Send in the Clones

Counterfeits, or perhaps the nicer term, “clones” have been a problem for some time.  In 2016, Apple found that 90% of chargers it purchased directly from Amazon, which were using official Apple imagery on the product listings, were fake and even dangerous.

https://knifesearch.blogspot.com/2018/03/get-real.html

We have often blamed counterfeits on cheap Chinese knockoffs, but even the high quality Chinese knife manufactures are having problems.

WE Knife Co. is moving to stop the sale of clones of their 708 Karambit model.  The two primary offenders were Böker, who sold the knife as the Taifun under their Magnum line, and Adola, a wholesaler located in the Netherlands.

According to WE, both companies get the clone from the same source, a Chinese knock-off company selling the knife as OEM [original equipment manufacturer] product.  Isn’t that ironic!

OEM contracts are nothing new in the manufacturing world.  Thirty years ago both Michelin and Goodyear made Sears tires.  These tires were quality products and made money for all three companies.  Why should the knife industry be any different?  WE itself has fulfilled plenty of OEM contracts and as I understand it, started as an OEM company.

WE’s claim is the model in question copies their original design too closely. “We just do not like other companies cloning our designs and making a profit of it.”  Henk Hakvoort, Marketing VP explains.

Both Böker and Adola are cooperating by removing the offending model from their catalog, but this doesn’t solve the problem.  It seems the Chinese supplier to Böker and Adola purchases these clones from other, presumably, Chinese manufacturers not yet identified.

If you’re an American clone collector, tough luck.  Böker USA does not carry that model here and we have never sold any of them here in the U.S.

Again, clones or counterfeits are a problem in every product line.  Don’t be chump.  If you’re getting a deal that seems too good to be true, it is.  Buying one is admitting you’re all about superficial appearance and not ability and performance.

Get Real!

Counterfeit products are the bane of modern life. Would you want to land in a Boeing 737 if you knew counterfeit bolts were used in the landing gear and brakes?

Sure, you got a great deal on the Spyderco counterfeit the guy was selling outside the entrance to a county fair. What, did you really think that you could buy a Paramilitary 3 for 30 bucks because it didn’t have a box? And when the lock fails or the blade snaps I hope you are not doing anything important, like building a fire when you’re lost or some other dire circumstances.

Buying online isn’t a guarantee either. Here’s a slightly truncated version of an article from the March 28 2018 edition of Knife News.

A recent study by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed that consumers who buy from third-party sellers on major online e-commerce websites risk ending up with counterfeit products.

Although no knives were included in the GOA investigation, they report that more than 40% of purchases made through third-party sellers on sites like Amazon, WalMart, eBay, and Sears turned out to be counterfeit. Amazon, the largest online retailer in the U.S., has more than 3,000,000 such third party entities participating in their Marketplace. Sales through the Marketplace make up nearly half of Amazon’s total business.

According to industry watchdog The Counterfeit Report, “Amazon’s 13 global websites operate under a huge legal loophole, virtually immune to prosecution. The foreign sellers are difficult to identify and escape liability.” The glut of sellers and inconsistency of product listings make it hard to discern fake from genuine products. “Amazon also utilizes a crafty approach to avoid removing reported counterfeit listings claiming ‘Your trademark must be in registered status in [each country the item is sold in],’ ignoring their own counterfeit policy,” The Counterfeit Report points out.

According to The Counterfeit Report, Amazon emulates the notorious eCommerce outlet Alibaba, which has been on the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s Notorious Markets List multiple times, most recently in 2017.

(I found Randall knife look-alikes several years ago at Alibaba. If you didn’t buy your Randall knife from Randall, are you sure it’s real?)

Other products are shipped from and sold by Amazon directly. Buyers often assume these products are the real thing, but in 2016, Apple found that 90% of chargers it purchased directly from Amazon, using official Apple imagery on the product listings, were fake and even dangerous.

As early as 2015, Spyderco said they could not authenticate or otherwise guarantee the genuineness of any knife purchased from Amazon “due to their practice of co-mingling inventory with their 3rd party marketplace vendors.”

(Still don’t think counterfeits are a problem? Where did you buy that protein powder and health supplement from anyway? Could they not only be worthless, but actually harmful?)

But, if you want to reduce the risk of ending up with counterfeit knives, your best option is to buy from a reputable knife dealer.


(I can’t think of anything else to add.)

Wandering Thoughts

Let's go meandering!

I just had another person ask me if my Spydercos were real. 

I’m getting tired of this.  I am an honorable knife dealer and would not sell you a knife you didn’t want, just to make a sale.  Nor would I sell you a counterfeit or broken knife.  I buy from one of the largest wholesalers in the country and they buy directly from the knife makers.

I’m going start telling those asking me that question, “If you want to buy counterfeits, you’re going to have to go elsewhere.”

This is a growing problem.  Last January, Spyderco sued the Kittery Trading Post for selling counterfeit Military and Paramilitary identified by Kittery as Spyderco clones.  Now maybe you think it’s cool to own a counterfeit, after all you paid $35 for a $100+ knife.  Until it fails, breaks or you find you have to sharpen it all the time.  Maybe you trade that counterfeit to a buddy (who you really don’t like, otherwise why would you take advantage of him?) for something they have or to settle a loan.

But you know, you’re hurting the knife community.  You’re making a statement about what kind of person you are and what kind of people you want as friends…  I hope you eat shit and die on your birthday.

Thread Vs Tread

Thread means a fine cord made of two or more twisted fibers. 

Tread means to trample on or crush underfoot.  It’s also the part of the tire contacting the ground.

Language changes, so I looked  them up in the Encarta Dictionary just to make sure I knew the differences..

I just saw the back of his sweatshirt.  It had a very nice libertarian statement about being race, religion, and gender blind and emphasizing a true patriot loves his country but not necessary his government. 

I agree with many of the things sweatshirt stated.  It ended with the famous quote from the Gadsden Flag that even non-history buffs surely remember.

But the real quote is “   tread on me.” and not as his sweatshirt stated, “…thread on me.”

Perhaps it’s a quote from a historic group of embroiderers.

Kydex continues to rule in the knife sheath and gun holster world.  It has a lot of advantages and a few disadvantages.  It doesn’t stretch out of shape, rot from exposure to water or corrode brass fittings because it doesn’t have leather’s fatty acids and it’s strong and difficult to puncture.  I really like the puncture resistance aspect.  A fall in the outdoors can be dangerous enough, but cutting yourself because the knife split its leather sheath can be fatal.

Having said that, leather is quiet and doesn’t make a scratchy sound when brambles brush across it.

I saw a kydex worker at the last Medina gun show and he had an interesting partial solution to the holster/sheath dilemma.   You know what that dilemma is, don’t you?

The problem any holster seller has is never having the right holster or sheath and too many of the ones nobody wants.  Add the problem of color or design and it’s a small wonder anyone wants to sell holsters/sheaths. 

This maker had several large clamshell-like wooden crates on wheels containing his kydex press, sander, band-saw, buffing wheels, jig-saw and heat source.  It was like bringing your factory to the show.  Next to him he had a table with several previously made holsters for some of the more common guns.  He had just finished making a knife sheath when I came by.  He also did a very nice, compact holster for a Sig with a light on it.

I didn’t ask prices, but it can’t be cheap to make holsters/sheaths during the show and have to transport all that equipment.  Still it’s an interesting development.

I suspect the real answer to custom-fit holsters/sheaths will be a laser scanner interfaced to computer driven 3-D printer.  You read it here first!

About the Show

The last Medina gun show was a little trippy.

Right off the bat two guys comes up to my table and point at the Benchmade knives and asked “Are they real?”

Wow, what an existentialist question!  Plato thought that everything was an imperfect copy of an ideal object.   Somewhere there is the perfect knife which displays all the attributes, all the knifieness that a knife should have and in perfect portions.

Astrophysicists suggests that all matter is a hologram of an information trapped in the event horizon of a massive black hole.

I really didn’t know how to answer them until I realized they were asking if my knives were counterfeit.  It was a little insulting and I should have told them to fuck off.  I usually only come to that conclusion sometime later, so I told them what I know and suggest that if they buy a $200 knife for $50, something isn’t on the level.

One of them asked if his Spyderco Civilian was a knock-off.  Frankly, in many cases, it’s almost impossible to tell without doing both destructive and non-destructive testing.  They bought it for 50 bucks off a guy who thought it was a counterfeit.  I think they got what they paid for.

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After a few sales I realized the main advantages of not buying from the internet.

One: you can pick it up, hold it and compare it to similar object and decide which is the best for you.

Two: you get it right now.

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In the gun side, I was surprised to see a lever action cowboy rifle with a bullseye type peep sight fixed to the top of the receiver.  In retrospection I don’t see why not.  Most guns are more accurate than we are, I just don’t think of a lever action as a 500 yard gun.

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I was filling in for my friend John, who needed to make a pit stop.  John sells ammo among other things.  So I was surprised when someone asked if the one ounce novelty pennies were gold.

 

“No sir, just copper.”   I said.  Especially since they are on sale for 5 bucks.

I get similar questions about a line of Marttiini fixed blades I carry.  People what to know if they are made from the laminated steel they have read about.  Again a simple examination of the prices revels they don’t sell for the $500 plus that Fallkniven asks for their laminated steel.

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We had a little bad news on Sunday morning.  We arrived just ahead of the opening bell and found out our neighbors had an S&W watch stolen.  They covered their table and were one of the last to leave.  Only a few other vendors and security was left behind.  It means someone:

       Knew it was there,

       Waited until the place was empty,

       Walked around to the back of the table,

       Lifted the cover cloth and stole it.

You expect a small amount of theft from the general public but not from the other vendors.  (We had a inexpensive CRKT knife lifted from the table during a show.) It wasn’t an expensive watch, but now I have to wonder if someone will do that to me?