Ball bearings on a pocket knife?

[dewman]

Maybe a dumb question....but I'll ask it anyway. I'm a real newbie when it comes to knife collecting even though I've always been very fond of them for over 40 years. My question is this: Has anyone ever used ball or roller bearings on the blade hinge pin on a pocket knife or are they all basically "bushings"? I know they make some very small, delicate looking bearings on many of my router bits and it looks like it would be possible, with a little nudging from some knife manufacturers for a bearing company to make one thin enough for the knife making industry. Man oh man, would that make for smooth "walk and talk" or what?

Am I way outside the box on this one or what?

[muskrat man]

dewman, IIRC buck uses bearings in thier alpha folders. They are silky smooth.

[sunburst]

Ya"ll might find this interesting..

http://boseknives.com/pvtbushing/

[dewman]

Thanks for sharing such an informative piece of knife info. Holy cow, I knew making slip joint knives must be a real chore, but I never had ANY idea. Wow. To say I'm impressed would be the understatement of the year. Would I be correct in the assumption that Tony Bose knives are very expensive?

Dewman

[sunburst]

Would I be correct in the assumption that Tony Bose knives are very expensive?

Dewman

Oh Yeah, just a bit expensive. His custom knives usually start at around $1000 and then just go up, I hear the waiting list to get one of his knives is 5 - 7 years.

Here is a nice priced one for sale on Ebay, something you don't normally see.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tony-Bose-Custom-St ... dZViewItem

He also has teamed up with Case to make a make a Bose/Case collaboration. Which is a great knife designed by him and supposed to be made by only the best Case craftsmen. They only make one model per year for release.

http://www.mchenryknives.com/collection/index.html

Sunburst