
Hi All: I really like Hinderer's designs. I have a ZT 0562 and I borrowed a friend's XM-18 for a couple weeks. The handling and ergo's work just right for me. But I can't understand the pivot design on the XM-18 and other Hinderer knives. Why is the slot interrupted by the nub of the screw so that you need a spanner to hold the nut? That extra nub doesn't do anything as far as I can tell. If it terminated 1/4" shorter then you could use a plain slotted screwdriver to hold the screw. I know there must be a reason but I can't figure it out.
Click to expand...

You can cut the screw ?

You can buy a bit for a couple of bucks though that will help:

1764096963379.png
 
BladeCommander said:
To add a visual design feature that is unique to your product either as part of the visual trademark/patent or just to differentiate your product from the competition.
Click to expand...
I also think this is why Hinderer does this. Spanner bits are easily found these days, so it is a minor inconvenience, IMO. I'll admit to actually liking the look.
 
LarryG said:
Yeah, I understand all that but the question is why is it designed that way?
Click to expand...
BladeCommander

Post in thread 'Please explain the Hinderer pivot design'

Several high end production companies use proprietary or non-standard tools to assemble their knives. Shirogorov and Microtech come to mind in addition to Hinderer. I can think of only 2 defendable (probably a stretch) reasons to do this.

1. You do not want your customer's fiddling with the product and creating issues you will need to fix later. So you make it more difficult to take apart the knife with special hardware.
2. You want to use the custom hardware as part of the exclusivity of the product. To make it look more "custom" in order to increase perceived value in the product. To...
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FWIW there's probably a knockoff of the tool for a fraction of the price. NOT that I'm condoning this!
 
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