The longevity of ceramic bearings

el gigantor

el gigantor

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I'm about to spend more $$$ on a folding knife than I ever have before, and it's a flipper on ceramic bearings. My wheelhouse is primarily phosphor bronze washers and thumbstuds/spydie holes. This new blade will become my EDC/do everything knife, and I'm wondering about what sort of cleaning and upkeep is required to keep things running smooth. Also, does this type of bearing tend to degrade and wear out after long term use? After dropping this much cash, I'd like the guts of the knife to last.
 
They're ceramic, which means they are the hardest material in the assembly...there will be essentially zero wear to the bearings in this application.
 
There will be zero wear. They are ceramic bearings so they are the hardest material in the knife.
 
Zero wear on the bearings, but you need to watch the pivot tightness because over-tightening can dimple the steel washers that are used as bearing races (the ceramic balls are much harder than steel, so the steel will give way before the bearings). As far as maintenance, they're relatively benign unless you absolutely fill them with grit or sand. A blast of compressed air (even the stuff in a can used for keyboards and such) is usually enough to keep them clean. Lubrication is hotly debated, people use everything from Nano-Oil to KPL to RemOil to mineral oil. I tend to prefer "thinner" oil, since it seems to attract less lint.
 
Are you buying from Koenig Knives?
Like what others mentioned above, ceramic Balls are even tougher/ harder than your blade, pretty sure they last forever. However, they also sit into ti-handles which are soft. You'll need washers to protect the handles and maintain/ improve the action.
Talking about cleaning, I prefer a Ultrasonic cleaner with hot water. That pretty much cleans everything for you.
 
AFAIK, there are different grading on how round those balls are. Yes, they are quite long lasting, but it would also mean poorly graded ones could stay unrounded indefinitely.
 
golden_dragon said:
Are you buying from Koenig Knives?
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Indeed I am not! This is what I'm after:

REK2BRNE-1.jpg
 
comis said:
AFAIK, there are different grading on how round those balls are. Yes, they are quite long lasting, but it would also mean poorly graded ones could stay unrounded indefinitely.
Click to expand...

Ball bearings are graded in terms of roundness, but ceramic bearings are much rounder than even high-quality steel bearings. High-quality steel ball bearings are usually rated at Grade 25 (25/1,000,000" from perfectly spherical) and ceramic bearings are generally below Grade 20 (20/1,000,000" or better). Even so, when you're talking about millionths of an inch, it's unlikely that the surfaces they run on are flat enough to make the roundness of the bearings an issue.
 
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