What town/ city are you in. I live in LeRoy about halfway between Bloomington and Champaign.

I'm not sure about a bearing but like you said a bushing, does not have to be bronze you could go with a plastic type bushing. You could find any machine shop or even a gunsmith to make a couple custom bushings for you to try out.

That would be a great idea but the only problem is that those linear motion bearings come with a round cardboard tube in them,you slide the tube out as your putting the bearing on the shaft and if you pull that bearing off the shaft all the balls fall out. I work maintenance for a big corporation and deal with a lot of those bearings and they can be a giant pain to work with.

Just wondering how often to reload my 5 & 3.5 micron strops with diamond paste? Wasn't sure if there was a sound or feel while your using them or if it's just a result from your stroping that you look for.

I've had my wicked edge pro 1 for about two weeks and have done about 20 different knives with excellent results,but I'm still learning.