Thanks to spring tension, a custom T-shaped pin slides within a barrel-style pivot, which is press-fit into the integral handle. An 8° ramp machined into the blade allows the pin to lock in place, creating a solid, zero-play engagement. Contact occurs only between extremely hard, heat-treated materials—the pin itself is made from 17-4 PH stainless steel and hardened for durability. When the button is pressed, the blade glides smoothly on ball bearings until it locks firmly in both the open and closed positions.
This locking mechanism carries forward the important legacy of experimentation behind Paul W. Poehlmann’s axial button lock design—an innovative and fascinating system he developed back in the 1970s. I always felt that my Stilo models were missing something like this, so I began working on my own version, shaped by both aesthetic and functional needs.

I managed to create a channel inside the fin guard of the blade, where I inserted a solid locking mechanism that operates thanks to one “connecting rod”, two pins and one spring. The closed position is secured by a magnetic detent

This system involves integrating a magnet (NdFeB Φ7mm x 5mm, 1.41 kgf) into the Ti Gr5 handle channel through an interference fit. This approach minimizes the use of hardware components while ensuring excellent structural solidity of the knife.
The magnet never comes into contact with the blade and functions as a detent, both in the opening and closing phases. This has been made possible by specific machined geometries inside the channel that create contact points with the upper portion of the blade and maintain a clearance of a few hundredths of a millimeter between the magnet and the blade.

A great selection of combos showing how the Pinsless system works!
Thank you so much to @the_italian_flipper whose talent honors my balisongs.

The screws and pivot barrel are torqued providing a clamping force (preload) to the overall joint, the pivot barrel aligns perfectly with the base of the counterbore this creates a spacer that allows the blade to slide smoothly while tightening the two screws firmly. In this pivot design the mechanical fit between shaft and bore has extremely tight tolerances, h7 (0 / -0.012 mm | 0 / -0.00047244094488”) H7 (0 / + 0.012 mm | 0 + 0.00047244094488”).
A hardened steel washer is inserted above the ball bearings, this is manually tuned to obtain the correct tolerance and 0 play between the handles.

- Ti 6Al-4v Torx T10 screws + Ti 6Al-4v collars
- Ti 6Al-4v / 17-4 PH Precipitation Hardening Stainless Steel (42/44 HRC) pivot barrel (h7 tolerance)
- SS ball bearings / Zro2 ball bearings
- Hardened steel washer

This system requires the use of a single torx screw and a threaded barrel plug up to half section. The screw is torqued to the plug, a vertical tension allows to maintain an extremely tight h7 tolerance with the hole, the blade remains free to rotate smoothly and the play between the handles is zeroed thanks to the hardened steel washers above the ball bearings. Some integral folding knives already use this system in the stop pin, I think that its practicality and precision are also well suited to manage the coupling between handles and blade.

- Ti 6Al-4v Torx T10 screw + Ti 6Al-4v collar
- Ti 6Al-4v barrel plug (h7 tolerance)
- SS ball bearings / Zro2 ball bearings
- Hardened steel washer

Some alloys such as ZircuTi or Timascus are softer than grade 5 titanium so the Pinsless system would risk creating deformations in the handle. This integral insert has the task of protecting the points where the blade hits the handle. The milled geometries in the integral channel of the handle allow the insert to fit perfectly without the use of any screws. Furthermore, the integral insert allows to guarantee the h7 tolerances!