Larry, again, ball bearings are HARD, and will wear grooves in whatever they run, or worse. No getting away from that.

As for Spydercos, it really depends on the steels. A lot of the modern super duper steels (of which Spyderco and their buyers now sadly fixate) are causing problems both at factory and with user, whether too hard from sharpening heat and chipping, or impossible to sharpen to a fine polish without highspeed machinery. The simpler steels such as AUS8A were easy to get as sharp or sharper, same with H1. Fine grained steels take razor edges. Serrations are another matter, those go to the factory, period. And I avoid serrations in any but H1 steel, today, for same edging reasons, as well as increased fragility of blade and scalloped edges with super duper steel.

A quote from the Hinderer general information page....
"**A side note for those of you who can’t flip your knife open to your liking, this is not a warranty or service issue. There are plenty of threads on the subject in our online forums at bladeforums.com  and usualsuspects.net  as well as youtube videos that can help you. Oil, pivot adjustments, and technique is where you will find your answers….The same goes for blade centering, lots of threads and info on the forums to help you out."

And yes, sometimes centering is off, and surely will be after putzing. That, also is adjustable, via a tightening sequence while pushing blade desired direction,.... with handle fasteners loosened, and pivot snug/bottomed-out as can be with blade half-open, close knife, push blade desired direction while tightening others screws back to front. Then readjust pivot tension and see where you are. This also is an acquired knack.

Again, some folk want that detent to stick until finger turns red and then pop loose and fire the blade open. Other folk like me want to easily boost it open and finish with a wrist flick. I can hold my favorite set knife by back and shake open with a good shake or two, that light a detent pressure. TOTALLY different set-ups and folk whining on various forums are annoying, refusing to admit THEIR set-up may not be perfection personified.

But, again, before messing with detent pressure/drag on blade, first grease that detent ball area on inside of lock bar, and get pivot clamping set to liking (CHECKED WITH LOCKBAR PUSHED AWAY FROM CONTACT WITH BLADE WHILE SWIVELING BLADE....forgot to mention that detail), and THEN adjust lockbar detent effort and side drag via tweaking.

And to think we might owe detent liner locks to you!!! The Larry Lock!!! Heck, that sounds SSSOOOooooo much better than the Walker Liner Lock....The Larry Lock....I love it.

PS- Hinderer tools....firstly, the Hinderer-made tool (when they do a run of them, as with everything they make) is perfect for working on the pivot for spanner and slot, or messing with XM-18 3.5" and XM-24 4" handle screws. Those handle screws are 5/64ths hex drive. Stabilizer screw is 0.050 hex drive. Pocket clip and filler tab are true #1 Phllips.

PPS- Larry, I must admit my XM-24s are my favorite folders of all time. Such a strong largish knife, in such a compact folded package. I always come back to one. Yes, large for a folder, but yes, small for a 3/16ths" thick 4" knife, period, when folded. The Spanto is nigh unbreakable, the Spearpoint very tough and better cutter. I generally opt for the Spanto as it cuts well enough to do the job for me, and just too cool to finally have a folder that there is no back of mind fear of it being weaker than a fixed blade. The XM-18 3.5" is a tough knife, but not even quite as large as an Endura Spyderco, and not a lot easier to carry IWB than the XM-24 as for bulk, even if lighter. And easy to see why some military and emergency responder types loved the XM-18, but likely said, "yeah, but can you make a bigger one with even tougher blade and handle large enough for big guys with gloves? You see, we have a tendency to use our folders like fixed blades, and bust them all the time....". The XM-24 is the answer to such a mindset, even if words not precise transcript.