customizing pivots

The pivot assembly of a folding knife really needs extra attention.The right size of washers,exact pivot hole and most of all something to avoid the rotation of the pivot screw.I have been using several ideas like a press fit or modified pivot head close to another knifepart.Some knifemakers uses a tiny screw in the pivot heads area to keep it fixed.Now I am trying to use D pivots to avoid the loosening of screw.First I grind the shaft of the pivot into a D-shape , it’s done with a fine sanding belts and simple jigg.The jigg is guided  by a steel bar and a few clamps to optain a perdendicular grind.The washer prevents the belt of damaging the inside pivots head.On the left you can see a small screw which enables a tight fit of the pivot against the jigg.The pivot has a clockwise thread so I set up the pivot on the right .Otherwise the downwards pulling belt should loosen the pivot easily.

The grind only takes two seconds.There is no need to grind the full shaft of the pivot because I also use G10 as parts of the knifehandle.Most important is the straight and stable set up to avoid damaging the pivot.

5 minutes works and several pivot are done.Now its time to deform the titanium pivot hole into a D shape.