Spyderco Para 3 And How To Spot A Fake.

For educational purposes to help combat scams and to prevent the unknowing from being ripped off.

[@felixf5211]

I own four PM2s, different steels, and a fake. Bought it out of curiosity. Hate to say it, it's virtually impossible to identify a fake without having a real one next to it. I couldn't do it.

[@knottheory79220]

Fake Spydercos used to be super obvious ten, twenty years ago. Often they would just make a knife with a hole in it that might look like an obscure Spyderco model you hadn't heard of before if you didn't look at it for more than three seconds. But not now. They now imitate specific models carefully. They have gotten so convincing it's becoming a serious problem even for people that know what to look for. They've gotten the visual similarity so good, you have to have it in hand to really tell, or look for incredibly subtle differences in shape or fonts. But the real giveaways like inferior materials and the action not being right you can't tell from a picture.

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

Absolutely. I got on a kick of buying these things to feed my curiosity. Bought the fake 920 because I couldn't find a legit one. That particular one is actually a good knife but it isn't 30 bucks. I thought the least I could do was use the ones I have around to make videos , but I'll definitely need to work in my lighting for the details. I'll get everything set up better and record some of these inferior videos with better attention to detail. I'm in the trial and error phase, just seeing what works

[@richardskeets6769]

These days it's all Greek to me. If it cuts good I will take it for the best price.

[@calebmorris6687]

This is why I stay away from expensive knives; high risk of clones seeping into venders or bad batch knives coming through.

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

You're not wrong. I've known of very reputable outdoor stores having fake knives on their shelves. Not long ago I was at one if these establishments and they had 3 ZT 0393's all with Tiger Stripes. They are a Authorized Kershaw dealer so I thought it might have been a new model I wasn't aware of. The price was fair at 200 each...so I was about to buy all three. I called my wife and told her , because I like sleeping in my bed, and she started investigating the 0393 with the tiger stripes. We couldn't find any. I emailed ZT and asked if they had ever made one...they confirmed that they hadn't. Upon further investigation it would appear that the ts 0393 is only available through the usual suspect shops. Ali, wish, dh...while we still don't know how they made it on the shelf, the manager didn't hesitate to call kershaw and let them know that they were in possession of three fake zt knives. They suspect it could've been from customer returns as the boxes are clearly labeled as a 0393 standard and not a TS model.

[@sprinkleddonuts6094]

Yea that’s scary… the good thing about the reputable online shops, you can inquire with them as well as say Spyderco… and with their exclusives and sprint runs. I’m not worried at all about purchasing from these reputable online big name knife shops, mainly because they get their product directly from the Brand.

[@joshj7012]

I just ordered a PM2 clone with titanium scales for $50. I don’t expect it to be just as good as the real thing, but 50 bucks for a knife with titanium scales isn’t bad

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

No it isn't, but it's probably not gonna have the best blade in it. I'd definitely like to hear if it was miney well spent when you get it in.

[@dalestark3343]

Thanks for the information!

[@croatialives]

Grind on the fake stops on a slant on the real it's clean edge

[@Ovarian_invasion]

Dang this is new to me. Where do you find fakes? Like ppl on ebay and such? Or do they make it into reputable stores?

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

Most often people get them from Chinese online stores like Ali express or DHGate. People will put fakes on eBay that they get cheaply off these kinds of sites and pose them as real. Also you can get them from reputable dealer and stores if someone buys one and returns it with a fake in the box. For these reasons it is best to know what to look for on specific models so you don't get messed over by some dishonest people.

[@Ovarian_invasion]

@@apex_alchemy_knives thanks. That's wild. I just looked over all 9 of mine haha good info all. Keeping it real in the knife world

[@pjwillsr]

Would be good to have the steel tested to see if it is what it says, too.

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

Yeah it would be. I wanted to buy a gun and scan all those fakes I had but those guns were crazy expensive. Like 18 thousand to get one that would measure carbon and silicon. 15 for one that doesn't measure carbon or silicon, bit it measures everything else.

[@benedictmerkowsky1013]

all D2 apparently

[@wezlydog]

What kind of steel does the fake one have? That's what's important!

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

It's junk brother ...it took about 20 cuts of paper to dull it down completely. Not sure if it's steel...could be ...but it ain't heat treated if it is 🫣😅

[@IrishBombSquad]

How ya end up with a knock off?

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

I didn't say in the video ?

[@richardvirchow3390]

You offer to tell how to spot a Spyderco fake, but you had to have it side-by-side with a genuine one for comparison. Many of us wouldn’t have a genuine for comparison.

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

This video needs to be recorded again. The lighting was horrible. I'd delete it bit I need a new video to replace it with first. First tale tale sign is a period between Golden And Colorado...it should be a comma instead of a period. Comma =real ...period =fake. I think I cover that but like I said, horrible lighting. I'll try to remedy this soon.

[@kimbalxyz2]

Where are the fakes sold, ebay ?

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

Some are...some are sold on Ali, Dh, and wish as well. I wouldn't assume that any brand from any of those last three are legit. There are companies like Kizer that do use Ali Express legitimately...it's gets sticky trying to figure out which are legit and which ones aren't.

[@phdcinnabar5754]

G10 is not plastic, it is resin bonded fabric or other materials, fen is fiberglass reinforced nylon, hdpe is high density polyethylene

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

If it isn't wood , metal, or micarta ...it's getting a generalized plastic label from me. I should start using the term "synthetic" maybe. Thanks for input.😎

[@phdcinnabar5754]

Very true

[@DC4EVA]

You can scratch g10 and tell the diff netween fake and real

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

That's really good info. Thank you 💯

[@DC4EVA]

@@apex_alchemy_knives hahs dosent sound to smart at first thou haha pepl prob think im scratching the crap outa stuff to see if its real haha gota do it right, small scratch in a hidden place,most time's i do it you cant even tell where i did it at

[@worm_vaquero]

So many fakers, I'm just going to buy new from reputable dealer, buy once, cry once

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

That's it! I've even seen fakes in outdoor stores. People buy the fake from China, buy the real from retailer and return the fake in the real box and sometimes they don't get discovered.

[@worm_vaquero]

@@apex_alchemy_knives can't win for loosing IG

[@phdcinnabar5754]

The easiest n way to see a spydercos fake is the g10, I haven't seen a spydercos fake yet that has peel ply g10, or a well done peel ply, the second biggest are the logos and writing, if you know even a little about spydercos, or have a few, its easy to spot

[@apex_alchemy_knives]

All true. 👍

[@hansamlah2756]

I buy the quality replicas for fidgeting, opening box and packages. I keep the real one inside its box. Its too expensive to use and play with 😁

[@Ovarian_invasion]

Huh???? Really? The real ones are hard use work knives......and you choose to fidget with the replicas? Confused 😕

[@GraySkyRains]

Agreed. Fidget with a fake maybe to get a feel for the carry weight, hang position and open action. But deff carry the real, you spent the money, you need to get some use from your money. They are workhorses, and besides, how often will you look at the real one in a drawer of even a display case