Why a brass pin on the Spirit scissors?

[gustophersmob]

I'm betting Phosphor Bronze, or similar, alloy. Ideal material for pivot that needs to be strong and last. Should allow for tighter tolerances in the joint. Nice discovery!

Just curious as to why this would be?

I know brass and other similar alloys will be lower friction than steel, but since I doubt a scissor pivot has a lot of force put on it, I personally prefer steel.  I think steel will be much less likely to deform if bent out of plane with the rotational axis.

I think the brass/bronze/whatever alloy is cheaper, and likely easier to manufacture; offsetting any potential negatives like I have mentioned.  This, I'm betting, is why Vic made the change.

Either way, they have a great warranty and I would use the tool no matter what the pin material is. 

[Dunc]

Just heard back from Victorinox and heres their reply .....

Hi Duncan, due to technical reasons we changed the rivets material from stainless steel to nickel silver for all our scissors in 2007.

Didn't realise it was as far back as 2007 and I also didn't think it was nickel silver .

[Reinier]

Weird. It doesn't look like nickel silver to me

[AimlessWanderer]

Weird. It doesn't look like nickel silver to me

Depends on the grade, some of them are quite yellow. The tableware blanks I've seen (many years ago) that were destined for plating were anyway

[kinskibrain]

Just bought a Climber and noticed it as well. I think it looks really nice. 

I told my girlfriend sitting here next to me having coffee about this pin discussion.

She sighed, but then told me a fun anecdote how she cut her long hair with the scissors on her Compact while traveling in Spain in 1997. Respect!

[AimlessWanderer]

Weird. It doesn't look like nickel silver to me

Depends on the grade, some of them are quite yellow. The tableware blanks I've seen (many years ago) that were destined for plating were anyway

A vague distant memory just came limping back. I think 70/30 is the grade used for bolsters and such - the way that we would normally expect to see nickel silver, and 90/10 was the yellow stuff (lower nickel content) used for plating  Can't be completely sure of that though TBH, and not got a clue what the mechanical properties are like

[Singh]

Just heard back from Victorinox and heres their reply .....

Hi Duncan, due to technical reasons we changed the rivets material from stainless steel to nickel silver for all our scissors in 2007.

Didn't realise it was as far back as 2007 and I also didn't think it was nickel silver .

  yeah, umm... not sure about that. While some grades of nickel silver can have a silvery yellow appearance, this stuff is awfully bronze-colored to be a grade of nickel silver, isn't it?

[AimlessWanderer]

Just heard back from Victorinox and heres their reply .....

Hi Duncan, due to technical reasons we changed the rivets material from stainless steel to nickel silver for all our scissors in 2007.

Didn't realise it was as far back as 2007 and I also didn't think it was nickel silver .

  yeah, umm... not sure about that. While some grades of nickel silver can have a silvery yellow appearance, this stuff is awfully bronze-colored to be a grade of nickel silver, isn't it?

Just had a look at mine, and I'm be happy to accept its nickel silver ... though I would never have considered that before  That's on a Spirit I hasten to add ... not got a 91mm on me to compare against (Wenger Traveller today)

Cheers Dunc 

[ICanFixThat]

I think we need to check back with them on this. 

[Accujohn]

It looks exactly like nickel silver to me.  Not yellow enough for brass and not bronze

[GigaHz]

Is nickel silver 60% copper?

[AimlessWanderer]

There's various grades. I think 70/30 is 70% copper 30% nickel (round numbers), but there's 80/20 and 90/10 .. and maybe some others

[Carlos]

Does anyone take a guess on what technical reasons could be behind this, as well as haven't been other implements changed, like the 91ers pliers?

[Syph007]

There's various grades. I think 70/30 is 70% copper 30% nickel (round numbers), but there's 80/20 and 90/10 .. and maybe some others

Most of the stuff Ive ordered seems to be 55/27/17 - copper/zinc/nickel , I have no idea if that's standard, or what the victorinox nickel silver blend is.  It's basically brass with nickel added.

[Sidhartha]

It looks exactly like nickel silver to me.  Not yellow enough for brass and not bronze

+1  i work a lot with brass and that pins are NOT brass   

[Singh]

I defer to the experts here. Nickel silver it is.