Use cones when sanding and that doesn't happen, nick the bushes with a tool and you're going to damage the bush AND need to sharpen the tool, just have to be more careful. I'd rather damage a home made bush than my expensive turning chisel. I can turn replacements in a few minutes if necessary.
One of the benefits of making your own bushes is that providing you drill the hole precisely to fit your own mandrel it will be more accurate than bought bushes as the mandrels also vary sometimes considerably
In any event when I use bushes they are there only as a guide to get the blank reasonably close to finishing diameter as I use calipers to finish.
As you said Paul nothing's going to change though so we just have to make our own choice to pay or not. Same as most things in this world.
